Thanksgiving

 Roadtrip!

 The Pledge of Allegiance at Grandpa's

 Checking out Uncle Stan's trains

 Abby and Chuck playing Tinker-Toys

We had a fantastic trip to Cincinnati over Thanksgiving break!  The kids had fun playing at their Grandparents' houses and visiting with their Aunts and Uncles.  There was craft time, tree decorating, dinners, football parties, and Thanksgivings!  They were patient on the road trip and we are hoping for the same level of enthusiasm on our Christmas trip home.

E.N.T.

I took Alex to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor to address his recurring nosebleeds.  The wait in the room was ridiculously long so he was finding things to keep himself occupied.  At one point Alex even said "Mom, don't I need to get back to school??".  We followed up his nasal cauterization with lunch (breakfast for him apparently) at Panera, after which we promptly picked up Abby from preschool then raced Alex back to school.  So far so good on the nosebleeds, having had only one since the procedure in November.

Ready to Shop!

Don't you dress up to go Christmas shopping?

Alex at Gymnastics

This fall, Alex enjoyed taking gymnastics.  He's come a long way and was recently moved up again to level 3/4.  We are going to take a little break from gymnastics while the facility gets their act together.  It is an extremely popular "Olympic Training Facility" and honestly is overcrowded to the point where Abby and I have nowhere to sit and watch him.  I'm not comfortable leaving him there for an hour either, due to the chaos.  They recently announced that they are expanding, which will hopefully include expanding the waiting area to accommodate the hundreds of parents who are just standing around.  

Tennis, on the other hand, is a very relaxed environment and the instructor, Coach Tom, is great with the 7/8 year olds.  He keeps things light and fun and there is plenty of room for us to sit and watch him practice.  Unfortunately he's on the farthest court from where the parents are so I have no photos of him in action.   

On the Playground

We definitely had some nice warm weekends in November.  Here we are taking a break from leaf raking/mulching to enjoy the sun at the school playground!

Family Pictures

My friend Amie took a few (lots and lots) pictures of us at a local park one November afternoon.  It was kind of a gray day, but they are still cute keepsakes!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

My darling husband and sweet children took me out to dinner Saturday night for my birthday.  We hadn't been to P.F.Chang's in ages and it was delicious!

Alex even discovered that he loves chicken with sweet and sour sauce, who knew?!  By the time I got home from working in the church nursery tonight, they had baked me brownies and dinner was waiting.  It was such a treat!