The Magic that is November!

Who says Christmas season doesn't begin until the day after Thanksgiving? Well, most people and actually ME included, but it is hard. Once Halloween is over and the stores and malls are lined with all the season has to offer, it is hard to just forget for another month. We did make November count, though, it was a good month.

Earlier in November, we got to meet some good friends The Sebras downtown in San Francisco for dinner. We ate on the 7th floor of Macys in Union Square at Chef Hubert Keller's new restaurant Burger Bar. The view was fantastic, overlooking Union Square Park with outdoor ice skating and Saks Fifth Avenue...and Starlight Lounge ;) They were also setting up the big Christmas tree, you can see it in the photos, undecorated.
We dined on really good burgers and fries, then splurged on shakes, it was fun. I will really miss them when they move :(

Reagan spouts new creativity all the time. She loves to play with playdough every day. She uses our cookie cutters to make new sculptures that usually consist of Christmas trees or Mickey Mouse. I actually hate it, I pick it out of the carpet or Nolan's mouth on a daily basis, but I can't stifle her artistic urges, so we just continue on. A present of new playdough sits under our tree now, unbeknownst to her, and I labeled it from "DAD" only, since I truly do hate this stuff.

One day I did my hair in a braid, my lazy hairstyle, and she wanted one, too. I think it looked so cute in her hair, it is sure getting long.

When "Noly-bubs" wakes up from his naps, Reagan loves to go in and yell "HI" really loud. If it has been a succesfully long nap, he is happy with that. If his nap has been cut short, he doesn't like her loud voice. Howevs, one day she hopped into his crib, which delighted them both and mom had to grab the camera.

He has such a sweet face and BIG blue eyes! Cute story: Reagan had a couple of days there where she wanted to have blue eyes like Nolan and some of her friends. When I would explain to her that she has beautiful brown eyes, she did not like that at all. She kept asking for blue eyes (I tried not to laugh). Then one day she brought me her doll of June from Little Einsteins. "Look mom, she has brown eyes!!" Suddenly, she was ecstatic to have them. End of story.

The day after Thanksgiving is when our Christmas decor comes out from hiding. I love to pull this one out: our Little People Christmas Nativity.

We had just a little bit of rain this month, mostly clear sunny skies, though. Reagan really wanted to use the umbrella, so after convincing her that riding her bike out in the rain while holding the umbrella just wouldn't work, she settled on this...for about 30 seconds! :)

The day before Thanksgiving, I sent Matt out to Costco for some milk and eggs. He came home with a Christmas tree and an Ipod. My entire Christmas!! Thanks, Matt. We do love having a huge, yummy smelling tree, but man, what a MESS!!! And I am praying that it isn't shriveled and dead by Christmas.

I recently bought a sewing machine, I am attempting to learn to sew. I am pretty excited about this prospect, my future projects far exceed my abilities, but we shall see. This tree skirt below gave me a little boost of confidence. Yeah, homies, that is right, I MADE this thing!

We also had a really great Thanksgiving. This is the first Turkey day in quite a while that we weren't with family, but we got to spend it with the Muhlestein/Oleole/Hart family and you know, being around a large family with all the craziness it has to offer, really helped keep the homesickness at bay. We had a great time and had deep fried turkey, HOLLA!! It was so good, and I won't be having withdrawals of my dads deep friend turkey this year. I rolled out of bed on black Friday around 5 am and got most of my kids shopping done by 9am. Now I feel like I have a REALLY long time to wait until Christmas. Love to all.