Thanksgiving pre and post

Unfortunately we don't have any Thanksgiving pictures but we had a great day at John, Jody, & Matt's with Gahaus & Grampa and Uncle Bob and Rod, Kelly, Paige, Wyatt & Grant. We sure missed Allison & Kirsten. So thankful for our families.  

Karen & Katie came to visit on the Saturday before Thanksgiving until Monday. The cousins were so happy to see each other. Josie was excited all week waiting for Katie.

On Sunday we went to Gilroy Gardens with Brigit and Kaira. Such a fun day and nice mild weather. The sun was out for most of it.

After Thanksgiving we went to visit Papa Andy & Grandma Kay. We drove with John, Jody & Matt (and Matt's friend Micheal).
 
Checking out the chickens. Got to collect one egg.

Taking the quads out for a spin.

Video of Jody

 

Video of Josie and Papa Andy

4 3/4 years old

Josie has her 5th birthday all planned out. Hopefully it won't be raining since she wants a jumpy outside at Gahaus'. Gahaus and Grandpa Rich, hope you don't mind! It's going so fast. She does seem to be maturing and not quite so hard to handle but she has her moments for sure when she can't control her emotions. On a sweeter note, recently after waking up and climbing on my lap while I was sitting on the couch,  she said, "I want a hot slice of Mama". I guess that meant that she wanted to snuggle and she got it. She's learned how to make "pinky bets". She's picking up a few other things from school. It's fun to be at school for drop off or pick up and see kids come up to her and say Hi Josie or Bye Josie. Almost all the kids, except 3-4, are there 5 days a week and I've wondered if they really know who Josie is since she's there only 2x/wk. I'm glad to see they do know her. 

We met our friends Siobhan and Izzy at the San Carlos library to hear Blue Grass music by the Okey Dokey Brothers from MN. They're my new favorite CD to listen too. Josie was part of the "train".

Video of  Josie and Izzy dancing to the music.

 Josie and I took the train to see Disney on Ice in San Jose. Josie really liked it. During the 2nd half with sat with my work friend Sharon and her daughter and granddaughter. They had 3rd row seats.

 Josie holding baby Alina at a work picnic.

 PCC put on Beautiful Day at Roosevelt School in Redwood City. We recruited a few friends to help us clean the TK room and the library. Cindy and her boys Aidan and Noah came along with Siobhan and Izzy. The kids did such a great job cleaning tables and wiping down books and toys. We enjoyed lunch from Una Mas with all the other workers. Josie took a break and relaxed on a bench daddy made a few years ago at Beautiful Day.

 Walking to soccer practice with her new jersey on.

 We went back to Josie's old school to celebrate Yvette's birthday. Josie made a pot holder for her.

 

We enjoyed a great evening at the Circus in Redwood City with Kaira's family. This was our 3rd year going.

Circus video

Halloween and the Switch Witch

Our dark, cloudy Halloween started with a preschool parade. It started to drizzle during it but the kids managed to walk under the covered area and then back to the classroom. Then story time while waiting for the snack party. Gahaus made a beautiful Elsa dress. There were two other Elsa's in Josie's class and tons more at school but Josie's dress was by far the best.

 Josie got to show off her school and friends to Gahaus.

 Josie and Kaira

Listening to directions for the parade route

 I glued "jewels" on her flip flops

We waited for Gram & Papa to arrive. When they did Gram & Josie set to work on some Halloween crafts. A "costume" for Daddy.

 Trick or Treating on Eucalyptus again this year. It's over the top with decorations and people. We started at 5 with all the other little kids and left by 6:30 when it was starting to get dark and filled with lots and lots of people.

Trick or Treating with Gram & Papa

 We walked with Kaira's family for awhile and bumped into our neighbors Adriana and Anthony.

We visit Gahaus and Grandpa Rich, John & Jody at the Zells along with Uncle Bill, and last stop was at Stephen & Janet's.

Eric & Josie's jack o lantern

The legend of the Switch Witch
If you put your Halloween candy out by your front door (after picking 12 of your favorite pieces) you might be surprised with a gift the next morning from the Switch Witch. Josie has been wondering about it since she heard about it a couple days ago. She wondered what would happen if the Switch Witch came when we were still awake. She wondered if Gram and Papa put out candy if they would get a gift. She woke up at 6:30 wondering if the Switch Witch had come. I put a gift out the night before but had the great idea of writing a note and a poem. Josie had crawled into bed in the middle of the night and I was writing it in my head just when she woke up. I had to convince her to stay in bed for a little longer so I could quickly write it down. She also had to wait until Gram came upstairs. First though she got to peek outside and didn't see a gift by the door. So when she got Gram and they looked outside she saw the note. She almost started crying when she only saw the first note. The 2nd was tucked behind. She said she thought she was going to get a gift. Then they read the poem and she realized she had to find the gift. That made her happy.

 

 Video opening the gift. I missed capturing the beginning. She was so excited to get this book called the Adventures of the Thimblewitch. We started reading the teaser in the spring and we had to wait for the "real" book to come out this summer.

The Giants!

We had fun watching the games. Josie got inspired to practice her swing the night Stephen and Janet came over to watch the game and she managed to hit a home run by knocking over the candle and spilling hot wax on her Giant's cap.

 Game 7 she wore her jersey to school. She dashed out of school to catch the game.

 Too nervous to watch so carved pumpkins instead. Go Giants!