Thanksgiving Leftovers

We hope everyone had their fill of turkey family and friends. I know our Thanksgiving was extra special this year. Not only did we celebrate with family at my Aunt Connie and Uncle Doug's house, but it was extra special because Uncle Doug was here to share it with us. (He was recently hospitalized in critical condition).

This year Thanksgiving was with my family - Aunt Connie, and Uncle Doug, my Grandma (GG) and Charles, my Parents (Grammy & GrampC), my Sister & her daughter and boyfriend (Auntie Lisa, Kady & Jimmy), and my brother (Uncle Matt).

I started the day by baking my Great-Grandma Myrt's famous cinnamon rolls. While they weren't "hers" they weren't bad for my first first try. I think I may attempt them for Christmas.

Afterward we headed over to Grammy & GrampC's for a little visiting before heading over for our dinner - scheduled to be served at 4pm.

Here are some shots of our family - of course we really tried to get the pictures of the cousins.

GrampC & Drew playing football

Drew & Kady - for the couch shot

3 Generations - Grandma, Mom, & Me


Family Shot

Future Spelling Bee Champ

While Drew may only be 2, he is a future spelling be champ in the making! See for yourself!




While he may get confused on things like "Dad" - he has mastered a few words. "Drew" he's worked on at day care. A few weeks ago when we were in Virginia, he learned "Stop". "Yes" he picked up from the Toyota commercial. And well Dad - obviously he's still working on it.

We're thrilled with how well he's doing and how much fun he has with it - we have to yell "go, go, go" and he runs into my arms to

Thankful this Thanksgiving

We are thankful for things year round, but today marks a day to stop and take note of it. Today the three of us want to recognize the things we are thankful for:

Brenda

• Dave and I both have great jobs and are doing well
• Drew is a healthy, happy and thriving little boy
  
• We have food on the table, and a roof over our heads
• I have been able to spend time with friends both near and far
  
• We have an awesome family - immediate and extended, and they're always there when we need something, even if it's just a hug or words of encouragement
• We live in a safe neighborhood
• I have my health, and I'm back to running again
• For Dave, and reminding me to enjoy the fun things in life
  

Dave

• Brenda, Drew and I are happy and healthy
• For my son on making me feel like a kid again and realizing that fatherhood is the best feeling on earth
  
• Having a very supportive family and wonderful friends that are always there for us
  
• Brenda and I still having our jobs
• We have a roof over our heads, food on the table and vehicles that get us to our destinations
  
• The opportunities we had to get away as a family and make memories
• For my wife on supporting me in everything I do and being an incredible mommy
  

Drew

• I have good friends at day care
• Ms. Stephanie loves me
• My Grammy & GrampC, Grandma & Grandpa, Tata & Abuela, and GG & Charles
• My Mommy doesn't yell at me too much
• My Daddy plays with me a lot
• Getting out of Time Out
  
• I get to see Red Hands when we go in the car (the don't walk signs at stoplights)
• Every once in a while you can still see purple flowers
• Snacks
  

2 Yr Old Storytime

Who says you need to always be the one to read to a two year old?



That's right, Drew was reading to me last night!

OK before you think he's some sort of boy genius, we've read this story to him a million times, and he pretty much has it memorized. But shhhhhh, don't tell anyone.

Birthday Celebrations

Over the weekend Drew was invited to the birthday party for his little buddy Mason - he is the oldest son of Stephanie, who watches Drew. The lucky birthday boy is turning four, well officially it's this week but with the bird holiday the party was held this weekend.

The theme: Mickey Mouse! What a hit! Oh and speaking hitting... the big attraction: the Mickey Pinata. Imagine nearly a dozen kids trying to attack Mickey's head with a bat, and trying to keep those dozen kids back when someone was swinging... and the candy/prizes fall out!

Case in point:


Eventually we let Drew go for the loot... and he got a lot of candy, pencils, stickers...


We had a great time, but poor Drew was starting to melt by the end. No nap will do that to you so we had to excuse ourselves before he caused a big scene.


Despite the look he was giving, he enjoyed his hat, well at least at the end of the party!

Reenactment from "Big Daddy"

Have you ever seen the movie "Big Daddy" starring Adam Sandler. Yesterday morning while I was trying to fold some laundry in Drew's room, we had a reenactment from the flick.

The Movie:
The scene I'm talking about is right after the little boy wakes up from his nap and asks for the "Kangaroo Song"/Video.

Reality:
Picture it: 6:30 am. I stripped Drew's bed (mattress on the floor) and he saw it as the perfect trampoline. He had just had a bunch of grape juice to drink.

The bouncing stops, and he walks to the foot of his bed, where he spit up a little. I thought he just had a "wet burp" or something. Nope, the entire sippy (or two) of grape juice comes spewing out.

Yup, lovely grape juice jumpy puke all over our cream color carpet - NICE! I'll spare you the photo for this one.

Cans for Comments - Thank You!

What a success! I didn't reach my goal of 32 cans - to beat Helen's final count from last year (she initiated the challenge), but I think it was a success nonetheless. The real winners, Bay Area families who will benefit by all the comments you left here on my blog.

You see, for every comment left here on my blog, I turned it into canned and non-perishable goods for the Contra Costa and Solano County Food Bank.


See what your comments provided? That's 28 comments/cans! I am dropping them off today.

Thank you all for helping fight hunger here in the Bay Area!

Friday Funny

Here's a Friday Funny courtesy Drew...

On our way to Virginia last weekend, Dave took Drew with him to the bathroom during our Atlanta layover. Well in the Men's public restrooms, you all know there are urinals.

Pointing to Dave's manhood as Dave is finishing is business here's how the conversation goes:

Drew: "Daddy all done potty. That's Daddy's tail."
Dave: "Is that daddy's ookiepook?"
Drew: "No Daddy has a tail"
Dave: "Does Drew have a tail?"
Drew: "No Drew have Ookiepook."

Dave came out of the restroom laughing. My first response when he told me about their conversation, "Did anyone else hear?" Nope, apparently they took the very last urinal far enough from other gentlemen... heaven forbid this conversation would have been about a stranger's "tail".

Kids say the darndest things.
Alright everyone I need those comments! Today is the last day of the Cans for Comments Drive. My goal is to reach 31 - I'm 10 away. You have until midnight tonight to comment on any blog, and turn it into good for local Bay Area Families who are hungry this time of year. I will donate one can for every comment left until midnight tonight.

That's What Friends Are For

When I mentioned that we were going to Virginia for a friend's wedding, I received a lot of "looks" when people heard how we met... online.

That would have been me a few years ago too. But when life throws you together, and you have so much in common (we're all raising at least one 2 year old born within weeks of Drew) you can't help but be close. Despite that we have different parenting techniques, beliefs, and lifestyles - we all have one common denominator -- Our kids.

I know I've spoken about these ladies a few times, and seriously as everyday passes they grow more and more important to me. So it was a no brainer that when we learned one of our own was tying the knot, we had to be there. This same group of girls got together in January (photos of that are on my old blog) much to the dismay of the other members of our group. When we met up last week, it was like we all were together yesterday. I suppose that could be due to the fact we talk daily.....

Since we got returned from Virginia, I've been asked how the husbands got along. This was the first time they had met each other. I won't lie, Dave often thought I was nuts for having "online friends" and then he met a few of the girls and started to see where I was coming from. And he knows a lot of what's happened with this group of girls over the past nearly 3 years... since I fill him in on some of the happenings with the other kids in the group.


Well I have to say the husbands got along great! Dave didn't have a single complaint about anyone. I think the fact that they all had kids the same age, also helped them make a connection and eliminate a lot of awkwardness.

Well the plans are in the works for another gathering of my national mamas.... so stay tuned for more updates in the future.

And only 2 more days to leave your comments so I can turn them into cans for local families who are looking for a meal this Holiday Season. Thank you all to those who have left comments... but I want more!

East Coast Family Time

It was so great to travel with the entire family - and really get good quality time together. It's not too often I'm able to fly with both Dave and Drew. In fact, this was only the third time we flew as a family - I get to fly solo all the time. So it was a real treat. Only downfall... this was the first time we had to buy Drew a ticket (kids fly free on your lap until 2 years old).

Drew did great on the flights - we had a layover in Atlanta, and Drew was quite the trooper. The only time he'd fuss on the plane was when he couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, we took a unique route to getting Drew to sleep in his own bed during our travels. Since Drew is sleeping on his crib mattress on the floor at home, so we decided to pull the hide-a-bed mattress off the couch, and lay it on the floor. It was perfect. Not only for sleeping, but apparently for jumping as well. It worked out to be the perfect trampoline for the kids too.

OK back to the fun stuff. Here are some pictures of the three of us at the wedding (apparently that's the only time we snapped pictures of the three of us). I have to say, the Bluemont Winery made a beautiful backdrop.


And by the end of the night Drew had enough. He conked out about an hour before the wedding ended. I guess that's what a 20-minute nap gets you.


Please keep the comments coming! For every comment left on my blog this week, it means a can is donated to a local food bank. Don't be shy... comment away. Read here for all the information on this drive.

The Virginia Hams

This past weekend the three of us headed to Virginia for a friend's wedding. We were meeting up with three other families from my online group of moms, who had kids within weeks of each other. I can't stress how much these ladies have helped me with parenting tips, reassuring me that Drew's normal, and just everyday friendship.

Over the next few days I'll share various photos of our trip - goodness knows I have enough of them (I downloaded them and came to realize I'd taken more than 200). We arrived on Thursday evening and had dinner with everyone at TGI Friday's. We met up with the bride-to-be and her son, and the other families for a bite to eat. Here are a few of the shots of how we kept the kids busy over the long weekend.

Friday at the outlets... letting the kids burn off some energy.

OK so the strollers were because they were really "running" off that energy. This was a way to keep them contained and off all the rides that were wet thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Ida. The kids LOVED these strollers... and the dads happily ran them up and down the storefronts.

Later that night one of my friends had a brilliant idea... make a "tunnel" out of scarves.

The kids crawled back and forth for quite a while.

Around the time the picture above was taken, Drew sat admiring his girlfriend. Then he said the cutest thing, "Leila, you're so handsome!" Seriously, he came up with that one on his own. Of course he didn't know how to tell her she was pretty or beautiful - it's not like we're telling him that. So that was the only thing he knew how to say.

Another great idea, re-purposing the scarves for capes. Here are our three caped crusaders.

I'm sure the folks on our floor loved the screaming toddlers running up and down the hall.


And at the wedding, the kids all looked fantastic! And while the dancing did happen (my pictures of that didn't turn out), they all enjoyed running around in the big grassy area out back as well.

I have to say getting all the kids together was awesome. All of them were really well behaved. We didn't have too many tantrums, in fact not a single one is really coming to mind. Wow, amazing.

The bride's son isn't pictured here. As you can imagine he was quite busy doing the formal rounds. I do have a few pictures of him, but they came out a bit blurry. I just didn't want you to think he was being ignored.

Just a reminder... for every comment left on my blogs this week (current or past) I will donate one canned food/non-perishable food item to a local food bank. As of the writing of this post last night I only have four comments. Let's try and make this a Happy Thanksgiving for Bay Area families in need.

My First Blog Award!

And the award goes to..... The Briseno Family Adventures!

That's right I received my first blog award courtesy of my friend Helen. I've spoken about her a few times, giving her kudos for her helping me save a few dollars in the way I shop (she has a spectacular shopping skill and she shares how she does it every Saturday on her blog), and again this week for her "Cans for Comments Drive".

She's one of my "online" friends that I met through Weight Watchers. See she and I were pregnant at the same time and joined in with a group of other girls. However her situation was a bit different than mine (and the others of the group). She found out she was expecting identical triplets! OK the identical part was realized after they were born, but man does she have stories to tell.

For the record, yes I've met her and her boys in real life too.

So in my thank you speech, I'd like to thank Helen who I think is an awesome blogger - for thinking my blog is worthy of such an award. I can't wait to see you guys again in March!

So here are the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link to their blog.
2. Share 10 honest things about yourself.
3. Present this award to 7 other whose blogs you find brilliant in design or content.
4. Tell those 7 people they have been awarded.

Now onto the 10 honest things about me:

1. Once I pop, I can't stop. Some people have a problem with chocolate, mine is potato chips. Guess that's how I ended up on Weight Watchers ;)
2. I think a job as a wedding photographer or planner would be awesome. As long as I didn't have any bridezillas.
3. I went to college for Broadcast Journalism, and thought I'd found my lifelong passion. I was mistaken and now couldn't be happier in my current career.
4. I always thought I'd marry a tall man, but again I was wrong and couldn't be happier with my decision.
5. I've become sentimental in my "old" age, and the smallest, stupidest things will make me tear up and get emotional. I used to despise that about girls when they did that, but I've now become one of them, darn it.
6. I knew I was always good under pressure and can handle intense situations, but it wasn't until Drew burned his hands I realized how "in control and strong" I could be when it mattered. I know a lot of people would have lost it before I did. It's a quality about myself I really admire.
7. Because I have a blog and everyone knows everything about what's going on in our lives, I'm stressing about what this year's Christmas letter will be.
8. I have a couple of magazine subscriptions, but I can't for the life of me read the suckers. I'd rather read a book if given the chance.
9. When asked where I'm from I still say Minnesota - even though I haven't lived there since the 7th grade! Although I could never imagine living anywhere again besides California... although Arizona would be a possibility.
10. I'd love to take one year and travel the country living out of an RV, and preferably before retirement. I think my kids would learn a lot from the experience (no that's not an announcement about more kids).
    

And the award is passed on to:

• Heather at Romios Party of Four - I have known her since High School and her blogs constantly crack me up. The things that happen to her are so random (my favorite is the drivers license photo).
• Jennie at Press Family, Girls 0, Boys 3 - Again, another high school friend, and outnumbered in her house... 4 men/boys. She recently had twin boys, who are too precious. Her sense of humor is always cracking me up while I read up on her life.
• Chrissy - her blog is set to private, but I love reading up on her family. Again she's outnumbered with triplet boys and her husband. She is one of my oldest friends that I still keep in touch with. She's touched my life in so many ways, that I had to give her a shout too.
  
• Helen at Three Times the Giggles - OK is it possible to give the award back? I seriously love reading your blog, and catching up on the little stories (even if I heard about them already LOL). I really admire everything you do, and how well you handle it. If it's against the "rules" to give the award back, oops.

OK so I didn't hit the 7 mark, but I wanted to stick with people I knew and read up on their blogs on a regular basis.

Happy Blogging!

Cans for Comments

Alright I have an exciting week of blogs coming on the horizon after our trip to Virginia for a friend's wedding. But rather than just share my joy with you, I'm going to turn it into something good for others!

That's right, this week, I'm going to see how many comments I get on various blogs - and then turn those comments into one can or non-perishable food item which will then donate to a local food bank. Face it, in these tough economic times the need is great, but food banks are getting fewer and fewer donations.

I confess, this idea is not an original one of mine, rather a good friend of mine from the Kansas City Area - Helen (aka Three Times the Giggles). This mother of 2 Year old triplets, started doing this last year, and invited me to join this year.

So this week, I'm pledging to donate one can for every comment left between now and Friday. So bring it on people! I want to see how much good you can do simply by leaving me a comment on my blogs! And my fellow bloggers, if you'd like to do the same, let me know!

Let's make this Thanksgiving memorable for Bay Area families in need.

Going to GrampC's is Like a Box of Chocolates....

In the words of Forrest Gump... Sending Drew to Grammy and GrampC's is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're going to get! Or should that read, giving GrampC a phone that has a camera is like a box of chocolates....

Drew spent last weekend with Grammy and GrampC while we went on our coastal getaway. And despite the fact we had no cell phone or email service, GrampC was busy whipping out the Blackberry and snapping pictures of Drew. Here are just a few that I was able to transfer to my computer.

We had a handful from the mall where we dropped him off with his grandparents. I think two of them were around the giant Mickey Mouse who was trying to eat my kid, of course Drew slapped him silly in another photo.

Then Drew decided to apparently show off at Grammy's - I don't know where he gets his drinking skills.

Yes there were several more pictures, more than half a dozen for sure. At least we're not missing out on the crazy things Drew does while we're gone right?! (Keep them coming Dad)

Daddy's Baseball Buddy

While I was in Denver for work last week, Dave decided to pick up Drew early one day so they could hang out. Of course since it gets dark so early, they were playing outside in the dark. And what's Daddy's favorite past time... but baseball.

So the boys went outside to "crush the ball" as they like to call it. I guess Daddy was getting tired of playing golf inside all the time? From what I hear Drew can really hammer the ball - he should, he's already throwing, catching and batting inside the house without the tee too!

Although I don't appreciate it when he tries to bat me...

The Perfect Weekend - Continues

Warning - another photo heavy blog, and still not of Drew.

So if you read up on the events of yesterday's blog, you know that we had the most amazing weekend along the northern Sonoma County Coasts. I last left you with the breathtaking images in Gualala.

After lunch we headed back south toward the signs that pointed to a winery that was off the coastal path. But first we were sidetracked by an unusual looking building. We noticed it on our way up to Gualala, but didn't see it until we passed the turnoff. Being the much wiser traveler this time around, we knew where to stop.


The Sea Ranch Chapel is a small little spiritual center - they don't really associate themselves with any denomination. When we saw it on the way up, Dave said it looked like an Ewok house. It was a quaint little stop. Notice Dave trying to hold the chapel up in the photo above?

Ok enough of the chapel right? After hitting Sea Ranch, we headed east toward the wine!

The one and only winery in this area was about 8 miles down this narrow windy road through the Redwoods. Another gorgeous drive, only no waves. We finally arrived at Annapolis Winery. They had 2 whites - which we skipped being the snobby red wine lovers we are. We lucked out, we had the owners wife pouring for us, and we managed to get 4 or 5 tastes ( I skipped the port), when we were only supposed to have 3.


They had really good wines, and we were torn between the Cab and the Zin, which we ended up deciding to buy a bottle of Cab - to remember this adventure of course.

After about 30-40 minutes at the winery, we made our way back down the windy road, back to the coastal windy roads. We stopped a few times to try and capture the huge waves we saw crashing along the shore. Of course every time we stopped the car, the waves calmed. Oh well... here a few great shots anyway.


Once we made it back to the Lodge, we packed up our bag with the extra blanket provided by the hotel, the wine glasses, some wine, cheese, and the cutting board - and headed out to the cliff to stake out our spot to watch the sunset. This was most definitely the highlight of our weekend.


We got there about 4pm, and the sun was supposed to set around 5:10 or so. So we snuggled up on the cliff and just took in the views and the monster waved (we kept joking that you'd think we'd never seen the ocean before the way we were ooooing and ahhhing). And of course my camera battery was dying, so it was tough to get a lot of shots - but we still managed.

How peaceful is that! I wish I could heard the crashing of the waves as the sun hit the water... it was amazing!

After the sun set, we packed up and headed back toward the lodge - and we happened upon a family of deer grazing in the grass. At one point, one of the fawn was within 20-30 yards of us. Of course at this point my camera would barely stay on, let alone focus and zoom, so we didn't get very good shots....

This one you can see the deer along the green grass path... and in the distance is the lodge where we stayed.

We then returned to the room, and started BBQ'ing our dinner - Fillet Mignon, baked potatoes and caesar salad. Oh yeah, you can't forget the bottle of wine. Yes, the lodge provided the BBQ and the charcoal as well! Who needs to go out to eat when you can enjoy scenery like this and don't need to find a DD to maneuver those windy roads!

Sunday morning when we got up, we stayed in bed, drank coffee and watched a "breakfast movie" - something we haven't been able to do since before Drew was born! It was heavenly.

We decided we'll definitely come back here - it was the absolute perfect romantic getaway! Just what the doctor ordered.

The Perfect Weekend! - Pt 1

Warning - this will be a very photo heavy blog and not of Drew.

For Christmas last year, my parents gave us a gift - a night out. Well the gift card was originally supposed to go toward a San Jose Sharks game last season, but with our schedule and theirs, it never worked out. We tried again since hockey season has returned - same problem (or the tickets are $$).

After tossing around a few ideas, Dave and I finally figured out what we would do with the gift card - a weekend on the ocean. Sure Grammy & GrampC got Drew for an extra night out of the deal, but who wouldn't want an adorable 2 year old (note I didn't describe the tantrum throwing 2 year old... gotta sell it you know).

After several weeks of considering where along the coast we wanted to go (Dave had several stipulations: no more than a 3 hour drive, somewhere we've never been, and a nearby town we can walk through), we finally decided on Jenner. Actually we were located about 12 miles north of Jenner past Fort Ross here on this map.

Talk about the middle of no-where! Our GPS actually had us ending up, about 3 miles before we really should've been. We were starting to panic since we had no cell phone service, it was dark, and it's very windy roads with no one nearby. Luckily we happened upon Fort Ross, and I remember the owner of the place we stayed at mentioning he was a few miles north of the fort.

We finally made it, and heard the waves pounding on the cliffs. Of course at 8:45pm, you can't see much, but the owner's wife was very hospitable despite our late arrival (their office is only open from 6-9pm). So we made our way to our room at the Fort Ross Lodge. I'd read online reviews, and heard the decorations were circa 1970's , so I was prepared for the worst and while they were right, I was so over it within minutes...

I mean seriously - wouldn't you after the man of your dreams builds you a fire like this... you know with firewood that the lodge provides? The blinds were dirty/dusty too, but I quickly figured out it was ash from the fire. No biggie.

And then the room's outdated decor was even more lost after waking up to the breathtaking views from our back patio....


Yeah that would be the Pacific Ocean that we heard crashing against the cliffs the night before. Amazing view. We just had to set out and explore the surroundings.

Here's Dave armed with his morning cup of coffee...

And we had some unexpected guests at the lodge....

I missed the buck who was galloping along so beautifully... I was too awestruck to pull out the camera. But I managed to catch the rear-end of this fawn for your viewing pleasure.

And since Dave's feet were getting soaked in the morning dew, I decided to walk down and see more of the cliffs... of course armed with some coffee.


After a few showers we drove up the coast to Gualala, which is about an hour north of where we were staying... all along the way, breathtaking views - and incredibly windy roads.



We enjoyed the town of Gualala, had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the crashing waves. Visited many of their shops... the whole town consisted of 2 "blocks" along Highway 1. I'm sure there may have been more, but we decided to head back and enjoy a winery.

Since this entry is obscene with the number of photos, I'll stretch our weekend adventure to another blog! So stay tuned.. still to come, the winery... more ocean shots and of course our highlight... the sunset!