Thanksgiving Left-overs

This is what we had for dinner tonight.  

Turkey, Ham, Cornbread Sausage Dressing, and Orange Cranberry Sauce Sandwich.

YUM!

Our First REAL Christmas Tree

At our house in Texas we had an entryway with tall ceilings and for 7 years we put up our 12' tree.  It was always a lot of work but we loved it!!

We were sad to do it but sold the tree before we moved to California.  We knew we would either have to buy a new artificial tree or try something new for our family.  When I was in high school, living in California, we had a  few years with real Christmas trees and have good memories of them.  We decided to do a little tree hunting and go for a "real" tree this year!

We stopped at a few tree farms in the area and finally decided on a tree because of the specific size and place it will need to go in our apartment.  

We had some fun taking some pictures.

We decided on this Douglas Fur.

They tied it on our car.  [I've never had a tree tied to my car before.]

Here is the tree set up and ready for lights.

Here is the tree with lights and a little munchin that wanted to be in the picture. 

We have to go to the storage building to get the rest of the decorations.  I will post more pictures with the rest of the decorations. 

Where is Marshall?

The first thing I heard this morning was "Mommy, can I go look for Marshall"?  Of course.  He came running back in whispering and laughing at the same time telling me about what he found. 

I love this sweet sweet little boy!

Marshall and Mickey Mouse Pajamas

Friday we didn't do a lot of shopping but we did get out with the crowds to see if there were any sales we couldn't pass up.  We checked off a few things from our Christmas list but not much.  When we arrived back home, there was a friend waiting for the kids.  

Nathan was very excited to see Marshall (our Elf on the Shelf) and couldn't wait to see where he landed in the morning.  

Whenever we are out at a mall one stop we ALWAYS have to make is the Disney Store.  These two LOVE the Disney Store!

We found these cute coordinating Mickey and Minnie Mouse pajamas.  They couldn't wait to get in them when we got home.

So excited to start ALL THINGS CHRISTMAS!

Thanksgiving

We met Ryan's parents and his sister's family in Prunedale for Thanksgiving.  Lauren hosted at her house this year.  I wasn't good about taking pictures.  I did manage to click a couple before we left of my two turkeys and highjacked a picture of the lovely table from Lauren's facebook page.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope everyone had a wonderful day!

Dorito Burrito

Anistyn is a very picky eater!  We went to Taco Bell and she made up her own meal.

She has decided the best way to eat at Taco Bell is to wrap her dorito in the tortilla - Dorito Burrito! 

Here is Nathan with his bean burrito and bag of doritos.

Donuts with Daddy...

Last week was a bit strange for Nathan and his school schedule.  His normal school schedule is from 11:30 to 2:50 but because of teacher meetings on Wednesday and early release on Friday, he had class during the early session on these days which is from 8:10 to 11:20.  Ryan took him to school these two days on his way to work.  They decided to stop by the donut shop before heading to school.

We decided this would be a good outing for Daddy and the kids once a week.  The kids are looking forward to it!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Nathan turned 6 on Tuesday, November 6th.  We had a week long celebration.

On the Saturday before his birthday we went to see Wreck-it-Ralph.  It was a cute movie and a fun way to kick off the festivities.

On Tuesday we went to a family dinner at Red Robin before going to meet our friends for small group and the kids got to play.

They sang to him and he didn't know quite how to act but he liked that they brought him a sundae.

Saturday was the Chuck-E-Cheese family party.  

Nathan's Grandma M and Grandpa Gerbrandt

Nathan's cousin, Grayson

Lauren and Ethan

Nathan was so excited about his cake!

When we left Chuck-E-Cheese in Gilroy we went by the Target so Nathan could spend his gift card and then on the way home we made a few stops...

I found a Hobby Lobby in Morgan Hill so we had to stop.  For a few minutes I felt like we were in Texas.  I will have to go back. 

We had to stop at the two story Chuck-E-Cheese in San Jose to spend the rest of our tokens.  

This little sweet girl missed her nap and fell asleep on the way home. 

Happy Birthday Nathan!  We love you so much!

Holiday

Nathan had Monday off because of Veteran's day so we headed to San Francisco for the afternoon.  We went to the mall downtown that has 8 floors.  The kids were so excited when we walked in!

We had fun riding the escalators.  We rode all the way to the top.

and then back down.

This is at the top.

This is the view from the top down.

We headed outside and then went to a few other places and had to stop by the Disney store and then ended up at Macy's.  Holiday Lane was on the 7th floor so we went up to the top to see the Christmas decorations.  When we got to the top we found an ice skating rink and the big Christmas Tree in the view from the big window.

It wasn't cold but Anistyn wanted to wear her coat.

The pictures are a little gray because they had a big scrim hanging down with Brad Pitts face on it.  This is funny because Nathan has started saying, "Hey look.  It's the boring guy from the TV." every time he sees the new Chanel ads.

 

We took a little break here before we were off to find the car. (The girl never stops moving!)

It was a fun afternoon in the city!!

Potty Training

We have been talking about going to the potty and being a big girl.  She goes and sits but not much else.  We picked up some Dora panties this weekend.  Hopefully they will help her get the hang of it.

Handmade

When we were little my Great-Grandma, we called her Othermama, and my Grandma would make dresses and coats for me and Stephanie.  Some have been lost but we were lucky enough to hang on to a few of them.  Anistyn was able to wear one of our coats to church this morning.  I have a few more in her closet we are hoping she will be able to wear.

Leslie