NO!

-vember.

Ralllph.  No! Not for you!

"These aren't the tissues you're looking for...."

"She can go about her business..."

"Move along."

"Jedi mind trick?"

"Heh. Heh heh."

"Not funny?"

Sigh.

"Sorry, mommy."

Let's start again.

November.

Lots of indoor time in November.

Mikey found a new favorite show.

Power Rangers Super Megaforce!

Get out your Morphers and summon the Zords!

Huzbend visited DirtFish Rally School as an early xmas present.

He came home second guessing his career choice.

I told him not to get any ideas because, as it turned out, we had to buy a new vehicle.

It was time to retire the Xterra.

The kids were sad.

They had to give it one last hug.

Emperor Palpatine came for a visit.

(Or was it Darth Voldemort?) 

After threatening us all with his fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station, he sat down for a snack and a peak at the Toys R' Us Catalog: Holiday Edition.

Dogs with big floppy ears are the best.

There are so many styles!

The Emperor flew back to Coruscant, and sensing it was safe, Granma and Grampa came for a visit.

They came bearing totally rad tropical clothing!

"OH YEAHHHHHH!"

"Can I wear this to school, and to sleep, and tomorrow and....?"

OH!  I almost forgot.

It was Thanksgiving.

We had.....

.....wait for it.....

....wait.....

...turkey.

Grampa got all tropical for Turkey Day.

Notice, Katie matches him.

She wore this dress for about three days straight.

Not.  Kidding.

"I CAN HAS TURKEY?"

No.

Mikey's Thanksgiving dinner plate.

That pink thing is turkey.

The kid had apples for Thanksgiving dinner.

It's nice family photo time!

Um?  Hello?

"What?"

NICE family photo time!

Cheeeese......

....dammit!

Seriously.  Who let him in here?

One more.

Cheeeee....

.....nevermind.

I.  Love.  Pie.

Runs in the family.

Seriously.

We put Grampa to work while he was here.

They installed a bike rack on our CRV.

You've seen Crazy Katie Hair.

Here's Crazy Mikey Hair.

While the G-Parents disappeared to do some "stuff" that I think might have been sneaky Christmas shopping, we hopped in the new ride and went to get our Xmas tree.

Ralph wants you to know that he came too.

The children were VERY excited about getting a tree.

They even helped cut it down by each taking a turn holding the saw and complaining about how heavy it was.

Huzbend finished the job.

And somehow our children ended up bailed.

They went right through the bailing machine.

Here's Mikey being dragged through.

It was pretty funny.

We threw the tree and the three kids in the car and off we went!

On the weekend, we took Granma to see the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker performance.

Hey!  Would you look at that!

I was there too!

Mikey was excited.
(Disclaimer: I do not know how his shirt turned backwards)

Katie was at the edge of her seat...literally!

It was a very well done production.

And shorter than the performance of the Nutcracker we attended a few years back.

Shorter ballet is better for kids.

Trust me.

After, the kids HAD to have their pictures taken at all the cute photo ops.

Lots of smiles all around....

...until there wasn't.

Suddenly it was time to leave and the grumps came out.

You can see Granma in the background considering taking a cab home to get away from my pouty children.

That's totally not true.  I am just kidding.

Although, I woulda shared the fare with her.

By the time we got home all was right with the world.

We had to say goodbye to the G-Parents.

But not for too long. I'm sure we'll see them sometime in the next, hmmmm, 5 months?

Yep.  Pretty sure.

It was time to get back to school.

And homework.

And reading logs....