Saying good-bye

Aimee, Jim, and Trip are moving to Louisiana.  We did not have very much time with them, but they were really great friends and we will miss them very much!  We had a last hoorah at Jack's for lunch.  Aiden will miss his little buddy!

Thanksgiving in Forest Ranch

Okay, playing catch up here!  Been having 

technical difficulties with pics not loading.

We had a great time at the Annands' for Turkey Day! Cousin Breanna and boyfriend Chris brought Buttons (the bunny) and the kids had a great time "loving" on him! We played lots of Cribbage and dominoes and Sorry. Uncle Dave taught Aiden electrical circuits. Aunt Patti and Grandpa Tom played pranks on each other the entire weekend. Grandpa Tom secretly filled auntie's hood with artichoke leaves throughout the Thanksigiving meal. Mom, Aiden, and Liam picked and ate many raspberries (as they have not had a frost yet-unusual). We marveled at the beautiful red maple tree and fall foliage in Great-grandpa Bob's yard. Caleb's smoked turkey that he carefully tended all day tasted yummy! Aiden got to take a spin in Aunt Patti's Lightning McQueen speedster! A great weekend with LOTS of great food!

Happy Thanksgiving

Getting ready to head to Forest Ranch for the Turkey Day festivities tomorrow. We are loading up the kids, the dog, our BBQ smoker (to smoke the turkey), and a whole lot of gear to see great grandparents, grandparents, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and family friends. The cat and 5 chickens will stay home and hold down the fort.

Aiden and Liam made pine cone turkeys to celebrate the holiday. Liam decided he was ready to pluck his turkey!

Day Trip to Elkhorn Slough (pronounced slew)

Liam, Aiden, and mommy went to the slough for a big adventure! The boys got to feel molted snake skin ('feels like plastic' says Aiden) and match loose feathers with pictures of local birds in the visitor center. We then hiked down the Long Valley Loop where we found a wasp nest, sighted a true rat's nest in an oak tree (dusky-footed wood rat we are told) and 3 herons and lots of plovers. We heard 2 hawks shrieking overhead, but we did not get a good look at them. We also spotted several of the local plants we are learning about like coyote brush, poison hemlock, poison oak, and the very peculiar pickleweed (how does it survive in that salty marsh?). The best part was walking out on the boardwalk over the marshland. Aiden accidentally dropped his hat off the boardwalk but happily retreived it with a long stick. That little procedure led him to discover thousands of tiny seashells washed up in the marsh that he could fish out with his hat stick. Aiden found a 'family' of shells (mommy, daddy, brother, and baby). Liam's taste test revealed the seashells to be not so savory! After that, we took a cue from Liam and headed up to the picnic spot and ate lunches and goofed around on the grass. Liam also preferred looking for rocks with his hat in his mouth rather than atop his head! (: A great day was had by all.

Just Hanging Around

Digital Camera and Field Mice

Aiden is having a great month of poetry and drawing birds and reading and learning good sportsmanship in playing Sorry and dominoes with mom and dad. He just finished a very strong soccer season. The Redhawks (Aiden, Christian, Danny, and Chase) played so well together and really had a lot of fun together. Caleb was their coach and he did an outstanding job! Aiden is looking forward to next year's season already! Little Liam also got his exercise pushing his stroller out onto the soccer field during the games and honed his fine motor skills of collecting all the cones marking the perimeter of the field (during the games, of course)! He also enjoyed trying to sit and play with his toy car inside the net while the boys practiced kicking drills into the net (no fear!).

Ahh, so it is November 2008 and we have finally gone digital! Testing out mama's new camera was lots of fun tonight!

Where are the field mice? Big question inspired by Aiden's favorite poem "The Field Mouse" by William Sharp. Little Liam did not have the opportunity to add his input to the discussion as he was already in dreamland by then.

Dinner time conversation has escalated to new heights with Aiden's questions lately. For example: "How does a boat with heavy stuff float?" or "How far do you have to go before you leave our air and go into moon air?" Where is the handbook to prepare us for these questions!! Thank goodness for the internet! He is quickly learning that mom and dad don't know everything. We figure that no answer with a "let's look it up" is better than a guess or a wrong answer. Parenting is about the most humbling experience in the world! He knows SO much more than I did at his age. Both boys are so sharp and keep me on my toes for sure.

Wish I had some pics to share... my 35 mm is broken, but I hope to remedy that soon. I cut Liam's hair with the clippers and he looks like a little boy now! He is really close to saying many intelligible words as the jabbering is almost constant now. The poor thing; I really feel like he carries on whole conversations with me and I just don't get it! He gets across the essentials though with his sign language. I understand that all his snacks are "cados" (as in avo-cado). All birds are "chick" (for his first and favorite bird to learn-chicken). He says dog and cat and now up pretty well. He can follow 2-step directions and he knows 10 signs and uses them appropriately (thank you, please, up, help, eat, more, drink, cat, dog, all done). Aiden signed a lot and jabbered nonsensically and now he is a chatter box, so I expect the same with Liam.

That's the news for now. We have Friday afternoon park day pretty soon. Love to all!