First, we went to NC and saw some wonderful friends. Brent and Amanda (and Ivy and Hayley!) who have moved to Kentucky for seminary, arrived in town for the Christmas tree season, and we came up to visit on the same day! Amanda's sister Sharon was so sweet to let us stay in her house. Claire quickly found that there weren't any "toys" in the house, but leave it to Mando to come with a most unconventional "baby doll" made out of a pair of Sharon's fuzzy socks.
Complete with clothes and a diaper.
I regret that I didn't get more pictures with the Stewarts. Claire and Ivy had a great time playing together (Ivy was so sweet to her even though there is a three year difference in age) and Hayley and AK actually did pretty well together too! Brent's mom had us over for supper one night and then we got to hang out again on Sunday before we left. I miss you so much Amanda! You are so special to me!
That Saturday I ran in the "Conquer the Mountain" half marathon in Franklin. Here I am pre-race with my two cold children.
Waiting for the race to begin...
The kids found a way to pass the time while I was running!
This was about mile 10...
And coming in for the finish!
I actually won first place overall for the females, coming in at 1:45 for the 13.1 miles. This was a much better time than I anticipated, especially since the name "Conquer the Mountain" was not a metaphor. I wish the Coach could have run it with me but his knee was giving him trouble during training so he had to back out. However, I couldn't have asked for a better support team than the Coach and the girls cheering me on!
One other fun thing that we did in Sylva was to visit our favorite park where I used to take Claire (pre-AK).
On our trip back, we stopped at Tallulah Falls.
Claire did awesome on the endless staircase! She was a trooper!
The next weekend we had a birthday party for Claire at the park. I didn't get many pictures since I was just trying to enjoy the moments, but Dobby has some on her camera. Maybe I'll get them onto my computer some day, but for now this is what I've got!
And then, of course, Thanksgiving. Oh, what fun we had at Popple and Nan's house. Popple, Nan, Bo, Bonnie, Gigi, Bean, and most of all, Justice and Venus...what more could a girl ask for???
Claire insisted on being in their family picture!
The Pickards...
Oh, how these cousins love one another!
Notice the change in AK's face from this picture to the next, when Venus comes on the porch...
Poor Venus is not used to quite so much attention...
The McLeods...
And a sibling picture.
...Aaaaannnddd, a more realistic sibling picture.
Justice, this is how we all felt when it was time to go.
When we got home from our Thanksgiving trip, the girls had a little surprise waiting on them...
Ellie the Elf is back!
Trying to figure out what is going on...
And, that's November!
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