The Gleason's

" How does this one measure up mom?"

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. My brother and his 2 boys (Arlo and Jack) flew out from Ohio for the week. We all enjoyed spending time together, but Bix was smitten with his cousins and thought they were the most awesome people in the world. We hung out at Nana and Grandad's for the first few days, doing chores in the yard (some of which involved chainsaws....the boys were all willing to help with that!), playing with blocks, and exploring at the beach. We even made it up the coast to see the elephant seals. Thanksgiving Day was spent relaxing, chatting, doing puzzles, whipping up some cream for the pies, and taking a walk down to the tree farm.

chopping down a dead tree at Nana and Grandad's house. Bix got to put all the small branches on the wood pile while Arlo and Jack clipped off he larger branches.

Bix showing Arlo something very important

At the fort beach...Nana and her boys

Arlo sitting on the rock

Bix managed to climb up all by himself...he was very proud

Nana enjoying watching the kiddos play together

Boys being boys

My cutie!


 Watching the Elephant seals and chatting wit the docent

Cameron and his boys

Snuggles with Jack

Arlo carrying Bix around....Bix was enthralled!

Bix contemplatively studying the seals


Bix and Mamma

At the San Simeon Pier

THANKSGIVING DAY....taking a walk around the neighborhood


Puzzles...

...whipping cream.....

...and laying down some tunes.

So...last year we went to a Halloween open house so that we could come back early and put Bix to bed. This year he is more aware of the fun and so we went over to a friend's house (they live in a trick-or-treating friendly neighborhood) to give Bix the complete Halloween experience. I wasn't sure how long he would last. There have been some festive decorations up around town and Bix has been a little apprehensive about the whole concept....to the point of hiding his head in my chest when he saw a "peacock" at Trader Joe's to getting stuck in a corner at the children's museum because he didn't want to walk by a door that led to a display with a "scary man".

But the night went off without a hitch. I guess when everyone is dressed up rather that a few who are out of place in a more "normal" daily scene, it all makes sense to a two-year-old. He even went to the doors of the spook-ily decorated houses. He whispered "trick-or-treat" as we started up the path to every house and remembered to say thank you when he wasn't too mesmerized by the costumes.

We didn't have time to get too creative with the costume...and he wouldn't wear a hat...so that left us with teh awesomely cute 70's outfit that Brian used to wear as a wee tyke and I quickly sewed some bell-bottoms together during his Monday nap to complete the theme. Fortunately, Bix missed the memo about the candy part and just had fun taking in the whole experience.

Bixby turned 2 and got to spend the week with family and friends. I guess when you meet all your mommy friends at a breastfeeding class, all of the kiddos are usually born around the same time, thus, we had a week celebrations and fun with all our friends. The greatest treat of the week....besides the main event...was getting to see GiGi and PopPop who were able to come out to the central coast and spend the week with us. They rented their favorite beach front house in Cambria, full of lots of stairs and a super fun balcony for Bix to explore and run around.

We also visited a pumpkin patch and Bix picked out his first pumpkin! He did a pretty good job and hefted it up all by himself. They had great tractors to climb on and a hay tower to climb.




 Then came the main event...thee big birthday bash. Bix had been practicing singing Happy Birthday to a few of his friends and was truly humbled when everyone started singing for him. He has become our little shy guy sometimes. It was great fun with great friends in a great place (my parents house in Cambria).