This photo supplied by Disney Resorts, shows Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Rob Thomas posing with Santa Goofy on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007 in Santa's Sleigh at the Magic Kingdom theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Thomas, a solo artist and lead singer of the multi-platinum-selling rock/pop group 'matchbox twenty,' was on vacation with friends and family at Walt Disney World resort during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Aww...and this little gem I just got...
I have so many things to be thankful for this year. One thing I definitely have to be thankful for is that my children have found such a great group of friends. As a result (or maybe the cause!), Aaron and I have an incredible group of friends too.
This is a picture taken recently of a small smattering of their friends...aren't they a great looking bunch?
Jacob is lucky this week and has the whole week off of school due to a new Thanksgiving break. Jacob got even luckier when Daddy took him golfing with him this morning! He really seemed to enjoy going out to a real golf course to try out his new clubs...I think he was getting tired of the Aqua Golf!
I have a bit of a thing for buttons. I have collected them for as long as I can remember. If a clothing item comes with a spare or a button falls off something, I absolutely CANNOT throw it away. It immediately goes into my huge button jar. When Aaron's grandmother passed away this past summer I inherited her big box of buttons. Seems she too was a button collector! She took it a couple steps further however, hers were sorted by color and she would even cut the buttons off of clothing before tossing old clothes. How genius!
Recently I saw an idea to make a button tree as a Christmas decoration. The majority of the buttons used were Great Lee's, but in my collection I also have buttons of my Nana and Aaron's Grandma Erickson. I thought it was the perfect item to make with Grandma's buttons. We will think of them always.
That's the sound of the MB20 groupie train starting up! Tour dates were released this morning!
Jan 25, 2008 Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood, FL
Jan 26, 2008 St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL
Jan 28, 2008 Philips Arena Atlanta, GA
Jan 29, 2008 Cricket Arena Charlotte, NC
Feb 1, 2008 Sears Centre Hoffman Estates, IL
Feb 2, 2008 Palace of Auburn Hills Auburn Hills, MI
Feb 4, 2008 Xcel Energy Center St. Paul, MN
Feb 5, 2008 Bradley Center Milwaukee, WI
Feb 7, 2008 Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, OH
Feb 8, 2008 Patriot Center Fairfax, VA
Feb 12, 2008 Turning Stone Resort & Casino Verona, NY
Feb 14, 2008 Madison Square Garden New York, NY
Feb 15, 2008 The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa Event Center Atlantic City, NJ
Feb 16, 2008 Seneca Niagara Casino Theatre Niagara Falls, NY
Feb 18, 2008 Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT
Feb 19, 2008 Sovereign Center Reading, PA
Feb 21, 2008 Times Union Center Albany, NY
Feb 22, 2008 Air Canada Centre Toronto, ON
Feb 25, 2008 Sprint Center Kansas City, MO
Feb 26, 2008 Qwest Center Omaha, NE
Feb 28, 2008 Toyota Center Houston, TX
Feb 29, 2008 Nokia Theatre Grand Prairie, TX
Mar 2, 2008 Ford Center Oklahoma City, OK
Mar 4, 2008 World Arena Colorado Springs, CO
Mar 5, 2008 Broomfield Events Center Broomfield, CO
Mar 6, 2008 E Center Salt Lake City, UT
Mar 8, 2008 Key Arena Seattle, WA
Mar 9, 2008 General Motors Place Vancouver, BC
Mar 12, 2008 HP Pavilion San Jose, CA
Mar 14, 2008 Reno Events Center Reno, NV
Mar 16, 2008 Staples Center Arena Los Angeles, CA
Mar 17, 2008 Cricket Pavilion Phoenix, AZ
Mar 18, 2008 The Pearl Concert Theater Las Vegas, NV
(Updated with the answer...)
And you won't be able to pick him out from this one. Why? BECAUSE HE WAS INSIDE!
Fire yesterday, late afternoon, off of Placer. 2 houses destroyed.
Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and we've had a great day! We started 
pizza/trick or treat party. So much fun to see the kids in their costumes every year! We finished the evening up at one of my best friend from high school's house party...fun to see her and her family and to catch up a bit. Funny thing is, I hadn't seen her in 10+ years and this is what we show up looking like!
Hope we didn't scare her away! We love dressing up and trying to outdo ourselves each year.
Is this one not just a bit creepy?
This evening we went to the Arboretum at Turtle Bay where they were doing a special event for/with dogs. I brought my camera (of course!) and had lots of willing models tonight!
And a favorite from the pumpkin patch yesterday....
We've had a busy October weekend. Jogathon, Fall Carnival, haircuts, soccer games, haunted houses, pumpkin patches, scary movies, etc., etc....the fall fun just doesn't stop!
This past weekend we took a little mini vacation down to Vallejo to Discovery Kingdom. It's a neat experience because in addition to lots of rides, it's also a zoo with sea life shows. The kids enjoyed it very much but still rate Disneyland as their favorite! Jacob loved the animals the most and Ella the rides. I'm not kidding when I say we must have gone on the Cobra (a smaller roller coaster) 6-8 times! Jacob skipped it the first 4 times or so but then he decided to try it and loved it too. The animals were really fun to see, even though they have some naughty ones....particularly the white tiger and the walrus! All in all it was a great getaway!
Click to see our photos!
Edward. Only one novel down,
but the other two on order from Amazon. They can't get here quick enough!
Highly recommend! If you've read them...please tell me your thoughts!
We had a busy Saturday today with Grandma (Aaron worked today). We
had an 8:30
school. It was a lot of fun with some great kid's activities. It was neat for Jacob to see all his old teachers and a few old friends too. 
MONSTER TRUCKS, YEAH!!
So Friday night we headed to Red Bluff to watch the Monster Trucks Nationals. First time ever for Ella and I. Jacob and Aaron attended them a few years ago with friends and Jacob fell asleep at that time. And believe it or not, he fell asleep this time too! No clue how that's even possible with all the noise, but he did it. Ella absolutely loved the whole thing. Her very favorite was a pink ribbon truck, for obvious reasons. Even when she's being the tom-boy she still has that girley-girl touch!
Click to see some more pictures
And for those that missed it and are so upset you did (I know you're out there!)....Matchbox Twenty performed on Leno the other night and here it is...
My favorite moment...minute 2:35....
Some upcoming MB20 appearances this week:
Today show - 10/8
Ellen - 10/8
