Thanksgiving and Jake's b-day

We went to San Diego for Thanksgiving. We stayed with my brother and his family. It was sooo good to see them and have the family together for the holiday. Denise spent who knows how long making a fabulous meal that we all enjoyed. Also, since Tyce and Jake's birthdays were taking place, she made a spongebob cake and we had a little party - fun times! We also headed to Sea World and even went to the beach although I was freezing to death! But, my crazy boys (and my crazy brother) decided to get in the water. Bob and Branden went body surfing and boogie boarding, and Jake wanted a turn too. The kid was freezing, but I don't even think he noticed! Tyce, Jake and Alec had a great time playing together. What a great vacation we had!

I'm a slacker, and it's already been over three weeks since Jake's second birthday. We had a little birthday celebration on the big day (Dec. 1st). We took him to the dinosaur museum and were going to stop by McDonald's (his favorite restaurant - great taste, huh?) especially for the fries, but he fell asleep on the way home. When we got home, he woke up and Nana and Bampa (Grandma and Grandpa) came over, and we did the presents/cake thing. He had a blast watching Bampa ride his scooter! Uh, dad, be careful, I think the weight limit is like 60 pounds! He hasn't gotten much use out of his scooter yet, since he ended up breaking his arm the next day. He finally got his official cast put on Wednesday, and he may only need it on for three weeks - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything looks good! He chose a green cast, and he loves it. He says it looks like a Christmas tree. And he loves the fact that people get to sign it. :) Here are a few pics of recent events, but not many. For some reason, I have very few pictures on this computer. I guess I should/could fix that...

Jake playing at the beach:

Blowing out his b-day candles:

And being the silly boy he is!

My poor little boy!

Yesterday morning, Bob and Jake were headed downstairs to eat some breakfast. Jake must have tripped, or somehow lost his balance, because he fell down the stairs and broke his little arm! He's been a trooper though, and hardly complains. Although, he sure hates his cast, and asks us constantly to take it off. Here are a few pics I took (with my cell phone so the quality is not so great) of my tough little guy:

Catching up...

We really have been up to a lot in the Birrell household. I just haven't found the time to sit down and write about it. My sister's birthday was 10/29. She and her family came down the weekend prior to celebrate. We carved pumpkins and ate cake. They were down for the entire weekend, so Jake and Tyce got to play together. Despite a few tantrums (Jake's specialty) the boys loved playing together! Let's see...what's next? For Halloween, Jake was Dracula. He looked so adorable! We all decided to do the vampire thing when we took him out trick or treating. Here are a couple of pics:



The next day, we had passes to go to Lagoon for their last day of the season. It was Frightmares, but we didn't do a whole lot of the spook alley stuff. I did take Jake into one though, and he was able to do a little trick or treating there, too. We also took two of our nieces, Aubrey and Jenna, along with us. We had a blast, and the weather was sooo nice! And Jake had a ball with his cousins despite the tantrum he was throwing in the last picture:



Wait...I need to back up. Before all this, we went to Seattle to visit Judi and Lionel, and to go to our annual NFL football game to celebrate Bob's birthday. We had a lot of fun in Seattle. We had never been there before, and absolutely fell in love with the city. We went to Pike's Market - boy is that an experience, went shopping, walked around downtown, went to several nice dinners and on Sunday, we went to the Seahawks vs. Green Bay. It was a lot of fun despite the fact that the Hawks lost. We plan on going back soon, hopefully for a little longer than two days.













Ok, so now we're back on track. After Lagoon, it was Bob's birthday. We had his family over to celebrate. We had dinner, cake, ice cream and opened presents. The kids had a blast playing together. I swear, Jake can't get enough of his cousins. Then, the next night, we got together with a bunch of Bob's friends and went to dinner. It was a lot of fun seeing and talking with everyone. All in all, I'd say Bob had a pretty good birthday! Also, on 10/30, the newest member of our family was born, our nephew Blake. We finally got to see him last Sunday, and he is adorable!

That about sums up our lives up to this point. We're headed to San Diego to visit my brother and his family for Thanksgiving. We are sooo excited! The whole fam (Mom, Dad, Laura and fam) are headed out there, too. We're planning on doing the Thanksgiving thing on Thursday, and heading to Sea World, Lego Land and the beach at some point. I can't imagine what Denise is going through to get ready for such a full house, but I'm grateful! Then, the day after we get back, it'll be Jake's 2nd bithday! Whew, this is such a busy time of year! I hope you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It's official!

So, we've announced it to the world - baby #2 is on its way. I'm 13 weeks along, and the due date is May 16th. I can't wait to meet the new addition to our family!

Tagged

Tagged by my sis, Laura:

3 Joys
1. My son
2. My husband
3. The rest of my family

3 Current Obsessions
1. Teaching Jake new things - the rate this kid learns is amazing!
2. Politics
3. Traveling - next up, Seattle - yay!

3 facts about myself
1. I love to bake, even though I'm not that good at it...
2. I am a diehard Democrat/Liberal
3. I love going boating during the summer - wakeboarding, surfing, riding the airchair. What fun!

There you go, Laura, I finally responded! :) To anyone who actually reads my blog, feel free to do the same.

Judi got Maui'd

WE'RE BACK!!! We had a lot of fun in Maui. It started off with Judi's wedding. She looked so beautiful, and the ceremony couldn't have been more perfect. The ocean was the backdrop for the ceremony...talk about a wedding in paradise! The rest of the trip we did Hawaii type things - went to the beach a lot, went snorkeling, boating, fishing, hiking (well, sort of), went up into the mountains to see where Lionel grew up, visited the winery, went to a luau...all sorts of fun stuff. And of course, Bob's favorite thing of all was the shaved ice - with ice cream at the bottom. He wishes he could eat that everyday. Here are some pics from our trip (WARNING: there are a lot of them!):

Bob and Jake on the beach

Another one of Bob and Jake on the beachMe floating in the ocean

Family pic on the beach

Jake loved playing in this huge sand pit

He's our little sand monster Jake even loved eating sand! YUCK!

Nana and Jake playing in the sand
Jake in the big tree with Nana and Bampa

Jake loved watching the Koi

So fascinating!

Amazing scenery
Jake taking a stroll

Jake hates hiking...
He hates it THIS MUCH!!!

But he sure loved this statue!

Jake holding his own umbrella - it was bigger than he is!

Jake, Bampa and me in Lahaina
Our cute family portrait

All the boys wearing silly hats

Jake and Bampa on the lanai

Jake loved riding on Bampa's shoulders

Bob and me posing with the Tiki god of fertility ;)
Bob's favorite "random" pic

Bob swinging through the waterfall

Nana's turn...

And here's Bampa...I swear I did it too but no one took a picture

Jake and the waterfall

My boys at the waterfall
So SILLY!

My mom and me at the luau

Bob and me at the luau

The crew at the Luau

Awww, aren't we precious?

One of many beautiful sunsets

Whew - that took a long time to load all of those pictures! We had a fabulous time and we wish we didn't have to come home - it was too soon! We certainly intend on heading back to Hawaii in the near future.