Where Has November Gone?

I'm sitting here on December 5th wondering where November has gone.  I've blinked and the month has passed by.  There has been a lot happening, but I have to say that I must have left the camera on hold just like my blog.  I just don't have many pictures from this month.  I need to do better in December!

Ok, so major things happening in November:

• Teddy's cousin Ann and her boyfriend Bob got engaged!  We already have our calendars marked for the big event in 2012, and we were able to wish them well and offer our best wishes and congratulations to the happy couple at their engagement party.  It was a great party with drinks, food family, and of course the Bears game.  This is an event where we slacked in the photo department, but apparently we weren't alone because there were no pictures I could steal from facebook!  Darn it. 
• Another fun activity for November has been the Bears. No, we haven't gone to any games, but we did hang out with the Bealls to watch. And bonus, I actually have some pictures from this!
  
  
  

Here's Carson walking his way around the couch.  I predict he'll be running by Christmas  

Here' the smiley guy is again, and I can validate, he will cry for food.  More on that later.

Kris with his little man

Emily and I making up.  She wasn't very happy with Teddy and I.  As she came over to surprise us for Halloween, and we didn't answer the door.  She wanted tricks or treats, and we weren't home to give them to her.  But we hugged it out.

See!  All's good with the little stinker
• We also spent a Saturday at Jim and Michelle's house watching the Illinois/Northwestern game at played at Wrigley Field.  I'm so glad we decided to not get tickets and go to the game because ridiculousness ensued and they ended up only being able to use one end zone due to safety concerns about the other end zone being too close to a brick wall.  We had a great time watching the game with them and their family.  Jim made some delicious chili, and we cheered on the Illini, while they brought in the win. 
• November also brings Thanksgiving.  This year we spent Thanksgiving Day with Teddy's family at Aunt Donna and Uncle Terry's house.  Beth and Daniel made it home for the holiday, and Penny was in town to celebrate as well.  It was so great to catch up and spend time with them since we don't see them very often.  We had a lot of fun talking, laughing and of course eating some delicious turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and the rest of the fixin's.  I especially had fun feeding Carson a whole piece of pumpkin pie.  It wasn't a small one either.  I was waiting for his eyes to turn orange from getting filled to the brim with the yummy filling!  And I have no idea where the camera was on this. 
• The day after Thanksgiving Teddy and I braved the stores and got about 80% of our Christmas shopping done.  There were great deals to be had everywhere.  Later that afternoon we headed to my mom and dad's to do our annual tradition of putting up their Christmas tree.  Luckily, my sister has posted pictures for me to steal from this activity.

Teddy, Michael and me working on the lights

I'm helping mom with the ribbon here

The foreman and supervisor observing the activities

Next up was the ornaments

Finally, dad got his train going

Here it is all lit up, with 36 years of memories filling it

Dad also showed off his skills in exterior lumination.  He's taught us everything we know. 

• Then the Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed out for a holiday dinner with Teddy's mom's family, the Denson clan.  We all piled in cars and headed to Edwin and Sharon's place for some yummy dinner and good company.  In preparation for the dinner, Teddy and I decided to make some gingerbread cookies trying out our new Star Wars cookie cutters Edwin and Sharon gave us for a wedding gift.  Here are some pictures of us pulling that together.

Teddy cutting out the cookies from the dough

Getting ready for the oven

Teddy working on the frosting

His finished Yoda's

My finished Darth Vaders and Storm Troopers (Teddy's turned out a lot better - I could never be a pastry chef!)

• The cookies turned out ok.  We put the spices in too late, so some of them were super spicy, some not at all and some were just right.  They also were a little bit too crispy.  You needed some strong teeth to get these guys eaten.  But we brought them along to the Denson Thanksgiving and people were very kind in saying they were good.  We had some fun playing games with Lawrence who is quite the competitor!  He even entertained us all with some charades for a while.  I think he could be an actor some day. 
• On the Sunday after Thanksgiving Teddy and I headed into Chicago to go see Harry Potter at IMAX with Nilam.  We grabbed some lunch at Navy Pier beforehand and then saw the movie.  It was so good!  They for once stayed pretty true to the book and I can't wait for the last one to come out.  I also was so glad we went to see it at the IMAX.  It seems to suck you right into the screen and made the movie really intense.  There was one part where the snake jumps out and I think the whole audience had to be pealed off the ceiling from being startled.  There were a lot of chuckles of laughter throughout the audience after that scene!

So, that was pretty much the rest of our November.  Lot's of time with family, and I'm looking forward to more of that to come in December.