other November activities

Apparently it was "all about me" this month. :)  Either that, or I didn't take many pictures of other things.  But here's what I did manage to capture on film:

On Veteran's Day -- all the kids in this entire area had the day off school, so we thought why not go to the zoo with the rest of them?  So a friend and I took our kiddos, and actually had a great time.  And said peace out at lunch time due to the hoards of people. 

But we had to visit the rides before getting in the car -- and Kaitlyn managed to squeeze in between two girls she did not know in order to drive this fire truck.  I admire her confidence!

Shortly after that zoo day, I hopped on a plane with my friend Cristen for a quick trip to Tucson, AZ for work.  We attended a course on how to run an exercise program for individuals with Parkinson's Disease.  It was awesome.  Very inspiring.  And we hope to bring that back to our workplace.  Sadly, we spent most of our daylight hours in the class, actually learning.  But right before we had to get to the airport to come home, we managed to take a quick run/hike up Tumamoc Hill to catch a gorgeous view of Tucson.  And then we went on to the airport, all smelly and sweaty.  Good thing the plane wasn't that full coming home.  Ha!

And then the following weekend -- the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we ran in the Berkeley 1/2 marathon!  It wasn't our fastest time, due to me having an extraordinarily long head cold that wouldn't go away, and Cristen emotionally exhausted from coping with having to put her dog to sleep earlier that week -- but we did it, and we kept smiling the entire time. And it was a beautiful day to boot.

best cheering squad -- they managed to find us in 3 different spots, without any planning ahead of time.  Loved it!

 And then the kids had all week off school, no activities whatsoever, so we tried our best to stay busy -- despite the fact that they were happy as clams just playing at home, staying in their pjs until noon.  But we went to the park with friends one day, and I managed to capture this lovely shot of miss K attempting to drink from a fountain.  Love her.  Of course I took no other pictures of the kids actually playing.  

Thanksgiving

We hosted the big feast again this year -- and I'm not sure it made it any easier with a year under our belts.  We had less people, which meant all of the adults could sit around the same table.  But it took our turkey a bit longer to cook than expected.  Oh well, the food turned out delish!  So it was worth waiting for.  And we had the kids all say what they were thankful for -- both of our kids said they were thankful for us, in some form or another.  Made my heart very full. 

We are SO so very thankful for our health, our able bodies, the delicious food on the table, the beautiful country we live in, and most of all for our wonderful friends and families, near and far.  So much to be thankful for!  

Hope your Thanksgiving was just as wonderful!

our walk while the turkey was cookin'

Ry getting a lesson in basting 

We hosted Eddy's family, some of his extended family, and my parents this year.  A treat to have most of us squeezed in tightly in one space.  Maybe it kept us from overeating? :) Right.  

And we are all very thankful for these rugrats -- who got along SO well this holiday.  The littlest ones can actually play with the bigger ones, and it's fun for them all.  This makes me excited for holidays to come! 

the birthday boy

And now we are six.

Ryan's birthday was last week -- and we celebrated all.day.long.  Eddy took the day off, and we dropped both kids at school and then took ourselves out for breakfast -- to celebrate that morning 6 years ago when our lives changed dramatically and we became parents.  It's was such a lovely, quiet, kidless breakfast.  We should do that more often.  But I digress -- back to the reason for this post.  Our six year old!  So he had a great day at school, and we got to sneak in at the end of the day to help celebrate him and pass out our little treats we made to all of his classmates.  Then we snapped up 2 of his friends from school, Eli and Casen, and picked up another friend Alejandro at our house (and last but not least his buddy Nolan met us at our destination, because first graders get out of school an hour later than kindergarteners in this town), and we went miniature golfing!  It was chaotic, and the boys didn't have it in them to play by the rules like I thought they would, but they had a great time anyway.  Then there was the climbing/ball pit area, which I think they all loved even more.  And then there was cake and presents back at our house.

And then they all went home and we collapsed with fatigue. :) 

Ryan's class asking him his birthday questions

a car full of boys and little miss K

Later we made breakfast for dinner, per Ryan's request of course, and had Cristen over to help us celebrate some more -- more presents, more cake. 

And since Ry's birthday was midweek, and it was a bit too much for Eddy's family to get to us that day, we met up with them yesterday for another mini celebration for Ryan, and some giant ice cream sundaes at our favorite ice cream parlor in the bay area.  

 Happy birthday to this crazy kid of ours!  We love everything about him.  He's reading, doing some math, loves to run and ride his new mountain bike, still loves his Legos more than anything else, and is really turning into a social creature.  It's great to see.  Here are his answers to his birthday questions:
1. Favorite color?   Blue & Black (really?)
2. Favorite toy?  any and all Legos
3. Favorite fruit?  Golden Delicious Apples (they did a taste test at school one day)
4. Favorite vegetable?  Broccoli
5. Favorite TV Show?  Captain Jake
6. Favorite movie?  Rio 2 (I think that's because we watched it last week, he couldn't think of anything else)
7. Favorite thing to wear?  his new black sweatshirt
8. Favorite song?  On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons
9. Favorite book?  The Day the Crayons Came Home
10. Best friend?  Eli & Casen
11. Favorite snack?  Cheddar Rockets
12. Favorite Drink?  Lemonade
13. Favorite breakfast?  eggs -- cooked any way that's not "yokey" (his words)
14. Favorite lunch?  Salami, cheese and crackers
15. Favorite dinner?  breakfast for dinner, see #13 above
16. Favorite game?  Battleship
17. Favorite thing to play outside?  Soccer
18. Favorite holiday?  Christmas
19. What do you sleep with at night?  Cheetey, his cheetah
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  A tornado chaser (really?)

Halloween

The kids picked their costume ideas this year -- and we helped make it happen.  Ryan wanted to be an army guy, with dog tags and night vision goggles and all.  And Kaitlyn decided (with my suggestion last year) that she wanted to be a bumble bee -- and amazingly she remembered and stuck with it for the entire year.  

This year the Halloween festivities took over for the week.  Kaitlyn got to wear her costume to dance class, to preschool, to Ryan's school halloween parade, and then of course on actual Halloween.  Why not get the most out of it, right?  

halloween costumes for dance class

parade at preschool 

love that little girl and her wave!

 And then Friday was Ryan's school parade, and a class party that I helped out with.  It was super fun to see the kids in all their costumes, and then I finally got to get into the class and meet Ryan's classmates that I hadn't met yet.  Exhausting, but super fun!

lined up and ready for the parade

2 best buddies from school -- Eli the policeman and Casen the Saints football player

the only shot I got from in the classroom 

 We carved pumpkins, of course. 3 this year, because we just wanted to make extra work for ourselves. 

And we had the cousins over to come trick or treat with us, as per our usual tradition.  Good fun for all!

first stop -- our house!

sorting the candy afterwards -- isn't that the best part?