The rest of November . . . .

The week after my trip to San Francisco, I had the luxury of a day at home with no kids. I know Veteran's Day is about honoring our service members, but for me the day is a much needed time to get things done all by myself! I spent the day painting a wall in the kitchen, relaxing, and even doing some work for CREEC. Matt rewarded himself for holding down the fort without me with a concert and a night out with his friends on Wednesday. Luckily, I was super relaxed after my day off and had plenty of patience and fun to give the girls. We played peekaboo, made a huge mess in the playroom, and rocked to sleep

The dogs are so happy when I am home all day and the kids aren't

Painting time

Peek-a-boo!

I love lazy Saturdays with Matt and the girls. We drink coffee in the living room while the girls watch the neighbors out the front window and then do an activity or two, followed by a car nap. This Saturday we took the girls to play at Kensington Park. Ella is starting to really enjoy exploring the slides and activities at the park.

Madeline has had a list of activities she wants to do since September. She regularly dictates the list to me: Sea World, Beach, the Zoo, Train to the Carousel with Brennan or Joss or both (whoever is available and I need to call their moms right now), and a trip to the new park by our old house. Since Madi was able to cross off her zoo trip with Grandma T and Daddy, she requested a trip to Sea World after her swimming lesson the following week. It happened to be the first weekend of Sea World's holiday celebrations. We were able to see some San Diego snow, reindeer, and enjoy a quiet Sea World visit since most of the people were hanging out in Santa's Village.

Flip flops and snow? That's how we do it.

Ella had to see how the snow tasted

Turtle and fish viewing

Trees and Christmas music. I wasn't quite ready for this mid-November.

We have settled into a comfortable morning routine. The girls roll out of bed around 6:30 and must immediately eat since they seem to wake up starving. They like to watch some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while waiting for Matt and I to finish getting ready if they have time. It is so nice to be able to get ready without hauling Eleanor around now.

Madeline's new favorite place to eat is Sonic. We have gone a few football Sundays in a row while Matt is at the Chargers game. Basically, this is an awesome way for me to get Eleanor a long nap in the car and feed Madi at the same time. Madeline loves sitting in the front seat like a big girl wile she devours her corn dog and apple juice.

Yummy corndog

Ella has no fear. She likes to try to stand on the chairs now

Lani makes an awesome pillow

Thanksgiving week was so amazing. It was hot and gorgeous. Matt took the day before Thanksgiving off and we went to Mission Beach with the girls. This is why I live in San Diego!

Digging in the sand

Ella testing the water bucket

Post beach neighborhood watch

We spent a lovely Thanksgiving with Grandma Sue and Gramps at the club. None of us had to cook or clean . . . it was perfect! I stuffed myself with mashed potatoes and stuffing, Matt had multiple servings, and Madi got to eat french fries and nuggets. It was such a relaxing holiday! We met up with Auntie Nee in Carlsbad on the Saturday of the break. Madeline requested Ruby's so she could watch the trains and eat eggs. We followed up breakfast with some shoe shopping (Mama's favorite).

The girls had a great time helping Matt get our new patio furniture out of the boxes they were delivered in. After the chairs were outside, they played in the box for a while. Madi said it was her house and they should sleep in it.

Post-thanksgiving we started getting ready for Christmas! It was so much fun to decorate our house even though the decorations we have don't stretch nearly as far with a whole house as they did in a condo. Madeline and I took a quick trip to Target (her favorite store) to pick up some decorations for the outside. Our house looks so festive, I am unbelievably happy to be celebrating the holidays in a real size home!