Getting Caught up

OK. So Facebook has been a complete timesuck for me and I have neglected this blog completely. I apologize to my 2 readers but mostly to myself...because I was using this as my main avenue for journaling what the kids are up to. So, I will try to quickly get caught up. I have so many nice pictures from the last couple of months but I will just use a few to get us through January.

November

I celebrated my 35th birthday. My dad babysat and Keith and I went out to dinner. We tried a new place in Encinitas. I don't advise trying new places for a special dinner. Better to go with what you know and love. The place we love was about a 1/2 block down the street from the new place that we didn't love. We were so close. Oh well. We still enjoyed our peaceful adult dinner.

We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving meal with our good friends, the Wierenga's. I used to think my dad made the best turkeys. But this year, that changed. This was by far the best turkey I have ever had. They brined it with a Williams-Sonoma brine and it was so moist and delicious.

And another friend, Lacey, helped to make it all look beautiful.

And, Keith, Sam, Elise, my Dad, and I...we ate. We ate a lot. And it was good.





The day after Thanksgiving, we went to Coronado with my dad. He was able to get us on the base there and we had a picnic lunch on this beautiful, private, empty beach. It was so interesting to check out the base. We even checked out the little "shopping mall" they have for people on the base, low prices and no tax. We were able to fill up on cheap gas before we left too.







We went to a Holiday party at Sam's preschool and listened as he sang Christmas Carols with his class. He told Santa he wanted a haunted house (first I'd heard of this) and Elise simply requested candy.





We watched a holiday parade in Encinitas with the Backlins and the Wierenga's and lost one of Elise's spare and precious snowmen. We are down to one and I pray we do not lose it.



The day before we headed up north for Christmas, we went to a birthday party for two boys in Sam's playgroup. It was a "lizard wizard" party and the kids LOVED it. There were snakes, spiders, frogs, an alligator, and lots of lizards. They were both brave and I loved watching them at this party!


Here is one of the birthday boys. His mom was able to be at this party to celebrate with him and this is a big deal. She is fighting Burkett's Lymphoma which is a very rare and aggressive cancer. We thought she was on the road to recovery at this point, but she is now back to suffering through intensive Chemo and will hopefully be well enough to get a bone marrow transplant in a month or two. Pray for this little boy's mommy. She is tough but it is a very hard fight.