Welcome to November

Sorry I'm lousy at updating this. I feel lucky if Zach lets me check my facebook and email these days.

Halloween has come and gone. Zach was an astronaut this year, going along with his recent obsession for all things NASA...

 He wore the outfit all day thanks to watching many Halloween themed kids shows the week prior. He had fun this year actually going up to houses, saying "Trick or Treat" and "thank you". We are stocked with lollipops for weeks to come (apparently that was a popular treat for little ones this year).

Just for fun, I put together a little collage of Zach's past three Halloweens. My how time flies!

Puppy dog, Ewok from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, and Astronaut.

Brad has been working like crazy lately, including a few entirely sleepless nights. It's tough on everyone, because when Brad doesn't get a break, neither do I from my "job". Plus, Zach doesn't understand why Daddy is on the computer all the time and won't just put it down to play with him.

Something neat Brad is doing this year is he is participating in "Movember"... growing a mustache for the month of November to help raise money for cancer research that is specific to men (prostate and testicular cancer), a cause that is close to our hearts at the moment. Brad's donation page is at http://mobro.co/bm7150, and you can learn more about the cause at that page as well.

Mustache... day 1

My birthday is quickly approaching, and this year will be like the last few in that I will likely not be doing much celebrating. Birthdays used to be fun, but no one tells you that the older you get, the less fun they are. I am looking forward to Zach telling me Happy Birthday for the first time and sharing my "happy cake" with him.

Also we recently took Zach to his first hockey game, thanks to free tickets from Brad's office (which happens to be next door to the arena where the Columbus Blue Jackets play). Lucky for us, the Jackets were on top of things (for the second time this season, sadly) and pulled out a win against the Anaheim Ducks, which meant Zach got to hear the big cannon fire off a few times. We sat really close to the ice, so he was actually able to enjoy the game and all of the fun Zamboni action in between periods.

The best shot we could manage, thanks to the guy in the seats behind us. I'm in a picture for a change!

Zach also has started a Christmas wishlist at Toys R' Us. Just search for Zach as the gift recipient or email me for the link. We tried to keep it simple this year. We will be going through and giving away a bunch of his toys to make room for the new ones. A couple things that are not on that list that Zach would also enjoy: a telescope, a copy of "There's a Wocket in my Pocket", and a copy of "The Lorax" (we're pretty much set for Dr. Seuss after those two titles). Clothing is tough still... shirts are 2T-3T, depending on the cut and style, although 3T for erring on the side of caution. Pants are even tougher, as he's still really skinny, but getting taller by the day. Nothing bigger than 24 months/2T. We are relying heavily on our Dapper Snappers to keep his britches up (and yes, more would be greatly appreciated!). Gift cards to iTunes are also welcome, as our big present to him this year is an iPod touch... so he leaves our smartphones alone and still gets to play the games, without the ability to make phone calls to China. We were going to get him a kid's tablet toy, but after finding out that it didn't come with any games and the apps for it were $10 a piece, we thought the iPod was more economical, especially since it can grow with him.

I've been joking with friends that the holidays got together, eliminated November entirely and decided to merge Thanksgiving with Christmas... thanks to the Christmas light displays that were up at least two weeks before Halloween. It seems like it comes more quickly every year!

With that in mind, here's to a Happy November! :)