Happy Halloween and Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom

and

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Mom!

We love you and wish we could be there to celebrate with you.

And now on to Halloween................

In honor of Halloween, here are some of Zachary's pictures. He was generously given a few different Halloween themed outfits, so we used them in adapting his costume, what was supposed to be a pumpkin, actually kind of looked like a carrot, so be my guest in deciding what you want him to be! Today is also a special day for Zachary as it is the only day of the year he is allowed to wear orange. Not only is Orange sacrilege from the Aggie Standpoint, but it also happens to be an evil shade in the eyes of a South Caroline Gamecock Fan!

So this will be one of the only times you really see him in these colors!

Here are a few pictures of Zach's Halloween Costume(s)See, he hates orange too!

Here he is an upset Aggie Fan, "Fire Fran!"

He is practicing being Uncle Thomas in this one.

Who says my boy has big feet? Clown Costume anyone?



A Good Nephew (wink, wink)

and take your pick a pumpkin or a carrot!

With Dr. Evil (aka Dad)

This is a big week for Zachary, not only is it his first Halloween, it is also his first time to go to daycare (aka Playschool, Playtime, School, etc.), and it is his first week to start rolling over! He and I have been working on his tummy strength for a number of days now and while he rolled over once a few weeks ago, he has yet to do it repeatedly. All that changed last night! Zach rolled right, Zach rolled left and he even rolled once from his back to his belly.

Watch out world, and watch out Mom and Dad, this guy is now moving.

Here is a video of him and his new signature move.

We hope you all have a happy, safe and spooky Halloween!

Keeping South Carolina in our thoughts and prayers.

There is a close connection within most college communities and the University of South Carolina definitely falls into this category. Despite being out of school for 4.5 years now, I still feel a very close connection to the university, its alumni and current students. I wish I could get back there more but will always hold a place in my heart for Carolina and the Gamecocks.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families of the seven students who passed away this week in the Ocean Isle House Fire.

Blue skies are almost here.....

Zach and I have been hanging out indoors the last two days but it is certainly looking a little bit better out there. Just to give you an idea I took another picture from our balcony and you can see what the skies look like now (and what they normally look like). The winds appear to be shifting as we speak and the skies are getting more gray looking again, so we are clearly not out of the woods yet.

Today




Normal Skies


The winds are still pretty fierce, with gusts up to 39 mph, and oddly enough the air that is blowing is really warm, almost hot. It is bizarre. It also still smells really smokey out there. Good news though is that my eyes weren't burning today, as they were yesterday and it doesn't appear we are being snowed on by ashes anymore either. I don't think we are ready for car washes yet, but maybe a few more days we can assume the ashes have stopped falling.

Some people have been asking us lately, Where exactly is Oxnard (such a lovely name for a town)? So I have included a map of Southern California. We are on the coast 60 mile North West of Los Angeles and 30 miles southeast of Santa Barbara. We live in Ventura County essentially where the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and the 101 meet. It is a beautiful area that includes both great beaches and beautiful mountains.


So what are Zachary and I doing while trapped indoors?

Lots of tummy time, practicing sitting, singing and sleeping.


here is zach singing.....and sleeping (please note the firemen pajamas, in honor of the fire fighters)

As you can see we have been working on Zach's neck strength and rolling over. Here he is working very hard.

On a side note, Doug is feeling much better. We still aren't sure if he had food poisoning or a 24 hour flu, either way he was able to not only attend the Sysco Roadeo and Picnic on Saturday, but he also entered the Hot Wing Eating Contest. I was shocked that he allowed himself to be pressured to enter but happy to report he came in last place.

Santa Ana Winds and California Fires

Part of living in Southern California is dealing with a multitude of bizarre weather occurrences and natural disasters. Fortunately we have not had to directly deal with any of these things but we are still affected by association.

As you may have seen from CNN or other news medias, there are Hurricane Force Santa Ana Winds in Southern California today. Santa Anas are a type of föhn wind, the result of air pressure buildup in the high-altitude Great Basin between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains. This air mass spills out of the Great Basin and is pulled by gravity into the surrounding lowlands. The air circulates clockwise around the high pressure area bringing winds from the east and northeast to Southern California (the reverse of the westerly winds characteristic of the latitude, thank you Wikipedia). You may hear Doug refer to these winds as Santana winds (after the great band and guitarist Santana, but you should be aware of the actual name).



These winds in addition to our California drought (3 inches of rain in 18 months) have created quite an eventful day. Power lines have been forced down and fires have taken over Malibu and the Santa Clarita Area of Los Angeles County. Both areas about 25-30 miles from our home. This is good for us in regard to not being fearful of the actual fires spreading, but bad as we are west of both areas and are being literally smoked out. Here are some photos we just took outside our home.


(Note these photos are taken at 2:00 pm. and unlike the east coast and Texas, these aren't clouds but only smoke. Our normally clear blue skies have been replaced with the following views. The air quality is also awful, we are staying indoors today. But even doing that Doug and I are both suffering from slight headaches and nausea. )




We will keep you posted.................

Update: There are now 12 fires in Southern California, while none of this is funny, the quote of the evening is from Perez Hilton who stated, "We hope Britney didn't start it".

Poor Doug

Doug is sick. We aren't sure if it is food poisoning or the flu. Whatever it is, it isn't pretty. Please keep him in your thoughts and pray that he starts feeling better. Also help me cross everything I have and you have that Zach nor I do not get whatever he has.

Where do I keep all these gold stars?

Some of you know that Zachary, for the first time, slept through the night last week(Tuesday, October 9, 2007). He went to bed around 8-8:30 and slept until 5:00 am. I did the customary wake up at 1:00 am, 3:00 am then at 4:30, finally thought this isn't right. So I walked (briskly) into his room, checked for breathing (repeatedly) then just waited for him to get up, I couldn't believe what was going on and I couldn't help but wonder when will he get up, it can't be that much longer, right? While I enjoyed his sleeping, my peace of mind enjoyed him getting up as well.

Now that I knew what was going on I was EXCITED and ready to sleep the whole next night, but of course he was up every 3 hours for the next couple of days. Oh well! At least he did it once, but wait..............

It wasn't much longer that we had to wait because Sunday, Monday, Tuesday AND Wednesday this week he has slept from 8-8:30 to 5:00 am, and actually last night was more like 8:45-6:00 am!!. I forgot to add that he doesn't even cry when he wakes up. He just lies in bed smiling and kicking.

Don't worry, I know how lucky I am.

Back dating and more posts.

The reason I have yet to send this out to the masses (and by masses, I mean everyone we KNOW), is because I am trying to add a few more entries on the last couple of week. I should have it completed by the weekend. To add on to that, this is a private blog, it is not avalable to the general public, you must be invited to view. This is mostly for me to keep a journal of our life. Not to entice crazy people to become obsessed with us, we have enough trouble with our friends obsessions (i kid, I kid).