October 31st...already!  What happened to the month of October anyway?  It just flew by.  Today is Halloween.  GiGi's birthday.  Emeline had her baby girl!  Her name is Rowan which is so cute.  Congratulations Eme!  We went trick-or-treating with the boys and they had such a fun time.  With it being a school night, we kept the candy collecting to just over an hour and had the kids bathed and in bed by 7:40pm - simply awesome.  Max wore his Batman costume for the second year in a row.  There really was no question about it from his perspective.  Finn had two (hand-me-down) options; to be a tiger or a monkey.  He talked all week about being a monkey but then last minute, he changed his mind and wore the tiger costume.  Except for the hood part.  He is scared of it.  Still, he looked adorable.  At first, Finn was hesitant as to the whole trick-or-treating part and told us "I don't want to go to door, I stay in car" but as soon as he understood that people would give him candy for coming to their door, he happily joined in and ran from house to house.  His Halloween basket became rather heavy after a while but when offered help to carry it, he answered; "no" or "mine".  Okay, okay.  Nobody is going to eat your candy.  Until tonight when you have fallen asleep and mom and dad taste a few pieces of course..  Pictures to follow.  Maybe tomorrow.  Happy Halloween!

photos from a recent visit to a pumpkin patch! 

Our boys!

one day about a month ago, max brought home paddington bear from school.  bringing home paddington is a reward if you have done something kind or if you have been really good in school.  paddington bear came with a book.  he likes to travel so you are supposed to write a story about where you would take paddington on vacation.  max wrote about how he would take him to tahoe to go skiing in the winter time and drew paddington on a pair of skiis.  it was cute and max was very proud to have been sent home with paddington bear!

fun playing at vasona park

i don't know how to put it but to be brutally honest...this is the most difficult time brent and i have experienced so far as parents.  never did i think a five year old would be able to push all the buttons, pick fights and argue about absolutely everything.  something has got to change.  while max loves kindergarten, it is different from pre-school and he is simply tired every day after focusing hard every day.  we have to get him to bed earlier and give him some "max" time as soon as he gets home to just relax and hang out.  hope to see an improvement soon, very soon.  seriously.  

after having a couple of partially cloudy days and even rain, the weather is back to being "california weather" (mid 70's) that i love so much.  brent and his parents and uncle ron are at oktoberfest in campbell.  max is at a footballl game with the uffelmans and finn is napping.  here i am, drinking a coffee, doors wide open to the backyard, pandora set to some van morrison tunes - loving it! 

Scooter

Relative to the last post, this one does have a parent brimming with pride. (Except, of course, for the first clip, which leaves me wondering about his 1. eyesight or 2. intellect.) Anyway, Finn got a three-wheeled Radio Flyer scooter for his birthday. Apparently, it was a little too pedestrian for him. He picked up Max's Razor a few weeks ago and hasn't put it down since.

Clearly, he has pretty good balance. Only question now is how far can I push it without Linda divorcing me? (I think I came close with Max after first day of Kindergarten and the ensuing wreckage during a mountain bike ride.)

Supid

As a parent, it's not exactly the sort of thing that has you brimming with pride. However, it is incredibly entertaining.

We'll clean up the wreckage later...

(Volume up)