Tomb It May Concern

Buzz Lightyear and Woody were ready for some serious trick-or-treating this year. Buzz and I have been practicing saying "trick-or-treat" for weeks now. And I found he was hooked on the idea as I calmly explained to him, while he was crying that he didn't want to be Buzz, but Woody instead, that only Buzz Lightyear gets candy. Worked like a charm. Even to keep his hat on. And I didn't even have to explain why his friends wearing different costumes were getting candy, because, well, I think Buzz Lightyear was pretty popular this year.
I tried the same tactic with Woody, but it didn't work at all. Woody would not keep on his boots or hat no matter what. Instead, he just waited for Buzz to leave the loot at his level and then scrambled to fit as much in his mouth as he could.
And I don't know what Waldo's incentive was. Hopefully something a bit more exciting than candy.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Octoberties

Since it didn't work out to see a pumpkin patch while Ashley was here, we made the trek down to Half Moon Bay again, this time to see only pumpkins. I had no idea pumpkin patches were so much of a carnival. Luckily the only thing Max wanted to do was go down the big slide and then the rest of their cravings for excitement were satisfied with wheelbarrow rides from Daddy Blake.
And of course we had to take pictures of my little pumpkins with all the pumpkins. I love this one with their stone faces. It looks like a picture taken during the 18th century that they had to sit for ages to have taken.
I love it almost as much as I love this one where Max is trying to turn Jack's face to look at the camera.
Okay, okay. I just love them all.Then we had to carve our pumpkin. Everyone had fun as long as there was knives involved. Our pumpkin had several stab marks all around it, courtesy of Max and his butter knife. But if there was any little bit of slimy, stringy pumpkin inside visible, both boys had completely horrified, disgusted looks on their faces and stood at least 5 yards away. And last, but not least, our new family October tradition--eating caramel apples and watching "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Happy October!

Personality

A few weeks ago Blake and I put our kids in their room and let them play, scream, share, cry, sleep, fight, whatever they wanted while we sat at the kitchen table and did personality tests for ourselves and each other. Blake was easy--a controller. I think we answered only 3 of the 24 questions different for Blake. I, on the other hand, am apparently a bit more complex. I had myself as a Stabilizer. I like security and freedodm from conflict. But Blake had me as a Controller-Stabilizer, two opposite ends of the spectrums. And according to the book, the change in behavior from stabilizer to controller is sometimes frustrating, as it is difficult for others to understand the behavior. Ha! I love keeping Blake on his toes!

Sometimes I forget what we did before we had kids. Days like these make me remember. I love Blake!
{Picture taken at Ortho Banquet in the middle of September}

You Can!

Tonight when I was putting Max to bed, he chose to sing "Families Can Be Together Forever." When we got to the end, I stopped singing and listened to him sing, "And the Lord has shown you's how you can. The Lord has shown you's how you can," while pointing at me.

Max, I'm so happy we can be together forever.
{Me and my Baby Max, at the Sacred Grove, August 2006}

The Rest of Ashley's Visit

Well, our time together after the race was spent lying on the couch comparing battle wounds, but we had a lot of fun before the race. Saturday we went down to Union Square to pick up our race packets and got to see all the fun stuff Nike does for the race. Our favorite was the photo booth. (I don't know why the scan has a green tint to it, but you get the idea.)
Then we went down to Half Moon Bay for the world famous Pumpkin Festival. We walked around all the little booths only to find out there was actually no pumpkin patch there like we were lead to believe from the name of the event. In fact, the only real pumpkin related activity was the weigh-off. Those are some big pumpkins.We still had fun eating all the free samples and pumpkin ice cream and Max and I even tried one of the rides. Woo-ee!
I love when Ashley comes to visit because it seems like it's just so easy-going the entire time. And I know Max and Jack love when she visits, too. In fact, on Saturday morning Blake and I came out of our room to find Max cuddling with Ashley on the futon and Monday morning it was Jack. And Max even chose Ashley to change his diapers. Lucky girl. Come again soon, Ashley. And make it REALLY soon, since you have entered the now 8-way tie for our most frequent 2008 visitor.

Nike Women's {Half} Marathon

This morning, Ashley and I woke up at 5:30 am to eat breakfast. While we were eating breakfast, we watched an episode of Friends, The One With Phoebe's Run. Then we got ready and headed down to Union Square to meet up with 20,000 other women who also woke up during the wee hours of the morning. And lucky for Blake, these fabulous girls picked us up so he didn't have to deal with getting up himself, not to mention waking up two little boys.
Union Square was packed. Packed! Ashley and I tried our best to push and squeeze our way to our pace group, but it wasn't going to happen. So we found a place where we would stop getting pushed and when it was our turn to run, we started running. We ran 6.5 miles along the most beautiful course imagineable. Can you beat Downtown San Francisco, Fisherman's Wharf, and views of the bay, Alcatraz, and Golden Gate Bridge? I really felt like those miles flew by. Then came the BIG hill, which of course was right where our biggest fans were waiting for us. But we still had smiles on our faces, so it must not have been that bad.
During the second half the race we were motivated to keep running with promises of Gatorade, oranges, cheerleaders, bananas, LUNA bars, music bands, water, and chocolate. I was only let down when I arrived at the chocolate mile and there was no chocolate. Really? Of course they would run out of chocolate. I called Blake at mile 12 to let him know how close we were only to find out they'd been in a car accident (everyone's okay, not Blake's fault) and weren't there yet. I slowed down so they would be in the stands to see me cross the finish line, but I didn't slow enough. I saw them walking towards me as I was being handed my beautiful Tiffany's necklace. Sad. But of course I still went back out over the finish line for a picture. (On a side note, the t-shirt and medallion were better than ever this year. I love them both and will probably be wearing them every day this next week so people don't wonder why I'm walking funny.)
I am so proud of myself for finally doing this. Especially since the last time I was capable of running a mile was probably in 5th grade for the Presidential Phyiscal Fitness Award. I felt like I was running with teary-eyes and a big smile on my face the entire time just thinking of the reasons people were running. And those tears and that smile were especially big thinking about my Grandpa, who died of leukemia just over a year ago. I really hope to make this a yearly tradition and maybe others will join me to do the same. You know who you are! And an extra big thank you to Ashley (or should I say "Blythe") for joining me. It really was so much more fun to have someone to point out all the crazy things along the trail to, even though she did invoke her "no talking" rule. I love you Ashley!

When You're ONE!

*Your mom doesn't freak out if your grapes aren't cut in quarters. (Hey--with Max I actually peeled the grapes, so this is a big step!)
*You drink REAL milk in a sippy cup.
*You can eat peanut butter sandwiches.
*You can legally face forward in the car and actually see where you're going.
*You only get your paci in your bed when you're sleeping; at least that's the theory.
*People are always nagging you about walking, but you just really, really, really don't want to.

Life is good.
At 1 year old, Jack weights 23 pounds, just over 50%, and is 30 inches long (I would say tall, but you have to stand up to be tall. I'll admit it, I'm one of the naggers.), just over 75%.

La La Lalalala

While everyone was here we spent our down-time watching the fun movies they brought from Utah. Among them was Andy and Bri's Smurfs Season 1.

As Grandma was getting in the car to start the long drive home, she gave Max two of the movies we'd watched over the weekend to keep. After looking down at the movies a little conversation went like this:

Max: Grandma, you leave me Smurfs? (Smurfs said more like meirfs.)
Grandma: Oh, sorry Buddy. That's Andy's movie.
Max: Andy, you leave me Smurfs?
Andy: Of course I'll leave you Smurfs.
Max: Mommy, Andy leave me Smurfs. I LOVE Smurfs!

So to compensate for being left with just Mommy all day long, we've been watching A LOT of Smurfs today. And so goes, another generation will be singing a happy song and smurfing the whole day long. Thank you Andy for sharing your love of Smurfs with Max. Are you going to share your costume when we visit Utah too?Notes:
1. I miss those plastic pull-over costumes. So convenient and oh so cute! :)
2. I miss Utah Halloweens--hats, ear muffs, and large coats underneath your costumes!

The Rest of the Visit

Could there have possibly been more? Oh yes, yes there could.

Max and Jack showed them one of our favorite hang-outs, the Discovery Museum. Max ran from room to room trying to show them everything. And Baby Jack did his fastest crawl to try and keep up. But I think it was Grandpa who was in heaven with all the fun facts to read!

On Friday night, thanks to some fabulous babysitters, Andy, Bri, Blake, and I went to see comedian Brian Regan. We all thought he was very funny, but not as funny as the lady behind us thought. I think Andy especially enjoyed it since he could definitely relate to Brian's elementary school woes. The rest of us had no idea what he was talking about! :)In addition to the several games of HORSE played (Blake has been practicing his touching the toy chest with one foot, hang around the door, bounce it off Max's head shot for weeks now), there was also some pretty intense games of tennis. Poor Tony was ahead 5 to 3 when Blake made a miraculous come-back to win 7 to 5. At least that was Blake's side of the story. We also did some pretty fun San Francisco things, too. We shopped Pier 39 and Union Square, ate on the wharf, and saw some amazing views of the bridge. And can you believe these guys had never rode a cable car? Okay, well, my dad has, and it may not be too hard to believe since we just recently did it for the first time ourselves, but still! So, we rode a cable car. I love the night rides. And of course, the food. Ah, the food. We ate at Mama's, Philly Cheesesteak, In-N-Out, Pacific Catch, Boudin, Pluto's, Buckhorn Grill, and Sushi Place (I don't know the name). But I think if you were to ask them, they'd definitely say their favorite was Cafe Addi. Especially Bri, since every time we ate at Cafe Addi, Max chose her to be his special guest at his special table!

Ever since they left this morning we have been going through some serious family withdrawals. I'm still hoping they go back to Utah, pack up all their stuff, and move here permanenetly. Seriously. Who wouldn't want to live here?
And just in case you're keeping track, this puts Grandpa, Grandma, Andy, and Bri in a tie with Beth, Matt, and Zoie for our most frequent 2008 visitors. I'm counting on someone to surprise me with a visit to break the tie and win this prestigious award!

Fleet Week

Ah, the joys of fleet week. Interrupted naps and lots of ear plugging! Good thing we love the death-defying shows, watching those planes fly so close together as they loopty-loop around the Golden Gate Bridge. And lucky for my family, Fleet Week fell perfectly around Jack's birthday so they got to participate in the ear-plugging, too!

Friday we watched from the Marina Green. It wasn't very crowded so we had lots of room to run around. Saturday WAS crowded but we were lucky enough to get prime spots (both for our blanket and our car) right next to Golden Gate Bridge at Chrissy Fields. Some people loved the show and others just loved taking resting under the sun. But I think everyone's favorite part of Fleet Week was when Max would come up to you and say, "You better run!" Then he would either chase you or you'd chase him while he bossed you in which direction to run. Everyone got a turn at that fun game--definitely the highlight!

Maybe this will be a yearly tradition. What do you say guys?