Dear Santa Claus

I'm not really sure what to say... Please know that everytime I see a photo of you I scream 'ANTA!' and my behavior today does not reflect my true feelings for you. Please don't hold it against me on Christmas morning.

Sincerely,
Cole

p.s. I love trucks and cars.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our fabulous chefs!



Day after - Coronado - Such a gorgeous day!



Doing a fine job as Bell Manager











Long weekends are the best!

What Does Mama Say?

Yeah. Clearly not the response I expected!

Kindness of Strangers

Last Tuesday we went to Balboa Park after dinner. The museum we hoped to go to was closed, so we stopped at a nearby playground. I didn't see the diaper bag and asked where it was. Tom's response? The driveway. We tried to get home as fast as we could but every driver on the road was over 90 and we hit every red light. The minute we turned the corner we knew. We drove around the block... Tom walked different areas... It was gone. It was probably gone 2.2 seconds after we drove away. It was clearly an accident but I couldn't help but be upset. Tom was distracted by Cole and simply forgot to put it in the car. I didn't see it on the ground because I was busy putting all the recyclables in the front seat. Accidents happen, but we sure did lose a lot - The bag, a wallet filled with hundreds of dollars in gift cards, and Cole's coats/hats/books/toys/etc. Whomever took it surely scored big time.

Only thing that made it better? It was the day after Halloween so I had removed both cameras to download photos/videos. Those memory cards are everything to me.

I spent the week buying new coats, hats, books and random baby gear and pretty much chalked it up as a loss since no one responded to my Craig's List post. We were sitting down for my birthday feast (pot stickers, sushi and wine!) when the doorbell rang. I thought Tom was up to his old tricks and gave him skunk eye - I'm a hot mess!! Why didn't you tell me you had people coming over?! We opened the door and an older gentleman was holding our bag. He was fearful we thought he took it on purpose, but we knew - Heck, he was standing on our porch! He's a nurse at UCSD and found it on the walk to his car. He grabbed it and tried ringing doorbells that evening, but no one was home. He didn't have to work again until yesterday, and found us after ringing our downstairs neighbor's doorbell. He wouldn't accept a reward and kept apologizing for taking it. I gave him a huge hug, told him it was my birthday and couldn't thank him enough for making it special - Nothing like a nurse named Bob making you realize there's still good people out there! Best present ever!

Thomas the Train

Yesterday we drove to Perris to meet Thomas the Train. Cole doesn't watch the show (mainly because the few times I turned it on I wanted to hurt myself), but we knew it didn't matter. Trains have made the top of the list with trucks/cars and he was going to flip out the minute he saw him.

We were right!



Waiting to board







Official Junior Conductor





They have it set-up where you can stand in line to get your photo with Thomas while the next group is boarding. We were told to do it after our ride to beat the afternoon crowds. We waited in line to have it stop two people ahead of us. Of course. There was no way we were going to wait 25 minutes for Thomas to return, so Daddy clicked away!



We weren't as close as we wanted, but it was clearly close enough. He gives the BEST hugs when he's happy.



Inspecting other trains at the museum



Off to the play tent!





Saying good-bye!





All in all, it was a really cute event - Not only did he ride a train for the first time, but he went home with a James tattoo, coloring pages, the scavenger hunt prize (thanks to me running around while he played with trains), and a special souvenir (Lego Thomas) for being so good.

*Tom and I were rewarded for being good (aka dealing with all the Thomas groupies) with a stop at the outlets and Ponte Winery. It's only fair!

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-Treat! Frankie wants something good to eat!



He scored the lollipop from Uncle Mike and Aunt Sarah's. It was our one and only house last year, so we HAD to go back!



Afterwards we went to Point Loma - We hung out in the Wright family garage and handed out candy. It was perfect. Cole and Avery don't understand what Halloween is about, so they were able to just play and see all the big kids in their costumes. I can only imagine how stressful it would've been trying to take them around the neighborhood - I'm all about making this a tradition too!

Frankie & Strawberry Avery













Last year Cole took his first steps on Halloween and yesterday he was running non-stop. *sigh* Can only imagine what next year will bring!