"California here we come, right back where we started from" (sort of)

We are going to STANFORD!!!

Dave accepted the offer yesterday for a 1 year ultrasound fellowship and we are very relieved and excited to be going to such a beautiful place. This was his first choice and he loved the campus, the hospital and the surrounding Palo Alto area-- not to mention the weather and all the great places to visit... San Francisco, Carmel, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Yosemite etc...

I have been wanting to live in CA again for a long time and feel so proud of Dave and, I have to say it... SERIOUSLY SO BLESSED :)

We will be moving the end of June and he will officially start August 1st.

The kids were pretty excited although Zanna felt sad to have to leave her friends here.

That is always the worst part of moving and I'm sure I will be an emotional wreck come June...so get prepared.

Last night we went and celebrated with Vietnamese food and a good ol' vanilla cone from McD's :)

bring on the friends!

We picked Jeff and Caroline up from the airport about a half hour after we got home from Boston and that's when the party started...

Jeff had a conference in the city so we met them at the MOMA on Friday night for a night out on the town! (my nice neighbor offered to watch the kiddos- we love her!)

It was our first time to the MOMA and we were a little rushed (but we will be back as they have free friday nights from 4-8pm.)

We did see "Starry Night" from van Gogh and it was truly beautiful

this is how excited Jeff and Caroline were to see van Gogh's work...

we weren't quite as excited as they were :)

we had a beautiful walk across the Brooklyn Bridge

(one of my favorite free NY activities)

and a little wendy's hamburgers to get them thru the walk to the Staten Island Ferry

we love the Ferry and the great view of the Statue of Liberty

and all the interesting people and pirates you see along the way :)

I found Martha's Country Bakery the day before Jeff and Caroline arrived and we visited twice in one weekend because it is so beautifully delicious

(it's on Bell blvd. and 40th in Bayside for you locals)

WE LOVED this visit and felt very spoiled to have our friends all to ourselves for the weekend. Thanks for being so great with the kids and we are still playing "Don't Eat Pete!!"

The third weekend in October we got a special visit from Jess and Sterling and little Sterling- who we had never even met yet and he was already 1 years old! We didn't take very many pictures but had a great time catching up, eating awesome Indian food, seeing Long Island and getting SOAKED in a huge rain storm!

While we were at the park in Oyster Bay, Dave and Sterling decided they wanted to jump in the sound (they have a thing- can't go to a body of water without jumping in it) so they went to the car to change into their suits and right then it started POURING. Jess, James, little Sterling and I were running to the car for cover while Dave, big Sterling and Zanna were heading to the water for a dip. They said it was Freezing and we all ended up soaked and came home for a cozy night in from the storm :)

We had a relaxing Sunday with a great pork chop meal and some beautiful weather. We wished the visit could have been a little longer, but it was great to be with old friends and meet their darling little guy. We are excited for them to have #2 and can't wait to see them again!

WE LOVED BOSTON!

Boston Trip October 3-8th

the kids thought this statue was so funny at first because he is "naked...hee hee" but since we talked about it everyday by the end of the trip they were saying "lots of statues are of naked people because it shows how amazing our bodies are"...etc- good teaching moment :)

This whole trip was made possible because DAVE is AWESOME and was accepted to speak at the New Speakers Forum of this National EM Conference. He made up a catchy title "It's Vogue to be Cool" submitted it, was accepted and his program was so happy they paid for the whole trip--thank you North Shore!

We stayed at the Sheraton downtown and the kids and I had PLENTY to do while Dave was at his conference-- this fountain was our first stop the night we arrived!

we had beautiful weather and loved walking everywhere we went

the kids and I ate at UNO Chicago Grill where they were the chefs and made their own pizzas- James loved it, can't you see??

we loved all the beautiful churches and amazing historical buildings of Boston

i just thought this was a cute one of them :)

the parks and Boston Common areas were covered in flowers and beautifully manicured grounds- we did a lot of walking but loved the scenery along the way

We ended up walking to the Children's Museum while waiting for Dave to finish up one day and got in for the last hour for FREE- always a plus. It was a GREAT museum if anyone is heading to Boston anytime soon...

We found a unique ice cream shop on Newbury Street and the cones were so cool- they were covered in rice crispy treats and s'mores, something I had never seen before

my Almond Joy cone rocked!

We walked about half of the Freedom Trail and the kids thought the tale of Paul Revere was "pretty amazing"

the U.S.S. Constitution

We spent some time in Little Italy looking for the perfect bakery treat and ended up with a fresh-filled canoli, a huge black and white cookie and an eclair. The eclair was a little disappointing, but the rest was fabulous and wrapped up so nicely in the this little box.

We ate some great Vietnamese food on our last night, swam in the hotel pool at least once everyday, drove around Harvard campus, and saw amazing fall colors on the drive to and from Boston and NY.

We all loved Boston and decided we will definitely be back to visit again soon...i hope.

Happenin' Halloween

Pumpkin Patch at the kids' school

- it was fun to go and see them and meet their classmates

one mom told me that her son always talks about Zanna and her Golden Hair...funny huh?

lots of mom's in James' class said they hear all about James at home-- hope it's good!

I am so proud of my spider this year!

James touched a few more seeds and pulp than last year- we were so proud of him :)

This is Elder Roush- he just finished his missions and his parents came to pick him up so we had them over for lunch yesterday....he was such a sweet missionary and it was a fun afternoon with his family.

here we have "bones" the skeleton man and the butterfly princess (just like last year-- boring, but I let her choose :)

trick-or-treating with Bailee, Olivia and Kate

we partied all night and the kids loved the doughnuts on a string game

Chubby Bunny contest winner- 13 big ones- nasty!

I was an 80's cowgirl- this is my favorite little buddy Kate

I ate WAY too much and we all had a spectacular Halloween!

soccer and dance...keeping us busy

I have a lot to catch up on, but first an update on the kids...

Zanna started a ballet/tap/tumbling combo class a couple of weeks ago and LOVES it! She practices her moves in the kitchen right when she gets home and her teacher said she is doing fantastic, especially for her first dance class. James and I like hanging out during her classes and usually get a bagel or look at toy stores while we wait. It is so fun to see Zanna doing and loving something that I enjoyed so much when I was her age...how do you like the while tap shoes??

The kids are also both playing soccer right now and love the uniform or "costume" as much as playing. James is tearin' it up and was a little shy the first game, but is now all over the place and has had his fair share of goals.

action photo

end of the game line-up for high 5's

Zanna has this cute, 16-yr old coach that is so great with these little girls.

Many of these girls have played for a few years and this is Zanna's first season so I think she was a little confused the first game, but has also really improved. She scored a goal in their second game and also had a chance to play goalie.

She loves going to practice and has met some fun, silly girls that she will miss when the season is over.

the shirt looks like a dress on these girls!

Francis baby #3 update is not quite as involved...

we're at 12 weeks now, 2.5 inches and 0.4 oz

I had a sonogram yesterday and all things looked great as far as we know and I am feeling good (besides an awful sore throat!) James came to the appointment and when he saw the baby he said, "i think it is a boy because I don't see any long hair"- good observation.

We are trying to avoid the swine flu and washing our hands all the time!!

Life is good!

I can't believe it is October 26th!! This month has flown by and I will have to update soon because we have had some great visitors....but, I'm too tired right now- goodnight!

our claim to fame

This is the video that made it onto America's Funniest Videos (it was on in the beginning of the show and NASCAR went over so we missed it in the East- so sad!) They just showed the last "dancing part" and talked about James getting teased for doing ballet... if you watch it a couple times it gets funnier :)

I actually posted this before a long time ago, so it may be a repeat for some of you, but I had to put it on here now that the kids are famous- j/k!

If you're on Facebook and have already seen this, sorry :)

have a great day- mel