Halloween Haunts

It's Mason's first Halloween and we are so excited to celebrate.

For you SF Mamas, here are some events you might be interested in:

Boo at the Zoo

Visit the San Francisco Zoo during the annual Boo at the Zoo festival October 29-30 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and have a “spook-tacular” time! Come in costume and enjoy trick-or-treating around the Zoo for candy, healthy snacks and more. In addition, there will be free activities such as take-home crafts, puppet shows and family fun puppet shows and story time with “Witch Hazelnut!” Plus, don’t miss the Zoo’s Haunted Nature Trail where you can get a first-hand look at a number of animals like snakes and owls. Or perhaps, you’d like to experience the spine-tingling chills of the Creepy Crawly Critter Encounter at the Insect Zoo.

While here, visitors can watch zookeepers provide the animals with tasty Halloween-themed treats. The complete schedule of animal enrichment and activities will be handed out at the gate each day.

This family-friendly Halloween festival happens rain or shine and is free with paid Zoo admission. The Zoo does request that trick-or-treaters not wear rubber masks as they may frighten the animals.

Halloween Day at the Randall Museum

Halloween Haunts and Happenings! On October 30, from 12 – 4 pm, come see giant insects, tarantulas, blood-sucking leeches, maggots and much more.

Dress up in your Halloween costume and join us in a variety of spine-tingling activities. Try your hand at making and decorating sugar skulls, creep through our Graveyard of Dead Science Ideas and admire the trappings of predatory plants in the Garden of Carnivorous Plants. Creep into the McBean Theater to see some of the spookiest, and silliest animations of from the 1930s to the 1950s. Films include Betty Boop’s Halloween Party (1933), Bugs Bunny in an evil scientist’s castle in Water, Water Every Hare (1952), and Felix the Cat haunted by spooky pranks in Switches Witches (1928). There is small fee for the sugar skull making, but otherwise all Halloween Haunts and Happenings activities are included in admission to the Exploratorium.

SuperNatural Halloween
California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
Saturday, October 29. 6:30-9:30 pm

•Trick-or-treat through the Academy among “spook-tacular” animals and specimens
•Transform with fanciful face painting by local Cirque du Soleil-style artists
•“Boo-gie” to the tunes of the Crunchy Frog band
•Strut your stuff in a costume parade
•Watch a haunted Halloween movie in the planetarium
•Capture the night with photo booth snapshots
•Win raffle prizes including an Academy membership
•Come in costume and get a free trick-or-treat bag!
•Enjoy complimentary kid-friendly dinner, beverages, magic shows, ghoulishly good hands-on fun, and more!
•Proceeds support Academy programs including field trips for 130,000 students yearly.

Costume Parade and Charity and the JAMband

Sunday, October 30, 3:30–5:00 PM
Park Chalet, San Francisco
Visit the Park Chalet for the second annual JAMband Halloween Party and Concert. There will be dancing in disguise, a costume parade, and, of course, some candy. Make sure you wear a costume you can really move in. Grown-ups are encouraged to dress up, too. Charity and the JAMband will perform at 4 pm. No reservations necessary. For more info, visit their website at: http://jamjamjam.com/jambandfamilyfestival_artists.html

Yay! Our Very First Plane Ride!

I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. My husband, baby Mason and mother-in-law are joining me on my work related recruiting trip to Portland, Oregon and we are so excited. I haven't been on a plane in over a year and we're so excited to finally go on a trip together! Even though I'll be working most of the time, I'm still very excited! Wish us luck. I hope baby Mason does well during the trip.

I'm so excited to take in the sights in Portland. I've heard many great things about it.

Baby Class

Mason LOVES his baby class at Gymboree Play & Learn.
It's so much fun and he gets to spend time with his cousin Tristan. He absolutely loves it!

Daddy & Baby

My husband and Mason are completely bonded and they LOVE spending time with each other. I love seeing them together when I come home from work. It is the thing I look forward to every day. Here's a pic of them over the weekend taking an afternoon stroll.

Afternoon Treat

Mason got his flu shot booster yesterday and he only cried for 2 seconds (literally) and then started smiling again lol. My husband and I went to treat ourselves after his dr. appointment by having chicken and waffles, corn bread, shrimp poor boy sandwiches and sweet iced teas. It was so nice!

Flowers From Daddy & Mason

Look what I came home to last night! Flowers and a card from Daddy and Mason to celebrate our anniversary.

So cute and unexpected.

Pics from Mason's 6th Month Dr. Appointment

I know these pics were taken from last month's appointment from Mason's 6 month check-up but I want to share them with you because they're so darn cute!

Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary!

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Corinthians 13:4–8a

I love this quote and it just about sums how I feel about love.

I LOVE You to my dearest husband. Through all our good and bad days, he has always been there for me. He is a great and loving father to Mason and wonderful husband to me.

Mason and I Love you very much. These last 5 years have gone by so fast and that's cause I'm spending it with you. Thank you for everything and for the best gift of all, our baby Mason. Every day, I feel so blessed because I walk among others in this world and can say that I have found my one true love and that is you. Thank you for loving me unconditionally.

Strollin...

Yesterday Mason and I enjoyed a stroll around our neighborhood in our BOB jogger (which I LOVE!). I placed my bottle of Smart Water right next to him and he keep playing with it. He loved the walk around the neighborhood and didn't peep a sound cause he was so busy observing everything outside and just took in the scenery.

Pumpkins Pumpkins everywhere!

I had such a wonderful weekend!

We got to visit the pumpkin patch with Mason's cousin Tristan. It was amazing and so much fun. Mason was crying a little bit though because he hated sitting on the hay. You can see his pouty little face in some of the pictures.

True Love

My husband and I will be celebrating our 5 year wedding anniversary in less than a week.

I can't believe it. The time went by in a flash and we've been together for over 11 years and now have the cutest baby boy to show for our love.

I don't know how we'll celebrate but we definitely want to go out to dinner and then come home to cuddle with Mason and just relax.

It's crazy how much our marriage has changed since we've had a baby. Our time with each other is now so limited because our baby is given our full attention. We've only gone on 2 "dates" without Mason, one was for a wedding and another was to celebrate a good friends 9 year wedding anniversary. I love my husband - I do! But I remember watching Grey's Anatomy a few weeks ago and Meredith ended the show with a quote, I'll never forget, "You think that true love is the only thing that can crush your heart, the thing that will take your life and light it up or destroy it...but then you become a mother."

The quote is so true really. I love my husband but my love for my child is so intense, I can't explain it. My heart is so full and bright now that I have my baby. But it also now very vunerable and it's kinda frightening really.

I truly madly love my little boy and of course my husband who gave me this adorable child. Happy Anniversary to my Hero. It's been quite a ride but I would not want to experience this with anyone else.

My Adorable Sleeping Baby

It is gorgeous outside today! I am loving the sunny weather in San Francisco.
My husband sent me this cute pic of my adorable sleeping baby. I miss him and can't wait to see him soon.

HI Baby!!

I miss you so much today honey. Your dad sent me this picture of you and I've been staring at it all day. I love you Baby Mason!

Miracles...

I absolutely believe in them now. Now that I have my little boy. I believe that every single baby is a miracle put on this earth for a purpose. It's crazy to think that at some point in my life that I thought I would never become a Mom. My husband and I were married for almost 4 years before we were blessed with our pregnancy and our little boy was finally born this past March.

Now I stare at him every single night before I go to bed and SAVOR every single waking moment I have with him because he has truly made me a better person. My child has made me want to make this world a better place. A better place for him and for our future. I look not only at how precious my child's life is but I also appreciate my life so much more. It's crazy isn't it? How this little being can bring so much into your life? I'm sure you Moms feel the same way.

I love my little miracle Mason. He is the best thing that could have ever happened to me.

Slow Down Please...

I remember when Mason was 6 weeks old and I was nursing him in the family room at Nordstroms and this lady kept telling me how fast they grow and to SAVOR every moment. Well back then I couldn't savor that moment because I was soooo darn sleep deprived.

Now, I want this time to slow down a bit so I can just immerse myself in this precious present moment. I can't believe how fast my beautiful baby boy is growing. Today my mom sent me a text of him in a walker. I don't want my baby to grow up so fast. I love this beautiful baby phase and just want to enjoy it.

Happy 7 Months Mason James!

I can't believe you're already 7 months baby Mason. We love you so much.

Halloween Fun

Mason and I got to try on his very cute Sea Otter costume this weekend.
He was such a good sport about putting it on.
I'm going to try and buy a couple more costumes since it's his very first Halloween and I want to take tons of pictures with him in his costumes. What are you doing with your babies? I just love love looooove Halloween and can't wait to celebrate with Mason.