Advent!

The most wonderful time of the year! Jon and I tried to shop a ton in October and November so we could run around like chickens with our heads cut off in December to every school/church/team/work Christmas gathering without worrying that Santa would miss the Mot household. :) 

We started doing a nightly Bible reading as a family and opening an Advent goodie. Jon also took this super sweet picture of our very first nativity, which was a gift from my Aunt Joyce. I've always loved it and now love to look at it and think about her love of God and collections of creches. 

Ollie's been wanting to do all the Bible reading this year and wants to read the Christmas story on Christmas. This is what Jon's family did every year when Jon grew up, so I think it's super fitting that Ollie came up with this and wants to incorporate it into our traditions. I know grandma and grandpa would be proud.

This is from an Advent Lego box I had stashed away for 4 or 5 years. We work on our Legos before our Bible story and the little figures have been pretty captivating. Nolan is quite the little builder.

Light up the Lake in Round Rock.

Ollie's school choir has had several performances at different events in Hutto. They are a talented crew, with the song "Hot Chocolate" stealing the show.

Here they are at the 9th grade center.

And they had a really sweet performance at Ray.

Nolan even got to meet Santa at Ray. He was pretty nervous but determined to talk to the big man himself. 

I think he asked for a jet. 

Ollie had a final carol session at Hutto's winterfest. It was actually a chilly (for us) day and they even had snow trucked in, which was pretty funny. Or maybe a bunch of snow cone machines were working overtime? They even had one tiny tubbing hill. 

Everyone's school had some kind of Santa Supper/ Christmas Celebration. Here is Nolan and his buddy, Coryn,  playing hungry, hungry hippos. 

That little turkey steals my phone all the time to take pictures and videos of himself. Here's the most recent one that made me chuckle.

Jon was in Corpus for a week and Nolan usurped his spot in bed.

Chili cook off! Our good buddy Victor won with his smoked brisket chili. Soooo delish!

All that merry making plus sitting on my couch with my pups has made up our December. 

We have four and a half days of school left, but who's counting?!

Thanksgiving Week

 Whew! It's been a whirlwind week. Here's a quick re-cap where I realized that I am really dropping the ball on picture taking. 

Right before thanksgiving break, my team had a teams-giving lunch. They are the best.

I started my break by flying to DC to spend a quick weekend with my Aunt and Uncle. My Uncle had a heath-scare in September and just recently moved from the hospital, to a re-hab facility, to assisted living. He hasn't been there very long, but was looking great when I went to see him. My aunt is now in a memory care senior center and absolutely broke my heart. Despite mentally preparing myself for any and everything, she did not recognize me. A few times it seemed she would be very close to putting it all together, but she just never got there. I was still so glad to see her. 

Here's the only picture I took on my entire trip. (Fail!) I sent this to Jon and he texted back "no thank you" and it did make me lol. (Win!)

The day I flew home we picked up the Ollie and Nolan from our buddy Owen's house (they spent the night so Jon could still work Monday). Ollie majorly crashed when he got home. It sounded like non-stop trampoline, football, catch, repeat. 

The next day we drove to Burnet, TX to spend the day at Camp Buckner with the Hohbeins. 

We did a high ropes course, and you better believe I harnessed up as well. I went on the big swing and Laura filmed the entire spectacle, complete with a child shouting, "That's the funniest thing I've ever seen a grown up do!"

Hiking

Seth and Nolan, two peas in a pod.

Thanksgiving Dinner

We took Seth home with us and he spent the night with Nolan and those two played and played the next day. The rest of the Hohbeins came later in the morning and Sam, Jon, Micah, and our Seth went to see Dune, while everyone else explored parks, ate at Hat Creek, and checked out more milkshakes at the Yard.

The next day was Thanksgiving! We all signed up for a Turkey Trot, but only Jon and Ollie ended up running. Seth decided the night before that there was no way he was going to wake up that early. Nolan and I had a huge allergy attack for half of the week and Nolan was just too sleepy from benadryl and did not want to run. 

I'm really proud of these two! I was sad to miss out, but it was also really cold that morning soooo.... oh well. Ollie placed 4th in his age category and finished in around 24 minutes. Jon is old like me, so anything we even attempt is impressive. 

At home prepping our food to take to the Guenther's for Thanksgiving. Seth is an expert potato peeler.

Here's another major photo fail, no pictures of everyone from friends-giving! During a board game I realized I could hear Joe snoring and decided it was probably time to skee-dat-el. 

The next day we bought a new car! It's a 2019 Chevy Traverse; tentatively named Fang. The blue car had it's final drive about 2 weeks ago and completely blew it's engine. 

The last few days have been filled with movie nights and enjoying family time. 

And today we put up the Christmas Tree!

I'd say we packed way too much into this week to actually feel like a break, but that's just how it goes sometimes. We have so much to be thankful for, and so many wonderful people in our lives. Only three full weeks of school before we have Christmas break; I'm already ready! 

October/November Photo Dump

 Eli was in town for 24 hours before heading to San Antonio for a work conference, so we got to show him around and hang out a bit. Mini golf, food trucks, hiking, and  a soccer game filled our day.

A/B Honor Roll

More Kinder Pictures from HES and Mrs. Tigrett

Nursery Rhyme Showcase

(Nolan was apart of 5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate.)

Kinder Library Day

Veteran's Day Program

Fly Over

Ice Cream Buddies

Ollie saved up and bought a Nintendo Switch. Jennifer surprised the boys by buying them a game and sending it to them for an early Christmas present.

Ollie, Nolan, and I went to hang out at Fortlandia at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center. It was a beautiful day and we had a fun day exploring, building forts, swinging, and playing in the trees. 

I had my first robotics competition yesterday with my HES robotics team. I was really proud of our kiddos and proud of all the work we put in. I'm really glad to have a competition under our belt as well so I can have a better idea of what to expect for the future. 

The winning team for our churches flag football game. 

A couple of tree lovers celebrating Texas Arbor Day. 

Family hike in Georgetown and a new ice cream stop. 

And finally, look at this cutie little bunny Luna caught in the backyard. Jon just laughed when I asked if we should keep it.