Thanksgiving and Christmas Prep

11• 26 Thanksgiving dinner! I tried two pies (pumpkin and apple) which turned out pretty well. We had grandpa and Jim, a man from church, for our guests. Jim plays the banjo and treated us to a song before he headed home. Jim lives in the senior park behind us and was not invited to join his family for Thanksgiving this year. It was nice to have more at our table.

We got a jump on our Christmas card photos by snapping a photo on Thanksgiving. Turned out pretty cute (Thanks MacKenzie!)

11•29 Jenna also painted her nails a few days later to get ready for the coming month. Isn't she so talented?

Decorating for Fall

As I packed up the Halloween things there wasn't enough room to keep everything. I decided that the girls' Kindergarten items probably needed to go since they were starting to disintegrate. Before tossing them, I took a photo so I could remember their cuteness.  The spiders were from Kindergarten in Mrs. Crandall's class, and the pumpkins were from Ms. Dillon's class (2nd grade for Jenna, 3rd grade for Heather). I then piled the Thanksgiving decor on the fireplace which looked quite festive. I'm getting slower at decorating, but not sure why. I used to love it, but now the getting boxes out and putting them away seems daunting. I'll probably be purging more in the season to come so that there isn't quite so much stuff to deal with.

Jenna and Soccer Friends

Jenna was a tiger today running after the ball on the field. She can still pretty much run anyone down and get to the ball first. It's fun to watch her. Today we played a team that included our friends, Ellie and Grace. Everyone played well, and we got to gather and say hi after the game. Darrell and Rachel came to cheer on the twins, so we got to see them as well. Rachel and Jenna both played soccer for the first time together back when they were in U9 with coach Paul.

Heather's First Date

Caleb Holbrook took Heather on her first date tonight. Caleb is a childhood friend, and he was so sweet to ask her out. He turned 16 in October and had mentioned that if Heather hadn't had a date by the time he turned 16, he would take her out. And that he did! Jenna helped Heather with her make up, and the two left for dinner and a movie. They went to Johnny Rockets for Dinner and saw MockingJay Part 1 at Bella Terra. Heather said they talked a lot and had fun. We're so glad that Heather's first date was someone she knew well and could have fun with.

Soccer and Volleyball Transition

Jenna has started club volleyball as she is finishing soccer. She loves doing both, but it's busy. It will be sad to see her soccer era end, but we're excited to see how she does in volleyball!

November Tidbits

11•4 All of our prints from Judy's photo shoot arrived and are now in frames

 11•6 Southern CA has been on mandatory water restriction for a few weeks now. We can only water lawns twice a week, and many people have decided to let their lawns die. The huge, lovely green lawn at the Los Angeles temple is a reminder that we are in a serious drought situation. Kelly snapped this while driving by. It's hard to believe the grass has all died. Hopefully the drought won't last too long with the predicted rain this coming year.

11•12 It seems like we talk about weird weather a lot. We had late heat this summer which caused the Plumeria tree to bloom later. And now the cold weather is coming in little segments. This morning there was frost on the lawn under the blooms on the tree. The contrast was striking.

Kelly's Birthday

Kelly--the man, the myth, the legend--turned 52 today. We celebrated with ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins, favorite dinner and little gifts. We love our man.

Hamlet

Sheryl called us this evening to ask us if we would like to attend a screening of Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch. Her friends couldn't use their tickets because their kids got sick, and the play was streaming from London, a live production that was recorded for audiences. So Heather and I jumped right on this and were so excited! We went to the Irvine Barclay, and we might as well have been in London. The full screen recording of the live play was amazing. Every actor was amazing, and BC was divine. So much energy in his performance. How ever do they learn and memorize those lines??? What a treat this was!