The Dawning of a New Deck

Rian's brother, Joel, was a HUGE help on Saturday, getting the foundation layed. This was the hardest part. I watched. And kept the drinks and meals coming.

Wallace watched too.





Wallace and Gypsy making themselves at home.

bella

if you haven't already seen this movie, you should move it to the top of your netflix queue. it is beautiful.

the tooth & other things

This week was extra interesting, as Wallace is getting his second tooth. Whoever said the first tooth was the roughest, doesn't know much. Wallace's first tooth came in with no side effects except 3-4 hour naps throughout the few days before the tooth. This one, however, is complete with lots of fussiness, tons of drool, 101 degree fever, waking up throughout the night, and a couple bouts of throw-up. Speaking of that, Wednesday morning was a perfect day to walk around the bluffs of Corona del Mar. Except that once we arrived and I pulled Wallace out of his carseat, he threw up all over my shoulder and down my back. Thick. Too messy to even drive home in my shirt without getting barf all over the seat. So yes, I drove home topless. I really did. I mean, I covered up with one of his blankets, but I was still practically topless.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! To celebrate, we are building a new deck in the backyard (we means Rian, btw). Hopefully we (Rian) will have it done by Sunday so that Monday can be a play day! Also hoping that the sun comes out, although this stormy weather is really fun! Perfect for coffee and a book (my books these days have huge words on every other page and big bright cartoon pictures).

Old Friends

The Cleary's had us over for dinner Monday night in honor of the Green's being in town from Washington. Christy and I lived in the same house our last year at Biola and Jeff and my parents are friends from way back. All 8 of us went to the same college and it was really fun getting together and catching up (even though we get to see the Cleary's and Hartman's all the time). It was especially fun seeing all of us in this new stage of life, surrounded by kids. Cleary's, thanks for having all us over!!

Here we are around the table on the left: Mike and Karen Cleary with Ethan (3.5 months), Christy and Jeff Green with Jack (5 months) and Clara (2 years), Andrew and Kelly Hartman with Emma (3 months), and Rian and I with Wallace (who just turned 10 months!).

Wallace and Jack wrestling.

The kids.

weekend events

We had a weekend full of parties. I had a baby shower friday night for Tiffany (in our life group) and her adorable baby boy, JJ; we had a 1st birthday party saturday for Ethan (below is an awesome picture of him devouring his birthday cake); and sunday was my mom's birthday and we celebrated all day long.

Ethan Herring

My mom's bday. The day consisted mostly of sitting in the jacuzzi, volleyball tourney in the pool, "around the world" ping pong tourney, and eating.

Rian and Wallace floating along.

Us kids made pizza's for dinner and we cooked them on the bbq. They turned out delicous.

The BBQers.

Uncle Bumble going in for a kiss. Gypsy (who let her come?) hunting for any dropped food.

GiGi (birthday girl) and Wallace.

Dinner.

For dessert we drove up to Orange Hill to enjoy the view by the fire pits.

And he likes kissing...

himself.

Babysitter

I babysat Liv yesterday for Juliana and she and Wallace had the time of their lives. After waking up to find Liv at his house, Wallace gave her a typical greeting. Watch the video.

I am a natural for capturing the most awkward of expressions. Below is Wallace clapping at something and right afterwards, Liv clapping at something.


Sharing toys.

Happy (belated) Mother's Day!

My first mother's day weekend was great for many reasons. My sister and brother-in-law flew home Friday night from Central America. After getting married in October, they went to Guatamala for 6 months to study Spanish, explore the country and do some volunteer work. They are now home and ready to line up some jobs and find a place to live in Los Angeles. We hung out on Saturday... catching up, playing with Wallace, jacuzzi, and of course lots of eating. It is so nice to have my sister home and living close by. Rian and I are excited to hang out with her and Brian this summer. We are also excited to have more babysitters close by!!

Sunday was mother's day and it began with Wallace's baby dedication at church. This is something we want to do with each of our kids as we commit to raising them in a Godly way. Here is Rian reading the verse we choose for Wallace (Colossians 1:9-12)


Both of our immediate families and my grandparents were at the dedication and afterwards everyone came over to our house for a Mother's Day lunch.


If you look closely, a glimpse of his ONE tooth. Soon I'll post a picture of his crib with the single tooth marks scraped all over.

I also received my first mother's day gift from Rian, I MEAN WALLACE. It came in a little blue box... :) A silver necklace with a W pendant. I love it.

Old School

This was a little birthday treat for Lara... dinner on Juliana's loft rooftop, rollerskating at holiday skate and dessert at Orange Hill.

where is he?

since wallace has been crawling, i find myself loosing him all the time. i'll walk to the kitchen for a drink and come back and he's gone! crawling didn't come to him one day like it does some babies. it was about a month of slowly getting it down. and since he's gotten it, he's quick and he likes small spaces. he'll tear an area apart and once spotted, darts to the next place with this sneaky look on his face.

old news

this was back when alissa was in town (a couple weeks ago). we had a picnic lunch in the orange circle with the kids.

and here is a very cute little boy.

music and food

mothers day will be at our house this year. wallace gets dedicated at rock harbor that morning at 9am and then rians fam and mine come over for a mother's day brunch. we just made our playlist of female vocals: some mazzy star, feist, weepies, norah jones, kate nash, and a few others.

on another note, we did happy hour thursday night at claim jumper (the one at south coast where you can sit on the patio). they have totally revamped their happy hour menu since we've been there and it is amazing!! i got these garlic chicken skewers over brown basmati with papaya relish. the house margaritas are quite good too and big and around $5 i think. so i've rearranged my top 5 picks for happy hour venues although they are all good and perfect for meeting friends after work or a cheap date out on the town. tell me if you have any more that we should try out. has anyone done the lazy dog cafe (near angels stadium) thurs night thing?

1. claim jumper
2. mccormick & schmicks
3. memphis
4. taco rosa
5. bj's pizza