The weekend that never ends...

Whew! What a busy weekend. We had a lovely Thanksgiving at my parents' house. Which included lots of yummy food and an early Christmas present for Michael & I. I asked my dad if we could borrow his mac-daddy camera to take pictures for our Christmas cards, he said that I couldn't... then gave me my very own mac-daddy camera! Well, actually it's for both Michael & I, but I take 99.9% of our family pictures; although Michael DOES really enjoy them. So I spent most of the day being annoying and taking unflattering pictures of family at inopportune times. They really appreciated that. I did get a few good ones though...

We avoided the Black Friday sales... I spent Friday morning with Edward & Bella (reading Twilight... I LOVE IT!), whilst the children played Ben's new Outdoor Adventure game on the Wii (Thanks Amy, it's loads of fun!!!). I think Michael was at the Y or something or maybe he was hanging out around here, like I said, I was with Edward (oh yeah, and Bella too, whatev!)...

Then we picked up our Jordie Girl at the airport. It was great to see her! She had a great time, but unfortunately came home with a bad cold.

After we picked up Jordan, we went to Michael's parents' house for dinner. While we were there, Barnaby, the Christmas Elf, left a present for the kids on the front porch. The kids got their outfits for their Christmas pictures, plus an ornament and another little something for each of them. Barnaby usually comes on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but now that we have a kid in college, even Santa's elves have to make adjustments.

Oh yes! I know my mom is getting impatient and wants to know how Ben's birthday surprise went... He never got any of my hints (he didn't even realize the King Arthur book we gave him Tuesday was a hint) and never would've guessed where we were going, especially since he had never heard of the place! We took him to Medieval Times in Kissimee, an "Exciting, family friendly dinner theater featuring an authentic medieval tournament and feast with jousting knights, and live horses." A perfect surprise for my little history lover! Here are some pics...

Here is Sir Ben being "Knighted" by the King... "Hip Hip Hoorah!"

Sir Ben with his Court of lovely ladies...

Enjoying some drinks before the show (the color of the crowns represent which Knight we will cheer for during the show...

In the arena...

The Red Knight enters the arena...

and then I put the camera away... but we really had a great time. The food was surprisingly good (tomato bisque, garlic bread, chicken, spare rib, roasted potato & an apple pastry) and you have to eat it with your hands (there were no utensils in the 11th century). The show was fun and the best part of all was that THE RED KNIGHT WON!!! (Have I mentioned that I'm hyper competitive?!) No, actually the best part of all is that after a lot of time apart, we were all together as a family & that I think the Birthday Boy had a great time. After five days, I now declare Ben's 11th birthday officially over, but I hope he has a great year!!!

Christmas picture time... don't really have a plan, but I DO have an awesome camera & some gorgeous kids, so I guess I'm good to go!