Election Day 2020! Trump vs. Biden. What a crazy, crazy election. I hope we never have another one like it! Because of COVID, there were lots of people doing early voting and lots of people doing mail-in voting. At the end of the day, it looked like Trump was barely going to squeak by into his second term, BUT as they continued to count absentee ballots that were mailed in over the next few days, those swing states went to Biden and he was declared the projected winner. Of course, there was lots of accusations of fraud, and Trump began suing the states that had declared Biden the winner after counting the mail-in ballots. Supposedly Biden will be sworn in in January... we shall see!
Standing in line to vote... everyone at least 6 feet apart and wearing masks:
Abstract Art at CC:
One day while Micah mowed grass at Riverwalk, Abby and Caleb and I went for a little walk and then sat by the water drawing and writing.
The cross-country state meet was the first Saturday in November in Boiling Springs almost 2 hours away. (We had to get up so early!)😆
It's nice when your BFF is your cousin so you can hang out at Grandma's together... :)
We took another hike at Anne Springs in mid-November, and it was so pretty!
While Caleb and Abby and I hiked, Micah ran 7 miles on the trails. Abby was so sweet to carry Micah's backpack and hat for him while he ran the loops.
This picture of Caleb reminds me of Gollum from Lord of the Rings trying to catch a fish...😆
Abby started practicing her "ballet positions" on the rocks by the water... :)
Julie (the new CC director) hosted our campus back on her property one day for a "Civil War field trip." The "Sons of the Confederacy" showed the kids what living circumstances were like for soldiers in the north and south and they showed off some of the artillery as well.
The lane we walked down to Julie's property was really pretty. :) Basically, the theme of November was, "Mom takes pictures of trees."
The picture I sent Ben when Abby wanted him to pick up her library book for her. :)
I don't even know....
Wednesday, November 18 was supposed to be the last day of Foundations and Essentials for first semester. HOWEVER, we found out that a girl in Micah's CC class came down with COVID two days after being in class with them on the 11th. (Her Mom got symptoms the night of CC on the 11th; thankfully her Mom wasn't at CC that day. Abby, the girl in Micah's class, came down with symptoms two days later on Friday. Usually, COVID is contagious 2-3 days before you show symptoms.) So, Micah's class was virtual only on the 18th, and Foundations and Essentials delayed their "week 12" until December 2. It was actually kind of great to have that last week of CC canceled before Thanksgiving. We quarantined (Ben even worked from home), and Micah got tested, so that the day before we left for Maryland, Micah had a negative COVID test result AND we had not been around people for about a week and a half. That made us feel a lot better about heading to Maryland, knowing we weren't bringing any COVID virus with us!
Since we were stuck at home, the kids decorated early for Christmas one night while I made dinner. They did the whole tree and most everything else by themselves (and then I cleaned up, of course!)
One of Caleb's "endearing qualities" lately - he likes to steal my phone and take selfies...
The cookie dough had been in the fridge overnight, so Caleb was supposed to get it out and let it soften enough to finish mixing the chocolate chips in by hand. Next thing you know...
This one is "Baby Yoda" from the Mandalorian...
Ben's work-from-home co-worker:
We got to go to Maryland!
Best part of the week... playing "fishbowl" with Grandpa! He had a bit of a hard time catching on to what he was supposed to do, but the entertainment value was priceless!
The "auctioneer" Dad was doing was actually him acting out "Billy Graham" 😂
We got to meet PIPER for the first time! The first great-grandchild! She was the sweetest, calmest baby! I think she was about three and a half months old here.
I caught a picture of her sneezing! 😄
