Getting our Christmas Tree

We headed out to cut down our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving!  We got to take the truck AND Beau this year!

My kiddos and Dan in front of the tree we chose!

Me and my burly hubby

Chopping down the tree

And hauling it down to get shaken, wrapped and get some cider!

Thanksgiving

We spent the Sunday BEFORE Thanksgiving at Mom Mom and Pappy's, but I didn't take any pictures :(  We found out at Rich and Rachel got engaged, got to hear all about their engagement and wedding plans and loved spending time with Aunt Barb, Uncle Wayne and the rest of our family!

On Thanksgiving Thursday, we went to Mark and Heather's house to celebrate with all of Heather's family!  We made a huge circle to pray and the little ones loved it - we started doing the "wave" while waiting on the last little kiddos to join us!

Hannah, Megan and Mary Kate

Grandad and Meggie

My kiddos and Grammy and Grandad

Jack got to hold Mayvis, the littlest sweet baby!

So did Kylie and so did I!

And then Megan got to enjoy the last slice of Grammy's special Chocolate Pecan Pie that Grammy made especially for her!  

First Fruits 2014

Dan, Megan and Jack helped out at First Fruits at our church.  It is a service day where youth group kids, families and anyone who wants to spend the day raking leaves, spreading mulch, cleaning yards and doing odd jobs for families in the church.  Those families pay to have the jobs done.  They work hard all day long - from 8am until 5pm and with each job they make, they collect the money.  They then take the money to Shoppers and purchase a Thanksgiving meal and other food for a needy family and then they deliver it to the family.  They were 3 of 700 volunteers who raised over $53,000 for families in need in 1 day!  It was amazing!!!

They posed with Kylie at 6:45am before heading out!

Dan got to drive Megan's friends around, too!

Dan, Megan and Jack headed out to dinner

Jack loved the snacks they had there at the end of the day!

Meanwhile, Bugga and I headed to the Amish Market in Germantown, MD with Grammy and Grandad!  It was Kylie's first time and because it was a Saturday, it was packed!  Kylie and Grandad each got a donut to make sure they weren't hungry :)

And later that night, I got to snuggle Bugga (in Megan's bed) to sleep!

Jack's Decades Concert

Jack had a Decades Concert and did a great job!  All the kids in his grade performed songs from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000's and Now :)  Surfin USA, Jailhouse Rock, Imagine, Blackbird, Man in the Mirror, Wonderwall, Shake it Off - so fun!

He did a great job singing and dancing and doing the moves :)

We had a blast getting to watch him!

Grammy and Grandad came to cheer him on!

Ben and Jack

Dan's Promotion!

Dan got a promotion at work!  We are so proud of him and all his hard work leading up to it!

The night he was notified, Megan and I made him banana pudding for dessert as a special treat :)  Homemade whipped cream and everything...

He celebrated with some scotch that his buddy gave him for his birthday :)

We took Dan out to celebrate later on the next week to Sweetwater Tavern!  The little kids had never been there, so they were excited to go!  We all dressed up nice to celebrate Dan and had a great time!

Our family waiting to be seated

Me and my promoted Tweeter

And a quick family selfie in the dark after dinner!

Late Fall Fun

We got to swing by and see Mary and Sarah briefly after Mary's soccer game!  I love that Kylie and Mary get along so well!  (and Sarah, too!)

Megan, Jack and I cheering Bugga on at her soccer game - it was so cold!

Brunch out with my Tweeter on Veteran's Day!  Yay for him being off and the kids having school!

I love this guy!

Megan and Mary Kate fooling around on my phone

Cutie Bugga with Megan's captions

Me and Megan

Snuggled up Beau into a little ball by the couch

Our sweet Bugga got to get her eyes examined and dilated (hence the glasses) and she's getting glasses!  She can't wait!

Abby's Volleyball Team

We enjoyed cheering on our niece, Abby, this fall on her volleyball team!  I think we got the chance to go to maybe 6 games - 1 early on in the season and then 4 at the end and 1 we watched on live internet streaming!  They had a great season, were featured in the Washington Post and made it to the semi-finals of States!

Abby, Grammy and Grandad

Abby's Nana overcome with excitement and Nana Boo (who's 91) cheering on Abby!

Volleyball selfie so we could text it to Hannah at college!

Max and Kylie having fun cheering on their big cousin!

And playing awesome!

Jack's Spy Museum Field Trip

Jack had a field trip to the International Spy Museum and Dan got to go as his chaperone!  They had a BLAST and had a great group of kids.  Jack's favorite thing were the tunnels through the museum air system so you can get from one room to another secretly :)

Group Selfie

Kids

Ninjas

Phone bugging techniques

Listening

Jack

Eating lunch outside in DC

With the National Archives behind them

Posing with cool Coast Guard posters

Ben and Jack - good buddies

Fun picture

And trying some fun things on in the gift shop!