Weekend after Thanksgiving

We had a great weekend following Thanksgiving. We put up Christmas decorations on Friday.

Putting up Isabella's tree in her room.

We usually put up our tree at night, but went ahead and did it earlier in the day because we had plans that night. The kids opened their new Christmas pajamas.

That night we drove to Bristow for the Polar Express train ride.

They had singing chefs that gave out hot chocolate and cookies while we were on our way to the "North Pole".

Ringing her bell from Santa and dancing in the aisle with an Elf.

Isabella said several times this is the BEST. NIGHT. EVER!! While Benjamin was pretty quiet and taking it all in, and I wasn't sure what he was thinking. But when I put him to bed that night he said- "Thank you for train ride Mama. I thankful for polar express." And then my heart exploded just a little. :)

Saturday Mom and I did a cookie decorating class, and it was super fun and so nice to do something creative without having to clean up the mess or have my sweet little ones asking 1000 questions. :)

Then Sunday night we had our annual Mitchell tree decorating/pizza/ new Christmas pjs for the kids/listening to Christmas songs night. Snoopy/peanuts was the theme for the pajamas this year.

It was a full weekend with lots of family and fun time. I was pretty bummed when Monday came around. But as one of my favorite bloggers said, you can't have Mondays without Fridays.

Fall break

After the Orr Family Farm we headed south to Lake Murray for a fall break camping trip.

 Isabella played with Benjamin's diggers just as much as he did over the weekend.

Benjamin got a new tool set from Nana and Cappy and he was frequently cutting and fixing things a la Bob the builder style.

We walked to the playground several times a day.

That crazy nap hair!!

We went on lots of walks and hikes. That was Isabella's favorite part.

S'mores!!!

Playing "diggers" and playdoh and waving at people out for a morning walk.

We went to the nature center and to check out Tucker's tower. Michael and Benjamin are the small dots at the top left.

Some of the girls were going around selling rocks and shells. Ranging in price from free to $20. Isabella had to set up her own shop with "free rocks and sticks".

Goodnight Moon

A resting point on our hike. 

We had a very fun and relaxing time with family and enjoying nature!

Marval Weekend

We went to Marval for a marriage retreat before Isabella was born and Michael has wanted to go back ever since. We went this weekend on an RV camping trip with Cappy and Nana.

Art time with Nana

The river was freezing, but so refreshing.

We had s'mores...of course. :) Some serious s'mores eating going on.

Playing by the river in pjs while breakfast is being cooked. "Heavy rocks. Throw heavy rocks"- Benjamin said 100 times.

Trying to catch a tadpole in her net

Skipping rocks with Cappy

Golf cart rides!!

We floated the river, threw lots of rocks, played at the playground and splash pad, swam at the pool, played candyland, took lots of golf cart rides. Isabella didn't want to leave and asked if she could come back again another time. We had a great weekend! Thanks Nana and Cappy!