Pumpkins!

Lauryn and I carved pumpkins for the first time this year!

It seriously takes A LONG TIME!

I was going to make pumpkin pie with the filling, but after a couple of hours I was sick of pumpkins, so I'll just have to get mine from a can.

Halloween Ho Ho

Lilian invited us to the annual Genentech Halloween Ho Ho this year. And we brought our friends Sarah and Jeffy.

The scene was a bit loud and crazy, but a lot of fun. They had a jumper and a slide for the kids, a pumpkin patch and free food, drinks and ice cream bars for all.
John's in the white trying to score a free light-up necklace for his darling daughter. Alas, he was too far away. I'm telling ya...we should all go work for Genentech.

Auntie Rose, whose been at Genentech going on 20 years, promised to invite us back for their Chinese New Year HoHo which she says is even better. It must have something to do with the fact that she's on the planning committee. =) But she says they give out Red Envelopes to everyone, so we'll be there!

Kidz Love Soccer

Lauryn's enjoying soccer this fall with one of our neighbor's sons. She doesn't get much done in the way of goals, but she runs around alot and loves yelling, "Water Break!" along with her coaches. Coach Adam reminds me of Ben Affleck.

Arata's Farm

Sydney and I went on the field trip to the pumpkin patch with Lauryn's class in early October. Sydney was fascinated by the animals and the bales of hay. Lauryn, on the other hand, won't grow up to be a veterinarian, that's for sure. Actually, Lauryn's favorite thing was getting to ride on the school bus for the first time.

When we had to walk through the corn field to the Hay Ride, I could see how easy it would be to get lost. Those things get tall!

Spied a New Restaurant...

while we were in SF a couple of weekends ago. Needless to say, business wasn't too good.

Sydney and the Bouncy Chair

A few weeks ago we dug out our old bouncy chair from the attic to lend to our friends who are expecting. Sydney didn't like the bouncy chair much when she was a baby, unlike Lauryn, who spent a better portion of her first few months in that chair. But now that it's back in our lives, the bouncy chair has taken on new life and fun times for Sydney. She is WAY too big for it! But she loves to sit in it and dangle her feet. Good thing Sarah's not due for several weeks.

Sydney's 1st Haircut

I finally broke down and cut it. I took off about 4 inches in the back. The bangs aren't as uneven as they look in the picture. But now she looks old! =( And in a weird way, kinda like her cousin Jamie when she was a baby...

Sydney

Here's my little Sydney at Old Navy:

An Inspirational Principal

I'm starting to find little things that make me like Lauryn's elementary school more and more. First the principal called me herself a couple of weeks before classes started to introduce herself and to see if I had any questions.

Then during orientation, I spied this sitting on the teacher's bookshelf. I thought it was such a thoughtful and inspirational gesture.

1st Day of Kindergarten

Lauryn had a great time on her first day of school. I thought I'd be really emotional, but I think having her go to preschool and camp 5 days a week during the summer made the transition not so hard. In fact, preschool was about 30 minutes longer than Kindergarten. So the time flew by! What did Sydney and I do after taking Lauryn to Kindergarten? Old Navy!

Jer & Marilyn's Wedding

One Last Getaway

Our last getaway before Lauryn starts Kindergarten was to.....where else? The Happiest Place on Earth! And our au-pair joined us before she's off to study abroad in Australia so that made for an extra nice trip for us.

We stayed with our good friends in So. Cal and went swimming in the community pool. Their house is seriously a haven for all of their friends and relatives. This trip they had a total of 12 people staying at one time.

I got to hit the nearby Costco to pick up a few items that we No. Cals don't get in our Costco. We had Korean BBQ to satify a 3 month long craving and it was yummo! At night, after the kids were in bed, we all watched with surprising attention to a documentary that Christina recorded on raising Pandas in China. Did you know baby pandas are blind and have no hair and are the size of skinny mini bananas when they're born - kinda like a mole rat? And they need help to potty themselves?

At the end of our trip, we met up with our Bay Area friends at Disneyland and that made the trip even more fun!

Some food indulgences at the park:
Jen: 3 churros in one day, and another churro the day before, cherry ice-e
John: turkey leg & churro
Me: chili cheese dog & churro
Lauryn: giant pickle, popcorn, sour watermelon ice-e
Sydney: popcorn

Lauryn got to ride on her 1st grown-up ride: Soarin' Over California and she LOVED it!

Marissa & Josh's Birthdays

There was jumping and bouncing, rock climbing, a rope ladder, swinging into a huge pit of foam blocks, all the makings of a fun time!

Lauryn's 5!

Lauryn had her 5th Birthday Party at the PJCC. The facilities were great! It was really windy that day, and we had WAY too much food (Hawaiian- yum!), but the birthday girl had a great time with her friends.

Night out in 3D

John and I got to enjoy a rare double date night with our friends Loc and Christina while they were visiting from LA. We went to watch Superman Returns at the IMAX theater in SF in 3D! Check us out!

Final Swimming Lesson

Lauryn and her friend Ashlyn just finished their last swimming lesson for the summer. I have to admit that before we started I didn't think Lauryn would be able to swim at all by the end of her lessons. If she was ok putting her face in the water by the end of 10 lessons I would've been happy. But this is something Christine and I never ever expected.

This is what they did on their last day of swimming class:


Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing