New Things

Some new things around here...

A new reading chair for Wallace. Except, he's not reading here... he's watching a Baby Einstein dvd that I promise he only watches once or twice a month. Serious!

Rian gives his change to Wallace at the end of the day. A new favorite activity is dropping each one into his piggy bank.

Our belly buttons have been big hits lately. It's not uncommon for Wallace to come up to us (or anyone... so watch out), lift our shirts and stick his finger deep in our belly button. It gets really exciting when I'm out in public holding him and he pulls my shirt DOWN from the neck and tries sticking his whole arm down to reach my belly button.

Wallace has really gotten the whole walking thing down. It is really fun for us. This morning he and I went to Balboa Island for breakfast and bird watching.

weekend

Rian and I took Wallace to the beach in the early morning to lounge around and watch the waves.

Brian and Beth had us over for a lovely backyard dinner.

labor day & a belly

totally behind on my blogging. happy labor day weekend! i know, very late. here are some pics from last week. we had a crazy busy and fun labor day weekend, but i was horrible at taking pictures! mark and kara joseph had a pool/s'mores party friday night, saturday we were at my parents pool, sunday was our last volunteer morning in the nursery and then lauren and brian had us up to their new place for dinner. monday we had rian's fam over for a belgian waffle brunch and then celebrated liv's 1st birthday party later that day. sheesh. very fun, but we're ready to rest.

also, i feel like we've had the TV on more the past 4 weeks than the last 4 years. we don't do much TV (plus we only get 4 channels), but the olympics and then the DNC and now the RNC... lots going on.

also again, i'm feeling really good, much better.... for being 14 weeks pregnant! in case some of you didn't know, early march we are due to add another one to our family. we are super excited!

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rian's softball was on tuesday nights this summer. wallace really wanted to get in on the action.


my little baby is no longer a baby. look at this BOY! thanks for the pics, beth!

roasting hot dogs on the bay last wednesday night.


friday i spent some time with last years "nurture" (MOPS) girls at fashion island. wallace wishing he brought his fishing pole.

dinner at lauren and brian's new koreatown residence.

liv with her amazing birthday cake.

the mellemas and us got liv this little bouncing pony. she hopped right on. wallace was quick to head her way and here she is telling him how to do it.

Video Overload

Here is Wallace taking some of his first steps last Monday:

Here he is this Monday (a few days ago):

And again, funny ending:

very old friends

A good friend of mine, Jason Vasquez, is in town from DC this week. We gathered together a little group of old friends from jr. high/high school days at Calvary Church and had brunch at The Filling Station.

From around the table on the left: Josh Simpson, Jon Kearley, Jason Vasquez, Jenni Bair Johnson, Rian, Juliana, Liv & Wallace, Me, Missy Kearley, Val West, Taylor Foss.

weekend update

Saturday morning breakfast.

A boat ride.

We picked up the Hilmersons at the Cannery's slip after their breakfast at Alta. Wallace hadn't napped yet, but made himself at home on J's lap, even while wearing his bulky life jacket.


A very peaceful ride.

Sunday night was Project Hangout's "Concert for a Cause". We picked up Knowlwood's for dinner with Lara & Joe and then ate with the rest on our beach chairs. Besides loving Project Hangout and going to support our friend Ryan Zeulner, we also were there to see Tyrone Wells.




Taylor and Wallace.

A sleepy boy. Out cold for Tyrone's last songs.

The kid likes to read. And walk.

Sometimes if Wallace is alone in a room and gets really quiet, I run in to see what he's getting into. Lately, it's been books. Actually, he's been a big fan of books for months and months. You just hold one up, and he'll get the giggles and want to look through it. Each page is funny. The other night he was getting tired and cranky at a restaurant, so we gave him a book and he sat there looking through it and was content the rest of the night. It's great.

Also, he took his first steps last week! I did not think I would see this anytime soon. Like crawling, I thought he would just slowly figure it out over a couple months and there would be no exciting "LOOK! HE'S DOING IT!" with cameras and lights, etc. But all of a sudden last Tuesday, he let go of the ottoman and took 3 or 4 steps towards me, crashing down, and then doing it again and again. My neighbors probably think I'm a complete lunatic, as I was squealing and clapping and yelling "Do it again! You can do it!" all day long. So, I don't know what this means... maybe he'll be walking in a couple days or maybe weeks? Who knows! But it's very fun to watch him learn new things and grow up.

Good night out

John & Renée threw an anniversary party Friday night. John works at Biola, so the party was on the library patio with live music, catered food, and old friends. Renée made the place look awesome. We left Wallace at my parents house to spend the night, allowing us to party and then see a 10:20pm movie. Um, we were the only ones in the theater. Does nobody see late movies anymore? We slept in the next morning and then went to pick up our boy.

Here we are at the party. This is me showing John how to take our picture. Is Rian bothered?

And this is our picture.

John, Brian, Rian

Paradise Point

This weekend was our annual Paradise Point (Mission Bay, San Diego) family trip. Since before I was born, the Wallace family has done a long weekend away each year. Now there are over 30 of us and for the past 8 years or so, we've been doing Paradise Point. Everyone has their own room plus each year someone gets a bayfront bungalow where everyone gathers each day for swimming, s'mores, paddleboarding, waverunners, lots of eating, and just hanging out.

Our little family.

The grounds are beautiful here.

Feeding the ducks.

Wallace and Will "reading" together.

Kate & Wallace.

His favorite chair of the weekend.

Mission Bay.

S'mores...




Jack.

Will & Spencer breakdancing. The rest of us watching the olympics, I think

Hot Date

Rian got a babysitter (thank you Grandma Kathy!!) and took me out to Crystal Cove. We put our name in at The Beachcomber (always about a 2 hour wait... whether it's breakfast, lunch or dinner!) and then walked way (WAY) up the beach and watched the waves from a life guard tower. Dinner was such a beautiful setting. The few times we've eaten here we've always managed to be at our table in perfect timing with the sunset. This night was no exception.

10-year Reunion

Rian had his 10-year reunion last weekend. As you know, he grew up in Japan and went to CAJ (Christian Academy in Japan) when he wasn't living in Oregon or attending regular Japanese school. Christi, Colby & Rian planned the event and the Joseph Family opened their home to everyone for the weekend. The Joseph's are the coolest family... so generous, fun to be around, encouraging and just a really neat family of eight. Anyway, they were out of town, so the house was ours. Oh, and their house is awesome.

On Saturday we all took a boat ride around Newport Harbor and then went back to the house to swim, play around, and eat dinner. This guy, Jeremy, spent the whole day there, cooking an authentic Japanese meal. It was incredible. Check out the pics from the day. Rian's school was small... nothing like my high school with hundreds of people invited to the reunion. But there were people who flew out from Japan, Connecticut, Missouri and Seattle. The rest of us are from LA/OC area.