Cornerstone Halloween Parade

Oh October... how I LOVE YOU!

Parties, festivals and parades.... pumpkin patches, candy, cookies... what is NOT to love?
Especially when you get to see 18 three year olds in costumes on a sunny Friday morning... cutest thing EVER!!!

Liam has been a little under the weather this week - but he did want to come and celebrate with his friends and of course dress up and all that comes with it. ((and because I AM *ahem* the CO-room mom.... i have the super important responsibility of helping out the awesome superhero teachers))

Speaking of awesome teachers - meet "Ms. Rachel" this tiny thing has twin girls and a son... seriously! she talks like a Disney princess, is adorable, and the kids love her (the parents do too!)

This little cutestuff is Ms. Gillian (oh, and little Ava) Ms Gillian is delicious in every way. We are so happy she is in Liam's class.... she also is BFF's w/ Ms. Danielle, and we all know how we feel about Ms. Danielle!!! ((HEART!!!))
Lil Jango walking in the parade to The Monster Mash

Cute Kurt dressed as Hans Solo (I dressed as Princess Leia... but of course the camera man (woman) never gets captured!)

Two of Liams pals: Baron (Jake and the neverland Pirate) and Connor (Superman)

Gavin - the BFF Frankenstein

And there's our girl Ms. Danielle appropriately dressed as Wonder Woman!

Another super hero teacher - Ms. Kari... we miss her too!

And the girl wonder - Ms. Rachel - how cute is it that all of the teachers dressed as super heroes?

Oh... and yes...LIAM... just look at him... nope, he can't just hang like the rest of the kids - he has to make a special move, or a silly face... i think we have a "CLASS CLOWN"!!!!!

A Cars 2 Bday Party! My Party Place - Agoura

Three posts in three days - don't anyone fall off your seat or anything!! Especially the peanut gallery over in Cape Cod!

Liam and I spent the morning at a Cars 2 themed birthday party for three year old Aslan. Aslan is new to Liam's school - his mother is a gorgeous brazillian about 2 weeks from delivering baby # 2 and his father is from Israel - so, you can imagine, Aslan is a little stunner himself - too bad I managed not to capture his handsome mug - or his mama's.


Look how cute they decorated the party place! Each child was sent home with a helmet (which Liam has NOT Taken off since we got home) and a bunch of Cars themed goodies - perfect for three year old boys - the girls loved it too!

All of the cupcakes were home made! (And delicious) There were Cars tattoos - Liam and BFF Gav-man got them at the same time.

This is Liam's pal Baron - they are good friends, but Baron only goes to school a couple of days a week, so he isn't in the "Bestie" crowd - but they get along great - Baron showed Liam how to play Air Hockey - it was Limabeans first time ... Baron was a pro!

...but he eventually got the hang of it!

This little cutie next to Liam is Elle... she is the cutest (we are both madly in love with her). She is also new to Liam's school - and a welcome addition!

How fabulous is this cake?

These next three photos to me... encapsulate "life at three"... from the clothes he is wearing (so into Batman) to the ball in his hand and the activities he is into, and the look on his face... these are so Liam right now... I hope (as always) I never forget this stage which I love so much!

Stu Millers Pumpkin Patch

I know, I know... two posts in two days... a new (as of late) record! But, it IS October, the most smashing month of the whole year. This weekend, Kurt is in South Bend with Arlene attending at Notre Dame Game today - which leaves the Bean and I to search out local Halloween festivities... there is NO lack of them around here. Today we met up with Mike, Henny and the Denny clan at Stu Millers in Thousand Oaks... I didn't get a ton of pics - but they had jumpy jumps, carnival games, tons of pumpkins, a petting zoo and all things halloweeny!

The goats were a teeny bit agressive... sweet - but aggressive, i had several "goat hugs"... in need of shower! I was yelling "NO Liam, DO NOT KISS THAT GOAT"... luckily, he stopped within inches of a goat kiss - ick.

The comedian - always!

I love this little guy.

Calabasas Pumpkin Fest

It's that time of year again.. Calabasas Pumpkin Fest Time!!!

This year was Liam's 4th time - which is hard to believe... but true - here's proof:


At 2 months! http://kmenslage.blogspot.com/2008/10/happy-2-month-birthday-little-lima-bean.html


At one http://kmenslage.blogspot.com/2009/10/happy-14-months-lima-bean.html


At two http://kmenslage.blogspot.com/2010/10/punkin-fest.html

Liam's good pals Nate and Abby came along (yay) thank goodness it wasn't QUITE as hot this year... we were smart and went EARLY which helped!

This year (as with each previous year) there was:
food and drink - we had our annual pumpkin beer to toast the season

games and activities -this was the first year we were able to partake in this side of the festival - Liam got a balloon bat and his face painted

cool vendors - i bought a SUPER cute hat - but unfortunately spent all the cash we had so we had to borrow cash from Nate and Abby's mom and dad)

lots of strollers and babies - this year, we hit the fest without either one of those items... just three super excited three year olds and a wagon (to haul away some very lucky pumpkins!)

Being silly at home - anxiously awaiting leaving for the "punkin festa-bull" which is what he calls it. (I see a LOT of his tongue these days!)

Its really hard to try to take a photo of a kid in a bouncy... this one was a farm - he nearly pulled my arm out of the socket running to it!
He loved this walking talking slice of pizza - but proceeded to tell him that "i don't like pizza - its 'sgustin" (of course which is how he says "disgusting") nice. The pumpkin festival needs to up their talent pool in the face painting department... this guy had nothin' on the gal at the SB zoo who gave Liam a killer glitter bat man mask... the 1.5" sloppy bat just doesn't do it for me... but didn't seem to bother Limabean - so, we didn't worry.

When he first saw "the great pumpkin" he was scared, but by the end of the day - he was running up to it and trying to be his BFF... When they got tired, they got a little ride. He and Abby get along famously - too bad we didn't get a photo of her cute twin brother Nate.

...until next year Punkin Fest!

Family Weekend

October is here (my most favorite of months!).
We have a NEW family tradition... to celebrate the month of October - we have officially determined that the FIRST weekend in October is FAMILY weekend!!!!

This is great for many reasons... one being that there is an awesome celebration in our town called "Reyes Adobe Days" - and we happen to live right off of "Reyes Adobe" street - where they host a Saturday morning parade which blocks off our entire street, leaving us HOMEBOUND until at least NOON on the first Saturday of October... awesome!

This family weekend - we walked to the parade (video to come - Liam met optimus prime... his highlight)... then we decided we would do a little backyard camping!
It was superfun - we grilled out, made smores, had candlelight campfires, slept in a tent and read scary stories. (We brought the iPad into the tent and listened to animated versions of kids campfire songs too). Liam really enjoyed his camp out, and made it through the night in the tent - but by about 6am, he was ready for "wakeup time" - so we hiked about 2 feet to the family room for some Nick Jr. / Coffee/ Bacon / Eggs/ and OJ!

Liam being silly behind the mosquito net

More silly time w/ Daddy. notice the sleeping bag liam is sitting on is the original Coleman sleeping bag from Kurt's childhood! It's in perfect condition!

A very rare photo with me actuallly in the shot (i hate it) but its rare to get a photo of me... to prove, that i actually was there - i do exist! (i swear, i really do!)

he was a big fan of the sleeping bag!

ok.... later Sunday afternoon - AFTER camping, we spent some time in the backyard cleaning up - Liam was making the funniest faces... this is one I had NEVER seen.... and haven't seen again! WTF - who's kid is this???

This is a face I am used to seeing often!

See! Told ya.... If you are wondering WHERE this amazing play structure came from... it is courtesy of our friends Ryan and Kim who's kids have loved it for many many years, but no longer play with it, and needed the backyard space for a BRAND NEW trampoline... so - they donated it to Liam (cool friends - right?)

He is the King of this castle!

It has a telescope and steering wheel, so he kind of thinks it is a pirate ship (pretty fitting for this little matey!)

i LOVE this photo - it totally reminds me of the faces that he would make when he was about 9 months old! It's fun to see all of the "faces of Liam" ... what a character! (My FAVORITE character)

Random Rain!?!

It has been in the triple digits for about the last week here in L.A.
The weather man did call for considerably cooler weather this weekend, and either I wasn't listening very well... or he didn't foresee the little squall that kicked up here around noon today!

Liam and I were relaxing, watching TV, checking email when I heard what I thought was thunder... then snapping coming from outside ... i looked out, and sure enough... a little rain.

Perfect opportunity to test out the new ADORABLE pirate rain boots and umbrella that Liam got from his BFF Gavin for his birthday. Although it still is in the 80's, Liam insisted that he put on his "jacket for a rainy day"... and we pulled on the boots (all by himself - on the wrong feet) and put up the umbrella and went out in search of puddles to stomp!

We needed the rain - what a fun, welcome and refreshing surprise!

i heart santa barbara!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!
We didn't have any plans this weekend... in fact, we were slotted to visit family in Oregon, but that didn't materlialize the way we had anticipated that it would. So, here we were with a big fat holiday weekend OPEN! We have all been running around working so hard, we thought (for a minute) about staying home, but then thought that we really needed just a night away... just the three of us.
which was the best idea EVER!
SO.... we headed up the PCH to Santa Barbara for the night! It was just a short hour or so drive... we stopped at the Cold Spring Tavern along the way and took in some local music and some local smoked Santa Maria Tri-tip.. YUM! This was a super fun stop!

We stayed in a fun neighborhood and walked to dinner, ice cream and coffee in the am. Dinner was at "Derks" Ice Cream was at McConnells, and coffee at the Daily Grind... all excellent... Today we went to the Boat House and had some lunch and hung out at the beach... it was a gorgeous day!

After lunch we spent a little time at the Santa Barbara Zoo... .we are members there, so we pop in and pop out and didn't have to spend a bunch of time there... it was fun but crowded. The hightlight was seeing Liam transform into Bat Man!!

HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEKEND!!!