January

 We escaped Floor 23. Nicely themed but lame puzzles.

Silas went to the orthodontist for the first time. It was like the Disneyland of dentistry and had better service than Chick-fila. I guess they are gearing us up for spending lots of money in the future but they gave us swag and everything is free until they actually put any hardware in his mouth which looks like will be around 12. They had the whole place done up like little Italy and apparently the theme changes every season. I am a fan so far. Plus we got this flaming face pic!

We kept the cousins for a weekend and went bowling, ate a 10 pound bag of carrots, and got Gramps to play Super Smash Bros. We also got to see Ian's school museum and his Tower of Babel.

Slushies compliments of Gigi!

December

 Santa on a firetruck. Rather blarey, but a cute neighborhood tradition. (Not ours, we crashed.)

Lacy and Lizzy spent a weekend. Lots of Stratego, crafts, and lights. Unfortunately "Last Christmas" got much too much air time. 

Yearly cookies with Meemaw. Probably the last year because we used copious amounts of sprinkles and contaminated the whole batch with a stomach virus.

 

Christmas was fun. I feel like it wrapped up an entire life phase because I had definitely been shopping since October. After all the curating, Rory's favorite gifts were all from outside the household. Silas got a pocket knife, a safety lecture, and then a bloody finger all in a five minute window. 

 

The sons and I made a quick trip to Missouri to see some faces we missed in the summer. This gas station parking lot snow might be all we see this year. My GPS sabotaged me and took me to Kentucky to board a ferry that was not in operation. Turns out there is no other way to cross the Mississippi River from that state. It felt like a very odd situation to be in in the modern day. We were listening to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer for the ride, so I guess in some ways it was on theme.  

 

Got to see my aunt and Grandma and cousin's family. The boys loved Grandma's dump-you-out chair. It is now on Rory's next year's Christmas list.

(Edit: This ended up being the last time I saw Grandma. She was a little lost during the visit, but when she saw me she said to the nurse, "That's my Jessie!" I will treasure it forever. So glad to be hers.)

Went to an 80's arcade with Trevor and Gigi for pinball and air hockey and saw this display at Chateau on the Lake.

This might be as close to seeing our cove beaver as I ever get.

 

Shelly and Doll-doll came for calzones.

This car picture was taken on the trip home at the moment Rory was saying if we had only driven out of the way for the Sonic he wanted to go to it would have been faster than the wait we were enduring in the McDonald's drive-thru. Still, there was no ferry so the ride home was a win!

 

New Year's Eve with the Hofts. Bingo!

November

Pumpkin crafting.

Dates! Rory and Dad went to Frankie's and 5 Below. Silas and I went to Altitude and Blaze. 

 

Silas had a class trip to the planetarium at the State Museum.

Got to see Hannah swim at USC!

We went back to Hilton Head for Thanksgiving. The folks and brothers had an exciting time watching Trenton march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

 

Christmas Prep! The Friendly Beast masks are still getting some love. Perler bead Santa with a very long mustache.

A Christmas Story at Towne Theater.