here i am

i know. i've been so lame with the blog thing. here are some pics from the past couple months. enjoy and i'll be back here after christmas.... maybe before.

wallace jumping off of everything. especially loving the jump from waterfall into pool.

exploring the beach at sunset. many times.

date nights. this one in fullerton at the art auction.

my cute cute boy just chillin reading a magazine.

some of rian's japan friends in san clemente.

lunch with the mellema's and kids.

disneyland. my packhorse.

wally's first chore chart. 1: make bed. 2: take vitamin. 3: clean up toys.

a super fun halloween. lots of events this year. this one is at 'treats in the streets' in oldtown orange.

halloween parade with my mama's group.

skyler's first pumpkin patch.

This little girl is 6 months old!!

We left the kids with Rian's parents to go watch Pawnshop Kings win enough wooden nickels to open for Cold War Kids the same night.


Lauren & Brian met up with us.

This is not one of Rian's favorite tops that Wallace owns.

We've done many pool days lately with the end of summer heat.

We left Skye at my parents house and took Wally out on a date to Disneyland. It was a Friday night with no lines! I think we did 7 rides, a show, and fireworks... all in just a couple hours.


One of Wallace's favorite things to do is play in our cars with all the buttons and gadgets. This kept him busy for a loooong time while Rian cleaned out the garage this weekend. It took Rian a long time to figure out how Wallace disabled the keyless entry.

Our tomato plant served us well all summer. We just pulled it out and threw in some arugula and brussel sprouts. I think we're gonna try butter lettuce too.

Wallace showing off the red bell peppers we picked today.

Summer softball is officially over with an end of season BBQ at the Kersh's house in Tustin. Here are some of the kids.

I put this up on facebook a while ago. It's Liv and Wally playing baseball. They love playing together...

August

In the last week... Wallace began swim lessons, Skyler is sitting up by herself, Gypsy had ear surgery, Rian got a tattoo, Wallace caught a summer cold (and coughed so hard he threw up all over me. And the couch. And Skyler's foot.), Skyler began eating real food, and I... well I don't know what I did. I took care of everyone. Actually, I also read through all the Twilight books, got to go off on my own a couple nights to get a massage, do some errands, grocery shop (alone!), meet some friends, etc. I've been well taken care of too. Beyond this week, here are some pics from the month of August.

Rian, Dave and Colby went to watch the Dodgers beat Atlanta ("In dramatic fashion", Rian says, "with Andre Ethier, Meg's crush, belting a 3-run walkoff homer!")

My mom with her 2 favorite grandkids.

Me and my sweet baby after a bath.

At our ex-neighbors house (they moved a year ago) Wallace LOVED playing dress-up with Dustin and Brandon's halloween clothes. He came out as a cowboy, pirate, and army lieutenant. And then he went and helped himself to a banana in their kitchen.

She loved this bite.

We watched Molly Jenson play at a house concert in Santa Ana.

"Faithful" in Japanese.

Rian's Tuesday night summer softball team.

Wally & Ethan

The cheering squad.

Skyler sitting up (yes, like a monkey).

Paradise Point 2009

This weekend was our annual Wallace Family trip to San Diego with Mimi, all my Aunts and Uncles, my cousins and all their kids. Wallace had a blast playing with all his second cousins and having constant access to the sand and bay. This year everyone was able to be there except for my sister and brother-in-law... who are on a trip to Egypt and Croatia. They were super bummed to miss out. Rian and I love this weekend and look forward to it each year. We're so fortunate to be part of this big family who loves tradition and spending time together. Until next time...

Jack taking Wally and Spencer for a ride.



Wally, Will, Spencer, Kate, Blake and Jack around the kids table.

Wally and Will.

Aunt Carol

Will Parsons digging a hole.

Mimi and all the aunts with the bungalows in the background.


Scott swimming with Wally.




Dance party after the sun goes down.


Jack loving on Skyler.

Skyler attracting a crowd: Evy, Spencer, Kate & Zoey

Wallace turns TWO!

Rian took Wednesday off and we took Wallace to the San Diego Zoo for his second birthday.

The next night we had family over to celebrate.
Zpizza for dinner.

Waiting for his Mickey cake to make its appearance.

Blowing out the candle.


Grandpa and Skye.

Wallace was a little sticky after dessert... so we threw him in the pool.

Poppa showing Wallace how to set up his new Tool Bench.

A picnic table from Aunt Lo & Uncle Bumble.

His first bike.

Serious Catch-Up

Wallace & Liv at the park.

Life Group bonfire at Balboa.




Large dog at a friends house.

Sunday at the bay.

Lauren & Brian's new house in Hollywood.



I tried to get everyone to look at the camera.


Skyler update... She loves her hands.

She loves her feet.

She loves using the middle finger.

She loves sitting in the Bumbo.

Wally likes to read to Skye before bed.

4th of July weekend

A pre-holiday beach day on Thursday with Juliana & Liv, Sara, and Val. We saw dolphins, built drip castles, and found a dead seal and watched the tractor bury it (the highlight).


The next day Rian and I took the kids to the beach again. It was quite the adventure... Wallace got his first bee sting, built some sandcastles with his dad and got buried in a big hole.


Frisbee Golf and fireworks with Lara and Joe, their family and friends.

Wallace explaining the story to his sister.

Last day of the long weekend was spent in the pool at my parents house.



Wallace loves that he can play loudly with my mom's dishes without breaking them.

CDM bluffs

Last weekend we did a spur of the moment dinner in Corona del Mar with my mama's group and their families.

Wally and TayTay enjoying the view.

Brayden sharing his fishies with Wallace and Owen.

Zoomars

A couple weeks ago I went to Zoomars in San Juan Capistrano with my mama's group. The hit for all the kids was the rabbit/guinea pig cage where you have hundreds of these animals running all around. You feed them and "hold" them as you can see below with Ryder and Wallace:

Taylor and Wallace feeding the rodents.

The goats were not a hit for Wallace. Probably because of this one chasing him.

The best no-bake cookies

Ingredients:
4 ounces butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
2 cups sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons peanut butter
3 cups oats, quick or old-fashioned
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

** Place chocolate chips, peanut butter (if used), oats, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Combine the margarine, milk, and sugar in a saucepan; bring to a rolling boil. Boil for 1 minute. Combine the hot mixture with the oatmeal and chocolate chip mixture; stir well. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Put in fridge to cool.

nordstrom

i love it when both skye and wally take their afternoon nap at the same time. i tuckered them out at, yes, nordstrom this morning. not my typical hang out, but can i tell you that the eBar has the BEST coffee drink ever. their mocha storm with no whip and a flat lid (i hate the puffy round lids that get in the way of my face and ruin my drink experience) will turn any day into a happy day. plus the piano man was playing and wally likes to watch him. plus a lady told me that it looks like i just walked out of Woodstock and i took that as a compliment. however, a different lady came up and talked to wallace saying how "she" is such a cute little girl. this has happened before and with the elderly, i just go with it. so i said, "thank you, she's almost two". but come on, does this really look like a girl?

it's not like i dress him like this:

besides the gender mix up, wally also got a time-out at nordy's for touching the perfume bottles after i told him not too like 5 times. other than that, we had a blast.

and skyler's good, too.

i can't believe she's already big enough to enjoy this!

today...

was full of good things.
---skyler always has her left thumb tucked in. always. it's just her thing.

---wallace still loves the garden. he constantly asks to go out there.

---i took some pics of wally's first day in our "pool". i did not take pics of his first poop in the pool. seriously.


---we took a picnic dinner to the beach tonight. there is nothing like it.



(rian is wearing his lederhosen in the pic below)

---after the kids were down and rian was into his dodgers game, i made this slowcook oatmeal recipe for breakfast tomorrow. it looks and smells like it's gonna be really good, so here's the recipe. if it tastes like crap in the morning, i'll let you know.

CROCKPOT OATMEAL
2 cups milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbl melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup oats
1 cup finely chopped apple
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds
---grease inside of crockpot. combine ingredients in crockpot and mix well. cover and turn on low heat. cook overnight or 8-9 hours. stir before serving.

weekend pics

the garden is thriving and even my dichondra is growing between the stepping stones. i found this dimpled boy poking around in it on friday.

first bounces in a jump house.

the kids.


disneyland. yes, i let goofy touch my child. he came out from nowhere.


here i am on the golden zephyr. i feel really nerdy that i knew the name and just wrote it. wallace is somewhere next to me.


and he went on with rian too. i'm the one on the ground waving like a fool everytime i see him.

also, i'm reading some really good books right now that i thought i'd share. my mama's group is almost done with SACRED PARENTING. it's a really good book to read if you're a mom or even thinking about being one. we loved it. i've also been referring back to BABY WISE lately. i credit the book for the way my kids slept through the night so early. another book i'm just beginning is THE ARTIST'S WAY. lara referred it to me (i picked it up this morning at fashion island, lara... thanks!). i'm really excited about it.

A ramble with my scramble(d eggs)

Is it Monday already? The weeks and especially weekends have been flying by. Probably because we have a bad (good) habit of stuffing everything into our weekend that we possibly can. Friday night we did Happy Hour dinner at Claim Jumper. Our favorite, only because we can sit outside (I hate sitting IN restaurants... maybe I'm claustrophobic, maybe I hate smelling like food afterwards) and because they have free kids plates (I think it's called "The Baby Plate" in case you ask. Cheese sticks, turkey slice, mandarin oranges, & apple sauce.) Also, CJ has a great happy hour menu. Anyway, we walked around South Coast Plaza afterwards to walk off our dinner and let Wallace play around (and I did some shopping!). Saturday we joined up with Rian's summer softball guys and their families for a BBQ at the Hartmans. First game is in a week I think. This is always so fun. Especially for us wives who can sit around and talk and watch all the kids run around together. Oh and sometimes watch the game. Sunday we did Disneyland all morning. Yes, we skipped church this weekend. Anyway, our Dland passes are blacked out all of July and a bit more, so we did our final hoorah with the kids. Rian and I hope to sneak away just us before the dreaded blackout. We'll be up and running again in September. Sunday night we had some of our new(er) neighbors over for dinner. One of the families has a 3.5 year old girl. Fun for Wallace. Speaking of him, I'm feeling really clever right now. Blogging on one half of the computer screen and playing a cartoon on the other half (I have a wide screen) while we eat breakfast. Skyler is still sleeping. She seems to enjoy sleeping in (to some people this is not sleeping in, but it's 7:50am and THAT is sleeping in) and giving me time alone with Wallace to eat breakfast and play. Skyler by the way is doing great. She is so happy and has to work pretty hard to lift those cheeks of hers and smile. Wallace still spends the majority of his day smothering her with kisses and asking where she is when she's napping. He loves her. Skye has been going down around 8:30 and waking around 8:00am. Both our kids have been crazy good sleepers. A couple days last week we had them up 'til 10pm. And then they wake up earlier. Go figure.

I'm leaving you with a picture of my Mama's group. I joined them back in the Fall and they have been such a blessing in my life. Every single one of these girls have so much depth to them. They are authentic, down to earth, and fun. We meet at a coffee shop late on Thursday nights and I look forward to it all week. This is us playing at TeWinkle park one day last week. Everyone's here except for Jenn (missed you and Tay-Tay!).

Hey Spinner