Father's Day

We were able to fit everyone in on Father's Day this year, which was awesome. We had breakfast with my parents (yummy breakfast!) and were able to take Luke to swimming as well. After his nap, we went and visited Todd's family up in Dublin.

Dinner was awesome - yummy Mexican food that my ever-so-picky son refused to eat. (I swear, I'm being punished for my picky-ness as a child . . .) But wow, once that cake came out . . . no complaining, sitting up nice and straight, using lovely manners and holding his fork properly.

Here is the conversation we had:

L: Wow! Mommy! Mommy cake please Mommy cake please! (hops up on chair)


M: (no response. mentally debating options.)

L: Mommy! Mommy! Cake, Mommy! Cake here please Mommy!


M: (decides on being lame, responsible Mommy instead of cool, fun Mommy) No Luke, you didn't eat your dinner. We can't have cake without dinner.

L: (see photo)

Mommy is subsequently glared at by Daddy for being lame and mean. Caves to demands of 2.5 year old due to holiday/celebration and avoidance of major issues in front of witnesses.

M: Okay, Luke, you can have cake.

L: Thank you Mommy Thank you Mommy for cake Mommy.


Luke out-chocolates himself, a rare occurrence, and cannot finish said cake. Mommy enjoys delicious homemade lemon meringue pie without being assaulted by said 2.5 year old.

Luke enjoyed the maracas. Mostly he just enjoys everyone gushing over how adorable he is. I get that.

Family Picture Time:

Luke was so funny, just put his arm around cousin Matt and gave a big ol' goofy grin.

With his great-grandparents. What a lucky little boy!

Shock and Awe

I'll admit it. I am a reformed picky eater. I used to eat nothing, but am much much better now. But I still like to throw a little shock and awe at my mom when I eat something I would have never touched as a kid.

That being said, we stopped at the famous Pea Soup Andersens in Buelleton for lunch. We had intended to stop at the Firestone Walker Brewery (also in Buelleton) but they weren't open until 1 and we needed lunch now. So there was Pea Soup Andersens and we went with it. Even more than that, we actually ate the pea soup. And we loved it! I was delicious and filling and we were both surprised at how much we actually enjoyed it. We also the pea soup in a bread bowl. Everything tastes delicious in a bread bowl.


Luke, of course, ate nothing. This is my pickiness coming back to bite me.

Luke is being pensive about his food choices. At least the milk went down.

After lunch, we both called our mothers to tell them we ate pea soup at Pea Soup Andersens. They were both shocked and awed.

Quick stop

Returning back home from San Diego, Todd was sweet enough to stop in LA to visit Loyola Marymount, my alma mater. I was thrilled - there have been so many changes since I graduated 8 (yikes!) years ago, including the brand-spankin' new library.

The library was stunning, I was jealous that it was built post-Noella years. Tons of light, tons of books and lots of cozy nooks to read in. Luke loved the library - we told him that this was where books lived - he liked that idea a lot.



We walked all over the campus and checked out how things had changed and how they had stayed the same. It was orientation weekend for the incoming freshman, so it was cute to see all the "2014" stuff everywhere. Mostly it made me feel old as I'm turning *gulp* THIRTY this month.


But Luke was able to run around and stretch his legs out, which was most important.

Then he crashed out. Blessed Benadryl.

Happy Father's Day!

I can't imagine a father loving his son more than Todd loves Luke. When I met Todd, I knew he would be a good husband and father. When Luke came into our lives, he became the "uber-daddy." Luke adores Todd, laughs at all his jokes and will run around with him. I don't think even I knew how amazing Todd would be as a dad - I admire his never-ending patience, and I love that he can be firm with Luke, but Luke never doubts that he is loved. I know that Luke is the great kid he is because of his Daddy.

They are two peas in a pod, my boys.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the two of these crazy kids together in the last couple of years. (Henceforth known as Todd and Mini-Todd)

In the first few weeks at home


Luke didn't sleep much (I think the only time ever in our bed) so it was to be documented. I love Luke's bald spot.



Maybe a little hungry . . .


My cute A's fans!


Getting an early start. At least it's from Pizza Port!


Christmas Tree Farm -2008

Blurry soccer shot - they are great playing sports together, even when Luke was so little.

Glacier National Park - "Let's go Daddy!"


Father's Day 2009

It was another great Father's Day in 2010, which will be a post for a later time. I am so thankful for my boys, they fill every day up with so much joy.

Liting Makeeen

I'm such a sucker.

I saw this hat at Disneyland and had to have it for Luke. He didn't know what to make of a Mickey hat that had "Liting Makeen" tires on it.

We all had to wear the Makeen hat for a while, but now it lives with his "Mickey House" (mouse) and hangs out with his other Mickey ears.

While the parents are away . . .

Yes, we went to Disneyland and left Luke behind, but he had a fantastic time without us!

Grandma and Auntie G took Luke swimming, which he loved. Apparently, he swam for a good two hours and cried when he had to get out.

Suffice to say, he did not miss us nearly as much as we missed him. That's truly the joy of parenthood: making an escape for an anniversary celebration and talking about your son non-stop. We tried not to, but he's such a cool kid - how can you not??

Ouch!

We decided to celebrate the last day of school by going out to dinner using some free Chilis money. (I truly think gift card dinners taste better than dinners one has to pay for oneself.) Anyways, long story short, Luke bailed while playing with his cars, hit the curb and got all scraped up. We told him he was fine, it was just a scraped knee and he pointed to his chin and said, "My chin!" Clearly, we hadn't noticed the blood on his shirt.

Whoops.

We quickly left Chilis and covered him with cool Cars band-aids. He was so proud!
note: please carry first aid kit in car.

We had hot dogs for dinner instead.

Anniversary at Disneyland!

We were so thrilled to be able to have Grandma babysit Luke while we could run off to Disneyland to celebrate our anniversary. It's always been nice to have a Disneyland partner who was crazy like me. And this time was no exception. Grandma had been able to procure super cheap tickets for Disneyland (for a good cause) and so we were off early, arriving at DL by 7:45 am. Before the doors open. Woo hoo!

It wasn't busy at all and we were able to hit the major rides hard, getting the biggies out the way in a few hours. Once that happened the pressure was off and we relaxed for the better part of the day, enjoying our time together. We went on new-to-us rides as well as some old favorites.

We hadn't been to California Adventure in a few years, so it was nice to go and visit it again. They're doing a major overhaul and adding on a whole new area. That's right, come back in 2012 for CARSLAND. I'm serious. Luke is going to have a conniption. It's going to be awesome!




We settled for a while in Ariel's Grotto, which is the bar where we hung out on our first trip together to DL, came again when we got engaged, came again after we had just gotten married and now were back for our 5th anniversary. Wow, has it ever changed. The place was packed! It had always been our nice, quiet escape, but now the word is out and it's too cool for school. We still enjoyed a few margaritas and were able to talk and relax.



We had to take our picture with the "happily ever after" mural in the animation building, which we had originally taken when we were first engaged. "Happily," we have both lost weight since the first picture :)


We even enjoyed a cup of coffee on Main Street and were able to people-watch. Good times! We finally left just after 11 pm - we were going to beat Disneyland, but in the end, Disneyland beat us! Thanks to our good friends who let us crash at their place, since they live so close to DL.

Happy Anniversary Celebration!

Amazing!

The Amazing Race: Stratford 2010





So I'll put a few pictures up of what I can . . . because it's amazing. A-MAZ-ING.

So I had super-star parents this year in my classroom - they are the Magic Moms. I could never do what they have done and the ring leader of the operation is a working mom. That's right: a full time working mom. More power to her!

They decided that for the end-of-the-year party, they would have a day long party (no joke) and it would be the Amazing Race. Seriously. They had games and activities that related to 5 different countries, they had clues, passports, t-shirts, everything. You name it, they had it.

sidenote: I've never watched the show, but due to the attention to detail, I'm assuming it is exactly like the show.

The kids raced outside, inside, everywhere! The moms came in and decorated my classroom to look like different countries. Please note: these are not print outs -- they are cut sheets of paper, layered. These are my people. They are willing to spend crazy amounts of time on crafty things that maybe 1 out of every 10 people will notice and appreciate. I really appreciated it.

So while I can't post pics of the kids, I will post a few of the games and definitely the backgrounds.


I completely forgot to take a picture of the Egypt background - nuts!



So for Mexico, they had to assemble a puzzle that had the clue at the bottom. This led them to making pinatas.

Yup - all the kids made individual pinatas. Magic Mom had made individual paper mache spheres for the kids to make the pinatas out of. They were neatly painted and had lines for the placement of glue. Individually cut strips of fringed tissue paper were neatly arranged in color order in color coordinated boxes for each group. There was even miniature candy to be stuffed into the pinatas. I'm not joking.

Please note the assembled tree that the kids had to hang their finished pinatas on.

After the pinatas, they had to categorize Spanish words on a magnetic board, then translate each word before they could move on to the next clue. Yes. I'm serious.



Instructions for mosaic:


In Greece, the kids made mosaics - super cute! Either a sunflower or a parrot - everything was color labeled. Like paint by numbers, but with sticky foam squares.

Finished mosaic:



There were certainly more games than I can mention here (again: ALL DAY PARTY) but at the end, they kids all received these goody bags. They had popcorn, water balloons, bubbles (eco-friendly, of course), pencils and TWO books.


I got one, too!

Yeah - its super crazy and super awesome. Thanks to all the parents who came and helped out - we had 7 parent participants, all wearing the purple "grown up" shirt. I even got my own!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy 5th anniversary! These 5 years certainly flew by . . . how much things have changed since we were married: living with roommates to a teeny apartment, from a duplex to our own home, with our own mortgage. We've had losses, we've had additions (Hi, Luke!), we've had jobs we've loved, we've had jobs we've hated, we've gone to school, we've graduated from school, we've gone back to school, but through it all, we've had each other: for better or worse, its been us. I love you more every day and can't believe how blessed I am to spend my life with you. You make me laugh every day and sometimes, I even make you laugh. (those are the really good days) And you're stuck with me.

Here's to another 5 years! And 5 more after that . . .

Showering

With our good friends Sam and Brent getting married next month, the wedding festivities are getting into full swing. While Todd was off in Vegas for Brent's bachelor party, I hosted Sam's bridal shower at our place. I love our home so much, even more so now that I have the space to accommodate guests. The house has a wonderful flow to it - it just feels comfortable.

I had a great time decorating - what fun! Because Sam's colors are yellow and green, I found a beautiful green/cream damask fabric for the tablecloths and used lemons in jars for decor. (I always think of Jennifer Aniston in the "Break Up" with her '12 lemon centerpiece,' but I digress . . .) We had mimosas, lemonade and iced tea along with brunch-y foods provided by Sam's mother and sister.

The drink station


My cupcakes that failed terribly in the looks, but tasted delicious. I made frosting! Woo hoo!

Cute favors filled with candy delicious-ness. (Color coordinated, of course.)

The party guests!

My very "Martha" towel cake - the best yet! I do love making a good towel cake. Or diaper cake. Or diaper wreath! I do love a good "crafty" outlet.

We all had a good time and the boys arrived at the end of the shower. Todd was able to get the a/c working for us, too! He saved the day :)