For those of you that are celebrating today, Merry Christmas! We've been really busy lately. Since we're having a mellow day, I finally have time to update the blog. Here's a run down of our recent activities:
On the 15th (which feels like ages ago), we went down to Morgan Hill to have brunch with our friends Chris, Nicole, Ryan, Derek, and Sabra. Chris and Nicole made a tasty meal, which included pancakes, waffles, eggs, and sausage. We then headed up to Mel and Pete's house in Sacramento for a belated Hanukkah party and to celebrate Mom's birthday. Alanna had a blast playing with Mel's new kitten, Stella.
On Wednesday the 19th, Alanna and I met my former coworkers, Ipsita and Julia for lunch in Morgan Hill. It was nice getting to catch up, although Alanna barely sat still during the meal (it was slightly stressful for me). Good thing we ate at Marie Callendar's, a toddler friendly venue.
On Thursday, Alanna and I went downtown to check out Christmas in the Park. It is a free exhibition in San Jose, with many animated Christmas scenes and decorated trees. Alanna really enjoyed it.
On Friday we had a play date with Susan and Dax. Alanna got to help decorate a Christmas tree for the first time. It was really cute, there were lots of ornaments gathered in one, lower section of the tree. After the play date, we headed down to Santa Cruz. Alanna had a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa, so Justin and I could go out to dinner with friends. We went to E&O Trading Company in downtown San Jose, to celebrate Tiffany's birthday. It was nice getting to visit with friends over a delicious meal.
Saturday was Justin's birthday. Happy Birthday J!!! We slept in (haha) until 7:30am, and then I made Justin breakfast before we headed down to Santa Cruz to get Miss A. After Alanna's nap, we went over to Susan, Brad, and Dax's house. We celebrated Justin's birthday with Patxi's pizza, chocolate cupcakes, and homemade ice cream. Justin and Brad drove up to Palo Alto to get dinner; it is worth the drive for their delicious, Chicago-style pizza. It was definitely an ideal birthday dinner for Justin!
On Sunday we went back to Christmas in Park. I think Alanna enjoyed it more on Thursday, but at least Justin got to check it out. I'm always ready to eat these days, so we headed over to San Jose's Japantown for lunch. We're so glad that Alanna is an adventurous eater. She really enjoyed tofu from the miso soup, avocado roll, and the donburi that I ordered.
Yesterday morning we hung around the house. Alanna and Justin spent time outside running around, looking for snails, and watching squirrels. In the afternoon we went up to San Leandro to celebrate Christmas at Bryan and Carol's. It was a lot of fun and the meal was delicious. Alanna enjoyed climbing up and down the stairs, dancing while Justin played the accordion, and of course opening up presents. We were sad to realize that we won't be going back next year, since Bryan and Carol are moving to NY next month, but hopefully they'll come back to celebrate with us!
Today has been nice and relaxing. Alanna slept in this morning (probably due to all of the excitement last night), which was a nice treat for Mommy and Daddy. We went for a walk this morning and then played outside. We're planning to take it easy for the rest of the day. We may go and look at lights this evening, since Alanna loves them.
Well, I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season. I can't believe 2007 is coming to a close next week!

Today we went to Nicole and Isabella's for a holiday potluck play date. Here are some attempts to get the kids to sit still for a picture. Enjoy!

























































On Wednesday afternoon we decorated Christmas cookies with Dax and Isabella. The kids had a lot of fun!















Dax



















Bella



















Alanna (loved eating the sprinkles!)

Happy Birthday Mom! We hope you have a wonderful day!!!

This month is flying by. It probably helps that I'm feeling better, wahoo!

We had a really nice weekend. On Friday night, we went to Willow Street Pizza. After dinner we drove around Willow Glen to see Christmas lights. Alanna is a big fan of the deer figurines. We've been out to look at lights 3 or 4 times already! Saturday morning, I drove Alanna down to Santa Cruz to have a sleepover with Grandma El and Grandpa Barry. Justin and I attended Anritsu's holiday party at the Hyatt in Santa Clara that evening. It was fun getting dressed up and catching up with friends. On Sunday, Justin went down to SC to get Alanna, and I headed up to San Francisco for a cookie/gift exchange at Courtney's house. It was a lot of fun!

This week we have our last swim class, are going to make cookies with friends (should be interesting with 3 toddlers!), and have a holiday potluck play date. We're also going to a brunch on Saturday and then are off to Sacramento for the Samuel Family Hanukkah party/Mom's b-day celebration at Mel and Pete's. We are quite the social butterflies!

Happy Hanukkah!!! Alanna enjoyed picking out candles for her menorah tonight, and watching me light them. She also enjoyed tonight's present, an accordion (just like Daddy!).

Here's a video of Alanna playing the accordion:

A picture is worth a thousand words...















Baby Magers will be arriving sometime around June 4th!!! Justin and I went for an ultrasound this morning and all looks well. We're really excited!!! I'm 13 weeks along and will be entering the second trimester next week. Unfortunately, I dealt with awful morning, noon, and night sickness for the past couple of months. The doctor prescribed anti-nausea medication, which helped a lot, but it's really no fun. I'm glad to report that I am starting to feel like myself again. I was not expecting the nausea to dissipate this early (based on my pregnancy with Alanna), but I am certainly not complaining!

Happy Birthday Sherry! We hope you have a wonderful day!!!

It really has been awhile since I've written. Sorry to those of you that check frequently!
The past couple of weeks have been busy. The weekend before Halloween we headed up to Santa Rosa to visit Sherry and John. It was nice to spend time together, it had been a couple of months since we last saw them (they were in Scandinavia for 3 weeks). Alanna really enjoys spending time in their backyard. Here is a picture of Alanna and Sherry collecting birdseed for the feeder.















Alanna enjoyed Halloween this year. She and I headed down to Willow Glen with friends and went trick-or-treating in the morning. They hold a special event for little ones every year, where the shopkeepers stand outside their stores, and hand out candy from 10-12p. She enjoyed trying her first lollipop, it was a sticky situation!




















I turned the big 3-0 the day after Halloween. We spent the morning with Susan and Dax, and then had take-out with Justin that evening. Justin and I are going to treat ourselves to an evening at a B&B in Glen Ellen as a joint birthday gift (his birthday is in December). We're planning to go in January or February. We celebrated with my Mom and Dad on Sunday, the 4th. Here is a picture of Alanna saying "cheese," for the camera.




















I was supposed to go to NY and visit Grandma this weekend, but it got postponed until after all of the holidays. So, on Saturday we went to my favorite breakfast spot, The Cup and Saucer. It was delicious as ever! After breakfast we ran a couple of errands and then went to the park with Alanna. Susan, Brad, and Dax met us there, the kids had a great time playing, and we got to chat for a couple of hours. In the afternoon we headed down to Santa Cruz to visit my Dad (Mom is in NY). We spent the night and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the morning. Alanna loves to watch the sea otters and jellyfish. It was a lot of fun! Here's a picture of the Magers Family at the aquarium.

Last night at 8:04pm, Alanna and I were sitting on our bed reading a bedtime story. Justin was at the edge of the bed watching us. All of a sudden, our house started to rattle, the cats scurried under the bed, Justin immediately went to the doorway, and I said, "what's going on?!" Clearly, I am not a California native! Justin explained that it was an earthquake, and then the 3 of us stood in the doorway together.

After it was over (about 30 seconds), we checked on the USGS site and discovered that the epicenter of the quake was in San Jose. It was 5.6 on the Richter scale, the biggest quake in the Bay Area since the Loma Prieta in 1989.

No worries, we're all fine. I don't think Alanna even noticed it!

On Friday morning, Justin, Alanna, and I headed down to Morgan Hill to celebrate Alanna's birthday at the pumpkin patch with her friends. We went on a hayride, played near the pumpkins, and ate cupcakes. It was a lot of fun!































































Here is a link to more photos:

alanna's birthday at the pumpkin patch

Happy Birthday Alanna Rose!!! Our little girl is 2 today!

Happy Birthday Jon! Have a great day!!!

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. Happy birthday Dad, hope you have a wonderful year!!! Love you!

Yesterday Dad came over to spend the morning with us. It was so much fun! The three of us went to Happy Hollow Zoo in San Jose. We looked at the animals and went on a couple of rides. After the zoo, we had lunch at Willow Street.

It's Monday, Alanna just went down for her nap, so I thought I'd blog a bit. We had a really nice weekend. Justin and I headed up to San Francicso, Friday evening for Rob's 30th birthday party. Irene hosted a dinner at Asia SF. It's a restaurant/bar where the waitresses are "gender illusionists." It was definitely an experience! While we were partying in the city, Alanna had a sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa in Santa Cruz. The next morning Mom and Dad drove Alanna back to San Jose and we visited for awhile.

Saturday afternoon we went to Alanna's friend Jackson's 2nd birthday party at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos. Alanna and Jackson met when they were a few weeks old at the Good Sam Mom's group. The kids had fun riding on the carousel and train at the park. They also enjoyed eating cupcakes (see picture below). After the party, we had dinner in Los Gatos with friends. It was a fun afternoon!

Sunday we went to a park, ran errands, got Alanna's flu shot (she didn't cry!), and checked out the Italian Family Festival in Willow Glen. The highlights of the festival were watching performers from the Silicon Valley Accordion Club and eating a cannoli, yum! We ended the day with a delicious barbeque dinner at home.

Here's a cute picture of our little ham:















Playing with the party favors:




















The birthday boy:




















Eating a cupcake:

Last Wednesday we had a small play date at our house with Isabella and Dax. The kids really had a terrific time playing together. At one point, Alanna asked to get in her crib; of course Bella and Dax wanted to join her, so the 3 kids were in the crib together. They were jumping up and down, saying, "no more monkeys, no more monkeys," Nicole, Susan, and I were laughing hysterically. Fortunately the crib didn't break!















Today I took Alanna to Emma Prusch Farm Park in San Jose. She enjoyed looking at the animals from a distance, if they got too close, she got scared. I guess if I were her size, a sheep or pig would look monstrous to me too! I think the ducklings were her favorite. She really enjoyed riding on the 2 antique tractors. Here are some pictures I took:

Yesterday we went to Brady's 2nd birthday party at Pump It Up in Sunnyvale. It is an "Inflatable Party Zone," filled with bounce houses, slides, and small obstacle courses. We had a blast!

Yesterday we also put a "big girl" bed in Alanna's room. We want Alanna to get used to it being in her room, before we make the transition from her crib to the bed. She really likes playing on it and pretending to sleep. She looks so tiny on a twin size bed!

















Justin took pictures of his girls making brownies for dessert tonight. Alanna had fun pouring in the oil and stirring the batter.

Here are a couple of pictures that I took this morning before we went to synagogue. Alanna has been walking around the house today saying, "Happy New Year," it's pretty cute.