Because Cec told me to

O, hello blog! I'd forgotten all about you. What's that you say - you could tell? So sorry...

So here's a lot of catch-up. What have we been doing since, well, a long time ago? Let's take a look!

At the beginning of September, we went to Tennessee for the annual Lawler family reunion.  Charli played with cousins in the Gallatin Lawlers' awesome backyard, was introduced to trampolines, and ate a lot of chocolate cake.

We also spent some time in St. Louis, during which I didn't take nearly enough pictures, but I did get this cute one of Kelly and Charli.  Charli also tried out Brian's old big wheel (can you believe it is still at his parent's house?) but her legs aren't long enough yet, and she also practiced her first golf swing.

Later in September, we took Taipo (great-grandmother) apple picking, which turned to mostly be picnicking, and family from all over Northern California joined in. 

Then one of my best friends, Daisy, got married (right before she moved to Hong Kong).  Charli was the flower girl!  So cute!  She carried all the flowers petals very slowly to the end of the aisle rather than scattering any, then threw a couple of handfuls at the end, and then she went behind all the party guests and threw the petals around the elevator area.

Random farmer's market photo

At the end of September, Kim and Brent came for what turned out to be a momentous visit.  We went to an open house, which we do quite often, but this time it was actually a relatively affordable house in a good location and a reasonable layout and size - the first we've seen with all those qualities at once.

Charli learns a new skill

In October, Grandpa Jerry (aka prickly grandpa) and Kelly came out for the annual Raiders game.  We went in all our gear, and it was an AWESOME game in which we beat San Diego and it was tons of fun.

At the end of October we closed on the house we first saw with Kim and Brent.  We picnicked there the first night, sans furniture.

Charli was a Raider for Halloween.  This is her mean look.  :)  You should see her 3 point stance!

We moved into the house at the beginning of November.  Mom and Dad came out to help.  This is our first meal that we actually cooked in our giant new kitchen!  Our old kitchen had 3 wall cabinets.  Our new kitchen has about 30.  We could put each appliance in its own cabinet!

For Thanksgiving, we made our traditional pilgrimage to St. Louis, where Charli and Katy celebrated their birthdays (3 and 19, respectively).  This is the trip where Charli for the first time really appreciated the wonder of deep fried turkey skin.

We also cut down Christmas trees, took family pictures, and ate Christmas Tree Soup as we love to do every year on Christmas Tree Day.

I obviously get very few pictures of myself; I should copy more from everybody else's cameras.  This is the only one I have showing the other major thing keeping us occupied beside the house - we are expecting a boy at the end of March.  The classy wrinkles in my shirt are there particularly to emphasize that point.  You can also see, if you look closely, the lovely manicure that Charli gave me.

Random rainy day picture

We were wandering around one day, and we came across the Nihonmachi school making fresh mochi (I mean REALLY fresh - here they're pounding rice or rice flour I think).  The drums drew us to the scene, from several blocks away.  What an awesome town this is!