November Randomness

Here's all the stuff we did in November, or at least all the stuff I've captured on my iPod.  Good thing for iPods, even if the pictures are craptastic:

 I turned 30.  Gross.  At least my birthday food wasn't gross.  Here's my birthday dinner at Jimmy Changas.  I love that place! But I hate that I'm 30.  And now that I'm officially old, I can wear the yoga pants Erik got me for my birthday and have bed head everyday and not care who sees, right?!
    

 Our super-sweet and ever-so-elusive neighbor gave us this awesome bed for Elisa!  She said she ordered a desk on Amazon warehouse and was sent this girly bed instead.  And since she has two boys, she just gave it to us!  Elisa begged and begged Erik to set it up and so he finally did--late at night and she fell asleep by the door waiting for him to finish!  Silly girl.  She love her new bed and so do I! I would never buy this bed because it is just way too expensive, but it sure is pretty!

 I made Elisa this dress for her preschool parade.  Turns out the parade got cancelled.  And blue and green are NOT the school colors--it was green and black. Whoops.  No loss though, I actually really like this dress on Elisa!

 Someone banged up her forehead really well at preschool. All things considered--being on aspirin (makes her bruise easily) and a previous bruise in the same spot--makes for one nasty-looking bump.  I've never seen a bump that big before!  It went away fast though.

  

 Christmas starts in November.  Who cares about Thanksgiving and being thankful. The kids were simultaneously amused and frighted by this singing/dancing Santa figure they met on the way out of Walmart.

 I took Elisa to Chuck-E-Cheese because I am waaaay too nice to her, haha. She got spoiled with lots of game-playing and prizes!

 I got to eat a Thanksgiving lunch with Gabe at his school.  He was so excited about it.  The food was okay.  I stood in line so long (should have gotten there sooner!) that I only had maybe 10 minutes to eat.  Elisa ate all of my pie and I just took the rest home.

Elisa learned how to ride a bike! (with training wheels).  After that she begged for a new bike for Christmas.  And yes, she did get a new bike, of course!

November was full of Elisa naughty days.  Several naughty slips from preschool and lots of fits and whinyness occurred during this month:

 She was pouting and crying because I wouldn't carry her down the stairs (pregnant and all).  This was all after we snuggled in my bed for a good half hour.  So no, she is not abused and neglected as she would lead you to believe.

 A few minutes later.  See?  All that whining and crying were just a big show.

 Another naughty slip

 More pouting about who-knows-what.

Caught red-handed eating ice cream on top of the island, which she got out of the freezer without permission.  Naughty, naughty, naughty girl!!

 I splurged this fall and bought her a jacket at goodwill for $2.  Then I embellished it with ruffles from fabric I've had in my stash for several years.  I really, really, REALLY wanted this coat for Elisa:

Darling!  However, $2 was more our price range rather than $60 + shipping.

 Elisa enjoys having her BFF Abby over to play.  They both enjoy dressing up and sucking their thumbs.

  November was also full of goof-ball-ness.  And near nudity.  Here is Elisa and her crazy lion mane and her socks-on-hands because she was "cold".  Lol.

 One of my b-day presents was Mod-podge.  I've always wanted to try it out but never bought it because it was an unnecessary purchase.  I had fun playing around with it and making a leaf-bowl since my only fall decoration has gone MIA.  The kids also helped make the paper chain.

 Gabe's Christmas list.  He loves to draw!


Thanksgiving was spent watching the Macy's parade and with friends.

The kids really enjoyed watching the parade, especially Gabe.
He saw Thomas and got all excited:

 The kids loved to dance along with the many dancers they saw:

 We had Thanksgiving dinner with out friends, the Archers.  The kids didn't eat too much.  They just wanted to play.  The adults enjoyed the yummy food, chatting, and playing games.

I spent most of the month planning the ward Christmas party since I am now 2nd counselor.  We chose The Nutcracker to be the theme, so what else could I do but order a 7-foot-tall nutcracker?!

I made the posters to go out in the foyers.  I made two of these...that was a lot of work!

This was only a fraction of the work that went into this ward Christmas party.  But that was that for November!