Busy November has come and gone and December starts this week. I have failed to update my blog for this entire month. November always starts our family holiday rush and this Thanksgiving season I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family to have that holiday rush with. The Lord has truely blessed me with such wonderful family and friends and I feel that blessing each day and with each memory we share. Tonight as I sit upstairs in the quite, as the kids have gone to bed and I listen to it rain, I decided no time like now to play catch up on my blog. It is my thearpy in a whirlwind life (which is why at times I tend to ramble on).
This month began with Aubrey and Tucker's birthday on the 12th of November. My sister as different as we are showed me this year that really we are more and more alike. Never interested in being that social butterfly I saw a side of her that brought tears to my eyes. Though we are very different in many ways for our kids we would do ANYTHING. Coming out of her shell is somethig VERY hard for Christie to do but this year she did. Aubrey and Tucker turned 8 this year and in years past have mainly done family birthday parties. This year, they wanted a big party with ALL their friends. Being a single mom can often times be a struggle but like I said for your kids you will do ANYTHING. So Christie gave in and let them invite every kid from each of their classes. This meant 40 kids and potentially that many parents. I was amazed that she knowingly would be putting herself in a crowd this size. She started by taking off work and baking 50 cupcakes to take to each of their classes and then on for the party. Due to the potential number of people Christie decided to have the party at the park. Beautiful warm weather for the month of November helped a great deal. Many RSVP's were called in and the boys couldn't wait for their first big party.
As I tell you this next part I feel this hurt and anger inside that is so hard to contain, so I can only imagine how Christie must have felt inside. Despite many RSVP's and much preperation of baking 100 cupcakes and doing all a single mom can to give all she has to her 3 boys for a party that started at 2pm by 2:45 only one kid had shown from Tucker's class and none from Aubreys. Aubrey sat by a tree sobbing and hugging me so tight and as he cried because no kids came to his party, I cried because there was absoutely nothing I could do to make it better. Finally as we were deciding to wrap things up 2 other children showed up so we let them play a while longer and as the party was ending I saw a hurt in my sister's eyes that only a mother can relate to. I only tell you this story because it truely has changed my outlook on not making that needed effort to have my kids show up to parties when they are invited. Even when we have a million things to do, if at all possible we will be there. Even if all we can do is stick $5 in a card. The presence of friends lets you know you belong and knowing your children belong is a very rich blessing.
Next up for the month was my birthday. And though I turned 31 this year I still LOVE having birthdays. Momma and Daddy have always made birthdays so special for me and this year was no different. We got together for some fun family time and dinner. This year we decided to saddle up the horses. Caroline got her first experience on a horse all by herself "cause I'm a big girl, mommy" She was fine until Ava shook and then it took a little coaxing to keep her on but I knew if she got off she'd be done. She loved it as you can see.
Also this month we had a women's dinner at our church. Rarely do my mother, sister, grandmother and myself get together when it's just the girls so a women's dinner was perfect. We had a really good time.
Next we are on to Thanksgiving. This year I feel like I have so much more to be thankful for, that I have never taken the time to appreciate before. I have done a lot of soul searching with my spiritual walk with God and striving to walk closer with Him has opened my eyes to so many of my blessings I think we all become guilty of taking for granted. I still have so much growing to do but as I close the month with this thankful holiday I know that I am truly blessed and thankful for so many things. We started Thanksgiving this year by going to the Med with our church to serve familys that have been hit with terrible circumstances during this thankful time and would be spending this holiday by a hospital bed waiting on hope. Next we went to momma and daddy's for our family Thanksgiving. The holiday wouldn't be complete without dragging it out so today we finished up the holiday with another dinner.
The 5 of us never end up in the same picture. I am so thankful for our WONDERFUL family and that we are so close!!!!!
I am thankful for a wonderful husband who is a wonderful daddy and for my precious son and thankful that he is a momma's boy!
I am so thankful for my brother and his fiance', Uncle P and Aunt Juliana. We can't wait for Juliana to be in our family (officially)
I am
Thankful for good cousins! For lots of fun that we've had and to be had now that we all have kids of our own. 
To end the month, I went out last night with some girlfriends from highschool. Kasey was home for the holidays. It has been so long since I've gotten to see Kasey and it was a really nice evening. I enjoyed seeing my friends. We got together at Marlo's and I even splurged on a movie. The last time I remember going to the theaters was for National Treasure if that tells you how often we get to go. We went and saw New Moon. Though I have never seen the first movie or read any of the Twilight books I think this may be next on my list of to do's.
