November

We had a great, but quiet Thanksgiving.  Our good friends the Vaughns, joined us for a day filled with yummy food and since Sam is such a great cook, we were not lacking on tasty delights.  My favorite, featured in the front white tupperware bowl that doesn't match the rest of the decor (too much food, not enough dishes--yet) is Cranberry Salad- a creamy, tart, sweet, crunchy mix all in one bite!  If you ever want the recipe, I might even share.  Oh, and how about those nice crystal glasses from our wedding, don't they pair perfectly with my fine paper china? At least there were less dishes to be washed in the end!

Thanksgiving weekend, we headed out for our first carriage ride of the season at a German festival not too far away.  We also ate yummy authentic-tasting food and I enjoyed the European gift shops.

It was cold, so hot chocolate hit the spot, but we were cheapskates and made our kids share but, after the pony rides how can you afford much more? j/k

My kids are into horse right now, well, actually pretty much all animals, but I'm trying to convince them, these are the best, partly b/c then we don't have to do the pet thing b/c horses are too expensive, so instead we can just hold out and watch the beautiful animals from a distance!  Oops, I guess if you read Decembers post, you know it's too late, I already lost.

So, it is hard to pick Jeana out in the pictures since everyone is about the same size, but yeah, this would be her basketball team.  The good thing is, she loves it, so she is fairly oblivious to her natural disadvantages.

The high school in their district was doing a fundraiser for a shop that buys and loans prom dresses and accessories to kids who can't afford them, so they set up a make-over for girls in the elementary schools doing make-up and hair, then walking a cat-walk for their parents to model their new look.  It was cute, but they decided for the next week they wanted to keep putting on make-up, luckily the fad didn't last much longer.

Jeana's 'home' make-over

Abby's 'home' make-over

A local indoor waterpark had a few free nights, so instead of paying $75 to take the three of us, we went after school one night and had a blast swimming in warm water in the middle of November--and again, you can't beat free!