SEASONS CHANGE

I like to switch things out seasonally, so today I grabbed my stack of kinfolk mags and anthropologie catalogs and ripped out some pages of evergreens, cranberries, and piles of blankets and stuck them in frames. An easy way to make the home feel cozy for the new season.

Hope you have a happy weekend, xo!

WEEKEND RECAP (xTHREE!)

laguna beach with the sisters and cousins

overcast. but still saw a group (pod?) of whales pass by and found sand crabs - our fave!

........

the very next (early sunrise) morning, my best friend and i were off to vegas!

...to sunbathe and float around the lazy river for 8 hours, then take the bachelorette out for the never-ending night. dancing, fireworks, wolfgang puck dinner/breakfast at 3am...

a few hours of sleep later, the bestie and I grabbed our new memories and drove the 4 hours back,

with a quick stop off somewhere between nevada and california to catch Jeff and the cousins driving themselves to vegas. (I'd see them all again three days later.)

.......

I was home in time for dinner with the boys, then took ewan with me to san diego the next morning to be at sis-in-laws lawschool graduation at 9am

and a couple days later Jeff was back, and I went to school with him

like I mentioned, what feel like ages ago.

leading into a weekend full of swimming, bbq-ing, and disneylanding...

........

aaaaand rounding out this week:

babysitting my niece - three babies for the day!

Jeff's parents and sis flew to Texas to see Johnny - he's still there

(we've been watching their puppy and baby chicks in the meantime)

friday was take your son to work day. daddyoftheyear award given by ewan on that one.

cinco de mayo was spent at thee one-year-old birthday party of the year!

bounce house, piñata, ball-pit, three-tier cake...

and yesterday, some girl time back at college for me - "adpi 'til i die!" yep. sorority.

we try to reunion at least once a year. and the first thing everyone said to me yesterday was, "your boooys!" which tells me 1) I post way too many pictures of them, and 2) I make mothering look waaay too easy for those without kids. it ain't always picnics and popsicles. just sometimes.

ok, maybe a lot of times. we do love popsicles. :)

And after all that, the suitcases from all the travel and overnight stays everywhere

are still half unpacked on the bedroom floor. three weeks and counting.

...........

I've had this long post building in my head about how I need to write to you telling you...

that I don't have time to blog again until halloween... I have dates booked through september for thee BEST summer ever, that includes four weddings - with two on the same day!

and how I feel I'm constantly repeating myself on here since I intstantly-gram the dailys and connect with you over there now. which I love.

and how I'm moving my focus over here for a while for many exciting reasons that need to be shared...

and how I've been blogging for five years and it may be time to take a quick break for summer...

to teach graham how to walk, ewan how to write his name for preschool come august, and squeeze every ounce of family time outta the three week break from school Jeff has coming up.

but all that's for another post.

:)

back to school for the birthday boy

After a long winter break, Jeff went back to school today.
Just reminiscing on all the fun we had while he was all ours...
lots of daddy time with the boys, and dates with his girl!

Disneyland, swimming, room service, laker game, sushi date, toy story on ice, office crashing, antique shopping, sofa buying (almost!), costco stock-ups, cake eating, and lots of lazy lounging... which included the growing of a lazy man's mustache. :) We celebrated Jeff's birthday yesterday (33!), with one more date out just the two of us, for grilled artichoke at our fave Lucille's and a movie of birthday boy's choice - Mission Impossible. In (wildly large and way too loud) IMAX, mind you. Anything for the man I love, I tell ya.

Now back to class, back to schedules, study groups, and law-minded Jeff.
Ewan, Graham, and I are now counting down the days 'til spring break!

must be taller than 42" to ride

two birthdays. two days. just the TWO of us. at DISNEYLAND!

and we knew exactly what rides we WEREN'T gonna ride...

no buzz lightyear. no toy story. no autopia. no tiki room.

 adult rides only, pleeeease... yeehaw!

now I will never again be able to say, "I can't remember the last time I rode that ride."  :)

we checked-in to the grand californian hotel on thursday,

checked out our view of downtown disney,

popped the champagne for some mimosas, and headed out to the parks!

christmas was still up. we even saw santa and the mrs!

besides the one time pictured above, where we handed the camera over to a cast member,

jeff manned the camera the whole time. it was his first shot at it since getting it for christmas.

there was a lot of "light testing"...

and busy blur shots...

he was so proud of himself. and so super cute about it. :)

i, on the other hand, stuck with my iphone...

and took pictures of the super cute photog in action!

jeff's camera castle on the left. my iphone castle on the right. we be dueling photogs. haa!

{although, since I'm the post-er here, I chose which one of his 30 shots made the blog. better luck next time, jeffy!}

 disneyland's letterbox. anyone else playing along with instagram's january photo-a-day?

main street was not prepared for all the hand-holding and bum-grabbing from us free birds!

.............

day two... more button wearing, early entry, running to be first in line, lunch grubbin' at the warf,

bathings suits(!) and more mimosas... by the pool!

ahhhh, a good 'ol warm, california january is good for the soul.

{which had me remembering last january, and our warm-weather celebration.}

a huge thanks to jeff's parents for baby watching, and my fam for pup watching.

this was the longest we've ever left graham, and he was perfect!

we may just need to do this again some time... :)

now, on with january! and our real birthdays coming up in a couple weeks!