Jack's first birthday

On October 29... Jack turned 1!! It's hard to believe where the year has gone... those sleepless nights and long bouts of crying(his and mine) seem so long ago. Today, my little man is walking, babbling and smiles with a sparkle in his eye. The night before Jack's birthday, Madison and I were busy birthday fairies.. wrapping presents and decorating the house. Mark got home at 2am.. got a few quick hours of sleep and was there to greet Jack when he woke up. Jack got some cool new toys.. including his a ride-on fire truck, his first Tonka truck, some new blocks and books.

The day consisted of taking Madison to preschool and then some alone time with mom and dad as we headed to Dr. Simons new office for Jack's 1 year check -up. Jack is 22.5 pounds but only 30% for height but still holding strong in the 98% for head size!! After getting 4 shots and getting woken up from two naps.... Jack called it a day around 6p just in time for Oma and Opa and Gram and Poppo to arrive for his first birthday dinner.
So Jack went to bed and we opened a nice bottle of Silver Oak and toasted our little man and all the blessings we've been given. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband to share this adventure with.
It was a scene that would seem sad to most and just a few years ago would have been devastating to this type-A mom.... Jack missing his big birthday dinner with his grandparents, his first cupcake, etc but if there's one thing you learn, you have to go with the flow and nothing ever turns out exactly how it was planned... a lesson that become all too real a few days later... see "Hurricane Lemos" post.
But all in all it was a great day... a great birthday and we had a wonderful dinner with Gram and Poppo and Oma and Opa and Madison of course loved all the extra attention and dishing out the cupcakes after dinner!!

Is it Halloween yet?

It feels like Halloween is the new Christmas.. it just keeps going and going. I have to admit I am feeling a little burned out and we haven't even hit the Big Day. We had a great weekend though which included a few more pumpkin patches, a great party at the Braden's in Walnut Creek and was topped off by the Serra Preschool Halloween Fair and carving pumpkins.. whew no wonder I feel beat today. Madison is almost three.. so her most popular phrase is "I can do it myself" so this is her pulling the load of pumpkins to decorate the house with. She insisted on picking them out, lifting them herself and pulling the wagon.

Saturday we headed to the east bay to the pumpkin patch in Pleasant Hill with the Brinkers... it was in the mid 80's but at least we got everyone to smile for the "annual family pumpkin patch" picture.
Jack started walking and he is a man on the move. Here he is charming the camera with those cute smiles and showing off his new big boy haircut. Not to be outdone by cousin Reese who was all smiles in her pumpkin shirt.
The Dads are leading the charge around the pumpkin patch in search of the perfect one.

How cute are these two? They have so much fun together and always love a chance to snuggle close and say cheese!!
Sunday we were off to the Serra Preschool Halloween Fair. Gina and I were on set-up and the Dads were in charge of bringing the girls in their costumes and staying for clean-up... ouch. The two biggest hits of the party were the nail painting and tattoo room and the Monster Mash dance party room.. good work Gina! Here Madison and Callen are waiting for their nails to dry and then they were ready to hit the dance floor.
Gina and Andrea took a turn in the tattoo parlor... Gina, where's YOUR costume?

The Eggerts love Halloween and Gina takes great pride in their costumes but this year takes the cake. Check out the Eggert Sisters... complete with silver crosses. Sr. Sadie at the arts and crafts table.

Halloween at the Disco Museum

In TV news we were always taught not to "bury the lead" so here it is... the world's cutest Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Sunday we headed to the Discovery Museum's Goblin Gamboree with literally "hundreds" of other families. It was super packed but the whole place was turned into a Halloween wonderland. Madison/Minnie of course loved the jumpy house.

I can't help but think if Jack could talk he would say "are you kidding mom? Dressing me in this leisure suit?"
Mark and Jack had a great time building and knocking down towers in the Tot Spot.
This is Jack in his full "get-up" is he cute or what?? Our little Mickey Mouse... only problem his head is so big that the velcro chokes him around the neck... but for a moment its cute.
Stay tuned for Jack's Halloween costume part 2.... my little "Jack-o-lantern"

Disney comes to town

It was a busy weekend... Saturday afternoon we headed to Disney on Ice. I originally thought Madison might be a little young but boy was I wrong.. we had such a great time and really got the excitement building for the Minnie Mouse halloween costume. This was a trip just for the "M&M's" so Jack and Resse got to stay home with Gram and Poppo. Mark got suckered into a $24 Minnie Mouse doll but hey it was worth the memory.
We had great box seats so the girls could move around and call out all the characters they knew as loud as they wanted.
This is one of my favorites... not sure who was having more fun at the show... Mads and Mia or the Mommies???
Madison loved the characters and the music and all the twirls they did on ice.

Trampoline obsessed

Who needs Disneyland when you have Gram and Poppo's house... Madison was treated to a wonderful surprise on Saturday when she arrived in Danville. Gram got a trampoline for the backyard and unlike hers at home this one is super cool because Gram can jump on it too. So fun, thanks Gram and Poppo!

SF Happy Hour... Eggert Style

Friday night East Bay happy hour moved across the bay to the Eggerts house. It was a rare warm evening in West Portal filled with good food, laughs and plenty of Bud Light and red wine, thanks Chuck. There were eight kids under the age of 3 so not so much the Happy Hour it used to be but still plenty of fun. The kids had mac and cheese and mummy dogs while the adults feasted on Gina's homemade enchiladas.
This is Marco Cecchin, Jack and Sadie enjoying dinner... family style.
Brooke D'Angelo is right next to them.... raising her hand so nicely for more mac 'n cheese please.
The "big girls" got to sit at the table and enjoy their dinner.
After dinner it was time for a little entertainment as they all enjoyed the latest episode of "Yo Gabba Gabba" ...
Thanks for hosting a great Friday night happy hour!!

Yosemite Trip

We headed to Yosemite for the long weekend with John and Lena. Mark and his parents used to go every year and it had been awhile since we had all been there and it was a great Fall weekend.Here we are enjoying the view of Yosemite Falls however at this time of year the waterfall had very little water and what was there was frozen. This was an easy stroll... so now we were ready to conquer the Misty Trail.
This was pretty much how Mark hiked up the mountain... go Dad!! Madison did great but it was a pretty steep climb and those legs got tired.
Jack enjoyed his bird's eye view from the backpack and talked/babbled to everyone passing on the way down.
We made it to the top... a little tired but excited because the way back was all downhill.
This is Madison racing Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama to the top of El Capitan (by the way these two climbers set the record for fastest climb on Sunday while we were there)
This was us when we made it to the top of "the rock" so proud!!
This is us all snuggled up (it was about 40 degrees at night) on the Yosemite shuttle after a great day of hiking and a yummy pizza dinner.

On Sunday, we enjoyed a wonderful brunch at the Ahwahnee and then headed to Mirror Lake ... which we never quite made it to after Jack decided he wanted to do some hiking too.
Thanks for a great weekend Oma and Opa!!

Trying out three

Catchy headline but no breaking news.... just a fun day at the pumpkin patch in Marin with cousin Chloe... Mark makes it look so easy eh?

Jack can't believe there are so many pumpkins
Cloe and Jack a little nervouse about how high Madison is climbing....

Looks like Madison is a little worried too.
Madison escapes to the trampoline in an effort to convince Dad that one of these will fit in our backyard.... she almost had him.