Thanksgiving was awesome...

my pictures were not. So I will just tell you about it. We spent the day in Napa with our dear friends, Lisa and Merrill. We had a relaxing morning of eating and cooking, a delicious dinner in the afternoon, and went to the movie and had pie in the evening. It was a good day. Lisa is such a fabulous cook, everything tasted amazing! It was such a relaxed day, we didn't even use a tablecloth. That's right, no formalities that day. In the next couple of years we will probably each have a fork and eat straight out of the pan. That will be awesome too.

The next day Jamie's aunt and family came by for a visit. They had been in Sacramento visiting family and used a day to come down and see us. We had a really nice visit. It was good to see them again and nice to have some family around, even if just for a few hours. Again, no pictures, but they were so kind as to bring us a gingerbread house the we put together on Sunday. The boys loved it!

They would put one candy on the house and then two in their mouth. The usual gingerbread house building process.

It was cute to see Parker figure it out and start to really get into it.

The finished product. We were all very pleased with how it turned out. My favorite, was when Jacob told Jamie to put 158 on the front. When Jamie asked why, he was told, "because that's their address". We asked him if he wanted to use our number instead and he said, "No, because their address is 158." How dare we question.

I love that it is Christmas time and I love that I have my stuff together a little more this year so I can enjoy the season as it comes, instead of wondering where it went.

We are so blessed and I truly am grateful.

The One You've All Been Waiting For

This sums up our week in Hawaii. We did everything at the speed of chill and did our best to do everything with "Aloha". (We decided that this is their catch-all word that could mean anything, like "Smurf".)

For those that haven't talked to me in the last year to hear me talk about going to Hawaii, in August Jamie and I had our 10th anniversary and to celebrate we spent a week on the island of Kauai. My parents flew out and stayed with the boys so it was truly a vacation!
Of course, we had a great time. It was so nice to have concentrated time for just us and uninterrupted conversations. It was fun to reminisce about the last ten years and talk about where we were and where we are now. We were gone long enough that I actually missed the boys. Sadly, I can't say that about every time I am away from them.
One of the nights we were there we went to a luau. I went to Oahu about 12 or 13 years ago to be a bridesmaid for one of my roommates (rough I know). At the luau especially, it brought back some fun memories of my previous trip. One of which included the groom's aunt trying to teach me and my friends the "Sophisticated Hula" to perform at the reception. Let's just say the 10 year old in the picture below, did a much better job than we did. Of course the pig was delicious and Jamie has now tasted poi.

This is the salt water lagoon at our hotel that was one of our favorite spots to relax. I especially enjoyed the nice girl that walked around asking if we needed anything. So of course I got a delicious fruity drink to enjoy while I sat in paradise. There were hammocks behind us that Jamie took advantage of, but in my current condition, they were a little tricky for me.

Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It was beautiful. I loved the green mixed in with the red rocks and the contrast of the blue sky.

Tunnels Beach where we did some awesome snorkeling. We spent our last day beach hopping on the north side of the island. We snorkeled at 2 different beaches and just enjoyed another one or two.

This was our last sunset on the island. We were at Hanalei Bay and it was amazing. The sand was so soft and because of the small bay, it was a little more protected and the waves didn't get as huge. At this point we look like we had been on vacation for a week. A little sunburned, quite relaxed, and enjoying our last night responsibility free. There were even a few times Jamie turned his Blackberry off and left it in the hotel room. That's how I knew he was serious about enjoying this time together and a much needed break.

A huge thank you to my parents, because without them, this week would not have happened! Thanks also to the many people that were willing to help my parents if needed and those that took Jacob or Parker to give my parents a little break.

Such a great week, too bad we waited 10 years to go!
Aloha!

Happy Halloween ...

from Indiana Jones and your friendly neighborhood garbage man!

And how awesome are our Mr. Potato Head pumpkins? They were 10 minutes start to finish, no clean up, and the boys actually helped instead of Jamie and I scraping and carving for an hour. Good thing the boys liked them, because you know I'm using them year after year.

Happy Trick or Treating!!

Oh Boy, Oh Boy ....

It's a Girl!!

What?! I had kind of been thinking it was a girl but wasn't going to be surprised if it were a boy. Instead, I'm actually quite surprised it's a girl. We are very excited, especially Jacob. He has been wanting a little sister. Everything looks good. Strong heartbeat and everything where it is supposed to be.
Today is my half way point. 20 weeks down, 20 to go.
(Isn't she already so cute all curled up in a ball and snugly?)

Something’s missing…

Jacob lost his first tooth today. He could not have been more excited. It was loose enough that it practically fell out on its own. After lunch Jamie pulled it out and Jacob barely even noticed. He was excited to slurp the spaghetti we had for dinner through the hole where the tooth used to be. Before bed tonight, he wrote a note to the tooth fairy to see if she would be kind enough to leave the tooth but still leave him money anyway. He said he wants the money to help buy more Legos and that he was ok if she had to take his tooth as long as she left the money.

He's officially a big kid.

Isn't This How Everyone Watches TV?

You know what they say, "If the bag fits ..."

*I took this picture a couple of hours ago and after taking a break and playing for a bit, I just now turned to look at him and he is sitting watching TV, in the bag again. I guess he has a new preferred spot.

Go Jacob!

Guess who just read a book all by himself? No, not Jamie. I know I have a thousand other posts to do, but Jacob read Green Eggs and Ham all by himself tonight and we were so proud that we had to let the world know. Jacob was obviously very proud of himself and had a big goofy smile on his face when he finished and said "Who wants to give me a hug?"