Cruise with Santa

We won't be in Sacramento this year for Breakfast with Santa so I signed us up for an Argosy Brunch with Santa cruise.  

Heading toward the ship.

Blake was lucky a friend wanted to go too.

They put on a little production.  I wouldn't have posted this picture,
but look at the baby on the woman's lap in the front of the picture!!!

Super campy.

Blake turned in his Christmas list to the right guy.

He had to go back and tell Santa that he was
turning in Piper's too.

This is as close as Reade was going to get to Santa.

They have a sailboat pond in the terminal park.  

Blake and Reade were monkeying around on the ship
right before getting off and Reade clipped the corner
of one of the seats.  Nothing like a little blood on the
head after seeing Santa.

Turks

Happy Morning After Thanksgiving

The turkey cheese ball made an appearance.

The kids got their own table.

We had neighbors over and it was super relaxed, yummy, and ended with a card game and good laughter.

We are thankful and hope to continue being this way every day after this one.

Stuff - ing

Just doing stuff around here.  Andrew took this week off because he has been traveling so we have had the luxury of preparing for Thanksgiving dinner for days now.  Here I am, in my pajamas, getting off to an early start this morning.  There is a lineup of helpers always ready to get into the mix.

Blake had a play date with a friend from school and we checked out a park in Magnolia.  Have I mentioned before that I love this city?  The views from certain spots are just breathtaking.  I am super thankful for everything this city is.

That is the Space Needle in the back.

World Food

I would have been a sociology major if it weren't for all those term papers.  I can sit for hours looking at pictures and reading articles about how other cultures live/act.  

Go HERE to learn about what different families around the world eat in one week and how much it costs them.

Diet = Envy

I ripped out eight pages from my new Muscle and Fitness Hers magazine and am trying to follow one of their mega metabolism meal plans.  It is super healthy and I am getting used to eating fish for morning snack and roundsteak for dinner.  Anyways, so now begins the drooling over websites that are off limits Monday-Fridays!

I came across Cozywalls.  Pretty fabulous cookie recipes.

Silver Linings Blueberry Butter Cookies

Are you kidding me?  Root Beer Buttercream Brown Sugar Cookies

Miss Moody part Deux

Piper's moodiness is offset by the fact that she has feet.  She has feet that I can dress up.  Here are her new thrift store kicks.  At $8 total, I don't feel bad fussing over her wardrobe.

Miniature daddy feet.

Ecco boots that I just love.

She definitely needs some sparkly ones
for Christmas.

Sass on my dear.  Mommy is in a good mood.

Miss Moody

Piper is moody today.  Really moody.  She was upset at everything this morning, she fell apart during this video, and then fell apart again when she spotted some banana on the kitchen floor.  I have been feeding her tons today so she isn't hungry.  Please let her not be getting sick!

Cold Beach

I was cold and windy today.  We wanted to get the kids out before it started to rain.  The rains never came, but going out to lunch after the beach filled our tummies with warm and made me feel like a bear thinking of hibernation.  I do get to sleep for a few months during winter, right?  Or do I freeze in a pond?  Either way, sounds great.

Mr. Movember

Here is Andrew growing his annual Movember facial hair.  Never too late to start or donate money to a great cause.

Station Thanks

 We have a tradition of taking cookies to the local fire station as one of our "Thankful" November activities.  I ordered fireman cookie cutters on Amazon.com and they should be here in two days so we can bake the cookies below.  Blake and Reade are so excited to get to meet their new neighborhood firefighters.

I couldn't find a good picture of the station so I had to steal it from Google Maps!  Btw, Pegman is finally back.  Thank goodness Google brought him back.  I hated street view without him.

From Annie's Eats

Driveway

This is my Nana's driveway.  Her ginkgo tree stands gracefully with proud beauty.  I am glad Piper gets to play with the leaves.  I got a new camera and I am playing with the settings.

Greatness

It is really nice to be back in Sacramento visiting with my Nana.  These Photos might look the same to you guys, but I love documenting the growth changes of my kids seeing their great grandmother.  Piper is starting to recognise everyone as her clan.  Even my sister's dog Nessa is becoming a staple for her.  Nessa was right next to me as I was putting Piper down to bed.  Cousins.

Teepee

Aunt Amy sent the kids a surprise.  It came in a long, mysterious brown box.  I put it together this morning and called the children over for the unveiling.  

Ready for kids.

Full of kids.  Blake and Reade drew lightning bolt scars on their heads like Harry Potter.

53 Degrees

 Our top temperature today was 53 degrees (quoting my car that one time I looked up at my rear view mirror).  Perfect weather if you ask me.  The best part was that I noticed snow on the Olympic mountain range on my drive back from picking up Reade at preschool.  I love that the days are a beautiful shade of light blue.  Some say it is gray, but to me it is the most stunning light blue I have ever seen.  

Blake plays on the school playground after school and today I encouraged him to head towards home so I could drive down to the beach and get a closer picture of the Olympics.  The rain clouds joined in on the fun do I didn't get a crisp picture of them.  This California girl can't stop ohh'ing and ahh'ing over little blips of snow that she sees!  

I guess the trees are feeling the weather because the fall colors are slowly starting to vanish and become heaps of leaves on the ground.

I took this sunset picture a couple of weeks ago.  Same place, different time.  It wowed me.

Glove Sale

Gloves are on sale for $0.50/each at the grocery store.  I bought enough to ensure that someone, somewhere in this house must know where at least two gloves are.  We need them already around here. 

Four Days

Four days of November have passed.  November was never my favorite month, but this time around I love it.  I love that Halloween has passed and soon it will be Christmas.  Instead of having something to do, I get to do whatever I want.  Andrew brought home cranberries so I made my first cranberry sauce this afternoon.  Yum.  It felt very November-y in a new way.  Now, I hear raindrops falling for the first time today as I write this post.  I love autumn.

For those of you who want to start Christmas shopping, head on over to World Market and buy someone this adorable dachshund lamp base on sale for $18.89.  

I am also obsessed with feathers this fall.  Visit the blog Love Maegan to see a tutorial on making this feather wall piece.  I am also really into pheasant feathers.  Must get my hands on some of those.