A Day in the City

We were so excited to have our sisters Mandy & Sarah come out for a Thanksgiving visit! They brought Mandy’s boyfriend Bryant and Sarah’s friend Emily and took turns driving Mandy’s car for the long drive. The first day they were here, we went to San Francisco and saw the coastline, Golden Gate Park, Fisherman’s Wharf, and Ghirardelli Square, among other things.

Almost Done!

Hooray! We get to use our new shower once the sealant has set!

Happy 11-11-11!

As usual, I was pleased to have my birthday off for Veterans’ Day. It was amazing.

First, someone came to start working on our bathroom! We are hoping to have the bathroom fixed up before Thanksgiving.

Step 1: Tear out old, cracked shower. It is a fiberglass one-piece and original to the condo, so it took some cutting to remove and fit out through the door. Many thanks to the talented man who took it out and away for us. See the disgusting drywall? Yeah, that’s going to be coming out next.

Then, we went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with my parents and brother. This is just one beautiful thing I ate today.

After lunch, we watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the final movie, which Mom & Dad got me for my birthday.

Then Aiden and I took a nap, and Isaac got some things prepared for our 11-11 party. We had 11 adult friends and family members (plus 5 kids), and we ate 11 types of appetizers and desserts.

My gift from Patrick… XI

Isaac and I stayed up until 11:11 to make a wish and see that I officially turned 27. We also watched the episode of the Twilight Zone that aired on November 11, 1960—In the Eye of the Beholder/Private World of Darkness.” It’s crazy, lol, but I love it.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday as much as we did. Thanks to everyone who made it such a wonderful day!

Aiden as his favorite animal

Aiden was more into Halloween this year. He can’t say “Trick or Treat,” but I did start him off signing please and thank you… that lasted about three cars at our Trunk-or-Treat, and then he was wandering around looking amazed half the time and reaching for candy the other half the time. Stinker.

Aiden liked having people put things in his pumpkin… too bad Mommy and Daddy are eating it…

Running

This morning Isaac and I participated in the Marsh Madness 10K in Palo Alto with two other couples from our ward. I came in in the five-minute range I’d hoped, slow though it was. Jon, Danielle, and Isaac all finished in under an hour! They are my heroes.

 

I learned three things:

1. I am not more motivated by a race than I am just running on my own. I had to keep myself from stopping to pet the doggies we passed.

2. Some marshland is SUPER stinky. I’m glad there was only a mile stretch or so that smelled so nasty.

3. Free hamburgers taste even more delicious than normal after running six miles.

The superstars! (and me)

What a difference a year makes

Pumpkin hunting with our nineteen month old… In typical Aiden fashion, he did a lot of standing and staring at everything until we encouraged him to hold our hands and walk around to look at the pumpkins.

I can hardly believe how much he looks like a little boy now, and at this time last year, he was still such a baby!

Once he found a pumpkin that was small enough for him to carry around, he would hardly put it down. He is calling it a ball, but at least he likes it, right?

Our big toddler loves to play, run around, babble, and tackle people or the dog. He is loving being the only boy in Nursery with ten or so little girls. He is talking a little more and has said a few sentences like '”Where’s the book?” He is good with routines but has a hard time breaking them. I am not, for instance, allowed to forget any part of his bedtime routine or he cries “teeth” or “book” or whatever I have neglected to do. He’s getting into everything and trying to make his own decisions, but someday I will admire that independence, right?

18 Months Old & Newark Days

Aiden is eighteen months old! We found out at his well-baby check-up that he is about 31 inches tall and 20 lbs. 10 oz., which according to this pediatric chart, puts him in the 20th percentile for height and off the chart tiny for weight. The doctor switched us to a worldwide chart the last time we were in because it maps small kids better since kids worldwide are less chunky than Americans, and he is around the 10th percentile worldwide. He had a pre-screening for autism and does not seem to exhibit any indicators. He checked out healthy and had three shots—two in his arms, which he has never had before. It was SO sad.

with Grandma Snow and Aunt Sarah when they visited last month

Aiden is trying to be a big helper lately… sometimes it is not so helpful, but he tries. He says “way!” when he finds something he thinks belongs in the trash and tries to throw it out. We have our trash cans locked up or out of reach so he can’t throw everything away. When it’s time to go somewhere, he makes sure everyone has “szewz,” keys, and his diaper bag.

He is very playful and loves to dance and be chased.

This weekend is the 56th annual Newark Days celebration of our city. Isaac ran in the “Newark Mile” fun run today… it’s a deceiving name because it’s actually 2.5 miles.

He was one of about four people from our ward who ran this year along with dozens of other residents, and I thought he did a great job. He was just happy he survived. We considered running as a family with the jogging stroller, but Aiden got a cold this week and  gave me a mean sore throat and runny nose, so I opted not to make my painful breathing any heavier than it had to be. Plus, I would have taken at least 8 minutes more than Isaac, ha.

After the race, we stayed for the annual parade. Aiden liked pointing out doggies (Ees!) and horses (ors!), and he enjoyed watching the floats and trucks and bands go by. One group threw out fortune cookies, and he enjoyed eating the fortune cookie while he watched the following floats.

Isaac, meanwhile, had to snap a picture of the float for our attendance area elementary school, Snow. He likes that they are the Snow School Blizzard Bears.

We had to leave a little early so Isaac could do a service project painting the home of an elderly couple in our ward before going to work all the rest of the day, but it was a great morning spent as a family.