November

I got to try a lot of new things in the kitchen this month.  I baked homemade wheat bread from scratch, for the first time!!! I didn't grind the wheat myself or anything, but still...Without an automatic mixer or anything. It was hard work but also very fun. I never thought I would be a person to make bread! I always thought it was way too complicated...but thanks to some lessons from friends, I realized I could do it. It's so cool to see the end result!  I also made a big batch of southern style pinto beans in the crock pot which we've been going through slowly (froze most of it).  

Most of my new kitchen creations came during weekends watching college football.  We watched a lot of games together this year, and of course rooted for the Aggies!  Grant got to sport his cool new jogging suit.

We also got to play outside a lot since it finally started cooling down.  Grant could play outside forever.  He cries whenever we have to go back inside.  It is very cute.

On Thanksgiving weekend we went to my parents' house and got to hang out with the family.  Grant really liked seeing all of his relatives and playing with all the dogs.  He kept following the dogs around everywhere.  He laid on them, petted them, chased them, and stole their toys.  It was funny to watch.

Then he wanted to play with the plants outside.  He was obsessed with these flower plants and started pulling off massive amounts of flowers.  Luckily, Nana didn't mind!

Then we headed to Bastrop.  We hadn't gotten to visit James' parents' property since the huge Texas fires affected the area.  They are very lucky that the center part of their property, where they are building a cabin and where their trailer is, did not get burned.  However, most of the trees and plants were destroyed.  Here is what it looked like.

This was really crazy.  Parts of the fire were so incredibly hot that they actually burned the roots underneath the ground...even the entire length of the branched roots.  Here are the empty holes...crazy!

 Grant was in heaven playing out there.  He loved the wide open spaces, but mostly he was obsessed with this little pebble pit.  He kept shoveling rocks into containers and dumping them out over and over again.  Amazing the things that keep kids entertained.

We also got to help saw some fallen trees.  We cut up a cedar tree into slices to make a path to the cabin.  I think it makes it look super cute.  Also Grandpa sawed another part of the cedar tree into a little chair for Grant.  In the process, Grandpa sliced his leg open but luckily he was okay. :)

 We ended the day by watching Scooby Doo in the cabin.  I love watching Grant and James hang out together.