The Countdown is On...

It is 10 pm and Wyatt is still awake in his room. We leave for Tahoe tomorrow and he is so excited he can't get to sleep. One more week until Santa comes, I'm not sure if he is going to make it that long!!

Happy Times Holiday Party

Last day of school before winter break and I was fortunate enough to attend the Happy Times holiday party. There was a jingle bells sing along, loads of sugar cookies and even a visit from Santa himself. Malcolm asked his teacher if it was the "real" Santa just to make sure. When Santa was leaving Malcolm through a tantrum and attempted to run out of the classroom door. When he finally calmed down enough to speak he said he wanted to go outside to see the sleigh and the reindeer. We had a hard time convincing him that Santa drove a truck to Happy Times and left the sleigh in the North Pole.

San Quentin Souvenir

I accidentally left the prison this week with these two face shields (required when walking on the tier with condemned prisoners held in segregation.) Better than any xmas gift I could have purchased, the boys love them!

Karate

Wyatt had a blast at Leo's Karate birthday party along with all the boys from his kindergarten class. He has decided he wants to start taking karate classes.

School Photo

Same pose, same background, same order forms, as when I was in kindergarten.

Do Not Try This at Home

You can't turn your back on these thrill seekers for a minute these days. Malcolm insisted it was OK to do this because it is his body and if he wants to hurt it, he can. Wyatt tried to make me feel better by saying, but I hold on to the railing...which won't do him a bit of good at the speed he is traveling down those steps.

That's Dinner?

The first of many dungeness dinners this season. Yum!

Mustachio!

Like papa, like sons.

Lemonade Stand

Last week, out of the blue, Wyatt decided he wanted to have a lemonade stand. I'm not quite sure where he got the urge, especially since its December and it has been pretty chilly around here lately. The idea persisted throughout the week and by Friday he had already told many of his buddies at school to come visit his stand. Wyatt and Malcolm both helped make the lemonade and set up the stand. Wyatt made the sign. They had a great time selling lemonade, especially when friends from Wyatt's class who live in the hood stopped by.

Before the big day we talked about what Wyatt wanted to do with the money he would earn from his stand. His classroom, K 107, has "save" "spend" or "donate" jars and he decided that he wanted to put the proceeds from the lemonade stand in the donate jar. In fact, he even told one customer (a friend from another Kinder class at Grattan) that the money was going to Kenya to help kids who don't have enough in their school. I wasn't sure that was entirely accurate (in fact I didn't know he'd ever even heard of Kenya!) but I was very impressed. We were proud of the hard work and the $12.80 they raised. However, after talking about donating the money all weekend, on Monday morning when his teacher, Mr. Draven, asked which jar he wanted to put it in he replied, "spend!" Guess we will just have to have another one to raise money for the school kids in Kenya.

Bay Area Discovery Museum

We rounded out the four day holiday weekend with a trip over the bridge to the bay area discovery museum and lunch at Fish in Sausalito with the Murphy-Mortimore family.

Sea Bowl

We spent the day after Thanksgiving nursing a headache from Jason's signature T-Giving cocktail, the liquid apple pie, at Sea Bowl with Mara, Chuck and the girls. Greasy pizza and coke and a few games of bowling did the trick! We may just have to make it an annual day after Thanksgiving event.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with Gigi, Giggen, Floyd and family, our friends Jodi, Scott and their daughters and a friend of Giggen's, Leah. We had a potluck style dinner and everyone brought lots of great food to share. Jodi brought over some crafts for the kids to make Native American vests and head pieces which was also a big hit. Jason topped off the evening with a new signature thanksgiving cocktail. As usual I got tons of photos of the kids, but none of the adults. I love turkey day!

Lovely Lola

Ben, Bren and Lola stopped through town on their way to relocating to North Carolina. They stayed with us for about a week and it was great to get to spend time with the whole family and especially to get to catch up with Ben and Bren after kids went to sleep. There were trips to the zoo, Golden Gate Park, afternoon dance parties, dim sum, and lots more. Lola has gotten so big since the last time we've seen her and she certainly held her own in a house with two older and very rowdy little boys. They miss having her around and have been asking when she is coming back. Hopefully we'll see them all at the beach this summer.

Halloween Double Date

The boys joined Julia and Kenzie for an evening of trick-or-treating on Belvedere Street. The costumes and themed houses did not disappoint, though it is a little overwhelming for the kids, they loved it. Uncle Sean and Aunt Tiff, Gigi, Giggen and Grumpy came as well so it was a big group to keep together in such a crowd. Malcolm is already asking when we get to go again!

Halloween Parades

Both Wyatt and Malcolm participated in Halloween parades at their schools. Wyatt's class (actually all the kindergarten classes at Grattan!) paraded down Cole street stopping by our house for some treats along the way. Malcolm's class paraded around the covered carport area at Happy Times. Both boys were very happy and couldn't be more excited to go trick-or-treating at night.

Grumpy's Visit

This past weekend we had a nice visit from Grumpy. We did lots of relaxing, eating, hanging out at the beach and even got to go trick-or-treating with him. Hopefully he will come back soon.

K-107

A few weeks ago I stopped by K-107 to work on a little craft project with Wyatt's class followed by lunch. We made paper plate chickens for "farm week" at Grattan. The chickens, complete with goggly eyes and real feathers were a big hit.

Engine Number 12

Papa was lucky enough to be selected as a chaperone for Mr. Draven's classes first field trip to the fire station. The kids had a great time on their big adventure, walked there and back to school, got to sit in a fire truck and even got to spray a fire hose.