Halloween with Cora

This October, Eunice's former housemate from Boston, Cora, came out to meet Tyler and help us celebrate Halloween in style. After four days with the Nichols boys, we're pretty sure Cora left feeling the need to take a vacation from her "vacation"! Click here for a slideshow of Cora's visit and our Halloween festivities.


The days were jam-packed, starting bright and early at 7am with Spencer thumping across the house in his pajamas yelling, "Where Cora go?" We filled our days with pumpkin hunting in Half Moon Bay, monarch butterfly sightings at Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz, lots of book reading - especially "Crash-Smash!" (a new favorite from Cora), coloring, dimsum eating, shopping, and an occasional much-needed nap. Evenings were packed with pumpkin carving, bath and bedtime for the boys, whipping up dinner, and catching up on each others' lives. And just when Cora thought she could sit back and relax, we put her to work creating our Halloween costumes...from scratch! All told, she helped us hem Spencer's fireman pants, created an adorable dalmatian dog hoodie for Tyler, and sewed three "flame shirts" for the adults - definitely our best Halloween costumes to date.


On Halloween, we stopped by Spencer and Tyler's daycare for a costume party before going trick-or-treating with the Wangs and Canadas on Costa Rica Street, which was lined with palatial homes with over-the-top decorations. One of our favorite houses was Batman-themed, complete with adults dressed up as every major character from the Batman movies, a giant screen playing "Batman Begins," and a life-size replica of the Bat-mobile parked in the driveway. Spencer was a bit overwhelmed by the mayhem, but ended up having a great time being pulled in a wagon with his buddies Theo (Waldo) and Gaby (a butterfly). We had a fantastic time and have already booked Cora's services for next year. Whether she'll want to come back is another matter entirely. :)

Click here for a slideshow and videos.

Give Me Five!

Spencer loves goofing around with Ryan. Their latest game is "Give me five, on the side, up high, down low..."


But Spencer's favorite part is yelling, "You're too slow!!!"

Retreat in Santa Cruz

We spent the weekend at a retreat at Mount Herman Conference Center in the mountains of Santa Cruz, escaping from the hectic pace of every day life. We holed up in a fantastic one-bedroom cabin with a deck overlooking a stream and steep ravine, dropped the boys off at the retreat center's fantastic nursery, listened to inspiring talks, engaged in enlightening conversations, made some new friends, sang songs around a campfire, and hiked throughout the redwood forests.


Ryan, Tyler, and Spencer crossing a suspension bridge with Corey, Madison, and Kaitlyn.


Ryan and Spencer explore a cool tree house. All in all, a fun, relaxing, rejuvenating weekend - in fact, we might just have to make this family retreat an annual tradition...

David's Visit

We had a surprise visit from Eunice's brother-in-law, David, who came to the Bay Area to officiate a wedding. He was able to spend a few days with us, connecting with his two nephews.


Each morning, Spencer would wake up and say, "I want to see David," and then run across the house to our guest room. No wonder he has such affection for Uncle David who would read him countless books, push him in the swing, help him ride his bicycle, play all sorts of games, chase after garbage trucks with him, and make him laugh! Click here for a slideshow and videos of David's visit.

Hanging out at Home

On the days when I have both boys at home with me, we have a lot of fun hanging out, goofing off, laughing, and making silly videos. Here's a sampling from our activities today...


Spencer shows off his new winter hat... which actually fits Tyler pretty well, too. Guess big heads run in the family. :)


I've taken the boys to visit their dad at the Appirio office several times for pizza parties and foosball, which has given Spencer the mistaken impression that this is what Daddy does at the office every day. Most recently, he has decided that he would like to go to work every day, too, so he has started to call daycare "Spencer's office."


Nobody gets Tyler to crack up quite the way Spencer does. We love it that both of our boys have such hearty belly laughs...

Hudson's 2nd Birthday Party

Today, we headed over to the Gates' house for an impromptu birthday party to celebrate Hudson's 2nd birthday. Click here for a slide show of the party.


Spencer spent the evening "cooking" french fries with Hudson and Gaby on a toy stove, jumping on an exercise ball, playing house, and forming a jam band. Tyler spent the whole time in the arms of some wonderful women, including Po Po, Madison, and Mariana. After a pizza dinner and chocolate cake, Hudson opened up his gifts, the kids played some more, and we finally dragged a protesting Spencer out of the house to head home for bed. Another fun evening at the Gates'!