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I thought I'd post this just because I thought it was cute.

Christmas

Well, a few things have changed this year. I went back to work full time and have a good commute to Davis. Aron, my man wife, has done really well taking care of the kids. He is now the Art Docent for Jackson's class and actually likes it. He cooks more during the week and helps the kids with homework. I had to make a few changes too, like becoming one of those people that gets up at 5:30 am to work out. The boys have missed me and are really huggy, I love it! I didn't think I would have time to do Christmas cards, calendar, bake cookies and fudge, decorate a gingerbread house or decorate at all. I did the cards (unlike some people in the family :), put together a calendar in one night with only 1 typo, made fudge and bought a Trader Joe's gingerbread house. Not bad! I missed decorating cookies with Zuzanna, didn't bake any cookies, and did the minimum decorations a couple weeks before Santa came. Oh and speaking of Santa, the boys tried to catch him again this year by sleeping in the living room. They kept running up and down the hall to get things and it was keeping me up, so I finally told them they couldn't sleep in the living room. The truth is I wanted Santa to hurry up and come so I could go to sleep. The boys got Lego's, clothes, Rollerblades, video games and candy. Dinner was a mix of all our favorites, butternut squash gnocchi, scalloped potatoes, tempura vegetables and ham, not a culinary master piece but very tasty. Aron and Chig built a puzzle and the boys built, tore apart and rebuilt their Lego's. Jackson had a mean, nasty dinosaur that tried to bite him. Soon after the New Year, cousin Dane came for a visit which is always fun. He's so big now, like a boy not a toddler. What a happy, cute kid. I babysat for Jennifer and Brad and had Dane and the boys help me. They're so amazing with kids. One day they will be great dads.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

There was no Thanksgiving trip this. I think was only the second time we missed a trip in 10 years. The boys are old enough now, they look forward to these trips every year. Being the good natured kids they are, they adjusted to fact that we would be home and looked forward to a visit from Aunt Gina. We went to Pacific and took the "Pepper" too. The first day we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Their displays have changed some since the last time we were there. The sea horse exhibit is amazing along with the jelly fish, although that was scaled down from last time. The boys touched sea anemone, sting rays, sea slugs and urchin.

Some things have changed, like the two story aquarium in the addition that was the whole length of the building. The clam, in the picture below, has obviously shrunk over the past few years. Jackson in the clam, age 1.

Jacob and Jackson in the clam, ages 8 and 10. And lastly, this sculptural fountain that the kids had used to jump in puddles and splash around in, is no longer out back.

And the rest of trip was great too. We stayed close to the RV camp the next couple days and went down to see what we could find at low tide. It rained some but that didn't stop us from using the spa and pool.

Halloween

What were the boys for Halloween this year, the same blood sucking zombies they have been for the past 4 years. I'm getting really good at doing their makeup quickly. We went out with some neighborhood kids, Veronic and Melisanda live up the street and go to the boys old school. Veronica is the blond witch. Emily, with the blue hair and raincoat goes to their old school too. Emily and her parents were our first friends when we moved in almost 5 years ago! The Ninja next to Jacob is his friend Cameron from swim team and he now goes to school with him. Here are our pumpkins before we carved them. Wow, did time get away from me this year. The boys carved theirs at grandpa's on Saturday and I did mine at 3:00 on Sunday with the help of the boys. We got some great shapes from the pumpkin patch and they were much easier to carve and clean than the one from the grocery store. The two littlest pumpkins did not get carved, one is for a pie and the other I didn't have time for.
Here is before...........

..........Here is after. My pumpkin is on the left, Jacob's is in the middle, and Jackson's is on the right. I love Jacob's, what a great shape. In case you can't make it out, his has a face on top, BOO on the neck and a witch on the belly and it's all topped off with a witched hat.

What's new in our world

Here are some highlights of what we've been up to lately.
Studying hard, writing papers, up late reading.

A trip to the pumpkin patch with Drew, Danielle, and Hayden.

A birthday party for Jackson with 5 of his friends: Alex, Veronica, Melisanda, Cody and Calina.
The boys stayed the night and were up very late until Old Man Chigbrow made them go to sleep.

Pizza Cookie

Cooking 101......student Jackson has a few things still to learn to bake cookies, like softened butter is different from melted butter. Taste A+ Consistency D-

Opening Night

Let me begin with a tale before I tell you about the performance. First know that the boys had rehearsal every day this week from 5-8. Yesterday, I told the boys to go get ready about 3:45. Jacob asked, "why?"
"really, you don't know why?"
"no"
"rehearsal"
"oh yeah"
I left the room and could hear the low voices of the boys back and forth, and then, "we have a performance TONIGHT?" followed by a thud.
I go into the kitchen and there is Jacob on the floor 'overacting' over the news that he is performing tonight. How did he not know this I think to myself! Really!
Here is Zsock zee lumberzack who gets tears in his eyez when zhe thinks of flapzackz with butter and zyrup. And the mountie John Candy Dandy. The boys did great with their lines, acting and dancing. Jacob actually put a lot into his performance. They both had a lot of fun and the performance was great, way better than B street. Jackson wants to do it agian next year while Jacob is unsure. We're so proud. Thanks Kathy and Chig for sending them.