I was making dinner one cold December night,
I said, "Santa you look a bit weird.
We all took a trip to visit Santa. The boys really didn't want anything to do with Santa up close. Santa tried to best to hold on to them, but they weren't having it.
Emily and Saint Nick go way back and they had a little chat after the boys cleared out.
We really loved those long, blond locks, but the time had come for Cole's first haircut. 
Here is the "after". 
He must have been taking his cues from his handsome brother.
Time for Grayson to go through that preschool right of passage, the Christmas Program. It is a lovely tradition of dressing up the children and making them perform for the parent's entertainment. You can almost feel Grayson's excitement.
The whole family was there to cheer him on.
Luckily, Grayson really does enjoy dressing up. He was very proud of his tie and the Christmas tree that he made as a school project. 
A friend of mine, who is a photographer, just sent me this picture of Cole at the park. It was taken in September, but was so great I just needed to post it.
This Monday the boys did the grocery shopping,
put out a fire in a burning building,
built their own house,
and produced a hit record.
They did all this before lunch. How is that for productive? 
It was a beautiful, but chilly day. The perfect time to take my handsome boys to one of their favorite parks. First stop was duck feeding.
Grayson found this great climbing tree. He was explaining to me how his "climbing claws" help him hold on to the tree.
He has gone from crawling to running in just a few short weeks.
Emily had a day off school, so we took off to the Santa Ana Zoo. We paid a visit to the monkeys and farm animals, but the majority of our time was spent in this little explorer's hut.
Here the kids checked out tarantulas, leopard paw prints and skeletons. 
One rainy, cold Saturday we decided to take the boys to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. We told ourselves that since we had lived in San Francisco, we could handle a little rain.
As you can see from the happy faces, everyone a great time despite the weather.
We were of course very impressed by the big rhinos and giraffes, but perhaps the most memorable time was spent with these small lorikeets. Grayson was hesitant to feed the birds himself. They were a bit too pushy for his taste. 
He was happy to look on as Dad did the feeding.
Cole wisely kept and eye upward for any unwanted presents from the lorikeets.
Jeff left his heart, part of his company and many of his friends in San Francisco. So it made sense that we should celebrate his 41st birthday in the city. We were so pleased that many of our friends joined us for a celebratory dinner at Ruth's Chris (aka Meat Fudge). We were especially lucky to have met Lucas, Dave and Milene's beautiful 3 week old son. 
It is true. Emily is now 11!
On the night of her birthday friends were the focus. Emily had 3 girls over for a sleepover. They took over the upstairs office and rarely emerged. It must have been a fun night because the next morning they looked as if they hadn't slept much. Remember those days when sleep deprivation was considered fun?
