november notes

And, in the blink of an eye, November is over! We've had a busy month... here are a few pictures of our November activities:

These photos were taken on the 8th, Ben's last day of gymnastics (for that session). He loves this class so much! Somersault on the balance beam (with some help from Miss Cindy):
Going up!
Flipping over:
One of his favorites, the trampoline:
On the evening of the 17th, we all attended the Swim Team Awards Banquet. This is Emm with her friend and teammate, Alyssa:
Several months ago, I agreed to take Emmalie and Nick to the midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1. At the time, I was thinking that it would be on a weekend or over Thanksgiving Break. It wasn't, though! It was midnight on a school night. George and I decided that we would still let the kids have this treat, especially since they have both been doing so well in school. Emm, Nick, and I arrived at the mall around 8pm. Having never been to a midnight premiere before, we had no idea when a line would start forming. It turned out we could've waited a bit (till 9 or even 10), but we had fun walking around the mall and snapping a few pictures:
Of course, Emmalie was all decked out in her Gryffindor gear, and Nick brought along his snowy owl:
We all enjoyed the movie, and we all managed to stay awake till we got home at 3 am.

We spent the next few days getting ready for Thanksgiving, and on the 24th, the first of our company arrived, George's mom and his brother Nathan. Fran brought me this beautiful Christmas cactus:

Mom, Dad, and Christine arrived on Thanksgiving Day, around noon. Then we feasted! :) We managed to squeeze everyone around the table... Ben and Christine: Mom, Emm, Dad, Nick, Fran:
Nick and Fran (again) and Nathan:
George and me:
When our tummies were full, I forced everyone to get in place for a group picture... :)
Later on, we played a rousing game of Pictionary... and spent much of the time laughing!

What was that about no hand gestures, Mom??

On the 26th, we had an early Christmas! Ben was very excited, and couldn't wait to open his presents. He had several big ones from Grandma Fran:
Nick:
Emm and Nathan:
Fran, Ben, and Mom:
Emm and Christine:
We spent the rest of the day playing games ~ Apples to Apples, TriBond, and Scribblish. Again, there was much laughter! :)

Our company all had to leave on Saturday, unfortunately. Mom, Dad, and Christine headed out early, but Fran and Nathan stayed till 1pm or so. Nick made pancakes for us, for breakfast:
And the boys arranged Ben's new Criss Cross Crash set so that it had additional thrills for the Hot Wheels cars... a ring of fire, a T-rex, a shark, a squid, and King Kong, LOL:
A new session of gymnastics started up this month, and Ben asked me to enroll him, so I did. We were surprised to find the gymnastics building all decked out for Christmas... too fun!

Now the month is over, and another busy one is set to start! 'Tis the season!