Happy Birthday Mama!

We had a fun day today, complete with a girls' birthday lunch (with Amy & Bella), and lots of cake, cards and flowers! Mommy was very spoiled today. Jacob & I started out with cupcakes for breakfast, and I put a pink candle in each one and we 'sang' happy birthday. I took a video, but Jacob was rather skeptical of the whole situation, so it's not much more than a still-shot of Jacob looking serious!
Later after dinner, I put another candle in a small piece of cake, and this time Jacob was really into it. He helped me sing, and he chuckled like it was the silliest thing ever. I showed him how to blow out the candle, and again he chuckled like this was the neatest game he'd ever played. Then whoooosh!! He blew out the candle and we clapped and went "Yayyy!!!" We both laughed and laughed, and that moment was truly the icing on my birthday cake.

California Wildfires

Wildfires are once again wreaking havoc in Southern California - less than 15 miles away from us. But they won't reach our area, so we're in no danger. I just hope the wind changes direction so we don't get so much smoke and ash. But boy is it ever dry as a bone here!!! Hot and dry desert winds have been blowing all day and evening. Even my hands are chapped!! I put lip balm on Jacob's lips before he went to bed. He's been sucking his thumb and/or chewing on all four fingers all day and evening, so even below his lip is red and chapped.

Halloween Pics

Finally - - here he is, the little blue monster:
Not liking his costume much...

Wow - SO much candy!!

Some of the neighborhood kids with Jacob on our porch.

More neighborhood kids (minus a few that were refusing to be in the picture).

The other neighbors had a cool inflatable Halloween globe - Jacob LOVED it.

..and they also had this inflatable Haunted House - complete with a strobe light and screaming sounds. Jacob does not let go of his pumpkin full of candy the entire night.

Hittin' the streets w/ the boys.

"I'll push my own buggy now..." This was Jacob's mode of transportation for the evening.

In front of a neighbor's really cool decorations.

The best picture of the night - - if only I had used the flash!! :(

Kickin' back with all that candy, with Finn, Ethan (in the back), and Flat Stanley.

Election Day - P.S.

I forgot to mention that while we were at the voting booth, Jacob was so enthralled with the voting machine that he cast my ballot for me - - long before I was finished voting. There is this big, red, enticing button that says, "Cast Ballot" and it was way too tempting for him to not get to and try out, so he pushed it! Luckily, there was also a 'Back' button that took me back into my ballot. Whew.. that was only the smidgen of the 'excitement' that we had trying to vote. Jacob was the loudest person in there... by far. A very nice poll worker entertained him while I finished voting. NOT an easy task taking a bored & sleepy toddler to the polls!

Election Day Comfort Food

What else do you do when an election isn't quite going your way? You order pizza!! This was a first for Jacob and me. I haven't had pizza delivered since I was preg-o (and the sauce gave me 8 hours worth of heartburn).
Wonder what our comfort food will be for the next four years? Our pizza money will get eaten up by taxes starting in January.
Jacob got to sit at the table like a big boy for this one, and he was very happy about that! But there was no time to smile for pictures - this boy was chowing. I kept asking him, "Jacob, is your pizza good?" and he would vehemently shake his head 'no' and say "Uh-uh, uh-uh..." (the answer to every question is 'no'...). I tried to get a video of it, but of course you know what happens when you turn on the video camera....nothing. Oh well. Here he is eating his pizza: (Mom: click the arrow to start the video ;)

He Loves Me...

It's official: my baby boy loves his Mama!

Tonight he said "I love you" for the very first time! Well.. sort of. And yes it was prompted, but what can you expect at this age? It went like this:
Me: "Jacob, tell Mama 'I love you' "
Jacob: "Ahh Luh Thuh..." with a really big smile and slobbery mouth all over my cheek. But I'm not complaining - - my boy loves me! :o)

A Night of Fright

A little story before I get the Halloween pics posted... Last night we were trying to get out the door to go trick-or-treating, and my friend Karen was there with her boys Finnigan, 8, and Ethan, 3. They were wearing these awesome glow-in-the-dark skeleton pirate costumes, with a skeleton mask. Jacob was being incredibly clingy to begin with, but when Finn put on his skeleton mask, I saw actual FRIGHT out of Jacob for probably the first time in his entire life! He screamed and held onto my arm for dear life. He was sitting next to me on the stairs (I was trying to get his shoes and socks on him), and he kept squeezing his body as close to me as he could, while screaming and gripping my arm and digging all 10 fingernails into my arm. Wow! That was a shocker. When we all realized what was scaring him to death, Finn was so considerate, he yanked off his mask and said, "I won't wear it, it's scaring Jacob too much!" .. sooo sweet. The boys all had a great time and got tons of candy! More stories (and pics) after I get the kitchen cleaned up. :o)

Hope everybody had a Happy (and less frightful) Halloween!!!