A Very Brady Christmas

Yesterday we spent the day with my best girlfriend Kim and her 4 kids and cousin Maddy, building gingerbread houses and exchanging the kids' gifts. It was a wonderful mix of organized chaos getting the children to sit long enough to not only build the houses but also decorate them. The older girls were very patient with the younger boys losing interest easily so they would go off and play with them while the Mommy's finished the construction. T absolutely adores the time he spends at the Brady house, so whenever we are over there it is hard to get him to stay in one place! Allie was the best helper for me, decorating T's gingerbread tree with him. T did finally settle down and sit at the table to decorate his house, he mostly did the roof, and was very proud of his creation!

A Zoo Birthday

The weekend after T's official 4th birthday, we celebrated with friends and family at his official party held at the Oakland Zoo! Although it was barely 50 degrees that day, the kids were bound and determined to have a blast, and they sure did. It was quite a task keeping everyone somewhat close together as we made our way around the zoo, but everyone was able to see what they wanted and play where they wanted for the most part. After we visited all of the animal exhibits, we made our way to the rides area, where we also had lunch followed by his very green frosted cupcake cake, which was a hit with the kids. T had so much fun with all of his little friends and cousins that day, and every day since he has said, "Mommy, that sure was a fun birthday at the zoo! We should do it again sometime!"

He calls himself a wilderness explorer, so of course he would get to hold the map!

T and his buddy Cayden getting a closer look at giraffes

Mommies trying to keep up!

He loves the tiger roller coaster...he must have gone on it 3 times that day

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Here we are making his zoo cupcake cake the day before his party

A little Picasso-inspired art on his Pasha's computer

T playing the photographer! After all, we take enough of him he says!

Catching Mommy in all her frumpiness!

Whipping up some very green frosting for his cupcake cake!

More reasons...

A compilation of photos from our others visits to S.F. last month...



For T's birthday, we opened his presents at Kate's place, then ate at Patxi's Chicago Pizza. Yummy, hit the spot that day! Then we walked back to Kate's apartment, but not before visiting a Christmas tree lot at the Marina Middle School, and enjoying all of the christmas decorations in the windows on the way back.



Here's the birthday boy...

Impatiently waiting for his pizza, he was past hungry...as was I!

Another one of our warm Autumn days...

After a late lunch at North Beach cafe for authentic Italian cuisine, and seeing Carlos Santana a few tables away!! we stopped at the famous Victoria Pastry Company in North Beach for some cookies and pastries! Of course T wanted one with lots of sprinkles!

Here he is on the cable car....waiting patiently!

New reasons to love San Francisco

On a recent visit to S.F. with my parents to visit my sister's new apartment in the Marina District, it happened to be the most beautiful autumn day; warm, clear skies - a perfect day to take in the beauty of the city! Due to a certain someone forgetting her apartment keys that day, moving her furniture in was out of the question, so after we got over our brief annoyance and frustration, we decided to be tourists for a day, something our family had never done before. Although most of my mom's family lives in the city and we frequent the area often especially for holidays and special events, we have never really ENJOYED seeing S.F. So we walked around Fisherman's Wharf, ate a delicious lunch at The Boudin Bakery, then walked around Fort Mason and the highlight of our day - rode the cable cars! It was quite an ordeal actually! There was a super long line that day so after about an hour wait to get on a cable car, we finally got on and it wouldn't work - the cable line wouldn't connect. The entire process was actually really funny after such a long wait, there was a really funny group of East Coast tourists making light of the scenario which made the time pass easier. T was growing impatient with each minute that passed that we were stuck on the car and my burgeoning growing belly was quite uncomfortable sitting there awkwardly for so long. Turns out we had to get off that car, wait for a tow truck to take the broken down one and reload onto another cable car. So over an hour and a half of waiting and we finally got on our way! And T absolutely loved every second of the ride, especially when we went up and down the steep hills. The views were breathtaking to say the least. T ended up falling asleep sitting up just as we reached the end of the line, poor guy had held out so long that afternoon.

So much to do this month

Our big boy is turning 4 on November 28 (I know I can't believe it either!) and that means that I have to make some decisions on what to actually do for his big day. Isn't this always a big dilemma? His birthday falling after Thanksgiving and occurring during a colder month always limits the possibilities - especially for little boy that needs to be outdoors. Keeping it fun and within a reasonable budget at the same time is always a challenge!
This also means that there are only about 6 more weeks until Christmas, so I really need to step it up and get to some hard core holiday shopping.
On a more exciting note, my dearest girlfriend Aleyta is due to have a baby girl Sophie on November 22 - I can't wait for this big moment to finally come, she is going to be one amazing Mommy!

A boy, a belly, and the beach!

The first week of November was a very exciting week for us, as I had my 20 week ultrasound where we found out our second baby's gender...and It's Another Boy! T and Jason didn't seem surprised in the least, I suppose the predominance of boys on the Warren side of the family should have been a huge clue. We are so happy about this news, and can't wait for T to meet his baby brother in March. The logistical side of me is super thrilled to be able to re-use all of T's old baby clothes again; he had so many adorable outfits that I was saddened at the prospect of possibly not seeing them on a baby again! Of course the new baby will get some new things but there is no shortage of clothes. As you all know I'm a bit of a shopaholic!

Here is our little guy putting his foot in his mouth!

This is his profile!

This is the proof!

That same week, we made yet another trip to Twin Lakes Beach with Krissy and Devon. It was November 3, and nearly 80 degrees that day. A truly exceptional day!

The beach was strewn with huge piles of driftwood and sticks. The kids built a "house" of sticks and T wrote his name in the sand.

Here is his shadow above some of the T, A, and L section - he wrote it really big!

And here is a belly shot, told you I was expanding

The belly and the kids

My belly enjoying the view