Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Again

This weekend was visiting Santa Claus! Saige was so excited she actually gave him a hug of her own volition. All. By. Herself.

She asked him for the complete LalaLoopsey collection, which, would be a Christmas miracle, since she has one and there are at least 10. The coolest part was that when all was said and done, she hopped off his lap and chatted with him while Kim and I looked over the photos. It was cool. She also promised to help thewidget out next year. She saw a bunch of little babies crying and vowed that her baby sister would not suffer the same fate. I won’t hold her to it, since it seems a rite of passage.

Enjoy everyone. Please take time to enjoy the season.

Beginning of the Holidays

Well, we had happy Thanksgiving with a nice, large group of people. We smartly asked guests to bring more food than we usually do, which means there was less cooking for the home team. We had a good time, although I was pretty pooped by the end. I’ve been fighting this cold that just keeps lingering and lingering…yuck. It’s almost gone, though I still sound like a sick puppy.

The day after Thanksgiving we went and got our Christmas tree, like we usually do. But this time, Heather found a “cut your own” Christmas tree ranch right up the road from us! Kris sawed us down a tree! And Heather did too! It was very impressive. The tree is up and decorated, the front yard is done, and the mantle village is in place. There are still some tweaks we need to make, plus we are adding something in the dining room. So, not quite finished. But we’re getting there.

Overall, things are going fine. Thewidget is getting bigger and wiggling like a fish. Or tumbling like an acrobat. We are officially in the third trimester! The countdown is really here. In just a few months, there will be an extra baby Kupferman! With all of the craziness lately, it’s hard to remember that thewidget is coming. We still have things to do and not that much time to do it. Once we finish up putting up Christmas, I am hoping we can concentrate more on prepping for thewidget’s arrival. One thing at a time, I suppose.

We’ll get some photos of our Christmas decorations up soon. In the meantime, I hope everyone’s December is peaceful and enjoyable!

Return

To mark the beginning of my 35th year, we took a trip to Yosemite National Park for my birthday. I have never been, even though I’ve lived in California for…ummm…12? 13? years. It was absolutely amazing. Not just because I was finally able to see so many of the iconic, classically “nature” images in real life, but just how much the weather impacted how the images change each day.

The first day we were in the park, on my birthday, was cloudy and rainy. The subsequent two days were sunny and bright. Seeing Half Dome and El Capitan in the gray was unreal and ethereal; seeing them against the bright blueness of the sky was intense. It was almost a completely different experience.

We lucked out, because there has been some early snow and rain already so the waterfalls were falling. Typically, they’re dry by the end of the summer and into the fall. We were only able to take a couple of small, short, easy walks between the 4 year old (whiny) and me (preggo). But we were able to see Lower Yosemite Falls and make it up to Lower Mirror Lake which is at the base of Half Dome.

While at Lower Yosemite Falls, Saige showed an interest in taking photos for herself. You’ll see a few of those in the photos below. She did a pretty darn good job, I must say.

Kris had a couple of fun things planned – she made the family matching sweatshirts for my birthday (“Birthday Girl,” “Birthday Girl’s Wife”, and “Birthday Girl’s Daughter”). You can catch a glimpse of mine in one of the photos. We figure we can keep wearing them for each of our birthdays – getting one for thewidget, of course – and just tape over the date each year. I did get quite a few birthday wishes from strangers. That was fun!

We also had fancy family dinner at the Awahanee Lodge in Yosemite. It’s one of those very old-school lodges, built at the beginning of last century, with the huge stone fireplaces and immense dining room (it kind of looked like the cafeteria at Hogwart’s) they just don’t build anymore. I’m pretty sure each of the National Parks has something like it. There’s the El Tovar at the Grand Canyon, the lodge in Yellowstone (I can’t remember the name of it), and the Awahanee here in Yosemite. It was a fabulous place to have birthday dinner. We all got dressed up and were on our best behavior. They even made a petite fillet steak for Saige’s dinner.

It was a lovely trip and wonderful time to get away for a bit. Kris is already planning return trips over the next couple of years, which I am looking forward to. In the meantime, these lovely photos will have to tide us all over.

Happy birthday to me!

Bonus pic!

Thought y’all would get a kick out of my costume this year…

Happy Halloween!

It was, once again, a most successful evening. We actually ran out of candy this year! The spider was such a big hit, which I’m sure had a lot to do with it. Our neighbors totally got into it, too – we were a fun little block. It was great.

Because words are not as exciting as photos, here are some assorted shots from building the spider, carving pumpkins, and preparing to go trick or treating. Kris was a riot cop, her friend Heather was a serving wench, and our ever popular Saige was a purple ladybug princess.

Enjoy!

BOO!

Halloween is here. This family loves it. We made enough progress on the spider to put her up and out front. We will get more photos soon, now that things are settling down. I have a bunch of birthday photos to get up too.

Was That a 4 Year Old That Just Went By?

I can’t believe she’s 4. It’s a cliche to say it, but man, that went by fast. It didn’t feel fast at the time, but I’ve looked up and she’s 4.

No longer an infant. Or a baby. Or even a toddler. She’s already made it through at least 3 stages of life.

And she is amazing – funny and playful, often sweet, slowly learning empathy and compassion, imaginative, energetic, and completely fascinating.

Happy birthday, our wonderful girl. You will always be our Doodle-Bug.

Love,
Momma and Moppa

Food!

Today we went to the Eat Real Festival in Oakland with our friend Nancy. It’s in its 3rd year (I think) and it’s a festival of local food trucks getting together all in one place. They also showcase local beer and wine, plus have demonstrations (like how to make your own sourdough starters) and competitions (pig or steer butchering!). Almost everything there is $5 or less, in portions that are just the right size. It is yummy and tasty happiness.

Things we ate or drank:

BBQ beef sliders
Chicken Naan sandwich
Peach cobbler
3 kinds of gelato
1 nutella crepe
1 strawberry crepe
1 Vietnamese Bahn Mi chicken sandwich
Spring rolls
3 kinds of beer
1 Asian pork taco
1 Asian chicken taco
1 organic hot dog
1 decaf cappuccino

Things we saw:

Goats
Chickens
Baby pigs
The Prius V

Things we did:

Colored a t-shirt
Made a button
Painted a square for the Applegate Farms mural

Overall, a very successful and filling outing.

Mmmmm…food trucks…

It Begins Again…

Yup. It’s that time again.

No, not a new school year.

Or the end of summer and beginning of fall.

Or 52 days and 5 hours until Halloween.

Wait for it…

FOOTBALL SEASON.

Oh yes.

The family had pizza and watched the first game of the new season together.

Saints versus Packers (yeah, it’s not totally pretty – the Saints have some work to do this year).

Saige did pretty well – she made it through a whole half before heading to bed.

I may not make it through the rest of the game, though.

Damn those Packers (the Green Cheese, as Kris likes to call them)…

I’m going to eat an avocado. WIDGET SAYS YES! (and Kris has said okay, even though they’re green)

First Day of School

Saige went to preschool today to kick off the four year old year. Pre-K as it were.

Guess what she came home with?

She wrote her own name. First time without dots to trace.