Last night, we went to a holiday party hosted by Milena and Michael (Marcus’ parents). The party was at Michael’s house, which had an awesome playroom. Jack had a great time. I’m sure he doesn’t remember the frequent playdates he had with Marcus when we were living in West LA, but the two of them certainly interacted like long-lost friends. They talked to each other and took turns with toys. It was the first time I’d seen Jack talk to another toddler. They were taking turns pushing each other in a toy car, and Jack would say, “Marcus push Jack?” when it was his turn to sit in the car, then “OK, Marcus turn! Jack push Marcus!” when the time came to switch. Marcus would reply in kind. Very cool.

This was during one of the “Jack push Marcus” moments

Jack loved playing with Marcus’ awesome trike

Inflatable pool filled with rubber balls … genius idea for indoor winter play!

Meanwhile, I watched from the floor with Derek, who’s on the verge of independent sitting

Milena, Derek and I

Family shot!

This next picture is from before the party, but it show’s Jack full get-up (we had to take off the awesome sweater once we got there because the playroom was so warm!) and his freshly gelled hair.

We’ve been having merry times here at home, too. The boys are very sweet with each other.

Totally unprompted, Jack went over to Derek one afternoon and inserted Derek’s “fire” in his mouth. Look at Derek’s expression!

Another unprompted sweet moment

Jack is also very encouraging of Derek’s accomplishments. Whenever Derek successfully makes the toy bar on his bouncy seat light up, Jack claps and says, “Good job!”

Derek’s like, “Please, can I have a turn?”

My cousin sent a package last week with Christmas gifts for the boys — hand-knit hat for Jack and booties for Derek. Here’s Jack modeling his hat.

In that picture, he’s eating a post-dinner dessert of Asian pear and persimmons. He loves persimmons. He’s always liked them, but recently he’s gotten obsessive. We have to use them like treats, otherwise he would just eat them all day long. Yesterday he ate a whole one (cut up, but it added up to a whole persimmon), half an apple, half a large Asian pear, and a banana. I swear, fruit trees are going to start growing out of his tummy.

Finally, last week, we met Santa on “Candy Cane Lane” in El Segundo. This was actually Jack’s second time this year meeting Santa. He was still starstruck. While waiting in line, Jack kept telling us what he was going to say to Santa (much talk of James and Edward trains, also a little self-introduction in which Jack was going to say, “Hi, Santa! Jack! Two!”). Alas, once he got on Santa’s lap, he could only grin sheepishly, pick his nose and stare at Santa.

“I, uh, I forgot what I was going to say!”

Santa was very patient, and at last Jack whispered that he would like James and Edward. That night, after we put Jack to bed, we heard him talking to himself. We opened the door to find him standing up on the bed, in front of his window. He had lifted up the curtain edge, and was saying, “Santa? Santa?” as he looked outside. When Jack turned around and saw us in his doorway, he said, “No Santa out there.” So cute.

Only four more days left! Hope everyone’s having a great week.

p.s. Please send some good luggage vibes to June. She and Charles are spending Christmas break in London and Paris. It’s their first time there, and lo and behold, Northwest has lost their luggage. They took a connecting flight from Minneapolis to Heathrow. We know the luggage made it for sure to Minneapolis. When they got to London, they were told that their luggage didn’t make it, and that “maybe it’s in Amsterdam, or maybe not.” I’ve been calling Northwest for her, and as of now, more than 12 hours after she landed at Heathrow, they still don’t know where it is. I was just told five minutes ago that it “could be in Minneapolis. Or Amsterdam. Or maybe London. Or elsewhere.” They’re only in London for five days, so please send them some positive energy. Maybe we can will their luggage into existence. Poor June had her contacts in her bag, so she only has her glasses. Charles opted to put his heavy winter coat in his luggage and only wear a medium-weight one on board (yes, we did tell him that was not a good idea). It sucks to go on vacation and know you have a limited amount of time, and to spend the first few days of that worrying about your luggage. Ugh.

I have a lot of fun updates from the last couple of days, but those will have to wait for another entry. I only have time for a short entry tonight, and I wanted to tell everyone that I have a new writing gig as the South Bay Parenting Examiner.

Donna told me about Examiner.com last week (she’s the newly minted Orange County Pregnancy Examiner). I hadn’t heard of it before, but Examiner is a web site with over 200 local editions — basically, one for every major metropolitan area in the United States. It employs writers (that would be the “Examiners”) to write about hundreds of topics in each location. You can apply for any topic that interests you (or suggest a topic), and Examiners aren’t all professional writers. The only prerequisite is that you are passionate about your topic, and that you focus on the “insider” local angle.

I figured that since 95% of my posts are about parenting, anyway, that I might as well get paid for it! Granted, the pay is only pennies, but the greater opportunity is the chance to be discovered someday by a magazine or newspaper. And even if that never happens, well, I love to write, to dispense unsolicited advice and of course, I love being a parent (most of the time). Win-win!

So, please, visit my Examiner page often — I put a little badge up on the right-hand corner of my Xanga page. I’ll also take any story suggestions! I have three articles up so far (and two in the works); not bad for someone who started on Wednesday. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be adding a lot more, and also making my page more interesting with link lists. Thanks in advance for reading.

p.s. If you’re interested in being an Examiner or have any questions, let me know!

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m shocked that there are only 11 days left until Christmas. In general, I’m not sure where this year went. This is the last holiday season of my 20s (boo-hoo! Goodbye, youth!), so I want to make sure I document it well.

We’ve been having a wonderful time with my in-laws. Today was their last day here before their cross-country drive back East. We’ve enjoyed their company, and they’ve gotten to spend lots of time with their grandkids. Jack loves his Nana and Papa, and has even learned to watch football, thanks to their presence (Lord knows, he’d never be exposed to football if it weren’t for Johnny’s parents and brother. Johnny’s not into it, and neither am I). While they were here, we celebrated my mother-in-law’s upcoming retirement. She’s had a wonderful career full of inspiring achievements. A couple of weekends ago, we had dinner at an amazing restaurant called Studio in Laguna Beach. It overlooked the ocean, and the food was the best any of us had had in California. It was a perfect place for a celebration.

Johnny and his parents; Chris, Victoria and me in the back row

Jack’s been getting into the holiday spirit. At preschool, he made and wrapped a gift for me and Johnny to open on Christmas morning. He’s very excited by all the presents under the tree. I’ve been telling him repeatedly that not all of the gifts are for him, and that we’ll have to take turns opening them on Christmas Day. Jack’s response was, “OK, take turns. Jack turn, Jack turn!” Well, we have 11 more days to drive the message home. He also understands the concept of Santa now, and when the Torrance police department brought Santa to the neighborhood in a lit-up “sled,” Jack eagerly sat on his lap and asked for an “Edward train, please.” Since then he’s added a James train to the wish list. We already have both of those for him under the tree, and we’re milking the Santa leverage for all it’s worth. Jack knows that Santa only brings Edward trains for good boys who share their toys and who behave, and that James trains are only for big boys who keep their underwear dry. It’s effective, I tell you! I call Santa once a day to tell him to keep making the trains for Jack (if he’s been good). Jack’s always quick to remind me during these “conversations” that Santa should make two trains: Edward and James. He also likes to yell, “Wuv you, Santa!”, as if this will buy him brownie points with Santa. It’s really cute to see him getting into the holidays for the first time. We’re counting down to Christmas with a little hand-drawn Advent calendar taped to Jack’s door. Every day, we cross off one of the days until Christmas, and Jack counts the days that are left. Sometime this week, I’ll also work with him to make a present for Derek, so he starts to get the idea that the holidays are also about giving to others. Oh, and Jack’s new favorite song is “Jingle Bells.” Sometimes he gets creative and sings “Jingle Jack” or “Jingle Milk” or “Jingle Atari.”

Here I am with both boys on my lap. Jack was engrossed in watching holiday-themed YouTube music videos

Look at Derek’s grin!

Check out the hilarious expression on Derek’s face. He’s all, “Who IS this man?”

And here are a few photos just of my littlest munchkin. He’s getting big! And he’s teething, which has done … interesting … things to his nighttime sleeping. Let’s just say I’m hoping he returns to sleeping through the night soon!

Such a cutie. He’s started eating baby oatmeal; next month, we can start “real” foods. I can’t wait!

What’s everyone else doing to prepare for the holidays?

I’ve been meaning to write a post ever since Thanksgiving, but time just keeps slipping by. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend.

Our Thanksgiving was great. My first holiday meal turned out to be a success, although I did make one big blunder in putting the turkey in the oven way too early. Luckily, our guests were very flexible about when the meal should start — we ended up eating around 3 p.m. instead of the 5 p.m. we originally intended. Lesson learned! Other than that and my snapping at Johnny once, the day went smoothly, and we had a fun time being with family. The chef stressing out on Thanksgiving is practically required, right?  

Unfortunately, our camera ran out of battery power, so I don’t have pictures of my finished products, but I made (links are to the fabulous recipes) turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce with vodka and Grand Marnier, green beans, mashed potatoes, wild rice and quinoa pilaf, and a pumpkin pie (I skipped the topping on the pie). I may not have pictures, but I do have practice for the next time we host. Nerd that I am, I even wrote down notes on what to do to make it run smoother next time. I need to learn how to transfer a heavy turkey from the roasting pan to the serving platter — thank goodness Victoria was around this time to help me with it, otherwise I may have dropped the beautiful turkey onto the floor. I didn’t have those handy-dandy turkey handlers, and try as I might, I could not manage to lift it by inserting a metal serving spoon into the main cavity, as the recipe suggested.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Johnny and I had a very rare, greatly appreciated treat of a whole 24 hours to ourselves. Johnny’s parents babysat the boys while Johnny and I spent a night at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach. We left our house shortly after noon on Saturday, enjoyed a seaside lunch in Redondo Beach, then went to the mall for a little Christmas shopping sans kids — it felt so luxurious to wander the mall together (something we used to do a lot pre-children) without strollers! We then took a leisurely drive down PCH to the resort. We ate at an amazing restaurant, and managed to sleep in until 9 a.m. the next day. I don’t remember the last time we slept until 9 a.m. It sure was nice not to have to climb out of bed at 6 a.m.  As refreshing as the day away felt, though, we did miss the boys a lot and spent much time talking about them.

The “twin dolphin” fountain at athe resort. Beyond it is the ocean.

Lovely pool/spa area

They were all decked out for the holidays. We had intended for the effect here to be Johnny fondling a ball, but alas, I didn’t have the right angle. See, now you know how immature we are!

On the balcony of our room

We had such a great time that we almost didn’t want to come back, but who can resist coming home when you have two adorable rascals waiting at home for you?

Derek, lounging in our bed

Brotherly love

Derek: “Please make Jack stop reading to me.” Jack really was “reading,” too. He was telling some story about Thomas the Tank Engine.

Forget board books. We’d rather read about a how to recover from a zombie war.

SO CUTE!

We spent the rest of the weekend decking out our home for Christmas. A few weeks ago I shopped the Christmas sale at Jo-Ann, and also picked up some stocking hangers at Target. We have five stockings this year: One for my mom, and an embroidered one for each of the rest of us. Behold our fireplace!

Our 2007 Christmas Godiva bear, and a Christmas-tree-shaped jar filled with candy.

Johnny and his dad working on the icicle lights outside our house.

I have pictures of the lit-up house, but I have to blur out the house numbers first. Will post those next week!

Tuesday morning, we trimmed the tree before Johnny left for work. There was a little drama with the adorable Thomas ornament that Nana and Papa got for Jack (it features Thomas, Percy and James in Tidmouth Sheds), but Johnny calmed Jack down and got him to understand that the trains in the ornament weren’t for playing with. After that, Jack had a lot of fun hanging ornaments on the tree. There’s a big cluster of ball-shaped ornaments at Jack’s height on one area of the tree — it’s so cute and heartwarming to see. Jack’s just getting to the age where Christmas can be really fun for him. I can’t wait until Derek can join in the festivities, too.

Hanging “wo-ments”

That’s about it. I’m just about done with Christmas shopping. Have a few more items to get … thank goodness for Amazon Prime! Free two-day shipping saves me a lot of trips to the stores. I love shopping, but with two little kids, I just can’t get out like I used to.

Have a great weekend!

Hi, everyone! It’s been a rough few days over here. My mom got sick last week with a very severe cold. (Yes, all adults and Jack have had the flu shot.) Then, on Sunday, both Jack and Derek started exhibiting symptoms of this cold — low-grade fever, coughing, congestion. Luckily, Derek’s symptoms have been pretty minimal, but poor Jack has been hit pretty hard. He’s on the mend now, but this is the first time he’s been sick for more than 24 hours. So far, Johnny has kept it at bay (knock on wood). I feel a strange tingling in the back of my throat, but I’ve been assaulting any potential illness with Cold-Eeze, Theraflu and lots of gargling with salt water. I would take Nyquil preemptively, but with my luck, that would be the night Derek decided to get up and eat. So we’ll skip that for now.

Meanwhile, we’re in the full swing of Thanksgiving prep. Johnny’s parents get here tomorrow. Today, my parents and June left for a mini-vacation to Las Vegas. (I love Vegas! June is doing a rotation there next summer, and I can’t wait to go visit her.) My mom will be hanging with June for the next 2.5 weeks, while Johnny’s parents are here. We’re looking forward to seeing them and to hosting our very first Thanksgiving in our house. I’m roasting a turkey and making all the trimmings. Victoria is bringing a delicious-sounding apple cake. I’m going to be dieting for the next two days in order to justify devouring half of the cake by myself.

Anyway, in the midst of all this busy-ness, I wanted to share a funny story from the weekend. Friday night, Johnny and I were watching a Family Guy episode on our DVR. In the episode, Stewie walks up to Brian and says something to the effect of, “Brian, can you take me to Baby Gap? I want to look like a little douche.” The next morning, I picked out jeans, a T-shirt, and a zip-up sweater for Jack to wear. All of the stuff was from Baby Gap. As Johnny zipped up Jack’s sweater, he looked at me over Jack’s head and said, “Aww, our little douche.” I laughed. Jack was seemingly not paying attention.

A few hours later, as I put away Thanksgiving groceries in our spare fridge (in the garage), Jack ran up to me. He had been playing in the yard with Johnny. It was getting chilly, so Johnny had just put on his sweater. Jack pointed to his sweater and shouted, “Look, Mommy! DOUCHE! DOUCHE!” Oh, my God. It took all my willpower not to laugh. It was hilarious! But, I think that definitely cost us any chance of winning the Parents of the Year award. To be honest, we probably lost our chance a thousand “offenses” ago.

OK, now back to the laundry. Thanks to all the cooking my mom did before she left, I don’t have to make dinner tonight. I’ll use my spare time after the kids are in bed to make some turkey stock in advance, for the stuffing and gravy on Thursday.

I hope everyone (Stateside, that is) enjoys the short week!

Once again, it’s been way too long since I’ve updated. And somehow, Thanksgiving is only a bit more than a week away. When did that happen? Scary.

Anyway, all is going well over here. Jack continues to adore preschool, practically waving me away each time. People told me that he might start to be clingy at drop-off after the second or third time, but so far that hasn’t happened yet. Today was his fifth time at preschool, and as I said goodbye to him, he said, “OK, bye, Mommy,” and then rushed over to his teacher and said, “See, Ms. Stacy, a train!” But, he is always delighted to see me at pick-up time and regales me with stories about what he ate for a snack and what he painted. Fun!

Derek keeps right on growing. He’s not a heavy baby, but he’s very long and keeps outgrowing his clothes lengthwise at an alarming rate. He’s full of smiles and giggles (most of the time), and continues to sleep well at night. His daytime routine is more of a puzzle, but that’s probably my fault, because I just don’t have the time (or the peace and quiet) to schedule him to a T like I did with Jack.

Aaaah! Just look at him!

Jack is very much in love with his little brother

Looks like they’re whispering conspiratorially, right?

Derek enjoys his new exersaucer

My dad’s back from Taiwan for a visit, so I snapped this rare picture of him and my mom with the two boys:

Derek takes this all very seriously

And of course, what would an entry be without a picture of Jack being silly?

You see train tracks? I see a hat.

On Sunday, we went to our niece Maddy’s second birthday party. It was so much fun! Chris and Victoria hosted it at an awesome park near their house. They had a balloon lady who made some amazing creations, and Victoria’s brother Max dressed up like a clown. (Good intentions, but I think the kids were frightened. The adults were certainly amused, though.) It’s hard to believe Maddy is two! Seems like she was just born yesterday.

Maddy and Jack pull at the strings of a toddler-friendly pinata

Max entertains Maddy

Derek was a bit fussy at the party, unfortunately

Jack and his Thomas the Tank Engine balloon

Family pic

I’ll leave you with this hilarious video of Jack trying to kiss Maddy and getting rebuffed.

Good luck getting ready for Thanksgiving, everyone!

Jack started preschool today! He’ll be going every Tuesday and Thursday morning (9 a.m. to noon). We dropped him off, and I stayed for about 15 minutes. Right away, he started playing with the toys, and when I went to say goodbye to him, he eagerly showed me that he was cooking an apple (a toy apple) in the (plastic) microwave. I said to him, “Mommy’s going to go home, OK? You stay here and have fun, and I’ll be back for you in a couple of hours.” Jack didn’t even look at me. He kept playing with his toy food and said cheerfully, “OK, Mommy! Bye, Mommy!” I almost cried! When I left, he didn’t even look back. I waited outside the classroom with my mom and Derek for a little bit in case Jack melted down (the teacher’s idea), but nope, Jack did not look around for me at all. The teacher had thought maybe he’d cling a bit since it’s his first time in this sort of environment, but apparently not.

I got to pickup early today, and Jack was happy to see me. He informed me that he had “a great time, Mommy!”, that he ate apples and water for a snack, and that he had new friends. When I asked him what his friends’ names were, he said, “Jack, Jack, Jack … and Jack!” Um … OK. His teacher said that they painted, and Jack did great sharing toys with other kids, and even went potty. He didn’t ask her to go, but he did go when she reminded him.

When Jack got home, he wolfed down four chicken nuggets, a big handful of peas, a string cheese and a sippy cup of milk (about nine ounces). Whew! Now he’s napping. Although seeing Jack in a classroom, with his own cubby, made me and Johnny a bit wistful, I’m also very proud of my independent, friendly big boy. I know this is good for him, to be doing something other than playing with his same old toys or watching PBS Kids and Playhouse Disney all morning. It’s only twice a week, but it still feels like a big transition! We’ll see how he does on Thursday.

I’ll have to add some pictures later. Hope everyone’s having a great week!

Happy November, everyone! How were your Halloweens? I hope everyone got great candy. I’ve broken into the leftover candy we were handing out as well as the candy Jack got trick-or-treating. I figure that’s my right as a mom of a toddler!

We took Jack trick-or-treating last night after Derek went to bed. It was pretty exciting because it’s our first Halloween in our first house — in previous years, we couldn’t even hand out candy because no one went trick-or-treating in an apartment complex. We put some decorations up, Johnny carved a jack-o-lantern, and we headed out. My mom snapped this family pic of us in front of our place.

Happy Halloween!

I’ve already posted pictures of Johnny and Jack in their trick-or-treating costumes, so I won’t bore you with any more of those. Jack loved trick-or-treating. He’s learned the ultimate life lesson: Candy is found “uphill.” While we were going around the neighborhood, Jack kept saying, “Uphill. Candy! Uphill. Candy!” and kept begging us to go “uphill.” We had no idea what he was talking about until we realized that the path to most people’s front doors slants a bit upward (unless you’re in our house, where the lawn slopes slightly downward toward our door). Cute! By the end of our neighborhood trek, Jack had gotten the hang of saying “Trick-or-treat” and “Happy Halloween!” From Jack’s mouth, though, it sounded more like “Happy Ween,” but we’ll take what we can get.

I can’t wait to take both boys next year. To be fair to Derek, who didn’t go this year, here’s a really adorable picture of him that Johnny took yesterday.

Hello! My mom secretly thinks I may be an even cuter baby than my older brother was, but shhhh! Don’t tell anyone!

After we got back with Jack and got him to bed (and lived through a huge meltdown … he hadn’t even had any candy! He just wanted to keep trick-or-treating), we got ready to go to an adults-only Halloween party, hosted by one of Johnny’s coworkers (and coincidentally, one of my high school classmates). Johnny dressed up as Johnny Angel, and I was the devil. (We did this for Halloween 2005, too, but honestly just couldn’t think of better ideas!)

A common scenario in our relationship (just kidding!)

The party was a lot of fun. There were a ton of people there, a DJ, lots of cool props and the obligatory fog machines. We stayed and socialized for a few hours. Definitely lots of fun costumes to gawk at.

Of course we had to take a picture with a “priest” (this was actually the host’s dad)

Johnny saves some souls

No comment (Johnny works with this person!)

Here I am with one of my relatives from hell (ha)

Good times, good times.

We were really afraid that the kids would wake up at 5 a.m. thanks to Daylight Savings Time ending, but lo and behold … they slept in (I use that term loosely) until 7 a.m. this morning! Hallelujah! This was definitely a blessing for me, since I had a few too many Jello shots. Oops.

After getting up this morning, we all got ready, then headed out to see our friend from college, Rena, who was in town for a family wedding. We got to meet her baby girl, who’s only a couple of weeks older than Derek. We had a great time! Her daughter is adorable, and once again I got a bit of “girl baby envy.”

Here we all are!

And tonight is catch-up for all the things I neglected to do this weekend. I need to go running and do our laundry. But first, up to read everyone’s Halloween entries!

Today, we went trick-or-treating at Mattel (where Johnny works). Jack had fun doing this last year, but this year, he really understood what he was doing! It was a terrific morning, and great practice for “real” trick-or-treating tomorrow night. I know you’re all curious about what Jack was for Halloween, so here we go …

Yup! We dressed Jack as his favorite monkey, Curious George. When we decided on this costume a few months ago, Johnny piped up with, “Hey, maybe I can be the Man in the Yellow Hat.” Well, of course he had to be! I love that my husband is willing to don a hideous bright yellow costume to make our son happy. Ha. At first, Jack was upset that his beloved Baba was now someone else, but after a while, he became delighted. He was in love with his George costume and couldn’t stop looking in the mirror.

Oh, and I know you’re going to ask: What was Derek’s costume? Some of you may recall that Jack was a peapod for his first Halloween. Having gone through the rite of passage of dressing up my first tiny infant for Halloween, I have now become wiser (and some may say more cynical), because Derek went sans costume. He simply wore an adorable Halloween-themed outfit that our friend Jill gave us, along with a Halloween-themed bib. Next year, when he’s actually walking and aware of Halloween, we’ll get him his very own costume (I thought about putting him in Jack’s monster costume from last year, but decided that would be patently unfair).

Who needs a costume to be cute?  

My mom got Derek a really cute, tiny felt Halloween basket. We attached it to his stroller with a plastic hook.

Jack took great care to get two pieces of candy at every trick-or-treat station at Johnny’s office, and placed one into Derek’s basket gingerly. It was really heartwarming.

I don’t think Jack ever wanted to leave Mattel. He’s a lucky boy … not everyone gets to say that his dad works at a toy company!

Enthralled by the balloons in the lobby

In the Mattel cafeteria

With Daddy at his desk

Here I am with Derek

Yes, I do also have a costume, but it’s a devil costume that involves a tiny red dress. I’m wearing to a party with Johnny later tomorrow night … I didn’t think that would be appropriate to wear to Johnny’s work!

Derek looked around excitedly while we went around getting candy. I loved looking at Barbies, Hot Wheels and other toys in progress. I did have to sign a nondisclosure form before going in there, so I can’t talk about any of it here, but it was awesome.

I hope everyone has a great Halloween! I can’t wait to see all the pictures on your blogs.

Saturday, we visited our friends Karthika and Peter, and their baby, Logan. We had a great time!

Peter, Karthika, a sleepy Logan, and us (all pictures courtesy of Peter and his awesome camera!)

Karthika had made delicious tea sandwiches and set out some other yummy snacks. We chowed down while catching up and admiring the babies. Logan was born at 31 weeks back in June. He’s a champ, though — he never once needed extra oxygen, despite being born nine weeks early, and now, he doesn’t seem much different than Derek in terms of his “skills,” like looking around and holding his head up. Logan was adorable. It is amazing how much he’s grown!

Derek and Logan

Jack also made himself quite at home, lounging on Karthika and Peter’s couch and stuffing brownie bites into his mouth.

Mmmmm, brownies!

The little imp also kept asking Karthika’s mom for “Moh apple juice pwease!” Oh, he knows how to take advantage when he’s not at home!

Jack and Johnny also had fun playing outside with Peter while Karthika and I chatted.

Even Atari, who came long for the visit, got in on the fun with Karthika and Peter’s dog, Maui.

Despite what it looks like, this was a friendly confrontation. Meanwhile Jack’s like, “How can I get in on this?”

Cute pooches (Maui on left, Atari on right)

So we all had a fantastic time and are looking forward to having Karthika, Peter and Logan come visit us in three weeks. Oh, they also took this picture of us. I’m posting it because we so rarely have family pics!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Halloween is in just five days … what’s everyone dressing up as?