November: Our Favorite Month!

November may just be my favorite month. Fall, Thanksgiving, lots of football, and most importantly, Jake's birthday!

Somehow our baby is 3 and a self-declared big boy! Jake had a fantastic birthday! I mean look at that face!

But before Jake's birthday celebrations there were other birthdays and fun to be had! First we celebrated our good friend Jackie's 3rd birthday with a super fun party in the park. Below Jake poses with the birthday girl and gets a push.

The pinata was awesome! I can't say that any of the kiddos did much damage but they sure had fun and of course loved the candy and toys!

Since Daddy was in Georgia the weekend of Jackie's party, Jake posed for a picture...one of my favorites!
For those of you who remember Jake's Sesame Street obsession, don't worry the Sesame Street friends still come out to play!

The next weekend was Jake's long awaited birthday party with his girl, Leah and a visit from Mimi and my grandma, Great. I was so excited that they came for Jake's birthday weekend. Friday, Jake stayed home to play with Mimi and Great and they had a super fun day together. Saturday morning we had a great brunch at one of our favorite places before football, both Oregon and Georgia games, and inadvertently even the Texas game played a (bad) part of our day. We tried to go to the LBJ Library but because of tailgating and parking they wouldn't let us in - lame.

I couldn't resist getting Jake this super cute, old-school Oregon Jersey. I chased him all day trying to get a good Duck-worthy shot. I got close but will keep trying!


Snuggling with Great and watching the game! Not a bad way to spend a Saturday!
Jake's first birthday present of the season came from his Aunt Judy, wonderful books that we've read just about every day, but here he is opening his present from Mimi. He has no idea how lucky he is to have a preschool director for a grandma.

Pre-birthday party family pictures - 4 generations of the Sacks Family and our little family!

Jake (11/17) and Leah (11/15) met in the Butterfly Room and the little lovebirds have been great friends ever since. We've also become very good friends with Leah's parents so when we had the chance to combine forces we jumped at the opportunity. We had the party at Pump it Up a "bouncy-house" place that turned out to be awesome!

Before the party Leah and Jake check things out and then per normal chase each other around.
Waiting to go in to the party and jump, Leah makes sure that Jake knows where he's going.

Jake was so excited to have his Turtle teachers, Katie and Ashley from last year at the party. They were great teachers and are becoming good friends too. Fun in the bouncy house and non-cheesy smile with Ashley.

The party was fun for the kids and the parents alike and quite a workout too. I think we're all recovering here from the big slide.

I laughed when the party coordinators said that we'd be taking a group picture at the end of the jumping portion of the party. It was exactly what you would expect from a bunch of 3-year old kiddos.
Time for pizza and cake! The birthday boy and girl make their way into the party room and to the throne!
Time for cake! Jake and Leah both love PBS "Dinosaur Train" and especially Buddy and Tiny.


Leah enjoys her cupcake while sitting with her mommy. Below, Jake lets his good friend Jackie wear the crown, he learned quickly who is in charge!

Closing down the party with Mimi and Great! Such a fun time for all! But there was more birthday fun to be had......opening presents! Jake's friends were so generous and he got such great gifts.

Birthday morning Jake came downstairs to his new "Dinosaur Train" set. He loved it!

When we came home from school there were two big boxes waiting for Jake. The first was from Zayde and Dorry who sent the perfect present for Jake and his daddy. Meet Dooley, our new bulldog puppy. Jake loves him and Alex and I love the fact that maybe this will put off the inevitable puppy request.
The second box came from his godmommy, Libby, and was a humongous tyrannosaurus now named Annie. And on the subject of godmommy - Congrats to Libby and Phil who got engaged the weekend of Jake's party. We're so thrilled for you and happy that Jake gets a goddaddy too.
Birthday dinner for Mr. Jake. We had thought about going out but apparently Jake informed his teachers that we were going out to dinner, so out we went.
Daddy was lucky enough to join Jake and the other ladybugs at the Thanksgiving potluck at ECP.

The following weekend we went to Houston for what ended up being a multipurpose and very fun weekend. We went for our "cousin" Melanie's baby shower but also ended up getting to see Alex's grandma, spent some really fun time Ken & Loretta and was so excited to be able to celebrate Nathan's birthday!

Jake gets comfy in Uncle Ken's chair and gets yet another present from Aunt Noonie.

Nathan's party was at a cool place that was one part gymboree, part bouncy house and part gym. It was a fun place but there was so much action going on that it was almost impossible to catch Jake let alone the very active little birthday man!

and of course there was treats and cake! I love this picture of Jake and Jonah sitting together.


After the party we headed back to Ken & Loretta's for Melanie's shower which was of course lovely. After the shower Jake got a chance to give the expectant parents some advice about what was about to happen to them!
Jake says bye-bye to Shiloa before we head back to Austin. Jake is looking forward to visiting Shiloa and all our Houston friends and family again soon.

The next week was Thanksgiving. Although we were missing festivities in Plano with the Viviers we were looking forward to a very low-key turkey day! We were invited for just such a day at the Avigael's. Josh, Kelly, Leah and Baby Benjamin were fabulous hosts.

After our fabulous meal we got everyone ready to head out to the park to play a little. It went from 70 degrees in the morning to a chilly 40 in under two hours.

Leah (with a little help from Josh) took Jake out for a ride! Jake was only slightly nervous but mostly loved it!
And what is Thanksgiving without football! He gets the ball...he scores! Touchdown!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, food and of course football.
See you next month!