Lovely November

November seemed to go by quickly. Here's some of the things that were keeping us busy.

Brylliant's fall production was The Addams Family. Mia played one of the ancestors. This wasn't her favorite role, but we still enjoyed getting to watch her perform.

Mia and Ancestor Gabby Fogas.

Lily and I had fun shopping and then packing Samaritan Purse shoeboxes.

I can't help it; I think Decker is so cute.

Mia's class photo and individual photo. Ken Rada Photo did a great job!

Mia had a fantastic opportunity to go with many other upper school students to serve in Jackson, MS, with the group We Will Go. A lot of their time was spent at a food bank where they sorted literal tons of canned goods and fresh foods. Mia became an expert lime sorter on this trip. They also talked with and prayed with those who came into the food bank, and they spent time tutoring some younger students. This was a great time of service for these kids.

They did visit a Bass Pro Shop one evening, and who should they meet but Santa!

Speaking of service, Lily served our family really well one evening. Decker came in at one point, and he smelled absolutely terrible. It didn't take too long before we realized he had been eating poop! It was all over his mouth, face, and neck. He was disgusting. This has never happened before! Lily volunteered to wash him in the shower and brush his teeth. I tried to help by feeding him little treats to keep him still, but she did the hard work by far. Ryan and I were incredibly appreciative of her volunteering to do this.

We were all excited to go see Wicked in the theater. It was a great movie!

Lily and me on a Trader Joe's run one evening. We've both come to really like this place.

Again, he's just so stinking cute.

LILY GOT ACCEPTED INTO SAMFORD!!!

We all felt confident she would be admitted, but it felt really great to get that actual acceptance email. She had already been accepted to Berry and Mercer, and UGA and Clemson would accept her a couple of weeks later, but she's known for awhile that Samford is the right school for her. This is going to be such a great fit for her; she's going to thrive here next year. We're so excited for her!

We made a little congratulatory basket for Lily. She was actually in Charleston with some camp friends when she found out about her acceptance. We were excited to give this to her upon her return. It had lots of fun little Samford items in it like a hat (plus a Taco Mama hat), pajama pants, fuzzy socks, etc. Mia made her a cute Samford pillow too.

We had a lovely time at Sid and Elaine's house on Thanksgiving Day. I'm thankful for my extended family and was happy to see everyone.

Lily and I continued our after-Thanksgiving tradition of going to see her friend, Katie Brooks, in her annual production of The Nutcracker in Sandy Springs. She was the candy cane queen this year, and she did an excellent job. I'll miss going with Lily to watch her perform next year!