Thanks Lisa

Thanksgiving was AWESOME!! Love you guys!

Strep Throat

Last Monday, Jacob woke up with a scratchy throat and by the end of the day his voice was worse and he had a fever. I took him to the doctor Tuesday morning where they did a strep culture and sent it to the lab. Because we it went down to the lab after 11 o'clock (I looked at my watch as she was taking the culture and it was 11:05), we had a to wait an extra day for the results.

The good news was that Friday afternoon, the doctor called and said it was negative. He didn't have strep. I was relieved that whatever the bug was seemed to be gone and we could attend the weekend's birthday parties and church without worrying about infecting others.

The bad news was that Friday afternoon, the doctor called and said it was negative. He didn't have strep. He had missed almost an entire week of school for a cold that, looking back now, was cleared up by Wednesday night. He missed his Thanksgiving feast at school on Friday morning and we were stuck in the house all week under quarantine.

Friday was a day of mixed emotion. I am happy to report that he is doing great and will be heading back to school in the morning.

Jacob and Charlie: Take Two

This is the age Jacob and Charlie were when they met. It is so fun to watch Parker and Dylan and see so many similarities between them and their older counter parts. Sometimes I wish I knew what these two were thinking ... sometimes.

May the Force Be With You

I'm not sure if you noticed, but we went with a Star Wars theme this year. Jacob decided he wanted to be Darth Vader (which I thought was odd because he has never actually seen any of the movies) and the rest just fell into place. Parker was a pretty cute Yoda, I felt I rocked the Princess Leia, and Jamie made a dashing Obi Wan Kenobi (even though he was too cheap to spring for the Jedi robe).

On Halloween night, we went to a friends' house for some delicious dinner and then it was off to pound the pavement.

This was the crazy group we ran with.

Yoda was a little behind for most of the evening, but he held his own. He caught on really quickly to mumble something, hold out the bag, and have treats dropped in. The saddest part is that he is allergic to 98% of the candy. Thank goodness for suckers so all of his efforts weren't wasted.

It was really fun to go with a group, both for the kids and the parents.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween too!

The Parties

We had so many fun parties for Halloween this year (I definitely got my money's worth of the boys' costumes). We had our church party the Saturday before which was a lot fun. I may be a little biased though because I was in charge of it.

Two days before Halloween, we headed to Napa to party with our friends. Here is Jacob, Charlie, Maddie, and some little boy. (Sorry about the terrible picture, I did well to get them to hold still this long.) Lisa had planned a really great afternoon. The kids had a costume parade then came back for a few snacks. There were lots of games and treats. We stayed late and had dinner with our friends we miss so much. We had a great time, right up to the point the next morning when I realized I left the boys' costumes in Napa. Lisa was kind enough to meet me in Vallejo for the hand off. Thanks again, Lis. You saved Halloween.

Jacob had his class party that was really cute. Way too much food and a costume parade on the playground led by the local high school's marching band. The lovely butterfly is one of his teachers, Mrs. Cooper.

We also managed to squeeze in the Goblin Grotto put on by the city the night before. We went with our friend Ronna and her family. There were lots of cute games to play and they even had cardboard fronts to represent lots of the businesses in town. Doors had been cut into them for the kids to trick or treat.

Guess which one was Jacob's favorite.

We had a busy week and I'm not sure that we have all recovered, but it was definitely fun!

Pumpkin Patch

It was October so it was time to head to the pumpkin patch. Josie and I and the boys went to Half Moon Bay about a week before Halloween.

The little boys in the bouncy house.

The slide we all went down a million times. It was the end of a slow day so the guy let us go down as many times as we wanted without paying -- it was awesome.

No really, Parker had fun.

We go to this same pumpkin patch every year and the boys always have a great time. Sometimes it is cold enough to get some hot apple cider and sometimes it is so hot we get water and a cookie. Either way, we ride some horses, pet some nasty animals, ride the train, hang out with our friends, and then go to Safeway to buy our pumpkins where it is cheaper. Good times.