COPY CAT!

I guess Colby isn't the only Milk Carton this Halloween.

This is a photo of Mariah Carey's husband.

Colby wins in my book!

TAG?

So, I have never responded to a tag before. I made the mistake of browsing through Leisa Waldron's blog around 10:00 pm just to find out I was tagged for this '8 list thing'. Now Leisa is one of my favorite people ever so instead of ignoring her I am going to acknowledge a 'Tag'. So here is my attempt at a tag sequence (I may be totally botching it up)...whatever. I still love Leisa.

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS

This one is easy since I don't have TV.

I watch old or recorded or internet seasons of:

1- The Office (funniest show ever)
2- Heroes (Troy and I finished season 1 this summer)
3- 24 (However we have not got back in since season 6)
4- Prison Break (we may skip season 3 because they killed off Sara, but I hear she is back on Season 4...hmmm)

Thats all folks for TV!
How about movies for the final 4

5- I am really excited for 'Twilight' (shocking)
6- Penelope and Stardust are the new 'Princess Bride' for my bored What should I watch tonight? evenings.
7- Lord of the Rings Trilogy (I am a Fantasy/Romantic/Sci-Fi fan at heart)
8- I secretly wish I were Aeon Flux (just between us)

8 Favorite Restaurants

1- Scotts Bar and Grill
2- Boudin's
3- Beni Hanna's (spelled incorrectly)
4- Gianni's Pizza
5- Senro's Japanese Bar and Grill
6- Genovas Deli
7- Chowder on Fisherman's Wharf
8- Five Alls

8 Things I did yesterday

What was yesterday again? Oh yeah, Wednesday.

1- Got Gavin ready for school.
2- Made Gingersnaps for Colby's pre-school and Gavin's kindergarten classes.
3- Laundry
4- Talked to a police officer about one of our neighbors stealing our mail. (bet no one else has that one:)
5- Hung out with my sister Barbie and her kids for a few hours at my mom's house.
6- Took Mazzy to the doctor. It was just a safety precaution to her abnormally whiny behavior to find she has not one but 2 ear infections.
7- Packed for Monterey for the weekend
8- Read 100 pages of Twilight for the 3rd time because it comes out soon. (I am not proud of this at all)

I will finish this tomorrow I am really tired/embarassed/tired.

O.k. so I woke up at 5 am with a Bee in my bonnet to get things ready for our weekend trip and 'Halloween' at Gavin's school. I am pretty close to being finished so I will continue.

8 things I love about Fall:

1- It starts getting darker earlier and I can get away with putting the kids to bed sooner!
2- I love foggy mornings and cold nights.
3- I thought I would love the kids being in school more, it is still an adjustment. I do love pre-school!
4- I remember when Troy and I lived in Utah and would drive/hike/walk a round in the canyons in October. Can't be beat really!
5- HALLOWEEN!
6- Holidays with kids is 100 x's more fun than without
7- My kids are all born in the fall :)
8- I love change

8 things I look forward to:

1- Having a house someday! (That has been #1 on my list for 4 years)
2- Being able to back pack with the kids
3- Going to Europe, South America, Africa and maybe Asia someday
4- Dancing again
5- Sleeping
6- Proposition 8 passing!
7- The election being over so I can sleep again at night!
8- The weekend!

8 things on my 'wish list':

1- Having a house with a big back yard!
2- Having a President who will uphold the Constitution!
3- Being calm!
4- Having more time to enjoy living in the moment
5- That my family is always healthy and strong in every way
6- That Proposition 8 passed and no one ever contended it again
7- That Troy would just know what I was thinking without spelling it out for him. (Some of the time)
8- Can't we all just get along?

8 people I tag: (ha ha ha)

1- Dalee
2- Jen
(Honorary Tag)
Becky

Sorry guys, but you are most likely to actually read this!

3- April
4- BJ
5- Faith
6- Karen S (and then you have to invite me to your blog again)
7- Mandi Crockett
8- Britt S.

This just means I love you. I totally understand if you fail!

TRUNK or TREAT!

This is a before shot of the Great White Shark, the Littlest Witch and the MILK carton. I wasn't sure I would get a chance to get them all together again and I was right.

This is Gavin helping me get a good shot of Mazzy in her costume.

I am not sure how this event "Trunk or Treat" got its name but my kids look forward to it every year and it is a good bribing tool for mom. I always said I would never bribe my kids with stuff. What was I thinking? It is nice to have any party card. Then after they get candy or goody bags it is beneficial to use the, "You had better do what I ask or your candy/goody bag will disappear!" It works like a charm. At least on Gavin and Colby. I don't know what I am going to do with Mazzy.

Grandma and Grandpa Boyer were entranced by Mazzy's cuteness.

She is hard to resist!

The best part was watching Colby trying to play the games and successfully put his treats in his bag while wearing his not so comfortable costume.


It was fun to have Barbie and Ben in town to show off their cute kids and join in the festivities.

Hailey was a really cute giraffe/chocolate chip cookie. It would have been more obvious that she was a giraffe if she could have kept on her giraffe head.

Carter was the cutest dragon at the ball!

BOO at the ZOO!

We usually try to stay away from frequented places during a holiday, but we tried one out that was pretty successful this year. We went to BOO at the Oakland Zoo on Saturday. They had all kinds of fun little events going on like scavenger hunts, a parade, free face/body painting and watching the wildlife get little Halloween treats. It was really fun.

I heard that the kids could dress up but didn't really think my kids would be into putting on their costumes when it was 90 degrees outside.
I was amazed that Gavin wore a felt Great White Shark costume almost the entire day and Colby put in amazing effort with a full dragon suit.


Mazzy was the lucky one with out a costume. She did try on Gavin's shark head for entertainment, but it never lasted.
Colby got pretty grouchy quickly in the heat so we relieved him of his burden about an hour in. Still much longer than I expected. We got to see the animals pretty close up.

Notice the Alligator along the fence. Perhaps a little too close. We could have jumped on him if we felt so inclined.

The Tortoise had the right idea.

I couldn't resist a few shots of the Flying Foxes that were showing off their stuff. The boys had a really good time at the body art booth.

I had a hard time getting them out. Hopefully not a premonition.

A Golden Eagle Award

We are the 'Proud Parents' of a Golden Eagle Recipient. I am not sure what that means. Gavin was really proud and has been talking about it all week. In his words, "I am not the only Golden Eagle, my friend Ellie is one too. But it is a pretty big deal". So there it is. Congratulations Gavin you are truly 'Golden'. (Troy took a picture at the assembly that did not turn out at all. Hopefully I will get one from Mrs. Dulle, Gavin's teacher, at a later date.) This may be the only award ever so it needs to be documented.

Who says a 1 year old doesn't care about presents?

Mazzy's big day was a success. Colby, Maz and I hung out in the morning. (I was really worried when Gavin started school that Colby would be devastated without his playmate. I didn't expect that he and Mazzy would find a lot in common. They both love to build, destroy, climb into and out of anything they can fit into, eat a lot, yell a lot, push, pull and try to walk without interference. It has been so fun watching their relationship develop. Sometimes it is not so pretty but for the most part so far so good. I am crossing my fingers.)

Me being the prepared mom that I am didn't have any birthday presents for Mazzy. I didn't think she would care being 12 months old and all. So I decided to take her to Target and see if anything struck her fancy. To my surprise she fell in love with almost every toy I put in front of her. I let her play with them for a while and realized she didn't care too much what it was as long as she got to play with it for a while. I toyed with the idea of letting her have a mini play date at Target and calling it a day, aka leaving all the toys there. Colby helped me decide on a few dominant toys and then we left. Colby went home with Grandma to wrap the toys and hang out till Mazzy woke up from her nap.






After Mazzy's nap Grandma brought Colby and Gavin home for the present opening section of the day. I had no idea Mazzy would be so excited. She was so happy and I was lucky I caught some of it in photos. It is amazing what a happy child does to a parent. It is like the best present the parent can have. Now I know why my own parents went overboard with gifts when I was growing up. There is nothing better than seeing bliss on the face of your children!

I can't say enough about Mazzy. Just thinking about what she means to me makes me choke up. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives. I never thought I needed a little girl. I was all about being a boy mom! I was unexplainably wrong. Happy Birthday little lady! We LOVE you!

Mazzy's Birthday Weekend!

I'm a big girl now!

I personally like to stretch out any birthday as long as possible. So this time it is Mazzy's turn. Her actual 1st Birthday is tomorrow but we started celebrating on Saturday.
Gavin has a real soft spot for babies.

Colby just likes to do whatever his big brother does.

I know about 2 wardrobe malfunctions don't tell me about any others.

We decided to take the kids up to Suisun to meet Barbie's latest edition. Carter James Hall was born on October 9, 2008. He was 8 lbs and 1 ounce. Big boy! He is such a beautiful baby. All boy from head to toes. My kids had so much fun holding, poking and talking to him.

Then we headed to one of our favorite family parks, The Nut Tree. My kids love the rides and I love the atmosphere there. Mazzy started the day off a little tired so we didn't get to many smiley shots. The boys made up for it! Grandma and Grandpa Boyer came to which always adds to the fun.

The train is usually Colby's favorite part. Unfortunately he is veering towards the roller coaster. I will miss the train years.

Mazzy really likes the train she was really tired. (I know my mouth is wide open.)

Best Friends Forever! Hailey, Grandma, and Grandpa!

After the Nut Tree we went to Red Robins for a birthday dinner. It was really funny when the employees sang to Mazzy. She kept looking at them like they were CRAZY.

Sunday we celebrated with Nanna, Poppy and the Smyth family.

Troy baked a cake and the boys and I colored on it for Mazzy.


I am glad she has low expectations at this point. For sure this will be her easiest B day ever.

We Love The Maz!

Kinder Pumpkin Patch Day!

What a cute class!

Another trip to the pumpkin patch. This time in Clayton/Concord. It was a long drive for a Kindergarten Class field trip but a lot of fun. Sad that I couldn't bring my other kids on this one. Fun that it was a Gavin/Mommy date. I forget the name of the Pumpkin Patch/Farm but it was a pretty intense education for 5 year olds and they loved it. They talked about growing pumpkins, photosynthesis, 12 different types of Gords, crop sharing techniques, the importance of pollenating and our dwindling bee population, different types of cows and the milk they produce, and ways that we can mulch, recycle and save the planet. Like I said, INTENSE. The kids seemed to enjoy it and added any information they felt was left out. It was a little warm for my taste. Injury wise it was a success in that the only injury was a bloody nose in one of the pitch black hay mazes.

This is one of Gavin's dearest friends in his class. He and Julia are quite the pair. They hug before class, after class and at the cars when we leave. She is a sweet heart. I think it got so bad in class that Gavin had to switch tables. They use to sit next to each other. Now they get to communicate in sign language across the room. (Gavin is teaching me new words in sign language every day)

I loved the beautiful sunflowers and couldn't resist a shot!

Gavin got a little frustrated trying to milk his Jersey Cow. She just wasn't producing.

The Bean Pit!

Ever the anxious volunteer.

Monterey!

We seriously can't get to Monterey enough!  This weekend we were lucky to have the Waldron family up there with us.  It is awesome when you can accomplish multiple activities and don't even notice because you are relaxed at the same time.   There aren't many people you can do that with in this world.  We managed to eat out, go to the beach, Denis the Menace Park, Point Lobos, the Wharf and just hung out!  It was perfect.  

Quote of the day from Colby, "I used up all my energy and I need a poppy."

Playing at the Wharf!

This is a great shot of Troy. How can I help myself from falling for this guy!

Mazzy really thought she was big stuff at the beach taking on these boulders.
I realized I am in for it with Mazzy. I asked Glenn and Merrily to watch her while I went looking at the tide pools. She watched me go and the path I took and realized she couldn't follow me. So she crab crawled all around the rocks till she got sabatoged by the ocean. She realized the rocks won and banged her head on a rock screaming till she got rescued. Almost 12 months and too much determination. Uh Oh!