Grandma and Grandpa Arrive on the First Night of Chanukah

One of the first things Grandma does when she arrives, of course, is get out a story to read

And Samuel managed to wrangle Grandpa into setting up his marble run immediately

Shira discovered a love of dreidles and Samuel rediscovered his love for fire

We had the pleasure of celebrating our first night of Chanukah with two sets of Grandparents. And of course that required two rounds of gift giving...

This is the first year that Samuel really seems to be aware of the holiday, and particularly the link to gifts. Last year, Samuel was confused and disappointed when Chanukah was over because he wanted to continue to light candles every night. Each night it seemed that lighting the menorah was exciting, but that it was more exciting to know that once we lit the candles there would be gifts to open. Unfortunately, he was so amped by the gifts, he didn't care what they were, only that he wanted to open more and more. Next year we will need to handle things differently.

Busy November

Last month was a month full of entertaining and entertainment.

We hosted brunch at our house for all those who obligingly bought tickets from us for the Justin Roberts concert.

And somehow I managed to saddle ourselves with enough commitments that not a week went by without hosting and cooking for at least 12 people (and frequently more).

The November Potluck was a huge success. And by huge, I refer to the number of people and amount of food.

We settled into our new/old house.

With our new kitchen set up, pizza night much more easily lends itself to a full family affair.

It is a challenge to make sure there are enough pizza toppings left for the actual pizza, however

Samuel and Shira are loving the space to play with their toys

And we finally got the backyard fixed up.

And what better way to break in the new patio, than to play bumper cars.

Chanukah, Oh, Chanukah, Come Light the Menorah!

We celebrated Chanukah with Bubbie the Monday before Chanukah started.

Shira opens her gift (with some help).

Modeling her new hat made by Auntie Suzette

Everyone loved Samuel's gift - a marble run.

Thanksgiving 2010

We had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving this year at my Mom's house in Nipomo. Samuel was thrilled, as a trip to Bubbie's house, is always cause for celebration.

Remember Hungry Hungry Hippo? Never loses its charm for the under 10 year old set. Lucky for Samuel and Shira, they had a very obliging older cousin to play along.

My Mom did all the cooking, and everyone enjoyed dinner.

All that turkey eating and talking to relatives is hard work.

Ah, the technology age. David managed to get everyone hooked on the Iphone version of Scrabble -

Here, David and Lindsay sit side by side, staring at their phones, while playing scrabble against each other. My Auntie Andie, myself, Lena and Noel, were also sitting in that room glued to our phones, doing the same thing. Did I mention there was a real Scrabble board sitting out in the next room?

A very lovely Thanksgiving day was followed by an unfortunate change of plan. The original plan was for Steve and I to return home the day after Thanksgiving, and leave Samuel and Shira to have a special weekend with Bubbie and Popsi. Unfortunately, my Grandma Sarah got sick, Bubbie spent the weekend making sure she was ok, and we returned home, more than a little mildly disappointed. I'm not sure who was more disappointed, Bubbie, Samuel or me :(.

Due to the unexpected ride home with the kids, however, we had the opportunity to stop by the Children's Museum in San Luis Obispo. It had a very small footprint, right in downtown, but really used the space they had to its best advantage. In other words, they crammed a lot of stuff in there ;)

Samuel and Shira make shadows

Super cool, super strong magnet action

Not the only organ my hero plays well

If there's a swing, she'll find it, walk over to it, point at it, and scream until someone makes it happen

police AND motorcycle - two dreams in one fell swoop

Hmmm... guess they didn't size those fireman helmets

And much, much more. I won't include all the pics of the kids playing doctor (or dentist with a toothbrush bigger than Shira), building brick houses, playing with dolls, etc. etc. We will definitely be back.

Stone Soup

Our preschool has a tradition of hosting a "Stone Soup" celebration before Thanksgiving.

Each student brought a vegetable from home, we threw it in a pot, and voila, yummy soup.

The kids decorated the table with their own art

Samuel was thrilled when Steve showed up at school for the special occasion.

As you can probably tell from everyone's dress, it was mighty brisk out, but still a lot of fun.

Teacher Claire's two babies :) the one on the right was my student once upon a time.

Samuel and Mason thought it was pretty funny to hear that Teacher Claire was their teacher, and their mommies were Teacher Claire's sons' teachers.

Teacher Wilma and Teacher Claire are the bomb

By far the best part of the day was seeing the special smile that stretched across Samuel's face from the moment Steve walked in the door.

Busy November

November was a month full of entertaining and entertainment.

We hosted brunch at our house for all those who obligingly bought tickets from us for the Justin Roberts concert.

And somehow I managed to saddle ourselves with enough commitments that not a week went by without hosting and cooking for at least 12 people (and frequently more).

The November Potluck was a huge success. And by huge, I refer to the number of people and amount of food.

We settled into our new/old house.

With our new kitchen set up, pizza night much more easily lends itself to a full family affair.

It is a challenge to make sure there are enough pizza toppings left for the actual pizza, however

Samuel and Shira are loving the space to play with their toys

And we finally got the backyard fixed up.

And what better way to break in the new patio, than to play bumper cars?