Christmas is Coming

The day after Thanksgiving, the kids and I decorated for Christmas.  It's nice to have it all done early.

Lydia and I went for a Girls Night Out to the Nutcracker Ballet performed by the Los Angeles Ballet.  To prepare we read the book together so that we could follow the story line. I'm so glad we did and it was such a fun evening.  We went to dinner at Black Bear Diner first, then headed to the theater.

It was so fun to hang out with her.

The ballet was wonderful and Lydia was dancing all the way to the car afterwards! 

Thanksgiving

It was nice to have all the kids home for the week of Thanksgiving.  We went to Knott's for a few hours, but mostly stayed home and relaxed.

Lydi helped me make the pies.  I learned how to make pie crust at RS last month and was excited to try it out.  We made a pumpkin pie and a French apple cranberry pie.  

Brian had a busy work week, but was able to join us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Brian's Birthday

We celebrated Brian's birthday yesterday. He requested his usual pumpkin bars for his cake and ribs with cheesy potatoes for dinner.  We are grateful for his hard work and example in our family.

Catherine likes to find pictures of Brian during the day when he's not home.  She will carry them around and look at them fondly.  When he comes home, she races to give him a hug.  It's pretty cute that she's so smitten.

Awards

Both Lydia and Robbie earned their AR medal for he first trimester.

Robbie is also on the High Honor Roll.

We are so proud of their hard work!

Halloween

On Halloween, we went to the school Halloween parade.  This year we had 3 kids in it!

Tom-Black Power Ranger

Lydi-witch

Rob-skeleton

Lydia's class had their class party right after the parade so I got to stay and help out.

Then we came back at the end of the day to help at Robbie's class party.  He's playing football with friends at the end of the party.

That evening we went to some friends house for pizza and then they all joined us in our neighborhood to trick or treat.  It was fun to have a big group.