It's Autumn Time!

Some people complain that living in the Bay Area, you don't get to appreciate the changing seasons. Bah humbug to them! I think we have fantastic seasons--especially the fall. Today my strollerobics teacher invited us to walk in her neighborhood rather than the park so that we could appreciate the changing leaves. Afterward we had cider and donuts (a true autumn treat)!


Stopping to do some jazzercise moves in the leaves...

London watching the show

Me and London with her souvenir Elephant maple leaf

The lovely spread of post-walking treats!

Partners

I must apologize, dear reader, for it has been a fortnight since I last penned an entry. Anyway, I haven't had much to say except complain about being 8 months pregnant, so I haven't posted. But at last I have something to say. At my book group meeting last week, everyone there was pregnant except one, so naturally we started talking about labor, delivery, and other womanly topics. This happens just about every time we meet because someone is always pregnant or nursing.

Well, we started sharing stories about the childbirth education classes we've taken. I was reminded how during our class the instructor never failed to refer to the guys as "partners" and how bothered Tim was by this. I'm 99% sure all of the men there were actually husbands and fathers to the mother/fetus, so was it really necessary to reduce them from "father" or "husband" to "partner" just to spare some fornicator's feelings? A partner is someone you get paired up with in the PE social dance unit or share a lab table with in chemistry class or say "howdy" to while you're riding horses. We're talking about FATHERS--men who are not only man enough to stick around when their woman gets pregnant, but to attend the fluffy classes too!

So last night I attended a mandatory parent education meeting for London's preschool co-op. In previous meetings, the same lousy term "partner" was used, so I was expecting more of the same. The difference was this time the subject was actually improving satisfaction in your marriage. Even when it was assumed everyone there was married and obviously has children, we were still referred to as "partners." Explain that one.

Cindy Loo Who goes Trick-or-Treating

I've been thinking for a long time that London looks just like "Cindy Loo Who, no more than two" from Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Not the Jim Carrey version, but the classic animated version:



What do you all think?



And so her costume inspired ours: Tim was the Grinch (notice the furry gloves I hand-stitched), and I was Max the dog-turned-reindeer-extraordinaire:


Tim invited London and me to visit him at his office on Halloween afternoon, in hopes that it would help his case to get to leave early to go trick-or-treating with us. It worked! We brought homemade Halloween cookies for all of his co-workers and London had lots of fun meeting everyone in the office. All day I tried to teach London how to say "Trick or Treat." The closest she got was "Cookies!" Oh well, there's always next year. We stopped by a few houses of friends for tricks-or-treats, including my very scary strollerobics teacher with her live rat:

Top Ten

I attended my 10-year high school reunion over the weekend. Honestly, I'm so glad I went because I got to hang out with some of my very best friends! Even Tim had a great time and was in on all of the Northgate Bronco jokes. Tim said those were the best $130 tacos he's ever had and suggested we get a pro-rated reimbursement for the open bar that we did not partake of.

So here it is, the top ten reasons I'm glad I'm not in high school anymore:

10) I don't have to be in by midnight anymore, even though I'm usually konked out by 10 anyway.
9) I get to make my own assignments.
8) Rooting for BYU is so much more fun than rooting for NHS, where the favorite cheer was "Broncos in the front, let me hear you grunt!"
7) I don't have to worry about finding a partner for the social dance unit in P.E.
6) I don't have homework anymore...just housework
5) I still have the best friends in the world! (Even though they did prank me Saturday morning with a love not from the school nerd--thanks guys)

4) I still don't need a designated driver (unlike this guy)

3) Nobody writes nasty stuff about me in the bathroom stalls (that only happened once and just because her boyfriend liked me better!)
2) I don't have to wear my cheerleading uniform to school every Friday
1) I get to share a room with this guy :)


Feel free to comment with why you're glad you're not in high school anymore...

Painting pumpkins

Will the pumpkin posts ever end? Yesterday we went to London's friend's birthday party where we finger painted pumpkins. It was so cute! For London there was more body painting than pumpkin painting...

Pumpkin Patch, etc.

My mommies' group took a field trip to the pumpkin patch last week. We had so much fun riding the train and checking out the pumpkins! The petting zoo was another attraction...London was content to watch the animals from outside. It's probably for the best that she is scared of petting random farm animals at a young age.

The other exciting news from this week is Tim took me on a date!! He surprised me by arranging the babysitter and told me to dress up and meet him in the city. He took me out to dinner at a nice little seafood restaurant and then to the opera! I don't consider opera really my thing, but it was a great experience. We saw the world premier of an opera about the Civil War called "Appomatox." I enjoyed learning more of the history, although the music and mood were pretty dark. The refrain was "War is sorrowful, and this war the most sorrowful of all..." Kind of a downer, but it was cool to hear the singers do opera with a Southern accent! Thanks for a great night, Tim!

It's the Great Pumpkin...

On Saturday I took London to the famous Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival! We had a fantastic time watching street performers, people in Halloween costumes and looking at the artisan's booths. For lunch London had french fries and I had a portabella mushroom sandwich, both items supporting local community programs. (Yes, I am an RD and I fed my daughter french fries for lunch. Don't worry, she made up for it when we had pizza for dinner!) I regret to say that I failed to sample the pumpkin ice cream! We lined up along Main Street with the rest of the crowd to watch the parade featuring the largest pumpkin (see photo) and other local celebrities such as the junior high marching band, the girl scout troop, and the senior citizens' bell choir. London's favorite part of the parade was making friends with the toddler in the stroller next to her and eating the candy that was tossed out to the crowd. To top off that big thrill, we ended the pumpkin festivities with a viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Poor Charlie Brown, all he got was a rock in his trick or treat sack! BTW, it looks like the raisins are winning the poll. I personally voted for smarties. You have to admit those things are nasty. I can at least feed raisins to my daughter.




Showing off her candy