there was this one time...

mondays

are always tough on me. i don't like them. i miss him on mondays. i know he has to go to work but i don't want him to. :) if i had my say- i'd make the weekends saturday- tuesday. :) we had a super relaxing weekend with nothing on our plate... just the way we like it. but now it's monday, elsie has a little cold and is a bit fussy.  it's also the end of the month, which means i have 1,000 pictures to go through and put my order in for the month, scrap my garden stuff which is due tonight, and say goodbye to our last full month of summer. tomorrow elsie is 5 months old. that's almost half of a year. sigh.

practical

to wear a bathing suit all day when it is 100 degrees and you are teething/drooling! no?! :)

it's all fun and games

(click photo to enlarge)

when you take your teething 4.5 month old who just got 4 shots on a 3 hour road trip. well she did really well on the way down.. i think the shots knocked her out- she went to the doc for her 4 month check up where she weighed in at 14 lbs. (it was car ride home where she was a grump)
as soon as the visit was over, we headed south to my mom's. chris had gone down with cameron the day before to comic-con and we were meeting up with them. so we spent some time at the beach and with the hose in the backyard. we left els with mom and went to comic-con on saturday-- and that was insane! so many people. while CHA  was going on... i was at comic-con. who would have thought?! i was thinking --- here i am in chris' world... among all the writers and artists of his trade--- and was trying to imagine him at a scrapbooking show. that would be funny. :) maybe the winter show- since it is going to be in CA!

i can't believe august is around the corner--- and that school will start before i know it. why is it going by SO fast?!

who's idea was this?

going to the zoo when it's about 100 degrees out??!!! that's what we kept asking each other. look how fresh we look in the beginning... almost like we really believe we are going to have FUN! :)

in the end: a delirious baby who was carried around like a princess for 3 hours by daddy finally fell asleep. :)

now did we show our bay area cousins a good time or what!?! :) haha- i'm laughing that i didn't post one pic of an animal. clearly - i had my photo priorities!

this one makes me SMILE

this one went up at 2peas today so i thought i would add it after yesterday's digital post. i LOVE this picture that tara took of us. we went for a visit and as we were leaving she got a couple of quick yummy shots. always love getting new tara shots. :) this is one of my faves because you can see some grey in elsie's eyes. they are quickly turning brown so i especially love this one. i could stare at that face all day. oh, i do actually. :)
anyways, wanted to tell you non digital people that you can do it! i thought i would never do anything digital.. (and i still love my paper- i will always do paper stuff).. but sometimes it's fun to go in there and get a few images and just put them here and there. i love that. it's really easy once you get the hang of it. i think the idea for me is to stay simple... don't have too many choices... know the basics... that's good enough for me right now. :)

digital stuff

so i am totally procrastinating cooking dinner right now because standing in front of a hot stove does not sound the least bit appealing. our AC decided to go out the other night and we are whiny/grumpy/hot/uncomfortable.  so i thought i would post a little image i sent to chris a bit ago that inspired me to make a new banner. all of the digi stuff i use is from 2peas digital section. i love those kits. so easy to use. i send chris little pics with stuff on it randomly throughout the day because i can't wait till he gets home to show him. :)

i have lots of pictures to go through from the weekend.. we went to the zoo and went to another bday party.. but this was the first one i opened. and it made me sigh. she looks like SUCH a big girl there. i don't know if it's the direction she's looking (she's looking adoringly at her sister) or if it's because she is sporting her little Gap Popsicle clip or if it's because she's wearing that cute pink tank. but it made me sigh and squeeze her. that cute little smile was not there much today.. i think she is in the middle of primetime teething, she was biting her tongue like it was one of those cold teether toys... awwww. i am gonna miss those gummy smiles. must take a hundred more pics before teeth come in.
ok. must. cook. and. feed. family.
bye!

rice rice baby

almost a week of eating rice cereal... and almost getting the hang of it. these were taken during our first go at it! :)

we R party animals

catching up on parties from earlier this summer again...this one.. kira's 11th at the American Girl Place. i am so giddy that they opened this up by us! i am giddy that she still loves dolls.
i mean, it's like the perfect little doll world.. everyone who works there is high on doll/clothes/accessories happiness.. crazY! :) i'm just saying that because i am crazy jealous that i didn't have this stuff when i was little. i would have flipped! the whole book/doll combo- perfect.

a good time for sure. (heehee, she gets so embarrassed when they sing to her in restaurants)

and last weekend- party for my neice's 4th. FUN!

more pics from that party are right here.

catching up again

2 saturdays ago we had our annual family party where we celebrate birthdays.

it's always nice to gather together and watch slideshows and such. we come from everywhere to have this celebration. and i love this girl so much, my sister in law:

the girls:

some of the boys:

one of the highlights of the night was when we were all walking out of the restaurant and the waitress said: "Let me know if you have any openings in your family. You guys look like a good, fun family." And I smiled inside...knowing that I am so fortunate to be welcomed into such an amazing group...what a blessing it is for my kids to witness such love... I am so grateful.

Thanks you guys.

happy fourth

of july and four months for elsie! :)
photo taken minutes ago on our bed. this look here is the 'you crazy woman, put that camera down and feed me' look.
ok here she is:
totally gave up her pacifier. is strictly on fingers. does the fingers (2-4 at a time) and other arm across her eyes when she is ready to go to sleep. loves to sleep in her crib, preferably as close to her first sets of yawns as possible...if we miss that window... she gets a bit upset. :)
is totally entertained by her brothers and sisters-- and all other family members.. big smiles for them.
not loving her swing as much, but loves her bouncy.
is SO good when we do errands.
can roll from back to belly but has trouble pulling her arm out from beneath herself.
is not a big fan of being on her belly--which is why she has difficulties with the arm thing.
beginning to wear bibs because she is quite the drooly pots.
totally fascinated by her hands and feet. (i love this stage)
good napper.
loves being outside in the evening.
loves her bath so much. 815pm every night. for a good half hour. 
needs her bath/bed routine at night to be able to sleep straight from 9pm-7-8am. (i really like this part- ha!)
lays in her crib in the morning and talks to herself, has this pull toy that plays music.. and sometimes we wake up to hear it, i am totally amazed that she can pull it!
her eyes are still a bit grey but are slowly turning brown.
still such a sweetheart.