Goodbye November

Wow, the past few days have really flown by!  For three nights in a row, I kept meaning to sit down to write and update this space, and then I'd look at the clock and it would be well past midnight and I would still have a million things to do, in addition to getting a couple of hours of sleep, so off to bed I'd go!


I can't believe that it is December tomorrow!  November was a full and busy month and I loved every minute of it!  I am so looking forward to the fun and festive month that is ahead of us!

Here's a snapshot of what the past few days have looked like for us!

Baking Day - Take 2

My friend Lori and I spent the day on Wednesday hauled up in her kitchen, for the second week in a row, doing tons of Christmas baking.  We made gingerbread men and another batch of macaroons, tinted green this time with lemony filling, so delicious!  We were machines this week, carefully executing our baking like it was our last mission on earth.

I left to pick Sydney up at school midday and promised to come back that evening after I had put her to bed, to help finish decorating our gingerbread men.  When I got to Lori's house at 8:00 that evening, she had a bottle of Shiraz and a box of pizza waiting for me and about two hundred sugar cookies that she had baked all afternoon waiting to be decorated spread out on the island in her kitchen.  We sat up until almost 1:00 in the morning chatting and drinking wine and decorating our cookies.  It was so fun!  We were both exhausted the next day but would do it again in a minute!

Collage

I got Sydney a new bottle of glue this week which has inspired a new love for collage making again!  She had such fun making a giant collage on poster paper with a bowl full of fun things to stick on!

Midweek Playdate

After school on Thursday, Sydney and I were invited over to her school buddy Addison's house for a playdate.  Addi's Mom and I get along so well, she is such a lovely lady and we often have great chats at school together, so it was really fun to get together outside of school and have a visit.  Amanda made the most amazing homemade chicken soup, salad and foccacia bread for lunch along with pizza and croissants for the girls.  Addi and Sydney had so much fun playing together too, I have the feeling they are going to be very good friends!

Christmas Gifts

I love this time of year when I get to deliver presents to everyone that I know and love and also to people who contribute to Paul's business throughout the year.  This is, of course, reciprocal and this week we received our first beautiful basket filled with lovely gourmet treats from one of Paul's colleagues.  What a lovely gift that we will surely enjoy!

Little Helper

Sydney has been loving the new cupcake apron that her friend Kaitlyn gave her for her birthday.  I love this shot of her wearing it, an exhausted little chef after helping me make dinner!

She loves to wear my oven mitts and pretend she's taking something hot out of the oven, it's very cute!

Dinner with Zach

We had the pleasure of having dinner with Zach this week at the Marine Drive Golf Club, where he has recently become a member.  The club is so beautiful, was decked out with the most amazing Christmas decorations and the food was outstanding!  Sydney was absolutely fascinated with all of the Christmas trees, kept wandering throughout the dining room checking them all out and carefully touching the ornaments.  It was such a treat to have dinner out during the week and to not have to worry about cooking or cleaning up and to see Zach!

Special Shabbat

Sydney's preschool class went on their first field trip of the year today to the Weinberg Residence, a seniors home, to share Shabbat together.  Myself, along with a few other parents, went along to help walk the kids there and we managed to leave during an absolute torrential downpour!  The kids, and us, got completely soaked and the intersection that we had to cross was completely flooded so we literally had to pick the kids up to cross the street with them so that their clothes wouldn't get soaked!  We were laughing like crazy, we will never forget their first field trip!   We had a very special Shabbat with the seniors, the kids each took turns singing songs that were special to them before we lit the candles, said the blessings and had Challah together.  The children gave out hand painted cards that they had made to the residents before we left with a message on the back wishing them 'Shabbat Shalom.'  It was very nice for the children to share their day there!  On the way out the door I overheard Sydney's friend Emilia say to her Mom: "This is the place that helps people get to heaven right?"  So, so sweet and what a beautiful way of thinking of an old age home! 

A Little Monet

I have been thinking over the past while that I would like to take a painting class of some sort.  I have never been a particularly artistic person, but I have the feeling that I have some untapped artistic potential within me and am really wanting to explore it.  So I signed up for an adult painting class tonight at the 4 Cats art studio, where Sydney takes her art classes.  It was such fun!  We got to paint a Monet inspired acrylic on canvas.  Here's how mine turned out:

I especially love the way the water lilies turned out, I did them with a putty knife so they have a three dimensional look about them!  I'm thinking I may have to frame this masterpiece and hang it in my office as my first official crack at painting!

What a nice note this art class was to wrap up the month of November.