and......they lost :(

Last weekend, we made our way to Stanfurd, in the hopes that the Bruins would dominate the Cardinal, courtesy of Judd's mom and sister (his birthday present from them). (On a side note, I still don't understand how the color "cardinal" and a tree are in any way related, but I guess that's Stanfurd for you -- completely irrelevant.) We even donned our matching UCLA gear, complete with "eyeblack" to fight the glare of the sun (yes, even I, a Cal fan who only roots for UCLA to support my husband - unless they're playing Cal, of course - dressed in the UCLA garb; it was for his birthday, after all). But, it was all to no avail; UCLA didn't win. Final score: the dumb trees - 24, the not-so-mighty-that-day bruins - 16.

Our hopes for a beat-down on the Stanfurd campus crushed, we headed over to Ted and Lesley's house to watch Cal's homecoming game against USC. We were hoping for a Bears victory, but that didn't really pan out, either. Unfortunately, my Bears seemed to be hibernating, allowing those silly Trojans to walk all over them. Final, embarrassing score? 30 to 3. Good thing we have a bye tomorrow; we really need it!

Here are some pics from the UCLA-Stanfurd game:

Tailgate party! PBJs for everyone!

Wow. Just wow. She looks so grown up here!

Walking to the game, from our $10 parking space across the street

Gotta post up in the shade to beat the heat!

The birthday boy with his favorite girls

Mommie and her big girl enjoying the sunshine

Well, fine! If the Bruins can't win, I'll just steal a Stanfurd water or two! Take that, you silly Cardinal!

Gracelyn, napping at Ted & Lesley's -- too exhausted to watch another depressing game!

happy first birthday, have-o da babe-o!

In what seemed to us like record timing, Haven has already reached her one-year birthday! Here are some pictures of the various festivities that took place to commemorate her special day.

Pool Party with Friends & Family:

Uncle Scott with the birthday girl

The big kids having fun

Big sister relaxing in the pool

Proud great-grandparents enjoying the party

Friends & family chatting it up...and drinking it up, too!

Birthday kisses from Molly-Moo

Haven's personal cake...stayed pretty for about two seconds after the candle was blown out

Happy Birthday to You!!

The sisters doing a great job demolishing the cake together

Opening presents the next morning

Birthday Dinner at Maggiano's:

Chillin' at the table

Yay! It's my birthday!

Playing with the new toys

elmo's (lame) birthday party

Last week, Borders advertised that they were hosting an Elmo Birthday Party on Saturday, February 21st, from 2pm to 3:30pm. We were so excited to go to this because Gracelyn absolutely loves Elmo! I mean, her favorite color is red, so of course she would be enamored of a little, red, furry, lovable monster! All week long, she kept talking about how she was gonna see Elmo and sing him "Happy Birthday". She even decided that she was going to wear her Elmo costume (from Halloween last year) to the party, so she could show Elmo how much she loves him.

The day of the party (being a Saturday, we had our usual Costco-TraderJoe's-Target trifecta of grocery shopping to do), we busted our butts to get out of the house early so as to finish our shopping and still have time to come home, unload groceries, feed Haven, and get ready for Elmo's big day. We raced over to Santana Row, and, seeing how crowded it was in that area (who has money for shopping these days?, I ask you...), we did a drop off of Daddie & BG at Borders while Mommie and Haven went in search of a parking spot. As Haven and I were walking to the bookstore, I was getting text after text from Judd, and they were not looking very positive. What basically happened was this:

Judd & Gracelyn walk up to the children's area, to find a dude reading an Elmo book to a group of kids. There is no Elmo in sight, except for Gracelyn in her costume. Upon seeing our big girl in her red-monster gear, several of the kids cry out, "Look! There's Elmo!" Once they realize that this particular Elmo is extremely shy and won't sing to, dance for, play with or even smile for them, the excitement wears off within seconds. The dude reading the Elmo book finishes up, passes out some stickers and Elmo coloring pages, then has the kids sing "Happy Birthday" to Elmo who isn't even there! He then says, "Thanks for coming to Elmo's party, everyone! Have a great day!" The whole thing lasted a whopping 25 minutes, and -- did I mention? -- Elmo wasn't there. We spent the rest of the day trying to explain that one to Gracelyn (side note: she still wonders aloud where exactly Elmo went).

I mean, yeah, the economy is crap and funds are tight these days; I completely understand that. But how are you gonna advertise a birthday party for someone and then not have them even make a cameo appearance at the bash??? How hard would it have been to dress up one of your college-kid-employees in a red suit and call him Elmo? Seriously. Kids are pretty easy to please when it comes to things like that -- a princess is anyone in a fancy dress and a tiara, a superhero is anyone with a cape and/ or mask, a clown is anyone with silly clothes and colorful hair, and an Elmo is anyone dressed in a furry red suit with a big orange nose and a smile on his face! Come on!

We didn't have our camera with us (not that there would have been much to photograph, anyways), but I did want to share some pics of Gracelyn in her Elmo costume, just because she's so darn cute. These are from Halloween last year.

the party's over

With a dinner & shopping excursion with Judd & the girls on my actual birthday (also, an awesomely historical and memorable and moving inauguration that morning), a birthday party at our house nearly two weeks later, and a family birthday brunch a week after that, I managed to stretch my birthday out to nearly a month long! Go me! :-) Since the parties are all over, I thought I'd post a few pictures from the various festivities. Thanks, everyone, for making my birthday "month" so great!

From the Birthday Party at La Casa de Jacobs:

Let's get this party started!

Dos & Coley O -- senoritas muy caliente!


Hil, Heather & Kel


Booboo & Baby Makenna


Matt entertaining Max & Molly


If you look closely, you can tell that the birthday girl is having a blast!...er, I mean, getting drunk!



From the Family Birthday Brunch:


Gracelyn playing with my old doll, Victoria


Makin' the bacon! Yum!


My grandparents came to celebrate, too!


Haven chuggin' away!


Gracelyn is delighted with these white kid gloves!


Sorry, sweetie, I don't think they'll fit Megan...

random pics

Some of the various happenings in the Jacobs family over the past few months...

Olivia's 1st Birthday: Yummy food, good company, and Daddie even got to hone up on his "macking" skills while conversing with a couple of the ladies at the party! :-)

Daddie: The (older) Ladies' Man

Presents from Aunt Judy: Gracelyn's Great-Great-Aunt Judy sent her a beautiful sweater that she knit for her, and, for her birthday, she sent Gracelyn her first bike! Go, Gracie, Go!!

I just love my new sweater!

Look at me go!

Passover: Grandma and Aunt Barrie came for a nice visit. We ate yummy food, went shopping, got our nails done, and had a great time!

Ready to grub on some delicious Jewish food

San Francisco: The week after Passover, Gma stayed with us. We spent Friday up in the city, checking out Golden Gate Park with Gma's friend Fran.

Exploring with Gma

Oom Billy's Bike Race: Oom Billy has bike races every weekend, and we finally made it to one! It was a beautiful day in Los Gatos, and we enjoyed watching the race, cheering Oom Billy on every time he passed by.

Picking flowers with Oma

Gracelyn's Birthday: Gracelyn turned 2 on May 6th, and, as a special treat, Daddie and Mommie let her eat some ice cream! Yummy!!

Yes, that is a Hannukah candle in her ice cream...

Mother's Day: Mommie was spoiled with a special brunch in the Imperial Ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel. We stuffed our faces, pet the baby farm animals in the petting zoo, and decorated some sugar cookies. Later in the evening (after our stomachs had nearly finished processing all that food), we had Oma, Opa and Oom Billy over for a bbq.

Giggling with Daddie

Happy Mother's Day, Mommie!

Mommie's Graduation: Hooray!! Mommie finally finished school! Now she has a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential and is ready to take on a classroom of 35 little rascals. Good Luck, Mommie!

Yay for Mommie! She did it!

egg hunts and horsies

This past Sunday, we went to the Goulet's home...er...farm for an Easter potluck. The weather was so beautiful; we ate outside, played ball, fed horsies, and had all kinds of fun. It was Megan's birthday,too, so we were glad to share it with her. Happy Birthday, Meggie!! Here are some pictures of the day.

Feeding the Horsie

Cool new shades from Oom Biwie & Megan

Coloring with Cousin Nick

Having a snack with Oma & Opa

What's in the grass? Ooo! A green Easter egg!!

Daddie!! Look at the pretty eggs I found!