November to remember...

Is it really already the Christmas season???  Still not sure what happened to November but there were too many sweet highlights to have it slip by without mention. Especially at the end of the month in our whirlwind Thanksgiving trip where we got to see Mee-Maw & Grandpa, Aunt Kim, and Nana & Pop-Pop!  

The first few weekends were pretty filled with church and service events, including a fun volunteer opportunity that our church community group did together at the World Vision Storehouse, packing up meal kits for victims of Hurricane Sandy.  It will still be a long, slow process of recovery for those hardest hit- please continue to pray for these areas!

Some other notable moments from this past month (with pictures!) include lots of fun with animals at one of Maelee's favorite places, The Art Farm in the City:

With Crikey, the bearded dragon

With Angela, the blue-tongued skink (may she rest in peace... sniff)

With Peanut, the guinea pig

And the transition to her big girl bed!!! We finally took the plunge and are very thankful that for the most part, she has stayed put!

Loving the new-found freedom to just climb right in :)

And out!

Then the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we made the daring mid-afternoon bus ride to DC.  We couldn't leave earlier but we were quite nervous given our daughter pretty regularly naps from about 1:30-3:30pm and NEVER naps in a car.  Or on the bus.  Or train.  Or in the stroller. Etc.  Sigh...

It was a long trip but we are grateful it went well and Maelee was pretty occupied with books, games, and some life-saving videos.  (Thank you, Little Einsteins, Dora, and Christmas Classics!) We stayed the night at my folks in VA and then made an even longer trip down to NC to see Steve's parents and sister.  Travel on the day before Thanksgiving is never a breeze, but with a 2 year old who doesn't nap in any sort of moving contraption?  Whew.  Those were a long 7 hours,  but again, she really did great all things considered and we were singing the car dvd player's praises!!!  And were even more grateful to enjoy a few days in North Carolina...

With a sweet and happy Thanksgiving day...

And some more special moments with family:

We came back from NC the following Sat and spent a couple days in VA with Nana & Pop-Pop before having to travel again.  More sweet times...

And getting our first tastes of the season at the National Harbor!

A little someone LOVED the train rides :)

Let the Christmas season begin!

And lastly, more pictures from November here: