Rest of November...?

Pretty much that's what this post is. We have been SO. BUSY!!!

November 20 was Drive-In Movie night at church for the Awana Sparkies. Brian made the car per Austin's specifications. Austin wanted all the windows and openings where they ended up. He wanted it painted green (we had a small kitchen wall painted that green in our old house!). He wanted #35 in red. I cut the 3s and 5s with my Cricut. It's coming in handy... :) Austin came home from school that Friday night and said he and Cooper wanted to sit right next to each other at movie night. That's Cooper's white car. Cooper is in Austin's class at school.

The Sparkies have a parade of cars around the gym before the movie, pushing the cars around the floor. Brian went to help out--serve popcorn and lemonade, and help supervise--so he took these pictures. Neither he nor Austin remembered the name of the movie that night. Ha ha. Austin and Lauren played with the car out in our backyard several times. It's still sitting out there, but now it's all collapsed because we've had quite a bit of rain.

November 20, Julia and Austin were vaccinated for H1N1 at school. They got the nasal mist, and it was free. I did hours of research beforehand, and we decided to have them get it. The only thing I don't like, is, they both need a booster vaccination later this month, and the school isn't doing those. Which makes it a little more difficult. Our doctor isn't doing the boosters either. Maybe the health dept. ??? Lauren and Caroline were vaccinated for H1N1 Dec. 4 at the doctor; they each received the shot and won't need a booster.

Also November 20, my mom and dad arrived at our house to spend a week with us. Julia and Austin got the whole week of Thanksgiving off from school, and Brian took it off from work. My mom's dad sent his electric Christmas train with my mom and dad to give to us. He said he wanted my kids to have it. They always enjoyed seeing it at his house when we visited them. My dad set the train up Saturday morning, and I think he enjoyed it as much, if not more than, the kids!! He needs one of his own!

Julia and Austin worked a couple puzzles with my mom and dad.

Monday we went to Montana de Oro for a short hike. It was SO windy, I think we were all glad the hike was short!

After the hike we went down on the beach and hunted for pretty rocks and shells. It was nice on the beach--not windy at all, and pleasant and warm. Pleasant that is, until two dogs (unleashed GRrrr!!) bounded over to us and climbed on some of us. I was glad I was standing up at that point.

Sweet sisters. Lauren started coming down with a cold that night. She was sick on Tuesday with a fever, and just really tired. She, Caroline, and I stayed home while the rest of the group headed off to Pismo Beach to the Monarch butterfly grove. Caroline's pants were a little big...

Brian took the next two pictures: some of the Monarchs. They come to our area for the winter.

After the walk through the butterfly grove, they all walked through the campground to the sand dunes.

No pictures from Wednesday. Too busy! Ha! My mom made all the pies for our feast the next day. Brian, my dad and Caroline ran to Vons to buy a pie dish, because I only had two, and she was making three pies. I chopped up all the vegetables for our stuffing and salad. That night we went to the Thanksgiving service at church. And had a piece of pumpkin pie afterwards.

Thanksgiving Day:

We had someone there to take a family picture, so of course I made sure that happened!

I photographed these four faces like this last year; so thought I should do it again this year. Maybe I should do it every year! Can't you just see Julia at 18, Austin 16, Lauren 13, and Caroline 10, doing this? Yeah, right. Brian carved our turkey...

Almost time to dig in! Of course all the food was delicious! We ate: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli salad, orange cream fruit salad, cranberries, and a relish tray. I'd bought a 22+ pound turkey, so we had a lot of leftovers. After the side dishes were all gone, I made a huge dish of turkey tetrazzini one night. Yummy! It's a recipe a friend made for us when Julia was born.

We went on a walk that night. Much needed after all that food. ;)

Friday night we put up our two faux firs. The kids did most of the decorating. They love it! It was all just magical for Caroline. She couldn't stop staring at the trees and couldn't keep her hands off the ornaments. Even now, two weeks later, we'll see her carting off with ornaments. She especially likes a stuffed bear, the big kids' felt Cubbie bear ornaments, and little rattly ones.

My mom and dad left to go home Saturday morning, November 28. It was the first time we've celebrated Thanksgiving with them at our house. My dad caught Lauren's bad cold, so that made driving home not as nice. We enjoyed having them here! My mom knit each kid a new pair of warm socks, and started on a pair for me.