Early Week Randoms

I have a hot cocoa stand in the kitchen with mugs, chocolate and all of the fixings so the kids are regularly making their own and enjoying it as the winter weather moves in.

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Speaking of winter weather, our first big snowfall moved in at the end of November.

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On Thanksgiving, we celebrated my mom's 73rd birthday with a homemade German Chocolate cake, per her request.

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Samantha was recently inducted into the National Honor Society and we couldn't be more proud of her academic prowess and dedication to earning volunteer service hours.

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Jimmy won the candy corn guessing contest at school (just like Sophia did when she was in 3rd grade) and got to bring the jar of them home.

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One of my favorite things to do at the beginning of the holiday season is to string garland for the mantle made from dried oranges and fresh cranberries.

Both of the boys were willing to help this year and we made a couple of long strings that added just the right pop of color to the green garland and lights.

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Jack worked on a stool for Mia to use to help get up onto Sam's bed.  Mia is about 16 years old now and while she loves to be up on the bed, it is harder on her hips and we worry about her hurting herself.  This was the perfect solution and I think that Jack did a wonderful job on it.

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One of Sam's volunteer activities was to join with a few other high school girls and dress up as princesses for a local Princess Breakfast.  She was given the role of Moana and mingled with the little girls there and posed for pictures.

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It's that time of year where we attend many holiday band concerts.  This was Jack's first year playing and he asked me to buy him a shirt and tie for the event.  It's hard to believe that he has only been playing his trumpet for a few short months.

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