SLO Weekend

Last weekend we headed over to the coast for Cody's shower and a little get-away!  Although we missed the kids, it was a very relaxing and refreshing trip.  Started off with a two-hour car ride of uninterrupted conversation and yummy coffee!

Cody's shower was so nice.  I'm so excited for my wonderful friend.  And it was great seeing all the girls!

That night we went to Goshi's for sushi.....yuuuuuum.

And then to Cielo (good, but no Mission Grill) for a drink.

We stayed at Quality Inn on Monterey, gotta love that breakfast!!

We had to take a Poly campus tour to see all the changes.  I like the updates, but kinda missed the way I remembered it.  Check out the UU...sooo different!  

Fortunately good 'ole Sandwich Factory is still there.

And Lucy's!

They're constructing a new science building, pretty awesome.

Can't leave SLO without the BEST tri-tip sandwich EVER!

Whenever I go back there I'm reminded of how lucky I was to live there for 4 years.  I guess I'm still pretty lucky to only be 2 1/2 hours away.  

my latest project

My first rolled flower clip for Katelyn!  I actually had fabric that I LOVE left over from the crib bedding we made.  Fun, cheap, and easy to make...my kinda project!

Just a few laughs...

This past week has been pretty low-key which has been nice.  Sometimes things feel too busy to even keep up with, but it really helps me appreciate weeks like this when we don't have much going on!

Even on slow weeks, boredom is never a word I can even remember anymore!  Why? Two words: Katelyn and Luke (ok fine...I'll admit one more word...pinterest!!).

I love how the kids make me laugh every day about the silliest things.  Things I'm sure I would not have thought were even that funny before having kids.  Everything from their contagious giggles to the silly things Katelyn comes up with.

Here are a few funnies from this week:
1. The kids are in the bathtub and Luke begins to pee.  The way he's sitting in his baby bath, it just forms a perfectly aimed arch directly onto Katelyn's arm.  She just looks at him and then continues playing with her bath toys like that was a totally normal event.  It was just so funny to see someone get peed on and not even bat an eye! (clearly she does not understand what pee is made of)

2. One of Katelyn's favorite things to do these days is build forts and hide in them.  She runs wildly around the house yelling, "the monkeys are coming!!" before taking refuge in her fort.  I have no idea where this monkey idea came from but it's hilarious because once she's in her fort she whispers the whole time like she's forming an attack plan!

3. Luke loves jumping in the "jump-and-go".  Any time he gets really fussy, it's almost a sure solution, he gets happy when he jumps.  So the other night, Steve noticed that he didn't hear much jumping or giggling like usual and when he looked over, he saw this...

We were laughing so hard, he had completely zonked out!

4. Katelyn's preferred toy this week: a wrapping paper tube.  I would hold it up to one eye and look through it at her and say, "I see you!".  So whenever she tried to do it back it just cracked me up...she would put the tube opening on her forehead (so that her eyes were actually underneath the tube) and just look at me normally and say, "I see you!!".  She just looked like a luny walking around with a wrapping paper tube plastered to her forehead!  Then she decided to use it like a fake arm and chase me all over the house with it...

5. It always makes me laugh watching either of the kids play with Tucker.  I am amazed at how young they are mesmerized by animals.  Luke gets so animated and happy any time he sees Tucker.  And Tucker is truly Katelyn's best bud.  She coaxes him down the hall to her room where she takes out all of the clothes in any drawer she can open and dresses him up.

The laughter these two bring us is such a blessing!!

Simi

We had such a fun day on Thursday down in Simi Valley.  My mom and I packed up the kids and drove down to Aunt Kristina's house for a fun playtime with the kids.  Kari, Brinley, and Titus all met up with us as well as my long-lost Bako buddy, Mary Beth!  The weather was amazing and it was so nice to get out of town for the day and hang out with friends and family.

Eating lunch together.

Zoe and Katelyn

Asher made hot chocolate for everyone!

Me and Mary Beth

And just a few randoms of Luke!  Rolling all over the place, eating his toes, so smiley and giggly!

Does he look more like Steve or me?

A few checks off my list...

A few things I have been needing/wanting to do for a while finally got accomplished over Christmas break.  Gotta love the time home with the hubby to help with the kids!

1. I have been wanting to turn our "coat" closet into a craft/scrapbook closet.  Much more functional than collecting coats we seldom use.  So I just moved all of the coats into our bedroom closet to make room for Steve to build me some shelves.  He painted the closet wall a really pretty gray (revere pewter by ben moore) and left the pole for me to hang organizers or ribbon or whatever on.  I WISH I had taken a picture of what it looked like before because it really made a drastic improvement!

So far, I have just been collecting all my random craft stuff that was stuffed in the office and been sticking it in here.  My next step is to actually organize it, label everything, and make it really functional.  I think I'll be a lot more motivated to work on something if I have everything I need easily accessible.

2. For a very long time now I have been wanting to change the great room/kitchen paint color.  But we have hesitated on doing it for various reasons (pregnant and not wanting to be around the paint fumes, newborn in the house same reason, having a really hard time picking out a neutral we like, and just plain not wanting to buckle down and spend the time to paint!)  Well, we finally tackled it and I love how it turned out!

We don't get a lot of natural lighting in our house so I went for a pretty light color to try to lighten things up.  It is sort of a gray/beige color called Grant Beige by ben moore.  It took a little while to adjust because after having lots of color on the walls it looks a little more plain now, but as soon as we get curtains and a rug it will look great.  Next big project: get those cabinets painted white!!

3. I had time to make a bunch of purees for Luke and freeze them for easy prep during weekdays.  He had his first bites of solids and how did he do?  Well, this pretty much says it all...

As with everything we do with Luke, Katelyn is super interested in feeding time.  She's always saying, "I want to do it!" or "I want some!"  So here she is helping her brother eat.

And after a few bites she has lost interest and is playing iPhone games...

And as soon as Luke is finished..."MY TURN"!!

December

This month has been packed!  We have had such a wonderful time getting together with family and celebrating the holidays.  I feel so blessed beyond words to have these people in my life.  Here are a few highlights from the past few weeks: (a bit long...we had a lot goin on!)

1. My brother is ENGAGED!!  To the most wonderful girl, Brooke is such a perfect addition to the family!  He planned a surprise engagement party down in Santa Monica where we got to meet all of Brooke's sweet family and celebrate their engagement.  Aren't they just the cutest??

2. We've been having so much fun watching the 49ers dominate this season!!  Katelyn loves her new jersey and helping Daddy cheer for our team!

3. Every December there is a Holiday Lights exhibit out at the (very tiny) local zoo here in Bako (CALM). We bundled the kids up and enjoyed the festivities with Grammie and Grampa.

Katelyn just can't get enough of Carousels.  We had to wait in line twice because she had so much fun the first time!

4. Christmas Eve was a blast with the family.  We all went to church, then came back to our house for food and games.  

Ready for Christmas Eve Service!

Auntie Shell and Uncle Zach got a new puppy, Crosby!  Definitely Katelyn's highlight for the weekend!

Awwwwwww

I love my family.

"My Auntie knows Santa"

New Years Eve PJs!

The lovebirds celebrating with a bottle of Dom Perignon..woohoo!  Can you see that gorgeous rock on her finger?

5. Christmas Day!  We were so busy video taping Katelyn waking up to her presents Christmas morning that we didn't take any pics.  She had fun opening her gifts, but like birthday parties, still a bit overwhelming for her.  She got a lot of great stuff, thanks family!

We headed over to Grammie and Grampa's house for more Christmas day fun!

All ready to cook Christmas dinner!

Mom and Dad have almost finished the new backyard, complete with a fire pit!  We had such a great time sitting around the fire hanging out, and of course roasting some marshmallows (Kate's first at this!)

 The girls had fun making a mini Christmas scrapbook to keep for the holidays.

While the boys played Craps

Even Luke got to have some fun!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!