November to Remember!

November was a month to remember! It started with a busy and fun weekend full of soccer and parties! And it is finally sweater weather...at least for the moment!

After winning their (almost last game due to a rain make-up) final game of the season we headed out to breakfast to celebrate the awesome season that the Blue Wolves have had!  

Coach Daddy gives his favorite player his trophy and a prize!

Thank yous for our coaches!

Sunday was another bestie birthday day with parties for Allie's good friends, Livi and Mila!

First up was Livi's Hello Kitty party with big brother Ben's Superhero party! Their superhero mom, Stephanie, did a fantastic job with tons of activities to keep kiddos busy! 

Post nap was Mila's Frozen party! Good thing I got the heads up at Livi's party that it was a dress up princess party. Thank you Target for having an obscene number of different Elsa and Ana dresses!

Even Jake had a good time at the Princess party!

One last hug from Elsa!

The following weekend started with Jake scoring the tying goal in the last game of the season! Following soccer was the first of three birthday parties for the weekend. First up was celebrating our friends and neighbors, Neal & Dominique's son, Colin. 

Then Jake and I headed to his kindergarten friend Anya's fun animal party. They got to see an iguana, a monkey, a sloth, a kangaroo (the star of the show) and more! 

Birthday girl and the amazing kangaroo!

It was PJ day at school on Friday and Allie was so excited! Getting ready for Shabbat and her favorite Shabbat visitor.

Giving Tzedakah at the Shabbat circle. 

That night we attended the PJ Library pajama party at the JCC. Allie had a great time especially with her buddy Eli G., Jake was a good sport hanging out with the little kids and we were glad Bubba joined us for the fun!

We were very excited to celebrate Jake's 7th birthday! Check out his birthday blog to hear all about it!

Following the birthday celebrations everyone was getting ready for Thanksgiving! Allie's class was in full-on Fall mode sorting cranberries, making pumpkin bread and of course dressing up like Native Americans! 

Jake's class gave of performance of the Thanksgiving classic, "Albuquerque Turkey" right before we left for our Thanksgiving vacation. I was happy that I could swing by to see his class! 

That afternoon we left for Oregon we were so excited! Armed with iPads, tablets, books, snacks and more we were ready to go. Unfortunately Eugene didn't seem to want us to actually be allowed to fly in that night. We were diverted to Portland around 11 and thankfully Alex convinced me we should just rent a car and drive rather then trying to stay the night in Portland. We got to Mimi's house around 3:30 or something crazy like that but we were there!

We skipped pajama day at TBI Preschool (why Mimi is wearing a bathrobe and frog pjs) but Allie (and Jake) loved visiting Mimi at her school. They played and we all joined in time for the Shabbat circle. I really, really loved how they ended the day, "Shabbat Shalom and Gooooooo Ducks!" I wonder if I could convince Allie's school to do that? 

I remember one of the best things about the holidays growing up is that my mom could bring home toys from school that we could play with. Jake and Allie had the same treat!

It was such a happy coincidence that one of my favorite friends, Andie and her sweet family chose to come to the UO/Colorado game as well. Although we were both in That night my very good friend Andie came over for dinner with her sweet family. I loved that the boys played so well and Allie hung in there too. So happy to see them all!

What a beautiful sight! I was so excited to be back at Autzen Stadium and excited to take Alex for his first game! 

We met up with more DC Ducks for some tailgating! Loved being with Gail, Joe, Andie, Dave, Mark and Bonnie (who is a Beaver but came down to Tailgate and see us all.)

With Joe & Gail

Andie & Alex 

DC Ducks and a Beaver family

Sunday morning we had brunch at the Garber-Weinman house and Jake and Allie played with Linda and Richie's grandson, Jackson. Right when we were ready to go they decided they needed to rest.

While Alex and I went off on a little wedding memory tour, Mimi, Great and the kiddos went to the theater! They went to see a cirque-style show for the holidays at the Hult Center. Jake loved it and talked all about the acrobats. Allie had a expensive nap for the first part of the show and then loved the "ballerina acrobats". 

Our wedding weekend started with a Friday night BBQ at the Garber-Weinman house so after starting there with brunch we headed over to the 5th Street Market where we had our Saturday night rehearsal dinner. 

Next stop was the Valley River Inn where we were actually married and where our guests stayed. It was perfect at the time! 10 years later it could use a little bit of updating but it was so fun to be back there. 

And you can't beat this for a breakfast view

Then we were off to the Newport for a night. The Oregon Coast is my "happy place" so it was so nice to be there and it was Allie's first trip. We went first to the Aquarium. Jake still talks about his visit there four plus years ago when he went with Mimi and Bubba. 

A little fishing!

Feeding the fish

Watching the seals! Always a favorite.

And the shark tank where we spent forever with Jake asking the staff questions. He now knows how to identify a boy vs. girl shark and we learned all about their largest shark, Miss Piggy. 

Vindication! Last time Jake was at the aquarium the scuba divers weren't in the tank and he really wanted to see them. For the last four years I've heard about how they were "out to lunch" when he was at the aquarium. Well this time we saw them and we saw them swim up to the window hold a sign up and helped a guy propose to his girlfriend. It was very sweet and she said yes. 

They LOVED the cut outs!

After the aquarium we went to our hotel and then headed to the beach. It was a little misty but not really rainy. Allie didn't understand why we weren't going into the water but loved running on the sand and the rocks. Jake loved it and he and I lingered looking at the tide pools. Happy place!

We headed back to Eugene the next morning with a stop for lunch in Corvallis. When we got back Allie and I went to the airport to pick up Bubba from the airport. 

While we were waiting Allie was introduced to a Duck friend. 

When I looked at the picture of Allie and Track Town Duck I knew it looked familiar! 

Allie went to school with Mimi, Alex and I tooled around Eugene and Bubba, Jake and Great went to the Science Factory (formerly known as Wistec).

And they found another Duck!

I love Thanksgiving! It is my favorite holiday for sure! Mimi was happy to have two little helpers in the kitchen and who were excited to watch the parade and lick the lemon meringue spoons!

Mimi's did an awesome job with the turkey!

I tried to organize a Thanksgiving photo shoot but my photo subjects were not terribly interested. 

We left early the next morning and it was hard to leave. We had such a great time and I loved being in back in Eugene and especially for the time with my mom and Grandma. This was the most time both Jake and Allie have had with Great! This trip was certainly a memory maker!

We were smart to head home right after Thanksgiving and have the whole weekend at home before going back to work and school. On Saturday we all went to the Tavern to watch the Georgia vs. Georgia Tech game. The game didn't end great but we had a great time with the Georgia Dawgs. 

With his good bud, Stacy. Only missing from the picture are Abe and Moses, Stacy's awesome black labs. 

Allie had a great time too! It was like we scheduled a playdate for her that just happened to be at a bar. We had 3 three year old girls having the best time together. And I was lucky enough to have tossed three My Little Pony's in my purse before we left. I tried to get them all in the picture but the third was elusive.  

What a great month! On to December which we hope to be a bit quieter but we never know where the Adventures of Jake and Allie will take us!