November: A Month of Milestones

Wow! I can't believe November is almost over. I'm still trying to catch up with October. This month has been monumental in many ways. There is so much to blog about.... i would love to do a separate blog entry for each of these....but here goes the mammoth montage....

First, there was THE RACE! Tracy and I did the "couch to 5K" training program for 9 weeks. We picked a 5k in Brenham, TX on November 6th. It was a race to raise funds for Lung cancer, which is near and dear to our hearts since that is how we lost our Pawpaw over 11 years ago. When we first started, I couldn't jog a block without gasping for air and getting a side cramp. Now, I actually enjoy jogging. It is incredible "God time" for me. We had trained to run a 5K, or 3.1 miles. But thanks to the ding dong who marked out this race, we actually ran over 4.6 miles! Who knew we could run so far? And not just run, but run over crazy HUGE hills! It was an incredible, life-changing experience! Tracy and I are now preparing to run a 10K in the Spring! Wow.

Tracy proudly displaying our team shirt and her 1st racing number!

Before the race....ready to run!

Almost there....so tired!

We had the BEST cheering squad for us when we crossed the finish line!

After the race.....exhausted, but so happy!

Then, the day after the big race, my sweet, baby girl turned 4!! We had a family celebration on her 'real' birthday, complete with some quality time at Chuck-E-Cheese. God bless that crazy place! And then, we celebrated with our extended family and a few special friends the next weekend! Ellie had requested ANOTHER princess party!! She had so much fun! Her sweet aunts decorated another "Princess Dress-Up room" that all the little girls loved. And then we decorated princess cookies...crowns and princess wands! It really was a lot of fun, therefore, it was a huge success! :)

Our crew....played and pizza-ed out!

So excited about her "Princess room"! I love this kid so much it hurts.

Everyone was excited to play dress-up!

Princesses on Parade!!

Then it was time to decorate cookies....so much sugar!!

Addie loved hers! :)

Ellie couldn't have been happier!

Then, the presents!

We are so blessed that our family comes to celebrate with us!

Another significant event this month was our Uniquely Beautiful event at church. But I already blogged about that one....thanks to Rachel Driskell's readily available pics!

Then there was Thanksgiving in Hutto! We had a fun time with our family, including my sweet aunt from New Mexico and a few others from the Lively crew. But the Turkey festivities were not the highlight of the holiday break. The day after Thanksgiving, we went WEDDING DRESS SHOPPING for my BABY SISTER! Wow. Even typing that sounds weird!?! Lisa is so beautiful and thin, which created a problem because she looked awesome in every dress! Of course, I won't reveal the absolutely gorgeous, and perfect dress that she decided on....but here are a couple of the "no's"

She really did look amazing in every dress! It was a day we will never forget.....so much fun!!

With the proud, emotional Mama looking on. Needless to say, we all cried quite a bit.....I don't have any idea how we are going to make it through the actual wedding?!?

And somewhere in there, Caleb finished up his flag football season and had a little Thanksgiving shin-dig at school. He looked so cute! He memorized his lines perfectly and loved "performing" for all the parents and grandparents. He is such a cool kid!

Whew!! And that was just the highlights...... What an awesome, God-praising month! Thank you Lord for all of the incredible goodness you poured on us in November. I am so thankful. Now, we are looking forward to December!