Mommy's belated birthday post

A couple Tuesdays ago, we went bowling for my birthday. Luckily I got a new camera so I could capture all of our excellent skills!

Mommy & Daddy's Old Friends = Drew's New Friends

This weekend we were lucky enough to visit college friends and have Drew meet their kids for the first time. We saw Kirsten and Carol on Saturday with their daughters Bella and Kensi. I played volleyball at Baylor with Kirsten and Carol (who was also my roommate) and Bella and Drew hit it off. Kensi is adorable and as usual, Drew loved to talk in her baby voice to her.

The girls played really well together and hopefully we can get together again soon...maybe when another BU alumni is visiting from Down Under?

Quote of the day

Our good friends Kyle and Lisa McFarlane from Canada are in town and we are going to Sea World with them on Sunday. Drew has never been and their son, Nolan, is really into aquatic life so he was telling her about what we will see:

N: We will see Shamu!
D: looking confused
N: He is a whale!
D: looking slightly less confused
N: He is a killer whale! (Nolan's dad looking quite proud at this declaration)
D: puts her hands on her cheeks Home Alone style, gasps, and says: Is he going to kill us????

We may have to do a little more prepping.

School Pics!

She is pretty stinkin' cute if I do say so myself! This smile was a lot of work for her too, she was sick all week and Grammy brought her to school just for the picture and took her home.

She knows the names of all the kids in her class and a little bit about each. For example:

"Delaney asks me for hugs and I always give them to her."

"Lucas is loud and likes to shout."

"Sienna doesn't talk very much and is very shy."

Notice the hand-on-the-hip. Where did she learn that, Kelsey?

4th Halloween in the books

Drew has had her Princess Tiana costume since August. I picked up mine and Jeremy's Friday afternoon (in case you can't tell, we are Daphne and Fred from Scooby Doo...notice my magnifying glass).

Drew's best buddy, Meghan, went as a skunk. And she insisted on being called "Skunk" all night. Drew is a bit taller than Meghan, but Drew is also wearing her blinking Tiana shoes in this picture giving her an extra inch.

After every other house, this conversation would follow:
D: Meghan! Wait up!
M: Call me Skunk!
D: Skunk! Wait up for me!
M: OK!
D: Look in our pumpkins! They are almost all full of candy!!

... she began calling her pumpkin "almost full" after 2 pieces of candy. Think we can keep that up?

Drew was very happy to hold Meghan's hand while walking down the street.

Daddy was very happy to have a beer on the walk.

I think we managed to keep her candy intake to a small box of Nerds, a bite-size hershey bar and a cake pop. I don't know how we did it considering Meghan's street was giving out FULL-SIZE candy bars!! Where were these houses when I was Trick-or-Treating??

We stopped over at Papa's (who always has chocolate) and Drew was happy to offer Papa some of her chocolate, even though he gave her MORE chocolate! Drew's pumpkin would probably be totally full just from the chocolate that Papa brings her every time he sees her. They are two peas in a pod!

Pumpkin Carving

Drew: not thrilled with the idea of digging out pumpkin seeds, next year we'll have to try rubber gloves. Any other suggestions? We carved a Frankenstein which, Drew named Frankie, of course. Sadly, Frankie did not make it to November. His remains (and the coordinating pumpkin with his name on it) were found splattered along Chat Drive this morning.

Pumpkin Patching

It's that time of the year again! Last night we headed to Pumpkin City, and then today we went to the Great Park's Pumpkin Patch. Had we known the Great Park was giving FREE pumpkins to every child we may not have dropped the $15 on a pumpkin and rides the night before!

Drew has been a little under the weather for, oh, 5 weeks now, so she's not super smiley. I'm blaming the cold and not the fact that I am sticking my camera in her face all the time.

Always a fan of the bouncy house, that was our first stop. Apparently there was some punk 5-year-old teasing her in the bouncy house, so she responded by sticking her tongue out and making faces at him. So this is what she is learning in preschool?

She loved to climb in the big pile of pumpkins, along with the rest of the kids. Only after did we see the huge sign "do not climb on the pumpkin pile." 

Wearing her authentic ski sweater Grammy brought back last year.

Lay back. This may already be her last year on the car ride (last year was her first); she doesn't get to drive, it's not very fast and she didn't have a passenger. At least Pit Crew Daddy threw her some hi-5s as she zoomed by.

This was a great event (thanks Mo for texting us!) and there was so much to do and see. The city of Irvine (or OC County?) did a great job, we paid for parking but then everything else was free and there were giveaways galore.

Here she is, making the cover of a greeting card. This tent collects all the cards made by the kids and then ships them to the troops so they can send the cards back to their families with their letters on the inside. Drew was very happy to "help the soldiers."

To my surprise, she was most excited about the garden (probably thanks to her Grammy's influence). She even stuck her hands in the dirt and asked to hold a worm in the compost pile. However, this doesn't explain why she dropped every pumpkin she picked up because they were "too dirty."

We topped off our busy afternoon with lunch at the Spectrum where she rode the Ferris Wheel and the Carousel. And thankfully, she is currently sound asleep taking a nap. Success!

Run Forrest!

I'm not going to lie, waking up at 4:30am sucks. But Mo and I put aside our preference for sleeping in on Sundays to support our hubbys who have been training for the Long Beach Half Marathon since August.

We were able to see them at Miles 1, 2 and 6 and David's family saw them at Miles 8 and 10, so they had a  lot of support, which would explain the goofy smiles while running such a tortuous distance.

Strutting David....if you haven't seen Strutting Leo, click here

Mile 2: Looking good!

At Miles 8 and 10, Kat had made big bright signs for J and D as they ran by.  Craig even jogged a few yards with them at the turn above. Scott screamed the encouraging "Dig! Dig!" at them even though they still had a good 3 miles to go. 

 Mo and I did a pretty good job at staying ahead of J and D and even spotting them at the Post Food & Fluid Line (those beach chairs were lifesavers!)

Jeremy, as usual, looked like he jumped in the ocean after the race. Even his shoelaces were soaked. 

 Great job guys, we're so proud! Now please take a shower ;)

Happy 1st Birthday Lauren!

It's no secret that Drew loves parties....the balloons, the cake, the goody bags. What's not to love? Except that someone else gets to open all the gifts while you have to patiently sit there! Lauren was a gracious guest of honor who let Drew play with her toys all day, even when she wanted them herself. 

 Quite a lot has changed in a year!