christmas photos - 3 a day v.3

the birdie edition...
i like birds.
not necessarily birds as pets - or birds in real life... but i like birds as decor. they are cute and give a bit of whimsy to everything.
i am breaking the 3 a day rule and adding a #4 photo... which was even hard. there are a lot of fun and cute birds around here... meet a few of the christmas birds.

garden birds from my mom - dolled up for the holidays

mercury glass bird... "vintage" pottery barn - gift from kurt one year
s&p birds - cheap (cheep cheep) target.

this one is a cutie - from anthro... maybe 4 or 5 years ago.

happy new year to all!

christmas photos - 3 a day v.2

so many gifts, so little time!
three of the biggest hits of christmas morning below... i don't think i have one pic. from christmas where liam is actually LOOKING at the camera... too many fun shiny new things that were more interesting than mommy and her boring camera!

Supercool CAT Dump Truck from Grammy M. He was so excited, he couldn't wait to get this one out of the box... he hopped right on, box and all! The train table that Daddy spent some quality time putting together. He is a little young for this still, but a great garage sale purchase that we picked up over the summer. It has tons of track and a million accessories, and is in new condition!
This little contraption from G-link and PapaG will keep him busy for hours, every side has something fun and new to do.

christmas photos - 3 a day v.1

i think three a day is a manageable number don't you?
here are a few from christmas morning.

we have a rein-dog

he greets little children on christmas morning.
santa was here, he drank some milk and ate some cookies...
apparently he doesn't like camel cookies...
good thing this little elf, and rein-dog number 2 do!

i looked away for ONE second... i swear.

...and he finds a small body of water.

the bubbly blue thing is the pool cover - we had it off the pool for some maintenance, and it was sitting on the side of the house collecting water. today was a nice day so we were playing in the backyard. i turned away for a moment (to scoop dog poop) and this is what i saw when i turned back around.

clothes and all - sitting and splashing. of course instead of freaking out and grabbing a towel to dry off my freezing cold baby - i ran inside to grab my camera, because this is too funny to not share.

the shoes will never be the same i fear... jinxie was staring at him like a school marm...
she KNEW he was in big trouble! now what?

anyone casting a dennis the menace??? we have a candidate!

enjoy your week - christmas pics coming soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

nifty fifty

good news / bad news.
The good news is that my mom and dad bought me a nifty fifty for Christmas! It arrived yesterday.
The bad news is that the resort in Oregon we stayed at STILL hadn't shipped back my camera battery and charger (but THAT is another story that I might classify as FIASCO).
so... last night, ventured out to best buy to get a new battery... (looking on the bright side, its good to have a backup) Then stopped by Henny's house - she was sweet enough to let me borrow her charger for the night.

SOOOO - this morning I got to test out the new lens... and what better subject than double dark chocolate cake balls with candy cane crumbles??? MMMMM.I can't wait to try this out on Lima Bean!
Thanks Mom and Dad - and Thanks Henny!

oregon, just a few pics.

Liam has now successfully made three round trips from Los Angeles to Oregon!
The first time the plane ride was a piece of cake at six months old.
The second time - he was a little more wiggly, a little tougher.
THIS TIME... although he didn't cry much, he would NOT sit still, not for 3 seconds. Thank goodness the flight wasn't even half full there and back, so we had a bit of extra room. Lucky for us because we hadn't purchased a ticket for him... next trip we probably will have to.

The trip was great - my parents hadn't seen Liam since his first bday, and they were in need of a serious fix.. especially my mom (G-link)
This is where you could find Liam 99.9% of the time we were there!

We got to visit the GREATS in Eugene while we were there. "Gran" was just about as excited to see Lima Bean as G-link.
OH LOOK.. its a Liam Sandwich!

After giving Liam a sufficient amount of time to warm up... she finally got her wish... Just to sit and rock this crazy boy for a few minutes while he drifted of to nappy time.


"Gramp" got a little Liam time too. We were saying "Give Gramps the Great a kiss Liam" .. he was kissing... but the kisses weren't landing anywhere!


Another treat we got while in Oregon (Kurt and I) was a trip away.. for one night... ALONE... NO LIAM. Kurts bday was Dec. 6 so, I planned this for his bday gift. We stayed at the Oregon Garden Inn. Which was a cozy - craftsman lodge in Silverton Oregon, with lots of little cottages.
When we got to our room, it was so quiet, we kind of didn't know what to do.

We stayed in the Green Cottage.

Did I mention it was COLD while we were there?

VERY COLD.

We spent some time cozying up by the fire in the lodge.

And in the room.

finaly... i left my camera battery on the charger plugged into the wal while we were there. As of today, I still have not received it. And this explains why the photos from this trip end here....

which was unfortunate because I really had wanted to get Liam's Chrismas photo done while we were there... and it actually SNOWED the last day we were there... and he had snowflakes in his hair... and it was SO cute.
It also is unfortunate because I don't have a photo of Liam and my Dad (who by the way makes the best Rice Krispy Treats, and made them for Liam and Me! thanks Dad!)

ace face....

this blog has been on an extended LOA due to ... life. life being busy - life happening, things to do, places to go, people to see... oh yea - and ace face.

last week (well the thursday before we left for oregon) our little ace face got into a fight with 2 BIG dogs... ace lost.
midnight surgery, 30 staples, drainage kit, lovely new sweater and matching "e-collar#, $1000.oo and 10 days later - he is ok.

* special thanks to sweet amanda, who took such great care of him and his sister jinxie while we were away. (notes on oregon to come later this week)

ace face's ego writing checks his body can't cash!

this fierce ensemble, courtesy of the all night emergency pet hospital

sweet-face

thanks... thanks a lot... really - very thankful!

Can you believe that this year we somehow managed to blow right past our Thanksgiving tradition of going around the table and saying one thing we were thankful for? How did that happen? Especially at a time when there really is so much to be thankful for.

My short list, my top three.

- A wonderful family - starting with a supportive, loving husband and sweet angel-boy. Also thankful for the rest of our family - parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents and the rest of our family tree-lings.

- FRIENDS... you know who you are - pals, I am thankful for YOU. (It DOES take a village!)

- Work... although I have been working a LOT (including ALL thanksgiving weekend) I am thankful to have a job that I love, that challenges me daily and that also comes with a paycheck that affords us to have a home, car, clothes and all the necessities - plus some extras.

What are you thankful for this year?

I will be thankful if anyone gets through my thanksgiving day snapshots.

This year's Thanksgiving Day table - simple, yet it still felt special. We had a toast to "Health and Long Life" given by Grandpa Grandpa and Liam shared some quality time...and Grandpa had some quality time with Liam's Guitar!The rest of the guests arrive, and we have an official welcoming committee of ONE.
Then we ATE!and ATEand ATE... you get the idea.We only invite super adorable guests... see!oh... i was a bit obsessed with this out of control spiced pumpkin cheesecake with sour cream topping and candied walnut garnish that chef todd made.

it's even pretty on the inside... and tasted every bit as good as it looks.

... now if you'll excuse me - i am already behind on my christmas shopping!

juice box hero...

look at him...

just look at him...

sitting there, like a big boy.

eating PIZZA

drinking from a JUICE BOX

NO shoes on

CRAZY hair day

partying like a ROCK STAR

he is definitely our child!! but how did he grow up so fast already?

And it gets better.... he's DRIVING! watch out world!! * pics are from Cole's 4th bday party! Thanks Cole for the fun time and happy bday pal!