Fall Turning

Warm inside:

Cold outside:

Warm inside:

Cold outside:

Still Thankful

We played in leaves:


We ate (the table before the turkey and other sides came):


We talked and laughed:


Some napped:


We finished with some sweets:


We had Thanksgiving and then chased it with a Thanksgiving left-overs party the day after. This post is being written with a delicious piece of apple pie sitting right next to to me. The brisk weather is fun to run/walk in so I can keep on top off all of the calories my psyche has been so thankful for.

Showering

You might know that I am captivated by all things appliance. I was reading my latest copy of Coastal Living magazine and immediately fell in love with their second to last ad. It is the new In2ition Two-In-One Shower Head by Delta. What a great idea. Now, I can stay warm while I shave my legs!

While I was researching this product online, I came across this video (watch the 2nd video for the making of this commercial):


The making of the commercial (fun behind the scenes video):


No need to remodel, just spend $99 and upgrade your shower. That is where you spend most of the time in the bathroom right? Oh, for those of you who also enjoy bathroom reading then this site is for you.

SF

I try hard to like you San Francisco. I know it is usually my fault and not yours, but why is there always a hint of discomfort when I visit you? I think we are better off as friends and should see other people. Maybe someday we will try it again.

A momento from today's trip:


I was interviewing a SF babysitter for the Google holiday party. I found a great gal and she was nice enough to hop in the eurovan and direct us to a cute restaurant down the street. It had the most delicious ham croissant sandwich and Blake enjoyed his turkey sugar cookie at the end.
Squat and Gobble:

Please Santa

Santa, please bring this to my son. It is cool.

- Shannon (I have tried to be a good mother this year)

Rain Brew

This weekend was scheduled to be a brew weekend, but the rain threatened to postpone the fun. There was a break in the rain and Andrew decided it was clear enough to start brewing. Then, down came the rain so out came the pop up canopy. Don't try to get in between a man and his Christmas brew.

Rain, rain, come and stay. Please come back for another day (that is my song at least):


Happy brewers:


At the end of the last video you hear me joke about setting the house on fire. I was on the phone with my mom and heard, "Oh, s#%*." I looked up to see Andrew run outside, grab a hose, and cause this:


His brew was boiling over so he wanted to wash off the sides or else it would have burnt the sugars to the side of the kettle, making for some horrible clean up. I thought the house was on fire.

Andrew has been super frustrated with brewing lately because his last few batches haven't turned out right. He figured out his thermometer was broken (twenty degrees off), which led to his wort not fermenting right. Using too high of temperatures makes a wort that isn't as fermentable leading to a sugary, unbalanced, weak beer. This batch seems to be progressing in the right direction. All is calm on the brew front.

Evolution

Out with the old...


In with the new...


Nothing like an E-book story before bed.

Shhh...

Secret quilting plans. I love the planning stage before the sewing madness begins.

Hungry

I'm hungry. Today is one of those days where I just can't seem to fill myself up (and candy hasn't even played a part!). So tonight I am going to turn to Martha Stewart for some home cooking. Why not try her cute Kid's Turkey Meatloaf:


I made Reade a barn out of his Holztiger farm animals (thanks Grammie, he loves them):


Two minutes of baby play just for the Grandmas:


P.S. Ellen made the best quilt for Reade and I have been trying to take a picture of it for days now. Stay tuned! There will come a time when both boys are awake, lighting is good, and we all aren't eating.

Reade (Six Months)

At 6 Months I:
* Can sit up on my own
* Only wake up once or twice a night (if I have the room to myself)
* Started putting things in my mouth
* Eat solids now
* Eat solids in large quantities (more than my brother did)
* Am becoming a bit more cautious when put in other people's arms
* Still think my brother is the big cheese
* Roll over in both directions
* Have started attempting crawling motions
* Gained enough dexterity to break some of my brother's toys
* Started spitting up again
* Love, love, love my daddy
* Enjoy baths
* Can sit in the tambark at the park and play with tractors (w/ mommy's help)
* Coo on a more advanced level with lots of raspberries thrown in
* Hate to be put down on my back so I am always put in a walker or other baby contraptions
* Take life pretty seriously and only really laugh at daddy or my brother
* Drink from a sippy cup like a champ
* Celebrated my first, real holiday and dressed up like a robot
* Make my mom melt at all times


Check out my Five Month photo.

The cuz

Andrew is in Vegas (don't ask) so I invited Erin and Holly to come over for a cousin sleepover. It was so much fun. I can't believe that I am mom to the "older" cousin who wreaks havoc on the little ones. Poor Holly was propping herself up on the Pack 'N Play and Blake took the opportunity to gently take her arms, turn her around, and then let go. I hope Erin and Holly come back again after they have forgiven us for such undeserved face plants. My fear is that Holly will always remember Blake as that cousin that used to pick on her.

I have driven past Burger Town in Los Altos a hundred times and have always wanted to stop. Unfortunately, I decided that last night was the time to try it out. The owner said it has been around for 60 something years so you would expect it to be good, right? The hamburgers weren't that bad, but the fries left both of us nauseous for the rest of the night. It leaves you with the same result had you eaten a whole meal at Dairy Queen. Too bad because it has so much potential:


I was impressed with the height of the stack of cups behind Erin's head:


Slow dissolving poison:


Morning after hang overs. Okay, the kids were fine, but Erin and I were a bit zonked from staying up late talking:


Reade:


The cuz, Holly:


Come back soon. I will work on discipline the entire time you are gone.

Content

My love of change has been a topic of conversation, quite regularly, between family and friends. At this moment, I find myself in a state of contentment. It is like I am in the calm before the storm. I am usually trying to plan for or decide what storm should come next so it is nice to simply be in the moment. I like where I live, who I spend my time with, and the chaos of family living. Does everyone live like this and I just didn't know it?

I love babies who demand warm, yummy food like applesauce:


I love reading books that make an impact. This book was so great for me because it approached marriage in the exact way parenting should be approached. That is, knowing that human nature will always drive you, but culture will always shape you. I know this is not new concept, but I finally learned that social norms are presented to me in many different ways and how I interpret them can liberate or hinder me. This book shows how Western marriage has always been more of a binding commitment and just recently has love played a big part. I feel like parenting is the same. You have committed yourself to raising your offspring, but becoming 100% emotionally dependent on the "love" of your children may not actually benefit you in the long run. There is more to life than being the perfect wife or mother. I am content with that.

Read this:

You can check out her website here.

Title 9K

I can't believe I finished a 9K. I know that this run was a "typical loop" for Andrew, but I felt like I accomplished something so huge. Just last year, I entered the Davis Turkey Trot (walking only) and thought to myself, "I could never do that." Thanks to my friend Skyla, I did it.

Leaving the van to go join the masses:


And they're off:


Some runners:


Skyla and I started out running together, but since she could run the whole thing I encouraged her to go on ahead of me. I had to walk around the 2.5 mile mark since I had been keeping up with her. At first, I felt defeated. Then I realized I was child free, husband free, and love walking in the rain. I felt like I was on vacation. So I walked for a bit and then my body just started running again. I ran/walked until a bit after the 7K marker and then ran the rest of it straight through. I couldn't believe I was actually running for the last mile or so. Skyla finished in 50 minutes and I clocked in at 1 hour, 15 minutes. I felt like a million bucks.

I told Andrew to go home and keep the kids out of the rain, but he couldn't resist cheering for me before taking the kids home for naps:


Proud and finished athletes:


Thanks Skyla! See ya at the next one.

Flea Market

Aunt Shirley called this morning to tell us she was selling her Power Balance bands at the Cupertino Flea Market. We jumped in the car and had the pleasure of watching her spread her Power Balance magic.

This woman is top notch:


Reade has the power:


Mmm...churros:


The month to remember:


Livestock:


It would have been a whole lot more fun if I wasn't sick. Don't you hate tissue mounds when you are sick:


I really want to hedge some juniper, but that sounds a bit exhausting right now.

Cute

My neighbor's sister Helen (sweetblisscakery@yahoo.com) is a professional baker. She stopped by with some mini cupcakes in honor of Blake's friend's birthday. Can you say adorable? They were fantastic too. I tried some other cupcakes of hers and they had the most divine frosting on top. She explained to me it was french meringue frosting. I must look that up. Here is some sweet for your day/evening:



P.S. Today was a super, unproductive day. I completely forgot to take the van in to fix our bunk seat belt after I told the mechanic I would be there first thing in the morning. It could have been because my smallest child woke up at 5:15am and didn't fall back asleep until 6:20am. Blake was up by 7am so I felt a bit jipped in the sleep department.

Also, I had placed my cell phone on the back of the Prius yesterday while playing with the neighbors and didn't realize it as I was zipping to vote last night. I put the kids in the car today to re-trace my steps. There it was, all beat up in the gutter near the busy street. Poor phone. First, it slid into a puddle the other day and now this. I am just glad I got my SIM card back. I can stick it in Andrew's old Android phone and make due for a while. That phone just wanted to die.

Slow Fall

I already feel like November is slipping away. There are still bats on the wall and other spooky things that need to find their way back into the orange and black box for the attic.

Today...

* I found the blog Tree Fall Design while looking up quilt ideas in the wee hours of the morning (during my once a night feeding!!!):


* Ran 2.2 miles this morning. Should have been 3.1, but who is counting anyways?

* Ran errands with the kids.

* I had my first play date with other local mommies after joining the local parent's group website PAMP. I emailed another PAMP member and once we saw each other at the park we had to laugh because we met each other about a week back at a different park. Now we were scheduled to hang out. Funny.

* Before nap Blake said (in regards to the little girl he had the play date with), "I like Emily. I marry her like dah-wa (his word for daddy) and mommy." Let's just say I wasn't quite prepared for that statement. I am also willing to forget he ever said it. Moving on now...

Oh, and last night Blake stopped playing, looked over at me and said, "Mommy, I hear you pee-pee when you are in the bathroom." That was so weird. Feelings of voyeurism, lack of privacy, and fact checking all ran through my head at that moment.

* Sewed and re-sewed some pillow covers while the kids napped

* Played with the neighbors in the court

* Made homemade pizzas

* Voted at 7:50pm. Ten minutes shy of the cut off time.


I am exhausted. Time for bed.

31 Days Behind Us

Yesterday's Halloween story:

Blake carving his pumpkin:


Andrew helping his situation along:


The finished squash (Andrew's easy face, Reade's robot pumpkin, and Blake's bone eyes pumpkin):


Blake was so excited for trick-or-treating he didn't even take a nap. Instead he sang at the top of his lungs for an hour or so in his bed. We figured it was good to have some quiet time, but there was no such thing as quiet in his room. Needless to say, he conked out in the car on the way out to Dublin. He wears Andrew's goggles all the time because he wants to be a swimmer just like daddy:


Eating a great pot-luck dinner before trick-or-treating. I loved that Peter and Skyla dressed up (Peter's horn nose got in the way of eating so he took it off). They inspired me to at least attempt something fun next year:


Getting ready. Blake and Reade were robots. Blake took his hat off two seconds after leaving the house so everyone kept calling him an astronaut:


Blake the robot:


Everyone kept calling Reade a bug:


Starting out. The kids all look confused:


Trick-or-treating:


Blake got "so so scared" by the boy without a head! He wanted to call it quits and wouldn't go near anything remotely scary after that. He held Andrew's hand the rest of the way and needed to be carried at times. It is only a matter of time before Blake becomes this guy and freaks out other small children:


The kids did great and it was fun seeing them get ready for the night, brave through the night, and run around hysterical at the end of the night. We all slept in until 8am so I consider that a Happy Halloween!

Goodbye October and hello November.