Weston's First Birthday Celebration

The theme was incredibly easy to pick out.  Airplanes!  Since buying our home last year, we have moved underneath the flight path to John Wayne Airport.  It's actually really quite cool. The area we live in, is central Orange County, and we see a ton of airplanes throughout the day making their decent.  Needless to say, every since we moved in, Weston has been obsessed. One of the things he started doing after he noticed the patterns of planes was point. So anytime we would be anywhere, we would ask him "Weston, where are the airplanes?" and we would have him pointing his finger to the sky.  It was incredibly cute.  His fascination with airplanes is still dominant over most other things. Sure, he loves cars, balls, all those boy like things, but if he hears the roar of a jet engine or a hoovering helicopter above, he's straining his neck to locate it with his eyes, and then there goes his little hand pointing in awe.

This winter in Orange County has been non-existent this year.  It's been officially declared a drought.  Anyone that knows Tim and I, knows we LOVE rain.  However, I was thrilled to be able to plan an outdoor party at our new home for Weston, in perfect viewing site of the airplanes. We ordered a jump house, tables and chairs and invited over 30 of our closest family and friends.  Well, the weather of course decided to send a HUGE storm our way that week, and of course it called for 90% chance of rain on his birthday party day. I was soooo bummed.

So you know what we did, we moved the jump house into the garage for all the kiddos, and made do with our indoor space.  We HAD THE BEST time ever.  Because the weather was so nasty out, all the kids wanted to jump. Three days of pent up energy, and parents were glad to see a controlled space like a bounce house to use for hours!  And we did. We got our money out of that thing. 

You know what Weston did?  He slept. He greeted our guests, posed for some photos, and then was exhausted and excused himself to his room where he slept for over an hour with his door wide open, and people make a ton of noise. Ummmmm....since when did he adopt the term sleep like a baby? Because our son, doesn't ever do that.  So I had to wake him up to do cake before everyone had left.  He was groggy and tired, but after the birthday song, he really started to dig the idea that he was the center of attention and this person who is the center of attention gets a cake to eat all by himself.  And this kid of mine....he DUG IN.  He was eating it, got it all over his little cheeks, and continued to play with it for a good 15 minutes. I was in shock. Both my kiddos and their first cake experience were the complete opposite of what I thought they would do.

The day ended with the opening of presents and LOTS of leftover food.  I am pretty sure we still have a whole bag of Costco Tortilla chips.

Catching Up

Celebrated birthdays.
Bought a house.
Drove to Arizona for a family vacation.
Went to Disneyland.
Had family pictures taken.

Annual Pumpkin Patch Tradition @ Tanaka Farms

This will mark our 3rd year heading to Tanaka Farms with Barby & Sarah.  I met both girls right after I had Jillian through a meet up group .  We hit it off right away, and throughout the years I am so grateful for the bond we have created.  They are supportive, wholesome, wonderful individuals with amazing families to boot. I absolutely adore their friendship and couldn't have asked for two better friends.

First year at Tanaka Farms, we had 3 little ones, and Barby was pregnant with #2.

Last year at Tanaka Farms, we had 4 little ones, and I was pregnant with Weston.

This year at Tanaka Farms, we had 6 little ones, Sarah had her daughter Isabella with us who was 6 weeks old!

Jillian's 2nd Birthday

My daughter is 2.  Wow. I can't help but think about the day she was born, the first few minutes with her and the emotions that came along with that.  Sometimes I wonder in astonishment how we even made it this far??! Secretly I think I should throw myself and Tim a party for getting through all the challenges that came along with first time parenthood, but none the less, we made it  and we have a beautiful 2 year in front of us.

When Jillian turned 1 we were living in our condo.  Since then, we sold our condo, moved into a rental house, and have a lot more space.  I really wanted to throw her a 2nd birthday party and invite all of Jillian's friends.  The theme was "we all scream for ice cream" since Jillian absolutely loves ice cream and what adult doesn't love ice cream as well??

Both sets of grandparents made the journey, and we got to invite Jillian's daycare provider Amy and her two daughters and Jillian's favorite friends from daycare, Caleb and Lannie.  Also in attendance was Ava, John, Oden, and Colton, her go-to best friends. Baby Pete was there, and while he's the youngest, he was the biggest one there, all 35 pounds of him!

My mom helped with the decorations and really helped organize the party before, during and after.  (Moms are serious rock stars, is there anything they don't do)??  By the end of the party, our house was relatively clean, and Jillian napped for a solid 3 hours.

This is the last birthday she will have as our only child and I really wanted to savor the day and enjoy all the little details.  My heart melts when I hear Jillian say, "my mommy"  and comes running into my arms for a giant hug.  These are just small moments in a chaotic day that remind me how quickly life does pass us by.  Thank goodness for blogging/journaling, because this was a special day for our family, and I hope to never forget how magical it felt at the time.

Halloween Fun 2012

This year's Halloween festivities haven't let up since October 1st.  We have been to three pumpkin patches, spent a few hours crafting our pumpkins at home, have candles constantly burning those delicious fall scents at home, and have been in a baking frenzy!  Pumpkin bread, pumpkin bread with chocolate chips and walnuts, and my favorite Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies.  Next up is apple pie cookies. 

Jillian has been bold enough to feed crazy looking goats, she braved a big-kid maze (I got claustrophobic) and picked out multiple pumpkins.  It's been such a joy to see her excitement over "pum kins" and to frolick around a farm tasting fall's yummy delights.

This past weekend we met up with our good friends for our annual Tanaka Farms Pumpkin patch get together in the OC.  We have a million pictures to prove it too!

I love this time of year!!

Minneapolis

I spent my birthday weekend visiting Sousan in Minneapolis. It's bitter sweet, really. The distance between us is awful, however, she lives in a really cool city and I can't wait to head back for a visit.

Four days wasn't long enough. We had the BEST time. I mean the BEST time. Thursday night we went downtown and ate at a restaurant called the Newsroom. 2 hours later we headed to her house (about 15 minutes outside the city) and crashed.

Friday we took at class at a nearby gym, grabbed smoothies and then headed to a spa for mani's and pedi's. It was pure bliss. After our 2 hour spa excursion, we fueled up at Chiptole and then headed to the Mall of America.

I had great expectations for this mall, but honestly it was just a really big mall. Filled with lots of tourists, like me. I am embarrassed to say this, but we were there for 7 hours. We took our sweet time trying on clothes, stopping at each store, enjoying the people watching, and then we had dinner. An old work colleague met us at the mall for dinner, and then after dinner shopping. Gotta love twitter for him finding out I was in his home town. He was such a gentleman and bought Sousan and I dinner that night.

Saturday we slept in, made breakfast, watched bridesmaids, and then drove around town some more. Saturday night, we got dressed up and heading to Uptown, where we had dinner at a trendy tapas place called Chino Latino. We ordered drinks called the Crack Ho Mojito and the Mexican three way. Heavily buzzed, we moved on to an Irish pub in the heart of downtown and danced to a live band.

I can't wait to go back for a visit, but I am glad that Sousan's long term goal is to only be there for 2 years. She belongs in California close to me :)

My first drink - Flirtini

inside the Mall of America - a roller coaster!

Drinking with my best friend. Oh the memories!

Bonnie and Matt are Married....at last!

Tim and I attended Matt and Bonnie's wedding on Sunday, September 4. It was such a beautiful wedding. There were some clouds in the sky that made for a very fall like wedding. The reception and ceremony were both outside, and reflected both Matt and Bonnie's personality. They wrote their own vows, which I thought was so sweet, and of course, personal. Matt seemed a little nervous, while Bonnie got choked up when Matt surprised her with vows to her son, Nathan. The table gift was a mason jar with three seeds planted in some soil to represent their growing family of 3.

We ended the night indulging in the best carrot cake I have ever had, and dancing the night away under the stars. During the last two songs, it started to sprinkle a bit, which made for a magical moment for everyone. By the way, Tim was a maniac on the dance floor, he tore it up!

Jillian was at Grandma and Grandpa Roberts house having a blast!