Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a small but special Thanksgiving dinner with my parents at home this year. Max slept right through dinner, but our little Indian (with or without a costume) celebrated enough for all of us.





Max may have slept through dinner, but that didn't get him out of wearing the big collar. Amazingly enough Reed was jealous that Max got to be the Pilgrim.

Blog Catch-up

I know there must be throngs of people waiting on pins and needles for more pictures from California--so here they are. This blog is really my only record keeping so I'm going to go ahead and post everything I've been meaning to post for the past few weeks.

Family Pictures

Recently I came across the blog of a really cool photographer in Temecula. Since we were already planning to be in CA I decided to ask her to take a new family photo for us. Max was having a bad morning (very unusual for him), but you'd never know from these pictures. She was great with the kids and I was very happy with the results. Sorry to include so many pictures, but it was hard enough to just pick these.

Goodbye Queeny

This past week Reed's fish, Queeny, fell victim to an inexperienced caregiver. During a routine bowl cleaning I accidentally sent Queeny into shock when I scooped her out and put her into a cold glass of untreated water while we freshened up her bowl.

Reed didn't seem too upset (phew!) until a few hours later when we went outside to give her a proper burial. In the middle of digging the hole I ran inside to get the phone. When I came back outside he was crying with large tears rolling down his cheeks saying, "I miss you Queeny." It was the cutest sad thing I've ever seen.


Final Goodbyes

California Fun

Reed and Max both enjoyed the horses at Zoomars, the local petting zoo, while we were in San Clemente. I told Reed to say "Yee-Haw" when he was riding his horse, but he said, "Mom..that is too embarrassing." Isn't he a little too young for that?


The bunnies and goats were quite friendly--especially when being offered food. Is it just me or does that bunny look like one of Reed's long lost relatives??


NOAH'S ARK EXHIBIT

Another highlight was our trip with Nana and McKenzie to the very well done Integrative Noah's Ark Exhibit for kids at the Skirball Center in LA. It was a stressful drive getting there in time, but it was very worth it.

Reed and Luke loading the animals two by two into the ark.

Max was right at home with a drum stick in his hand. I believe this Xylophone-type instrument is native of India. He didn't sound half bad on it either.

California Halloween

We've been in California for the past two weeks and therefore on a blogging hiatus as well. We will be going home tomorrow, but I wanted to post our Halloween photos before people starting busting out their Christmas decorations. More photos from our California adventure coming soon!

Here is my little scuba diver. I loved his costume., but it was pretty impractical for trick or treating. He actually did better than I thought walking in his flippers, but I quickly ended up carrying him from house to house.

In case you can't tell, Max was an Octopus:)


Several months ago when we figured out that we would be in CA over Halloween, my sister and I planned for all of our kids to trick or treat together in "under the sea" costumes. Belle was a mermaid, Luke was a Shark, and Scarlett was a goldfish to complete the theme.