Today

Today we went to my Godson, Daren's, party. Happy birthday Daren!

Hadley has a kindred spirit in her cousin Sylvia - they both love to dress up.  Here's Hadley as a bride with pink lipstick on!

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately - but not to worry - we're coming into one of my favorite times of the year where a lot of photos will be snapped. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May you take a few moments to reflect on everything you're thankful for. I've been focusing on having an attitude of gratitude everyday - life always seems better through this lens.

This and That

Unexpectedly, I had a stay-cation this week and have been off of work since Wednesday so have spent a lot of time with the kiddos.  I got a lot of things done - like taking Christmas pictures of the kids, ordering Christmas cards, baking bread, cleaning out the playroom, etc. and had a lot of down time with Miles and Hadley - which felt very relaxed.

Besides projects around the house and kiddo time - Mike got out for some beer brewing (and drinking) with friends and I sailed high on a flying trapeze (for the 2nd time) with a friend at Twin Cities Trapeze.

This kid is tackling an At-At Walker lego set for ages 14+ - he's really good. Daddy is mostly helping him with this project but he and I completed 4 pages of instructions on Friday.

We went to Nickelodeon Universe and Rainforest Cafe for a fun mom and me outing.

Although these two are tall enough for the littlest rides, they wanted me to go with them on everything.

The kids are playing in the bath right now and I did a little bath time interviewing.

Miles
Favorite food: hotdogs
Favorite color: light blue, orange, red, lots of colors
Favorite thing to do: run
Favorite toy: husky pup

Hadley
Favorite food: macaroni and cheese
Favorite color: pink rainbows, red rainbows, blue rainbows, all colors rainbows
Favorite thing to do: stay awake and play with you guys (yes, we're going through a rather tough phase where this girl does not want to go or stay in bed!)
Favorite toy: Pepper, her stuffed kitty

Here are a few pictures that didn't make the Christmas card but sure are cute!

Vacation pictures and Halloween

 Mike and I had a fabulous time in wine country and San Francisco.  We ate a lot of great food - everything from Indian to Korean to oysters, drank a lot of wine and beer (we toured 5 wineries, visited two breweries, and brought back souvenirs to drink and remember them by!), toured beautiful Napa and Sonoma Valleys, and walked everywhere in San Francisco.  The pictures below capture a few of the highlights of our vacation.

Hiking in Muir Woods. This was our first stop and you can tell by our faces that we're so happy to be on vacation!

Our first winery in Napa - David Fulton

Doing a tasting in a wine cave

We picked and ate grapes in several vineyards

Moving the grapes

So many beautiful vineyards and wineries

We stayed one night at the gorgeous Beltane Ranch in Glen Ellen in the Sonoma Valley.

A view of the house and gardens

Coffee in the morning before breakfast

Gorgeous views everywhere

and even an old truck!

Kunde Estate Winery

We did a mountaintop tasting at Kunde - 1400 feet above the winery overlooking 1800 acres of vineyards

Breakfast at Bouchon Bakery

A wine tasting dog!

Lunch at Girl and the Fig in Sonoma

Awwwwwwww...

Trying beer at Russian River Brewery in Santa Rosa

Mike doesn't joke around when beer tasting

We hiked the Marin Headlands and came across this gorgeous vista

One day in San Francisco we literally walked 10 miles all over the city - such a fun way to experience it!

After all of that hiking - someone needs a snack

Yes, we ate a lot of great food and drank a lot of great wine on this trip

Chinatown

Our last vacation lunch in Chinatown

How could you not miss these two?

 We had a fabulous trip but of course missed our kiddos! It's been a whirlwind since we've been home - just catching up on our day-to-day lives and celebrating Halloween!

Someone got a new (previously loved) doll and was so excited the first day that the doll came everywhere with us.

Halloween pancakes with mom

Opening a special card from Auntie Annette and heading for a haircut

Post-haircut we can see her sweet little face again

Handsome guy

Picking out pumpkins and the pumpkin patch

Miles really got into carving pumpkins this year and designed his own jack-o-lantern.

Hadley picked the smallest pumpkin to carve

We got all dressed up for a Halloween party at my work

Halloween night these two were serious and ready for some trick-or-treating!

Our neighbors are so spread out and the evening was chilly so they rode around in their Escalade all wrapped up in a blanket