Happy Halloween

Pumpkin Farm

Yesterday, I took the kids to the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm, (sans Miles, he was at his piano lesson and piano Halloween party) along with some other friends. Alexandra wasn't sure about the bean pot. But she did like the bean bags and the balls to play with. She also liked the goats and the llama. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so my good friend Janelle took these pictures for me. And bytheway, it was like 85 degrees that day.



These 2 pictures of me and Zani together look almost exactly the same, but they are 2 different pictures.

Sports Girl: Part 2

Tuesday night, Tim took Alexandra and Caden to a San Jose Sharks Hockey game. Lucky!

Sports girl

Last week, Alexandra had 2 firsts.

Tuesday night Tim took Caden and Alexandra to the Warriors pre-season basketball game. Tim said she was "money" or in other words really good during the game. She cheered and danced.

Then Saturday Tim took her to the CAL Bears football game vs. UCLA. They went with Jeremy and Zoe (who is a month younger than Alexandra.) Once again, she was really good and cheered. Jeremy put a CAL bear tattoo on her cheek (which is still partially on her face.) What a fun daddy-daughter date! Tim is so proud of his little sports loving girl.

A view from their seats.
She was tired as the were leaving the game. She fell asleep on Tim's shoulders. (Thanks J & J for the picture)

Jerry Seinfeld on Halloween

I love this! Enjoy!

Ward "Fall Festival"

We celebrated Fall/Halloween with our ward on Friday night. They had a chili cook-off, corn dogs for the kids. A parade for those who dressed up, Miles won the award for "Most out of this world costume" for dressing up as a Jedi Knight and running around the gym showing off his light saber skills. Then finally the trunk-or-treating. Alexandra enjoyed figuring out that "everyone we know is just giving out candy!" (see Jerry Seinfeld on Halloween post.) It was a pretty low key event but the kids still had fun.

Avery: Looking a little scaredAlexandra & Daddy
Alexandra (Minnie Mouse) and her friend Tyler (who happened to be Mickey!)

A great book

Alexandra was struggling a bit with Avery being born. Some days were better than others. Then we started reading this book to Alexandra. It is now one of her favorite books ... and it has helps out tremendously. A few of the pages say: "The baby is so little. Too little to walk. Too little to talk. Too little to play with toys. Too little to eat pizza or apples or ice cream. Babies like to drink milk They like to sleep. They like to be warm and cozy. Our baby likes to look at me. "Look at me, baby, I'm your big sister." Can I hold our baby? I must ask mommy first! I am gentle with the baby. I sing a little baby song. I'm a big sister - I can make our baby warm and cozy."

This is the result of reading this book (over & over & over ...)

Alexandra is loving having Avery around. She always wants to hold her and give her the binkie. When she is done holding her she says "done" and puts her hands up in the air. Then when you take Avery away she freaks out and wants to hold her more.

Piles O' Laundry

Laundry,
Family of 6,
Nothing washed in 5 days,
Better start before the boys run out of socks.

Date with Grandma

Today Alexandra and Grandma Doll went on a "date" aka shopping trip to the mall. Their goal was to buy a white long sleeved shirt, white tights and black church shoes to finish up Alexandra's Halloween costume. (She is going to be Minnie Mouse.) When they came home from their date this is what Alexandra looked like:

Little Miss ..

Climber ..
Get-into-everything ..
Mischievous ..
Terrible 2 already?

(But she is still cute)

Avery at 5 weeks

Caden and I did a little photo shoot this afternoon. Avery is now 5 weeks old. I am happy to report that she is starting to fill out. She is more alert. Tim and I are fighting over who is going to get the first smile. I am even happier to report that for the past few nights she has only been waking up once a night!!

Trick - or - Treat ??

Yes, Avery is still so small. She can fit into Miles' candy bucket. That's a good costume, right?

Avery Gale's Blessing Day

Our little Avery Gale was blessed yesterday at Church. She was blessed by her Dad and those who helped were Grandpa Redding, Grandpa Doll, Bishop Score, Jeremy Jacobs, Chris Rossi, Matt Cook, Jim Hopkins & Jeff McKissick. (Thanks Guys!) Right before she was blessed I had to change her poopy diaper and feed her in the mother's lounge. I was afraid that I would miss the announcement that she was being blessed, and not be in the room. I just made by about 3 minutes. I was a little worried that she would be our only baby who would scream through her blessing, but she didn't!! The dress that she wore is the dress that I wore when I was blessed.
We had a delicious BBQ lunch at our house after church, which included Tri-Tip, Chicken, Fruit Salad, Macaroni Salad, Garlic Potatoes, Costco Rolls (I think I have eaten 10 rolls already .. they are addicting), Cookies, Pie & Ice Cream. I felt like it was a Thanksgiving get together with all the food and family at our house.
It was a great day.

THE BET

Tim and his buddies like to bet each other. It started on a New Years Eve 2 years ago. They bet each other to see who can lose the most weight and decide the consequences of the losers. There were talks of wearing speedos on boating trips for the losers, but it never happened. They have been betting each other but no one will admit that they ever lost. This time the bet was Tim vs. everyone. Tim had to lose 50 pounds by the time Avery was born. If he won of his friends had to Bic their heads. If he lost he had to grow his hair out. Tim has been shaving his head for a few years now and refuses to let is grow out. He says it is patchy on top and too gray on the sides. So Tim started out strong working out at his parents "gym" in their garage daily. Going for LONG walks while pushing Alexandra in the stroller. And was doing great. Then he went on vacation the end of June and never worked out after that. So the day Avery was born was the first day he had to start growing out his hair. His friends were excited and wanted daily updates on how the hair growing was going. He grew it out for 4 weeks. His hair is a little on thin side on the top and very gray on the sides. Saturday night he got permission to Bic it all off, but first he had to shave off the middle top. This is the shaving party in our bathroom.

Before:
Shaving:
The middle shaved off:
Now he is back to his smooth shaved head and is very happy that way. He says he will NEVER grow out his hair again.

Oakland Temple

This weekend my parents came out for Avery's blessing. Friday afternoon we drove up to the Oakland Temple, because my dad had never been there. There was a special exhibit in the visitors center. You can see some of the sculptures on this website. http://www.ajsculptures.com/#
The sculptures of Christ were amazing and moving. They wouldn't allow us to take pictures of them.

Here is a great picture of Caden & Alexandra on the temple grounds.

I took some pictures of Grandma & Grandpa Redding with their grandkids.

Avery 3 weeks old & an A's game

Avery is now 3 weeks old. She wakes up twice a night to eat. Sometimes it is all a blur and is 3 times. Oh wait ... I can't remember. Anyway, I think we are all adjusting to Avery being in our home. But we ALL love her. She is more alert every day. I think she will end up having blue eyes and keep her dark hair. She will look like Caden's little sister.I love her little tongue when she sticks it out. It's just adorable.
Friday night, Tim had a buddy give us 2 tickets to the A's game. Tim and I went and we brought Avery along on our date. She was really good. The first 7 innings she slept in the baby carrier against my chest:
Tim & I at the game. (Do you notice the hair on Tim's head?? He lost a bet and has to grow it out.)
Then Avery stayed awake for 1 inning.
Then she was ready for another nap.
Friday night was also a fireworks game. If you live in the Bay Area you know that the A's put on one of the best firework shows in the area. Also one cool thing about the firework games is that you can go sit on the baseball field and watch the fireworks above the stadium. (One of the only MLB teams that allow their fans to do that.) Anyway, we didn't go sit on the field this time but we stayed and watched the fireworks and Avery slept through them. It felt good to get out of the house, enjoy some baseball and a pulled pork sandwich!

Sisters!

I hope Alexandra and Avery will enjoy being sisters and friends. Just as much as my sister and I did!Alexandra is getting used to Avery being around. She doesn't like when I am feeding Avery and she wants to be held. She does like it when Avery is in the baby swing. She will go up to the swing, hold it back for a second and then push it forward (just like you were at the park) and say WHHEEE!

Today ...

Today was my actual due date with Avery. I even had it circled on the calendar. It's funny how life turns out and not quite how we may have it planned; but it always works out for the best!

The finished Kitchen

Here are photos of our kitchen completely finished. I love how it turned out. I think my favorite is the countertops. I love the color and how easy it is to clean.

I am a little behind in my blogging, but just a side note. The kitchen was finished on Thursday, August 28th. Our contractor came Friday morning to pick up all his tools and mess. That same Friday night Avery was born.

I need to thank Tim's family (Suzi, Kati and Melinda) for unpacking my kitchen while I was in the hospital. I couldn't have done it without you ladies!