Two weekends ago, we took the kids to Kabob House for lunch. In the evening, I went out for a late dinner and glow bowling with my girlfriends. After 2 rounds of bowling (scores not shared to avoid humiliating myself), we went to a diner and stayed out until 2-3am … 3 hours before my trusty Calie alarm.  

Speaking of miss Calie, she has finally moved to the same campus as her brother’s elementary school. She adjusted very well – and I hesitate to even use the word “adjust” because she pretty much hit the ground running – no problems with the new schedule and meshed right in with the other toddlers. Thank goodness for her flexible personality since this is her 3rd school since she started daycare 6 months ago! (Hopefully we’ll stay at this one into elementary school.)

The following Thursday, Zachary’s school had a Thanksgiving “mini-feast”, which translates to a lunch potluck and kids singing songs. In one song, the kids took turns saying what they were thankful for, and Zachary yelled out “My mom!” It was awesome; another mom next to me said,”Good brainwashing!” and I got it on video too.  On the flip side, I am only 3rd prettiest … after Delaney (below left, 1st) and Calie (2nd). And here I thought all sons ranked their own mother most beautiful – at least until middle school. How naive of me!

That weekend, I hosted a small playdate. We first went to Color Me Mine for storytime and pottery painting. Then we headed to my house to play and make pizzas for lunch. The weather was great and the kids enjoyed playing outside. At the end of the playdate, Alex took a bad fall and cut his lip … but he recovered without stitches, so we are hoping we dodged a lawsuit. (Kidding!)

On Sunday, we went to Thai Ginger for dinner. And since this week was a very light at work, I tried picking up the kids early. Struck out twice with Zachary – since it was a non-academic week, they had fun events back to back. My promise of shopping (complete with Build-a-Bear stop) did nothing to persuade Zachary from movies/popcorn, games with his friends, and a dessert making lesson. Calie was more eager to go, although I tried keeping her home one morning, and she arched her back until I put her down and made a beeline for James’ car. Good thing they like school/daycare because they have many years ahead of them! I took Calie to the mall on Wednesday and met up with Dana and her family for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

This 4-day weekend, we ran a charity 5k. It was Zachary’s first official run ever. It was so crowded, we walked about a third of it. I also forgot to pick up timer chips … I had no idea … we ripped off our numbers at the end of the race and no one would take them. How embarrassing – racing technology has changed since our last race! 

In the afternoon, I went to Old Navy to pick up some slacks for Zachary and tops for me – the line looked long, but went fast … door to door took me about 30 minutes and fiddling with my iPhone in line helped pass the time. For Thanksgiving, we went to Mimi’s restaurant. There were lots of older couples and of course Calie charmed them with her smiles, waves, and gusto for food (while Zachary struggled with the chicken nuggets, Calie eat the Thanksgiving platter … as well as a small bowl of my corn chowder.).

(Does walk-jogging a 5k justify a post run gorge? Doritos and oranges are my weakness!)

Yesterday was a Black Friday fail. I went to Kohls with a 15% and $10 off coupon. As soon as I walked in and saw the lines, I knew my time (and anyone else making more than minimum wage) was worth much, much more. The only shopping I did that day was for groceries. Today, we met up with Karen’s family for dimsum at Asia Pearl. We have otherwise just played with the kids at home; below we have a photo of Zach playing with an iPhone and Calie with a fusebead iPhoney … about 2 seconds before realizing she was punk’d by her older brother.

This was the first Thanksgiving we didn’t have plans with our extended family. James’ family was in Manhattan Beach with his sister, and mine was in China at my cousin’s wedding (Congratulations Benny and Miki! ). It was kind of nice having a slower paced long weekend … and no leftover turkey is priceless. HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone!

End of October, Zachary went to Intel for a trick-or-treat event. He went from cube to cube, trick-or-treating. Sometimes he’ll ask the person to describe the candy and question the ingredients. And once, when someone held out a bowl of hard candy (his least favorite) … he pawed through it and finally said,”No thank you.” I think we need to work on the finer details of manners! That Friday-Saturday, James’ parents came to visit, and they got to see Calie walk for the first time.

Saturday afternoon, I took Zachary to see Disney’s Princess on Ice with Jessica and her mom. We bought the kids overpriced souvenirs and indulged in an unhealthy lunch during intermission. And while Zachary has been to a number of live shows, he has never experienced an intermission. When it was time to go back in, he yelped,”No! I’ve seen it already, I don’t want to see it again!”

He was quiet the first half of of the show, but he really started chatting it up after intermission. (i.e. “They’ll never find Cinderella because no one will fit that slipper if they’re wearing ice skates.” and “The princesses are all pretending to be dead.”) Fortunately, it was a family friendly event, so it was loud, and plenty of other kids were talking too.

(Bonus picture of Zachary getting a filling between his fused tooth … took about half an hour and Zachary did great! Of course, he was looped up on nitrous oxide and watching a documentary on the Coral Reef, so it was easy to behave. Still, the dentist was impressed so I’m going to accept their compliments!)

After Disney on Ice, we went to Sherry’s house for a potluck dinner. And then off trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. We went all the way down our street and then back up the other side … a nice, brisk 1 hour walk with both kids for me, while James stayed home to hand out candy. Happy Halloween!

On Sunday, we went to Buca di Beppo for lunch, and then a dinner playdate at Jessica’s house.

This weekend, we went to Tahoe Joe’s for lunch. I loved their fried shrimp salad! In the evening, we went to a local sports complex to celebrate Vaibhav and Gaurav’s birthday. They had pizza and a spread of delicious Indian food. Zachary had a fun and sweaty time running around … he couldn’t quite keep up with the basketball game, so halfway through, James enticed him into playing tag instead. Calie totally wanted in on the action … but the court was too dangerous for a new walker, so we kept her entertained off to the side. She liked throwing balls and trying to catch them (0% success rate).

Happy 6th Birthday Vaibhav and Gaurav! We were so impressed by how well they played basketball.

Today we had a picnic lunch and played in the sand at our local park. The weather was perfect - cool but sunny. In the late afternoon, Sophie and Eddie came to visit. We had a barbecue dinner, and they played with Gears and Fusebeads. Which reminds me … Earlier in the day, James followed a template to make a pretty awesome Fusebead of a Nintendo Mario. When he asked Zachary if it was the best one ever, Zachary responded with,”No, because you used a template and that’s not creative. Mine is better because I made it myself.” Eddie designed a Fusebead picture based off Zachary’s photo after dinner. I forgot to take a picture of it, so you will have to trust me when I say … it was very … um … ”creative”.

While Sophie was here, I finally got an iPhone (since I’m on a family plan with Sophie, she had to go to the store with me.) In other news, we are doing some minor home remodeling … exterior paint, new kitchen sink/faucet, new shower for the master bathroom, and a custom television stand. I’ll post pictures when it’s done – hopefully by end of this month!