Happy Birthday Tadj!

If we didn't have a new baby and if his birthday wasn't so close to Thanksgiving I may have thrown Tadj a party to celebrate the big 3-5 but instead we kept his birthday really low-key. The 5 of us stayed home and enjoyed some yummy pizza, cake, and presents. Tadj didn't have any special requests this year besides wanting the Star Trek movie so he ended up with that, a wii game, some new work clothes, and Ollie gave Tadj the Shark steam cleaner for the floor. I used the Shark today on our hardwood floors and it didn't clean as well as I hoped and left streaks so it will be going back. Poor Ollie struck out.

Tadj also didn't have a special cake request so I made a death-by-chocolate bundt cake. I thought my baking skills were improving lately but not this time. I couldn't get all of the cake out of the pan so what should have been the bottom of the cake became the top. I also could tell Tadj didn't like it but the kids sure did.


Tadj is an awesome husband and father. He plays with the kids, helps clean the house, takes care of the baby when I need some rest, and is a great provider for our family. He never stops to take a break. As of November 25, he already had the Christmas lights on the house and spent a good portion of his birthday cleaning out the gutters. He also puts up with all of my craziness and sometimes obsessive compulsive behavior, like going to Bainbridge island just to get my kids a flu shot and constantly asking him if he has washed his hands before he picks up the baby. So I suppose that when my only complaint is that he lets the kids eat the food samples at Costco without sanitizing their hands first, I must have a good catch.

While Tadj Was Away

A few weeks ago Tadj went out of town on business for the second time since Trevor was born. Here are some of the things he missed.

First, my aunt Valerie and cousin Heidi threw a shower for Trevor. It was really great--full of my side of the family, good food, cute decorations, and great gifts. My pictures weren't the best so I have pics of the cake, Heidi and Cirdan who shared their lovely home that evening and Trevor at just over one month old.

Next, Tadj's mom came to spend the night and help out. In the morning I gave Trevor a bath in the sink. Next thing I know, Marj was giving Kendall a bath in the sink, too. You can see in the picture that she loved it.

On Wednesday night, Kendall had a stomach bug and was up all night. I was so worried about the baby because she not only threw-up near the co-sleeper, all day she had been doing this:

But Trevor stayed healthy.

And last, but not least, we started to see a lot more of Trevor's smile!

Star Wars Halloween

I was trying to avoid buying costumes this year so I borrowed Hayden's costume from a friend (thanks Nanci), Kendall was going to wear her super fancy princess dress from mimi and papa, and Trevor was going to wear Hayden's old costume. Well, my plan was working until we took Kendall to the Halloween store and she fell in love with the Padme Amidala costume (from Star Wars). Here are my two star wars fans dressed as Obi-Wan and Padme.


To continue in the Star Wars theme, Tadj carved pumpkins with pictures of Boba Fett, Yoda, and the death star.

Trevor did wear Hayden's old lion costume. We can pretend he was Chewbacca.

But I don't think Chewie had a tail.

Here I am with my sister-in-law Jessie and one cute dressed-up cow, Gracie-Mae. Out of the five costume parties, Kendall did wear her princess dress once (she wanted to be able to wear more make-up).

Here is Trevor's birth announcement. I think it turned out cute although I learned a lesson: print one announcement to review before ordering a bunch.


I would have changed the color on the left to be more green. It printed kind of yellow but on my computer screen it looked better. And I would have made the text bigger. Oh well, the picture of the baby turned out!