Friend's Thanksgiving!

On November 10th, we had our 10th Friend's Thanksgiving!  I can't believe we have been doing this tradition for a whole decade, it's just wouldn't be November without it.  

It was so nice to not be 9 months pregnant this time around...Emily filled that role this year, though she was just 8 months along :)

We are definitely outnumbered by children now, though as they get older I think it's getting a little easier.  Just a little though!

And again second child syndrome hit me as I realized this was Cora's first Friend's Thanksgiving after she had finished her meal.  Though I'm not sure my camera is as fast as her little hands, because everything gets shoveled into her mouth at lightning speed.  I think she's going to love this tradition as much as I do!

And since it wasn't raining this year, the kids enjoyed being outside and bouncing to their hearts content.  Happy (early and late) Thanksgiving!

Candy Swap and a Crazy Climber

I had read somewhere in the blogosphere about how one family lets their kids enjoy their Halloween candy but also how they get rid of it in a timely manner.  Whoever wrote the post said they let their kids pick one piece of candy a day for a week after Halloween and then they tell them the "switch witch" is coming to swap all their leftover candy for something new and non-edible!  I loved the idea (minus the "witch" part) so I just told Wes we were doing a candy swap and after a week, he left this bag of candy on the porch and went off to school. (with no complaints by the way) And when he returned home from school there was a wrapped surprise waiting for him!  Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the swap, but since Wes has been talking about the game Trouble recently, I figured that would be a good exchange.  We have enjoyed the game and he hasn't asked about the candy...hoping it will be this easy next year!

I can't remember if I mentioned that Cora is one crazy little climber!  I always thought Wes was a climber until this one started scaling anything and everything within an inch or two off the ground.  She climbed this ladder all by herself, with one nervous Daddy following behind.  I did a similar post of Wes climbing this ladder when he was little (wish I had time to find it...labeling my posts is sounding more and more appealing) but I think Cora was much quicker!    

Last Day at Disneyland

On November 2nd our Disneyland passes expired, so me got in one last trip on our last day.

I didn't take very many pictures...

...but you can tell we had fun!

Goodbye Disneyland...we will miss you!

Loot!

The morning after Halloween was spent examining the loot Wes brought home!

Spreading it all out to get a closer look...

...and deciding on Reese's Pieces for his treat.  Love that look of pure happiness on his face...free candy does that to me too.

Happy Halloween!

We chose to attend our church's Halloween alternative again this year and had a ton of fun! 

My little fireman...I'm sure you're not surprised that he asked for this costume the first time I asked him what he wanted to be and never changed his mind!

And of course Snow White

We found a Snow White at church too!  (much better -and more natural- hair than the last one :)

This year's even was much bigger and more elaborate than last year's.  They did a trunk-or-treat in the parking lot and all the cars were decked out with different themes.  This one was a obstacle course/maze and the candy was buried under fall leaves and there was a pirate ship, an angel on a cloud, and lots more!

Daddy, Wes, Cora and a full pumpkin!

After trunk-or-treat, we had dinner - chili dogs, chips and drinks.  This whole evening was free, which made is so awesome!  No pics, but Wes spent some time in those bounce house behind him too.

Cora girl will eat anything and everything in site, she seemed especially fond of the hot dog.  (who isn't though really?!?)

Then after dinner we headed to the activity room (which was new this year).  They had flubber to touch here...

...and marble paintings here plus a few more crafts and activities.    

And we spent some time in the family room just playing as well.  Love this pic of Wes giving this baby some love, sweet boy!  We had a great Halloween with our church family, hope everyone enjoyed their's too!

The Giants Win!! (again!)

On the evening of the 28th we geared up to cheer on the San Francisco Giants in the final game of the World Series!  You might remember we are big Giants fans, and Mike was so excited for this game!  The Giants had an incredible come from behind season and though they swept the Tigers in the World Series, that last game went to extra innings to keep things interesting.  

That evening Cora also got her first cup of cow's milk and of course she loved it!  This kid loves food, it just must be in our genes.  She was wearing her Giants bib just in case there were any dribbles, but I think she got every drop in her mouth.

Go Giants!!

Since they didn't win until the 10th inning, we had already put the kids to bed.  But when they finally scored and we knew they won the World Series again, Michael actually went upstairs to get Wes so they could take a few pics and here's why...  

 

Top photo October 2012, bottom photo November 2010

You might notice the mustache on Mike, and you might remember the whole stache-tober thing I mentioned on a previous post.  But now since the Giants  have won twice with the mustache (he didn't grow one in 2011 by the way) it is now some crazy superstition and he told me I can expect a mustache to be grown every October from here on out if the Giants are doing well.  (Thank goodness there there is that "if"!!)

Well done Giants!

Dr. Hatch's Baby Reunion

On October 28th we went to Dr. Hatch's annual Baby Reunion.  Dr. Hatch was our fertility doctor and we love going to her Halloween event!  

Grabbing a little snack in the gazebo.

Of course she had the little train again, so we rode it several times.

Cora wasn't the only Snow White there!  (Though I think she needed to take a comb to that wig)

And since this was Cora's first year at the Reunion we got in this excruciating terrible slow moving really, really, really long line with hopes to visit with Dr. Hatch.

We waited long enough to get a cute pic of these two and get a balloon fire fighting ax from the balloon guy and then called it quits.  I think we moved about three feet.  Every year it's like this and though we really want to visit with her, it's just takes WAY too long.  

 So instead I made Wes get as close as possible to her and snapped this pic.  Close enough right?? 

 Wes then grabbed two goodie bags and we headed home. 

 Always a fun little party, thanks Dr. Hatch!