Friday

We made it through the week... well almost... one midterm, one final and one final paper.... We are ready for the weekend.....

K and the girls at school are in love with their babies... We all practiced bouncing them on our knees at drop off this morning... All the girls have babies, strollers, bottles and they take turns putting the babies in the crib, highchair etc... Here is our latest baby we must have.... Lucy... Santa hurry.... we need Lucy....

and even more pics

Thanksgiving!!!!

Cooking... fun... K making stuffing... even better.... time with family and good food... great!

Visiting family in Sacramento and having K play with cousins... awesome... having her not try and sneak in our bed last night because she played too hard... great. Having Gma C come home with us for a few days... fun... K is in heaven and avoiding her parents....

Mommy and K hitting the after Thanksgiving sales and seeing Clancy (the pottery barn kids bear... life sized and moving... heaven for K- we all know how she is with stuffed animals)... Finding more babies for Santa to buy.... Having to wait for Santa to come.... so hard!

Going to the park... spending time with Daddy so Mommy can study for finals... spending time with Mommy so Daddy can golf... awesome again!

Needless to say we had a great weekend.

photos from trip

So I am dreaming of a way to move to Manhattan

I am in love with Manhattan... even as I froze this past weekend... I loved it... I love the vibe, the shops, the fact I throw my shopping budget out the window and buy too much, the cool cafes, the food... everything. Unfortunately there are no golf courses within a ten minute drive so we are never going to live there... Regardless it was a glorious long weekend with pmogi... We hit Nolita, SoHo, the Meatpacking District, Madison, the Met, the MOMA, Sarabeths (YUMMY), SoHo wine bars, a couple new places (Good Enough to Eat - great food) and the Little Pie Company (shock I know... great pie).... It was fantastic... cold... and so much fun! K scored loads of really cool clothes and is going to be wearing brands I have never bought... but it was so much fun to buy for her.

The most memorable moment.... as we had found a few you know little things in Boston our luggage was a bit large coming into NYC.... so after looking for a handicapped spot for our wide load at the subway station... we saw the booth on the other side of the gate and decide we should just go through the emergency exit.... we weren't going to fit through the little turn things... we had fares on our tickets and were wandering over to the booth with the tickets in hand when two NYPD came up to us and asked for ids... I am thinking it is so nice for them to come help that I present my fare cards and explain we are too wide to fit through... well they were not amused... apparently... they thought we were trying to avoid the fare... ha as if $4 is going to help our budget at this point.... they start talking about arresting us... I am shell shocked... arrest us... for what... anyway off they go with our ids while we start to get extremely nervous.... we got two fines... AHHH! So now we must contest our fines because the cameras felt we were trying to sneak through.... Can you believe this? Apparently the co felt since we held our cards out when he came up to us... we knew the system... As you can tell I am annoyed, but extremely amused all at once. Wish me luck contesting.... This has not been a good year for tickets... my first traffic ticket ever was almost a year ago to date and now this.... Pmogi will never go back to NYC after this.

Back home... and so happy.... MoCa hung with me all last night and K was soooo excited this morning... I have given her third baby who has been named Butterfly and is at school with her... I have painted her fingernails... we are back together

what fun...

T found K in our bed last night... she skipped the ask and just climbed in.

I have been on the East Coast since last Sat for work although I did find time for a bit of fun last weekend although it is way too cold for a CA wimp...

Highlights include:
Drinks at the top of prudential tower
Shopping in south end and on newburry
Boston Fine Arts Museum
Breakfast in Beacon Hill
Dinner and shopping on the north end

NY details to follow

How many days until Thanksgiving break?

(Thanks Lady M for the pic.)

pics

November!

How can it be!!!

Fri night we watched Stanford volleyball followed by a great dinner with M&J while K hung with Gma S in prep for a fun weekend.... Saturday we went to her favorite shop... not only does she get a cookie... she gets to push the big girl cart around for grocery shopping. We spent the late morning at the park for swings and at lunch with D,T and M.... It was really fun although I think K's favorite part was the lollipop after lunch! We had D&J over on Saturday night and as always K was really excited to have guests and ran around like a crazy girl.

Sunday was definitely a great way to end our October adventures... We went to San Francisco and met AuntJ who joined us at Eats for my favorite fruit crepes and the Marina for playing in the park, wandering the shops and an early dinner at Cafe Balboa... K loved her shell pasta and ice cream treat and especially enjoyed waking up from her nap at a Union Street toy shop... Trying to enjoy those last few days of indian summer before bundling in for winter.

But you don't have any lollipops!

Last night was really fun... and really tiring for our girl! We ended up all meeting at her school and going trick or treating with all the kids. K opened her lollipop before we even left the first driveway and galloped from door to door asking for candy... or picking through bowls for the most appealing candy or simply wondering why some people didn't have lollipops... When people offered her to take two... she did! She was so tired that she didn't even have the energy to ask to sleep in our bed five minutes after laying down. She has made that part of the routine... she asks, we say no and she goes to back bed. This morning she remembered the candy that we promised she could eat today and so after we ate breakfast instead of elmo crackers or fruit she had eight m&ms as her car snack while we drove to school... We are excited about the candy. She is hoping to go trick or treating tonight, but I told her it is a once a year thing.

A little bummed

A little bummed this morning to miss the school's halloween party as I have class... T is going to the party before heading home so we can get a little group wandering in. Our neighborhood is great for going out as there are so many kids and a lot of folks really get into it.
K was quite excited by last night's earthquake and when Gma C called in to check in on her... K told her about the shaking and how scared MoCa was. She also went over to the couch and described the earthquake and the earth settling just like Daddy shared with her.... It was an exciting night for her and so she spent her third night ever in our bed. MoCa sleeps with us every night and was also really scared so there were four of us in our bed... We are a bit sleepy this morning.

AHHH BOO!

We carved our first family pumpkin on Sat at a friend's Halloween party. There were about fifty pumpkins to choose from so K had a lot of fun picking out her pumpkin… Her favorite part was definitely cleaning out the pumpkin… We are lighting him every morning at breakfast… eek! K had a slow start on Saturday, but yesterday was in much better spirits and back to eating food… We had a family day with lunch in Los Gatos followed by an afternoon in downtown Santa Cruz before meeting our photographer from our wedding for our holiday photos. We went out to the beach which hopefully will turn out well, but as always was very cold! We had dinner in town before heading over the hill for another crazy week of work and school.

Mommy... I am all wet

K woke up in the middle of the night with the stomach flu. We ended up doing a family sleepover (even MoCa came) in her room as she ended up throwing up most of the night... Her spirits were pretty high considering she took four baths, used all her sheets/pjs and had to sleep with a beach towel on top of the crib mattress. I took the day and stayed home with her napping, reading and going for a walk to explore the neighborhood pumpkins, which look awesome. T came home early and set up her big girl bed which she is sleeping in for the first time tonight... Hopefully we are through the worst of it and she can enjoy her bed...

I don't want to go to the farmers market

Yesterday as we pulled into the market I unclipped K only to turn around and see her seatbelt back on... "I'm not going to the market, I am staying in the car. I want to go to the party." K's higlight of yesterday was going to the Mom's group Halloween party. It was so good she took a two and a half hour nap immediately afterwards... very unlike our action girl! She had a really good time at the party and enjoyed playing, observing and treats although she was very concerned that her treat basket didn't contain any candy.

On Saturday T and I went up for our annual Oct Napa trip. The repeat highlights included tasting at Joseph Phelps and lunch at Auberge du Soleil. New cool experiences including tasting at Darioush (persian inspired winery) and Jarvis where we got an incredible tour where we got to smell french oak barrels, see the wine as it was being repumed in different vats and a great tasting. It was a neat behind the scenes tour. We also had dinner in downtown Napa for the first time ever at a great Italian place. K spent most of the day with Gma S, which she loved. She got to go to church, play at the park before heading home to spend the evening with G showing her toys, clothes etc.

School is crazy right now... T and I are having to split up to hang with K and so we aren't getting as much family time as we would like. Friday night we ate together which was great! Luckily this should be one of the worst quarters and I am 1/3 way in! In the meantime I was lucky enough to hear closing call at the local Starbucks every night this weekend! K is being a great sport and enjoying errands at Home Depot with T and grocery shopping with Mommy so we are quite lucky....

a couple more

a few shots

I played a lot!

The bed is moving along although it is a bit of a transition... We have had a couple nights where it was hard to get her to stay in. On Sunday morning K requested to wake up at 4am. We explained no did the songs, back rubbing etc. but couldn't get her into her bed... So T told her she could stay up, but it had to be in her room and we still needed to sleep. As he walked back down the hall the light went on and stayed on until 7 when she came into our room... We asked her what she did while we slept and she said she played A LOT! She insists that she didn't go back to sleep, and her toys were out so it seems that she kept herself occupied for three hours rather than sleeping in her bed. This morning she woke us up at 2am as one of T's socks must have gotten stuck to her blanket in the dryer... As she found it while she was sleeping she got up and brought it back to him and then went right back to bed.

We went big girl bed shopping and found something yesterday! We have to order it and are skipping our normal shop as they were so rude to K on Saturday about testing beds using a noisy voice etc in the shop. Apparently they only want couples in the shop... so we went to Stanford yesterday and did a mass big girl shopping run! Exciting! New bedding... the best part!

K and I went to Los Gatos on Saturday and had an incredible time... We stumbled on a few boutiques with open houses so K had brie and crackers every twenty minutes and played with a million toys as so many of the shops have great toys for the kids. The best part was K's trip to Icing on the Cake where she got to pick a pink cookie. The pumpkin cookies were made from pumpkin so they weren't as appealing as the sugar cookie with frosting and sprinkles. Hard to believe. As we were having friends over for dinner that evening I bought some cookies... Hands down the best cookies ever! I recommend everyone check them out.

On Saturday M&J came over and we had a great time with them as always! K loved loved the visit! She put on California (her Hall costume horse), shared toys and puzzles and just had fun! It was funny to watch her run around with friends as normally she is a bit more reserved.

I have my first calc midterm on Tuesday so I spent much of the weekend studying and K spent some extra time with Gma S so T could help tutor his fantastic math student =). he had a lot of fun as always. Since we also had dinner with my family twice this weekend K got extra Gma time... always awesome!

Two nights in

K loves her big girl bed slumber party (translation: mattress on floor as we need to order a new bed. Not sure on the toddler bed, but it all depends on if the furniture shop really requests 14 weeks for delivery) The first night was forty minutes of "I have to go to the bathroom" until I finally had to tell her that she needed to show me she was ready for a big girl bed by staying in it. That must have stuck with her because she went to bed after that without a peep. In the morning she asked me if it was time to wake up before leaving. Another big milestone although it will be more memorable when she has a real bed in her room.

I bought her a pumpkin cookie as a treat this week... She loved it. We made it last for four snacks and since she is crazy about Halloween it was a real hit. We are going to get another one tomorrow. Not a good idea for me to have sugar cookies in the house, otherwise I would make them! A funny moment about the cookie and a two year old version of sharing... T was out one of the times she was eating her cookie and so she told me "I want to share with Daddy" I explained he would be home later and she could give him a piece. She said oh no I want Daddy to watch me eat the cookie... I asked if that is what she meant by sharing... She nodded immediately. Hmm... a different version of sharing, but a very funny one.

If you are wondering

If you are wondering why it rained last night... It is because I washed my car at lunch yesterday and the rainy roads made it dirty again on the way to school today! I wonder if the dealership would mind if I went back today... Hmmm. I bet they are bummed I know about the free car wash benefits.

We are looking for a new bed for K. A big girl bed! She has been asking for a big girl bed the last few weeks while reading stories with big girl beds and we are have had two accidents in the morning because she needs to go to the bathroom as soon (and I do mean as soon) as she wakes up. So we are going shopping for a big girl bed this weekend. K being mine wanted to go at 7 this morning and was bummed to hear the stores are closed. This morning we pulled the crib mattress out of the bed and are selling a sleep over as I am sure it will take 2-3 months for the bed to come. I am thinking of skipping the toddler bed and going straight to the big girl bed... Too drastic? I hope not!

And finally K has been working on a Brooklyn accent. I am guessing it is a residual from the Dora episodes in Singapore, but we keep hearing baaaanana and cccattt. It is very humorous.

Gma C feel better (photos from K at school taken by TB)