Thanksgiving with Grandma

 This year we were able to go see our 93 year old Grandma for Thanksgiving!  She is still doing so well for 93 years old!!!  She lives alone, walks her dog daily, and uses the dial a ride system to get around where she needs to go.  We are truly impressed at how independent this woman continues to be.  She had to give up her driver's license a year ago because she is legally blind in both of her eyes.  It was very hard for her to give up that independence. 

 We tried to take some pictures of Grandma with her dog so Aunt Linda could see.  Her other dog passed away a few months ago and she got this new dog which is believed to be about 5 or 6 years old.  Her name is Ginny and they think she came from a home where english was not spoken because this dog does not know any commands.  She is a well behaved mellow dog though. 

 Sticker Grandma pulled out some old pictures so I just had to post them.

I am on the right, when I was 15 years old.

 Sticker Grandma bought the girls a balloon making kit.  Alyssa is so good at making them!

Lazy day

 Sometimes they all get along and snuggle together..Lol

Pics for Christmas card

 We asked Alyssa to take some pics of Ed and I since we are rarely in pictures together.  I wasn't happy with the first picture so we went outside and kept trying.  Ed thought my hair looked better up. 

 Here is this year's Christmas card which will hopefully go out in the mail soon!

Lunch picnic

Summer and Alyssa had a fun little lunch picnic with their favorite stuffed animals.  Summer even made her own salami and hamaze sandwich.  She calls mayonnaise hamaze...LOL

Kayla had her first band concert.  She plays the clarinet.  Beginning band students played 5 songs.  We were told to be there a half our early.  We arrived exactly 30 minutes early.  When I got to the gym all the seats had already been taken.  I finally found a seat in the very last row.  The seating was just metal chairs on the floor so a short person like me could not see a thing as the students were not on the stage.  They were on the floor as well.  Kayla did a great job and had a lot of fun!  It was a great performance.  It was fun to hear the different levels play.

Summer draws Kayla a picture

We were all pretty impressed when Summer drew Kayla a picture of her favorite dragon Night Fury from the movie How To Train Your Dragon.  Pretty good job for a 5 year old!!!

Summer Practicing Dragon Form

Bowling with Friends

 Ed decided it would be fun to take the kids black light bowling.  We invited another family from Taekwondo.  Ed had a particularly off night.  I had the same score as usual, which is pretty bad..lol.  I really should consider bumper bowling..Lol.  Check out how well the kids did!  You can click on the picture to see a larger version.

Girls visit Santa

 Yes, I know, we visited Santa before Thanksgiving was even over..but I have learned my lesson to do it early and it works out quite nice!!

A few years ago I kept putting off the dreaded mall visit to see Santa.  I was never happy about the long lines and the fact that you couldn't take your own picture as they wanted to force you to buy theirs.  The last time I made the mistake of waiting we saw Santa 5 days before Christmas.  Low and behold, Kayla had shockingly changed her mind of what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas.  It was too late.  I had already wrapped and purchased what she had previously wanted.  So it ended up being the year Kayla was disappointed that Santa did not bring her what she asked for.

The next year I knew to be better prepared and see Santa early.  I found out about Santa visiting our local thrift store the second Saturday in November.  So, we went to the event for the visit.  Not only were the lines short but I could take as many pictures as I wanted with my own  camera.  It was great.  Plus, I would learn early in the game what they asked Santa for. 

Summer uses barrets

We are trying to grow Summer's bangs out.  This was her idea of putting barrets in her hair to keep them out of her face...Lol

Kayla taekwondo

Kayla is doing a great job in taekwondo.  She is making a new friend too which is nice.  They both like dragon and legos.  Our whole family will be belt testing on December 17th.  I am confident we will be ready.  When we pass we will be orange belts.  Every two months we will belt test.   If you are interested in seeing the progression of belts and how far we have to go you can click on this link.

Snow

 The girls were super happy!!!  It surprisingly started to snow just as school was getting out today.  I have no idea why Alyssa didn't even have a jacket on...LOL

Kayla playing clarinet

Art Musem Field Trip

 Alyssa's class took a field trip to the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento.  I volunteered to go along.  Originally  I wasn't too thrilled since I don't really find hanging pictures that fun to look at.  However, our docent was amazing and I loved all the sculptures in the museum.  I most especially like the World War II sculptures made out of items from the war.

 Alyssa had a great time painting her own little vase.