November 2010

November brought a lot of sunshine and warm days which meant more fun days at the beach for us! On one of the sunny days, we headed to the zoo with our friends Ava & Travis. I love this picture of the three happy girls.
An amateur photographer friend of mine came over to take our Christmas card photos at the beach. He got a lot of great shots but this one below is one of my favorites. Of course, it wasn't chosen for the Christmas card but is still pretty funny!

Here the girls are dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner.

Halloween

10.10.10 - Alaina's 2nd birthday

Wow Alaina is two years old! I still remember Hana turning two. I really feel like the 2nd kid ages way faster than the first. I thought of Alaina as a 1 yr old for so long and then it hit me so suddenly that she is actually two. Which also means breaking her of such habits like bottles at nap/bedtime and her pacifier (and before you judge me, I want to point out that she doesn't wear diapers during the day - a clear sign of which battles I've picked!) We enjoyed a late lunch/early dinner at Half Moon Bay Brewery the day before Alaina's actual birthday and ordered the girls sundaes. Alaina was SO embarrassed when we started to sing 'Happy Birthday' to her and told us to stop. But did we? Nope, I am an annoying mom and made us sing it again just to see her embarrassed, annoyed reactions!
Her actual 2nd birthday was 10.10.10!! How very cool. Like Kevin, she has a birthday where her birth month and day are the same. He turned 26 on 04.04.04 but I don't remember thinking of the significance but do remember that we celebrated in Tahoe which was fun. We learned that the parish nurse at my church shares the same birthday as Alaina. She had a birthday luncheon after church to celebrate her 65th birthday and we joined in and shared that it was Alaina's birthday too. How very special!

I opted not to throw Alaina a birthday party but instead we had my parents and one of my brothers over for a delicious meal that I cooked and served on my fine china (that I still love!) I served corn, green beans, mashed potatoes and some amazing roasted rib-eyes that were cooked to perfection. Hana & Alaina absolutely love some good steak!

And then we ended the feast with our favorite cake, the Derby cake from Mazetti's Bakery. Vanilla and chocolate cake with banana and strawberry in the middle and covered in real whipped cream. I don't eat sweets but know that this cake is just perfect.

While digesting our amazing meal and delicious cake, we asked Alaina how old she was and she held up two fingers while we joined in.

Happy Birthday gorgeous girl!!

Indian Summer

We have had some amazing weather this month and what better place to spend it than at the beach?! Our beach days have been SO much fun. We made friends with another family that loves the beach as much as we do and have enjoyed a handful of beach days in just two weeks. They are the best days ever! We start off with Hana and Ava riding their bikes on the paths while Alaina and Travis roll around in the wagon. That is followed up with hours of wave chasing & sand playing.

The BEST part is that these kids get along perfectly! How often do you get a 1 yr, 2yr, 3yr and 4 yr old together with zero conflict? Makes for a very relaxing playdate for the parents too.

During one visit, I lost Alaina about 30 seconds after I let her out of the car. Really, she was nowhere to be found. Finally I saw her way down the path with a woman holding her hand to bring her back to me. The woman said Alaina was running soo fast. Scary! So here Hana & Ava are making sure Alaina doesn't get away again!

Picnic at the beach! Today, it has been super dreary and raining. Almost had to believe that this picture was taken a short week ago when it was 85 degrees and beautiful out! Our amazing beach days completely make up for the cool foggy ones!

Pumpkin Patch

We live mere miles from the pmpkin capital of the world, Half Moon Bay but have never taken the kids to visit a pumpkin patch there before. We decided to go the day before Alaina's birthday. While Hana rode a pony, Alaina visited the petting zoo. She loved it! Hana loved the pony ride and of course, made friends with her fellow pony-riders.
Alaina wanted to ride the pony but when she got on, she got scared. Fine by me - I got some cute pictures and my $6 back!

What I really wanted to do was go on a hay ride. It would've been more fun if we went through some actually cornfields or something but it was still a good time.

I don't know why but we didn't even end up buying a pumpkin.