Nice day in Chicago

It's been unseasonably cold here lately so when the temps climbed into the mid-40s today, we thought it was the perfect day to walk around downtown, visit the Christkindlmarket and eat some deep-dish pizza.

We've been eyeing these paper lanterns for years and finally bought the orange one in front to hang on our back porch.

L ponders the many choices at the German food stands and decides on hot chocolate. B got one too.

Andy and the girls look at some pretty ornaments.

We even saw the Christkind. This is the first year Chicago's market is having its own Christkind.

And finally we made it to Pizzeria Due. I hope to go back soon because it's really close to the new Eataly, which opens Monday. I can't wait to visit.

Black Friday

L was disappointed we didn't go to the farm for Thanksgiving. Perhaps more than the turkey, she was looking forward to an all-night/long-day shopping trip with Grandma and Aunt Cindy. But with Andy working today it just didn't seem feasible to make the trek home. So, L got up this morning, got herself dressed quickly, had breakfast and we headed out. We didn't really need to do much shopping, but she wanted to experience her first Black Friday. We went to Kohl's, Toys R Us, GameStop, the mall and Target. L was kind of miffed because we didn't wait in line anywhere and the stores didn't seem very crowded to her. We left the house around 9 a.m. and got back around 1:30 p.m. We think the die-hard shoppers were already done and back at their houses sleeping.

Glad she's home

L went to Aunt Allison's house Tuesday night and didn't come back until after Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Apparently, Muffles missed her a lot. He sat right across from her while she was on the living room floor flipping through the Black Friday ads. He might be trying to guilt her into playing with him.

Thanksgiving dinner

We headed to Allison's for Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner was delicious and we were all stuffed.

Look who's mashing potatoes!

Andy carves the turkey while Allison is busy cooking.

L, Grandma and a Halloween Beanie Boo.

Thankful for nothing to do

With nothing to do on Thanksgiving, B and Dad take the opportunity to catch some zzz's.

Thankful

L made this turkey in Spanish class today. It says she's thankful for her house, family, friends, cats and school.

The tardis

Guess what we saw driving to church today? The tardis in front of the local comic book store. L just had to stop to get her picture taken.

Thankoffering Dinner

We went to church tonight for the annual Thankoffering Dinner. Our deacons provide the turkey, decorate the room, set the tables and do all the dishes. Everyone who comes bring a dish. We bought rice broccoli cheese casserole and L made chocolate cupcakes. It's always a nice dinner and a casual time to catch up with our fellow church members. Here's E at the "teen table":

Andy found a few dishes to try. We were surprised there was no stuffing or mashed potatoes - not that he had any room left on his plate for those.

A view of the entire Fellowship Hall:

L signs a Christmas Card to be sent to a military hospital:

We had planned on taking B with us. While L was hosting J for the "Dr. Who" anniversary show, three of B's friends showed up (invited by him, of course). Once the girls vacated the basement the boys took over. Here are they playing video games, as usual - B, IR, IB and friend B. Friend B had to leave before the Thankoffering Dinner, but as the time to leave drew closer, B asked us if he could stay home so IR and IB didn't have to leave. Knowing he'd be pretty visibly miserable at the Thankoffering Dinner, we agreed. And while we were gone, they decided to extend the "hanging out" into a sleepover. Those boys are sneaky.

'Dr. Who' 50th year

L had her friend, J, over today to watch the "Day of the Doctor," the start of the 50th year of "Dr. Who." She decorated the basement, covered the windows with blankets so no light would interrupt the viewing of the show they've been waiting quite a while to see. Here, J videos L performing a song to the tune of "What Does the Fox Say" with words she said she made up especially for the 50th anniversary of "Dr. Who."

Oops

This happened a couple of weeks ago, but it will be a long time before E forgets it. She pulled the spaghetti out of the cabinet without checking to see which end was open - or whether it was open at all - and ended up dumping almost the whole box onto the kitchen floor.

A day of prizes

B got to spin the prize wheel at his orthodontist appointment this afternoon. He was one spot away from landing on the $100 prize. He landed on a $5 Buona Beef gift card, but the hygenist said that was boring so she let him trade it in for a $10 Game Stop card. Much better and what a way to double the prize amount! Perhaps she was feeling for him since the orthodontist said B might need more oral surgery if his molars on top don't come in soon.

Before L's play rehearsal after school, she picked up her band fund-raising products. She had seven boxes. She was supposed to call me when rehearsal was over, but she left her phone at home so B and I went to the school and waited for her. We got into the building and the choir director told us the students in the play already picked up their items. News to us. So B and I went to find L and, sure enough, she had all seven boxes of her items with her. Here she is at home sorting out who gets which items. And her prizes for selling items included this purple thing that holds her iPod as it charges and the silver robot splitter which allows two headphones to be plugged into her iPod. She also earned a speaker, but that prize didn't come in so the director has to call the company.

Roar

L had her fall voice recital this afternoon. She sang Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" and Katy Perry's "Roar." She was the first one to sing and said she was pretty nervous about it. She loves, though, when she gets to sing into the mic and be accompanied by a band and the new band her music teacher found was incredible - three young guys in their mid-20s. They got the gig because the piano player happened to show up at church three days ago when her teacher was there and was desperately looking for a band for the recital. She called the band Kyle and the Miracles. Had he not stopped by (looking for a venue for his students to do a piano recital) she would have been without a band today!

B went along with us, though he was falling asleep before we left at intermission. I told him he really needs to work on staying awake when he's bored. He's fallen asleep in his classes before! E stayed home to do homework - at least that's her story.

Thanksgiving feast

Guess who finally sent me the pictures of his firm's Thanksgiving feast? Andy came home with an empty dish so the stuffing was a success.

Japanese field trip

E got out of all of her classes today to go on a field trip with her Japanese class. They started out at the Consulate General of Japan's Chicago office for a traditional tea ceremony. Then they had lunch at Sakura in Mount Prospect. E ordered the oyakodon (chicken, egg and vegetables served over seasoned rice). She would have preferred a little less egg and more chicken, but said it was pretty good. After lunch was apparently the highlight of the trip - shopping at Mitsuwa. We've been there before with E and we took Ai there when she visited. E came home with a six pack of Ramune (some sort of soda) and a bag of pastries for the family, as well as piece of candy for L. Best part of the day was the students returned to school a half hour before school is dismissed so they were free to go!

It's a cat's life

When I woke up this morning I found B asleep on the sofa with Muffles right next to him.

Guess who's most excited when mom goes to the store?

Sombrero

Our toy room at the Economy Shop had this sombrero and a smaller child sombrero left over from Halloween. L had said if we got to the point where we were going to toss them, she would offer them to her Spanish teacher at Julian. She'll take it school tomorrow.

Stuffing

Each year, Andy's office has a Thanksgiving lunch. The firm buys the turkey and all the employees bring a dish to share. Andy claims that he brought meatballs last year and this year he decided to go all out and actually "make" something - his Gram's stuffing. This afternoon I ran to the store to get the sausage and two loaves of bread. I had the sausage cooked before he got home from work and we put the rest together after dinner. The lunch is tomorrow and Andy will be up early to bake the stuffing. Added Thursday morning - Here's Andy checking the temperature after pulling the stuffing from the oven. It looks pretty good.

Ready for the cold

L's not a fan of pajamas, much to the horror of her siblings, so I had to jump when she saw these cute sock monkey pajamas at Target. I always get the kids a new pair of pajamas to open on Christmas Eve so here's L's present - way early. L first saw these about a month ago and the only pair we saw since had the button eye cut off of one foot. I wasn't about to buy those. I told her to have a little patience - they'd have more in stock before Christmas. The biggest surprise? They have pockets!

Too early for snow

What is this white stuff falling from the sky? It's too early for snow.

Chinatown

While B was entertaining his friends yesterday afternoon, E met some friends at the Ridgeland El stop for a trek to Chinatown. Two of her friends, who are twins, were celebrating their birthdays and decided to gather up 10 friends to shop, explore and eat.

E bought a cute Japanese bowl in one of the stores. I asked her how she knew it was Japanese and she said it was because she can read the kanji (symbols). That makes sense. For dinner she had some pot stickers and chicken fried rice. She said the pot stickers were good, but she should have tried the orange chicken instead of the fried rice.Live and learn. When she got home, B's friends were still here so she hung out with them for a few hours.

Here's E with her friend, R, in Chinatown: