Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope you all did, too! Santa brought Aidan and Lauren a castle to share (we'll see how that goes!), and Aidan got several car-related items, a guitar and some cymbals, a homemade sleeping bag and other cool stuff. Lauren got a new baby (small and easy for her to hold; she really likes her and says "uh-oh" every time her hat comes off, which is often), some cool clothes, a Rody ride-on toy, some rain boots and more.

Aidan puts out the treats on Christmas Eve. He wouldn't hear of the reindeer sharing one carrot! I made brownies from the book "Deceptively Delicious." Don't tell anyone, but they have carrot puree, spinach puree and whole-grain oat flour in them. They were quite tasty!

I was nervous about how the brownies would go over, so I got some whipped cream to sweeten the deal, so to speak. They loved it!

Surprisingly, I was the first one up this morning and got the coffee going and the cameras ready. Aidan got up a little before 7--here he is pointing at the presents.

Santa came! Left to right is Ryan's, Lauren's, my mom's, Aidan's and mine. We ordered Lauren's stocking online and had no idea it would be twice the size of everyone else's--I didn't think to check the dimensions!

Once Lauren got up and joined the party (with crazy bed head!) , Aidan helped her open the box with her new baby doll inside.

Aw...our baby with her new baby from China Sprout.

Lauren all dressed in her stylin' new coat from family friends that live in Italy, and her new rainboots from Bethie, and of course her binky.

We visited our old friends Margaret, Dan, Lily and Chase for lunch and had a great time. It was snowing at their house, and the boys scootered in the snow!

I love this action shot of Aidan in motion! He has gotten so good on his scooter since he got it last Christmas.

Recent pictures

Lauren at our friend Henry's 5th birthday party.


Lauren and Ryan at the party.

Aidan's pinata haul!

Our cuties together in the morning.

And with goofy faces.

Aidan helps the landscapers in our front yard, aka the muddy mud pit.

Lauren napping in the car while Ryan and Aidan got doughnuts after Aidan's soccer class.

Still here!

Whew! Just downloaded some pictures from my camera and the last time I took pictures was a few on 11/12...bad Mama! It has been so busy around here. The February 2008 issue of the magazine I work for just shipped to the printer, and we hosted Thanksgiving, which although small took a lot of preparation. It was very fun, though!

So, I took several pictures today to try and redeem myself. I bought Lauren the outfit in the pictures below more than a year ago (5 months before she came home), and she wore it for the first time today. She is so petite, this outfit is supposed to be 10-24 months (big range) and it's still too big for her, but I wanted to get the maximum use out of it. :-)

Everyone is doing well. She is really starting to talk a lot (just repeating what we say, mostly, although she does say "hi" and "bye" and a few other things on her own) and amazes us with everything she does--she is very observant! Aidan is starting to write really well and is beginning to sound out words. It is so neat to watch. He starts soccer on Saturday...we tried it about a year ago and it didn't go so well, so we're hoping he'll enjoy it more this time. He turns 4 1/2 on Saturday. Lauren turns 17 months on Sunday.

On the home front, we're getting our two front rooms painted next week (you can see the color stripe on the wall in the last picture below) and we're also getting our landscaping done. They're supposed to start next week, also. That should be our last big project after a year and a half of big projects!

Presenting Aidan the Bat and Lauren the Lamb

We had a really fun Halloween trick-or-treating in our neighborhood and handing out candy. Giving away the candy was Aidan's favorite part and he would become despondent when there was a lull in the trick-or-treaters. Somehow, neither of them ate any candy until today when Aidan had a little bag of plain M&Ms and Lauren tried a Kit Kat. Not too bad. The kids looked adorable in their costumes, even though neither of them would leave their cute hats on.

My friend Wendy made us these fairy wings and tutus, which we wore to Jazzercise class. It was really fun! Neither of us knew the other was going to wear a pink shirt.

Tons of Fall Fun

Hey, look at all the new posts! Some pictures of the fall fun we've been having...




Decorating sugar cookies with our neighbors Megan and Madeline. Aidan and Madeline were really big fans of the sprinkles and piled their cookies high! (While snacking on icing and sprinkles...yum!)

On Sunday, we went with our friends Felice, Nick, Henry and Max to a fun local place that has a pumpkin patch, corn maze, sandboxes of dried corn to dig around in, and best of all, a moo train, which is a tractor that pulls a line of buckets painted to look like cows. It was a hit all around.

Aidan and Henry on the first round of the moo train.

Then we all went, after Lauren was gesturing wildly toward it.
Felice and cutie pie Max.


Aidan and Henry in the slide. They are so cute together!


Aidan, Lauren and Henry play in a plastic pool full of corn. Max was off digging in the bigger sandbox.

Lauren and me at the corn maze place. I have new bangs! They are looking a little sparse in this picture but you get the idea.

Max, Aidan and Lauren in the wagon after Max & Henry picked out their pumpkins.

We went to our CSA farm last Sunday with our lovely friends the Willards to get our pumpkins. Muddy but fun. I roasted all the seeds and Aidan LOVES them! (Big news for my cute little picky eater.)

Then & Now: Spider Hat

When Aidan was four months old, my aunt Karen sent him this hat for his first Halloween. We got it out again this year for Lauren to wear, but Aidan has been trying it on again, too. Just look how much he has changed--it is so amazing!

And here is Miss Lauren enjoying the hat, too:

California Trip

Having a hard time keeping the blog updated these days! At the beginning of October, Lauren and I flew down to the Bay Area for my dear friend Shalene's wedding. It was hard to leave Aidan and Ryan at home, but they had a great time together and did cute things like bike rides, haircuts together, etc. I've known Shalene since elementary school and it was so wonderful to be able to see so many people I was best friends with growing up. There is absolutely nothing quite like spending time with old friends. We even got to stay with my best friends frcm college, Leslie and Sam (who started dating right when we got to college--13 years ago now, eeek--and have been married for 8 years) and meet their new baby and see their 4-year-old again. We had tons of fun getting a manicure and pedicure with the bridal party (Lauren sat on my lap), watching the rehearsal at the beautiful Berkeley Botanical Garden, driving around, getting stuck in traffic on the Bay Bridge, shopping at some awesome stores in Walnut Creek that we don't have here, and eating dinners and talking with Les and Sam.



Lauren and me with Les and sweet baby Maren



In Les and Sam's back yard before Lauren and I left for the wedding



Babies together! It was funny to have Lauren be the bigger kid...she is always the little one around here!



Getting our nails done at the salon, with Lauren on my lap. My beautiful friend Hilary, whom I lived with in Santa Cruz along with our friend Amy, is the one standing up. Hilary and Amy were the maids of honor in Shalene's wedding.



Cutie pie Lauren at the reception in Oakland

Brother & Sister

Just a quick post for now with pictures of some of the cuteness that's been going on around here in between the squabbles over toy cars. I'll post soon with pictures from Lauren's and my eventful girls' trip to California last weekend. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the fall.



Napping together (I can't believe how huge Aidan looks in this picture!)



Snacking together



Walking together



It only makes us a teensy bit nervous when Aidan helps her walk



Playing together!