Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2010 was one of my favorites. My parents and my brother Dave and his girlfriend Janett came to our house for dinner. The weather was perfect and the feast was sooooo good. My brother took all of these pictures (minus this first one)and I think they are lovely. This first picture is of Isabella eating her breakfast on Thanksgiving Day whilst standing atop the turkey, brining in the cooler.

I neglected to change Isabella out of her pj's until some time after her nap and way after company arrived. Love that sleepy face and moppy hair!

Mom and Isabella (dressed).

Before dinner and the sunset, we took a walk on the property. It was cold and crisp and the light was beautiful.

Then we came in from the cold and ate. And ate. And ate. And ate some more.

Still eating...

Oops- a couple more of the farm... Tilly the calf.

Isabella deems Thanksgiving a success.

*Day after Thanksgiving photo bonus. Every time we go to my parents house now, Isabella reminds us that we need to wear our Cal shirts. I haven't told her yet that football season is over.

Halloween Parts I,II and III (Finally)

This post is dedicated to my parents because no one else on earth would want to see this many pictures of Isabella dressed as a monkey. So here it is, Halloween in 3 parts (and in reverse order):

Part 3: Trick or treating on Sycramore St. in Mill Valley. Seriously, this is the place for the goods.

Isabella loves Curious George. She too, is a good little monkey and is always very curious.

This was the year she got it. She loved dressing up. She loved going to strangers' doors and getting candy. She'd probably do it every day of the year if she could.

Then she met her soulmate: Toby from Thomas and Friends. The night could not have been better.

Part 2: Ward Halloween Party. Isabella and Allie. She loves Curious George too. And candy. And her pacifier. So much in common.

Allie: Jedi (sans costume), Scarlett: Minnie Mouse, Maya: Pink Princess, Isabella: Monkey on the floor.

She discovers the sheer joy of winning the candy bar walk game.

She was so distracted by her winnings that she and Allie needed a little assistance to keep the game going.

Mark, the mad doctor, was in charge of the donut on a string game.

She won the best costume award for the night.

Trunk or Treat

Our friends, Leslie and Maya

Tired little monkey.

Part 1: Stanley Lane Pumpkin Patch

Barrel full of monkey.

We went out for ice cream afterwards and she chose banana-chocolate chip, appropriately named, "Going Bananas".

She couldn't part with her little pumpkins from the patch.

Harvest Time!

She's only ever known the vines. Once when we were out for a run we spied a kitty cat on the property. When retelling her sighting to my mom a few days later, my mom asked, "Where did you see the cat?" Isabella replied,

"Outside. Just passed the vineyard" She's a true Napa Valley girl, where location is measured by proximity to a vineyard.



The workers begin in the middle of the night and work through the following morning. The tractor lights light up our room at night as they go up and down the rows.

Isabella doesn't like the sound of the tractors. Teddy (4) is our landlord's grandson and has grape juice running through his veins. Isabella loves him and will follow him anywhere.

The workers work amazingly fast sprinting down the rows. They have a bucket for collecting grapes that they push along between their feet as they cut the grapes with a small tool. They whoop and holler and laugh and yell for agua! agua! when they reach the end of each row because they are thirsty from working so fast.

Grapes! This vineyard produces 3-4 tons of 'em.

Teddy follows the tractors. Isabella makes sure Teddy follows her.

She helps the workers out by picking a few of her own.

Isabella eventually follows Teddy into the goat pen to play on the old oil drums. I guess they got tired of the grapes.

End of Summer Delights

A slow and happy end to Summer. No fuss. No frills. Just hanging out with the fam, riding on merry-go rounds, and the making and eating of many a baked good(s).

Isabella loves to close her eyes when she swings on swings, so I guess it seemed like a fine idea to her to close her eyes on the merry-go-round. This however caught the eye of the parents waiting behind the gate for their kids, who thought it was quite funny. Even the merry-go-round operator asked me if Isabella was ok as we circled around. She was loving every minute of it--eyes closed.

She would've stayed on that thing all day long if we'd let her, but at $4 a ride, that wasn't going to happen.

We went to a Cal game with my Dad. It's been years since I've been to a game with him and the first college game ever for Mark. Fun times had by all.

Game ready.

Go Bears.

Mark celebrated his b'day with a good old fashioned party.

My brother and his girlfriend were in town that weekend, which was SO much fun! Who doesn't have fun playing pin the tail on the donkey?

Or eating a Magnolia bakery chocolate buttercream cake?

(I use everyone's b'day as an excuse to use my Magnolia bakery cookbook and bring a little New York to the par-tay. Unfortunately my cake was rather dry...)

Family Night = fingerpainting night.

By the time I got back from going inside to grab the camera, the finger painting had migrated from paper, to self, to the car. (p.s. homemade paint, so totally washable)

My first ever attempt at an Apple Pie. Our neighbors gave us apples from their tree, so why not try? Ah, summer.