Stuffed!

As always, we were all stuffed silly by the end of Thanksgiving Day. Uncle Rich took tons of pics, but they are all on his camera. This is as close as we come to a "family picture" on Thanksgiving this year. Ben slept through the entire meal but joined us just in time for pie!

Cool tricks

As the sun set on Thanksgiving Day, Tyler took to the street to attempt some skateboard tricks. We're really not sure what they are, but we have a lot of pictures of them. Honestly, they all look the same to me, so I picked the one that I thought looked the coolest.

Tubby Time

We never tire of "tubby time" in this house. The kids love the whole ordeal--the bubbles, the toys, the pruny fingers, and the silly towels. And we, of course, love every minute of their joy.

Sonoma Sunset

As we drove back down the mountain from our visit at Moon Mountain Vineyard, we had to stop to take in the breathtaking vistas. It was such an ideal way to wrap up our much-needed getaway.

Sonoma's Wine Country

On the last day of our vacation, we rented a car and drove up into Sonoma to visit some wineries. It was a beautiful day and the wineries were each unique in their own right. Our favorite was Moon Mountain Vineyard, which is where the bottom two pics were taken. We had to drive to the top of a long windy road to find it but it was well worth the drive.

More San Fran sights

Ghirardelli Square

A tall ship sits in the harbor for refurbishment

California's most famous bridge, the Golden Gate

San Francisco sights

Alcatraz, shrouded in fog.

The famous cable cars.

Fisherman's Wharf

The famous sea lions at Pier 39

Tool Time

Uncle Rich and Aunt Karen came for Thanksgiving and brought an old tool box (with goodies in it!) to give to Ben. Oh, he had such fun opening it and discovering all of the treasures inside! We'll have to make sure it stays in the garage, though, as he's apt to disassemble our furniture for us if we're not careful.

Pizza night

Like most of Americans, we're eating out less these days. But since I don't like cooking seven nights a week, we try to work in some "fun" food nights. We did do-it-yourself pizzas last weekend and the kids really enjoyed it. I'm still sweeping up bits of cheese, but hey...all in a day's work.

Another year

After we returned from our trip to San Fran, we came home to a surprise mini-party that the kids had organized with G & G Beutel. There were cupcakes and balloons and presents, although Ben did most of the opening. He REALLY likes opening gifts. Christmas should be a blast!

Bob, Ben and Betty Crocker??

The kids all chipped in on making cupcakes for momma's birthday. We were in San Francisco at the time and Grama and Grampa Beutel had come into town to watch them for a few days. Looks like they spent most of the time baking (or eating batter, more likely!)

Tea party

Wednesdays are typically the day we go to story time at the library, and often, we go to lunch with my girlfriend Linda and her daughter Lindy afterwards. On this particular day, we went to a tea room we just heard about. They had a whole kid's section set up with tea party costumes and dishes and tables and chairs. All three kids had a blast. Don't worry, Ben was the only "dude" in there, so no one batted an eyelash that he chose to dress as a mermaid.

Trick-or-treat

It was a game-day decision on the Halloween costumes this year. Katie was all set to be Tinkerbell until she learned that Ben intended to wear her Dragon costume from last year. She immediately changed her mind and laid claim to the dragon and Ben was left undecided. It took us a good 20 minutes to convince him to select another costume (preferably NOT a princess one!) and he finally settled on being a construction worker. They each collected more candy than one human should ever eat in a lifetime, and the adults in the house quickly consumed a large majority of it. I think we have a few sweet tarts left, but that's it.