Pre-Turkey Day Celebration

Brian's sister Christine was in town and we got to meet the newest member of our family, baby Gabriel! To celebrate, we had a day before Thanksgiving dinner at Maravilla's fireside room with the extended Switzer family. The cousins had the best time running around outside and playing with each other.

Daniel got to prepare his favorite Thanksgiving dessert- pumpkin pie!

The beautiful Sanfelice family.

Our family.

Cousins (minus Daniel).

Photo of cousins with Daniel, but Kendall was over it!

November Happenings

Every year, our family participates in Operation Christmas Child by packing a shoebox with toys and hygiene items to be delivered to a child in need. The kids and I shopped for the items together and filled the boxes up- one to give to a boy Daniel's age and one for a girl Kendall's age.

We think Kendall is going to be a pro at rock-climbing when she gets older!

A beautiful, sunny November day at the cliffs above the tidepools.

One of the tidepool treasures we discovered.

We found so many crabs on today's excursion!

Val and Jeff ran in the SB 1/2 Marathon and we got to spend some quality time with baby Jack. He has grown so much since the last time we saw him in August.

Finally the weather cooled down enough to have a cozy fire.

Nearly 30 years of friendship! David, Ryan, and I were all in the same kindergarten class. We got together before Thanksgiving with our spouses and growing families.

Trick-or-Treat!

We celebrated Halloween with pizza, beer and good friends before the kids headed out to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. The kids Halloween costumes were pretty easy this year. This summer Daniel decided he wants to be a beach lifeguard when he grows up and he really wanted to be a lifeguard for Halloween too. He already had red lifeguard board shorts so all I had to do to complete his costume was buy a Lifeguard shirt from one of the tourist shops downtown. We knew that Daniel's old shark costume would be perfect for Kendall to wear. Daniel wanted me to dress as a mermaid, but I quickly nixed that idea!

Halloween at UCSB

The kids went trick-or-treating at Grandpa's work.

Fall Fun

October...

We caught Kendall reading books in the sunlight. I'm so thrilled that my baby shares my love of reading!

We had many visits to Lane Farms this Fall.

Big beautiful eyes! And a snotty crusty nose! Love the whole package.

Picking out mini-pumpkins to bring home for decorations.

Fling your body on the floor temper tantrums. Someone has been having a lot of these lately. Hey, it's tough to be a toddler!

Kendall's Chicken Ranch dinner date with Uncle B.

Taking care of the garden at preschool.

Kendall on the swings at Daniel's preschool. She loves playing at the school.

Kendall and her baby friend at a birthday party.

Daniel's school picture. I can't believe he is in his last year of preschool!

Another visit to Lane Farms. Daniel led us as we tried to conquer the corn maze.

Searching for the perfect pumpkin.

My cute little punkin'!

Family photo at the preschool's annual Fall Potluck.

Playing with the live Maine lobsters at Grandma's house.

Carving jack-o-lanterns on a hot California Fall day.

September Shenanigans

Highlights from September:

Kendall continues to adore Charley. She calls him "Char-Char" and loves to pet, hug, and snuggle him.

Daniel completely passed out on his bed after a full day. He looked so cute, that I decided to risk waking him with my camera flash.

Daniel had his first soccer practice. He is playing AYSO U4.

On Labor Day, Daniel went out on a surfboard with Brian for the first time at Campus Point and had an awesome time.

Kendall cheered and clapped for her brother every time he caught a wave.

My surfer boys!

Daniel didn't want to stop surfing, but Brian made him come in once it got too crowded.

Daniel's first soccer game!

Kendall has been a little rascal, opening cabinets and exploring the contents.

These lucky pre-schoolers had front row seats to the busy road work outside the play yard.

It's raining, it's pouring! Well, maybe it's just sprinkling. After a year with very little rain, Daniel was ecstatic to pull on his rain jacket, boots and grab his umbrella as soon as he spied the drizzle.

Kendall loved trying on Baby Jack's fuzzy bear hat that Grandma and Grandpa brought back from Germany.

Our big girl loves burritos!! Reason #86 we know she is our daughter.

The Green Shark's soccer team banner.

Having a ball.

Soccer Game #2

High fives and running through a tunnel of fans.

Uh-oh, looks like another member of our family caught the surfing bug.

Happy boy post-surf.

In-N-Out picnic on our front lawn.

The satisfaction of successfully tiring out my little ones after a trip to the zoo!

S'mores in the chiminea before bedtime.

Daddy & Daughter love. We took Kendall on a date to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and then walked out at Lake Los Carneros to feed the ducks. Kendall is always such a good sport being dragged along to all of Daniel's activities so we've been trying to have fun little dates with her while Daniel is at school.

I ran a super fun, super PINK, girls only 5K. The signs they had posted everywhere were so funny.

Firefighter in training.

Allison and Daniel at Touch-A-Truck.

Using heavy equipment to scoop up his sister.

She loves him.

My cuties wearing their Milano t-shirts Dino and Cristina gave them.