I’m sorry, HOW is it already almost December? This has been a year for sure.

Before I get into it, we finally got our family photos back! Oh, they turned out so great (not that I had any doubts).

November was calm(er).

The first full week saw Little Man and myself flying solo since the Mister was in Texas for the 2nd annual Save Our Soldiers Disc Golf Tournament hosted by Bogey Free Club. This is the same trip he took last year, so we knew he’d have a great time.

While gone, they did a lot of yoga, potted plants, glass blowing, toured Baylor University, played pickleball, and, of course, disc golfed.

We were thrilled to have him home again — even though we kept ourselves busy with preschool, speech, and a trip to the vet so the pups could get their updated vaccines.

We also took advantage of the warm early November weather and played out in the leaves quite a bit.

We celebrated Roxie’s first birthday on the 15th.

This dog has been such a ride in the short few months we’ve had her. She is too smart for her own good and has moments that are just infuriating…followed by the sweetest snuggles. Despite her obnoxious behavior at times, she is such a great addition to the pack.

We started to get into the holiday spirit (or tried to in preparation for our annual Santa visit) with a mini Christmas village sensory bin from Sunny Day Studios.

These weren’t done at the studio, so I get to sweep a lot of sand in my house now – ha! He’s pretty good about keeping it in the bin, but sometimes, he forgets to be careful. He really loves this one.

Sunny Day also had a construction make-and-take that unfortunately took place on a preschool morning. But I was able to pick up a kit to surprise Little Man with.

Little Man had several DIY workshops this month. Home Depot offered 2, and Lowes had their usual one. Lots of running on the weekends but he enjoys them so we don’t mind. Daddy had to miss the 2nd Home Depot workshop because he had staff duty on Black Friday and needed to sleep. But Mommy and Little Man still went, and we did pretty well, I think.

Little Man had his Thanksgiving party at preschool and I made mini brownies for it. It was a bit of a learning curve with the mini brownie pan, but they only sent home a few so they must’ve been a hit!

He’s been super busy at school. There’s a huge stack of crafts from the past few weeks and we’ve seen so many cute photos from his classroom.

We do have a new possibility in the speech department. We saw a different therapist for a few visits and she suggested that maybe Little Man’s adenoids might be causing some issues that could affect his speech. We’ve all been battling sinus issues for what seems like weeks so I didn’t think anything of it. But the way she explained it made a lot of sense and if they are causing problems with hearing/ breathing/speech, it’s definitely worth checking into.

His audiologist did say he had pressure behind his ears that could be making things sound muffled, so when the therapist said that could make things sound like you’re underwater, it all kind of clicked. At any rate, he is scheduled for a follow-up visit to the ENT next month. At this point, I’m looking at all the possibilities and trying to get him the help he needs. He’s a chatterbox and I don’t want anything holding him back since we’re already playing catch up.

We’ve also broken out the inflatables for the holidays. I didn’t want to put them up just yet, but the boy insists on having them all up and running.

We started with the small Bluey and then saw the Bingo. Since our Walmarts didn’t have them in stock/wouldn’t ship, my cousin Michele found us one in Kansas City and mailed it to us.

I didn’t look closely enough at the dimensions. So when Bingo arrived we had to try her out…only to find she was WAY bigger. Since we can’t have Bingo being bigger than Bluey, I was lucky enough to find the matching sized Bluey at one of the local Walmarts.

Do we need 3 inflatables? Absolutely not. But it makes Little Man happy and that’s worth it. Holiday magic is something I want him to hang on to as long as possible so we try to do extra special things this time of year to hopefully give him great memories.

Thanksgiving was fairly low-key. Usually, my mom comes, but this year, she went to my sister’s in Colorado. I still cooked too big of a meal for the three of us, but it’s what I do.

The last week of the month saw us back to a more normal routine of speech and preschool. The weather also suddenly remembered it was November and the temperature dipped to a more seasonal feel.

I seriously can’t believe December is so close. This whole year seemed to go really fast and excruciatingly slow at the same time. While I’m not at all prepared for the holidays, I am looking forward to them.

We don’t have a whole lot set in stone for December, though. The Mister isn’t taking a lot of time off (maybe 4 days), so we won’t be traveling.

We have the annual Santa photos for Little Man (and hopefully the dogs) and the German Christmas Market at Christ Lutheran Church for sure, along with Lowes/Home Depot workshops.

We will try to see Zoolumination at the Nashville Zoo again as well as check out the lights for Christmas on the Cumberland, but I don’t have specifics figured out yet since I’m not 100% sure when/if my parents are coming and they’d like to see those I think.

Little Man gets quite a bit of time off from preschool; his last two days are nothing but Christmas parties and their Christmas program.

Ugh, just thinking about all the prep work is making me antsy (I haven’t even started gifts for his teachers/speech therapist), nevermind getting my house picked up enough to get the tree up! But I’m already planning activities. Good grief. Haha.

I suppose I’ll manage. One day at a time, right?

Until then,