A Brrrrthday Party

The original intent for H's day was a sledding party. I remember the day we brought him home from the hospital it was perfectly sunny, warm, and wonderful, with 3 feet of snow in our yard. Will and Milo were sledding and having the time of their lives. I remember it being the most perfect day. We have a great little toddler sled hill right in the backyard, so for this party I had romantic dreams of snowflakes, sledding, and screaming little kids filled with the joy that is a snow day.

Unfortunately, this week was crazy warm (thanks a lot global warming) and every last bit of snow had melted by Saturday. It actually rained Friday night, just to make sure it was all gone in time for the party. But even though it looked like a wet, soggy spring day outside, I pretended that it really was December and we still had a winter wonderland inside. We had yummy soup and homemade hot pockets, a hot chocolate bar, and lots of yummy treats. The kids made snow globes and were perfectly happy running around playing with all the new toys. It was so fun having close friends and family there. Really, a birthday party is just a fun excuse to get everyone together and for me to make a bazillion paper snowflakes. Oh jeeze I made a lot of snowflakes.

This picture does no justice to how the basement looked. I loved it. There is fabric tag garland, paper chains, doilie snowflakes, tinsel garland, white poms- it looked awesome. I'm keeping it up until February.

The snowglobes were so cute. Milo can't stop playing with his.

I don't know why its so cute when the birthday boy dives into his cake... it just is. It's like an insight into his personality- what will he do when you give him free reign to his most favorite but often restricted treat? Dive in, pace himself, go crazy? Love it, hate it?

Face first. No need for hands or spoons. He just kept bobbing his face into it.

I love this kid.

Happy 1 year Henry!

Hip Hip Hooray!

The tiny one turned ONE yesterday! We celebrated with some candy cane brownies and a gift from grandma and grandpa Radford. We'll save the rest for his party on Saturday. In the video I'm trying to distract Milo so Henry can actually play with his toy. How do you make it so your baby can have his own toys that aren't stolen by the older one? Well Happy Birthday to my little love. I love the toddler stage more than the baby stage, so I'm pumped about this next part. So fun.

San Diego: Installment 2

Thanksgiving Day was so fun. That morning Becky, Adam, Eric, Will and I did the 5 mile Turkey Trot in Oceanside. It was such an awesome race! Up the pier, along the shorline, dolphins jumping in the distance... so great. It was crazy warm by afternoon too. It's defintely easier running at sea level and in perfect weather- I think we all got PRs in that race. Loved it.

Then on to cooking and eating. The best part.

I just realized that the beach pics on the prior post were from Thanksgiving day, and these next ones were the morning of the day we came home. Notice the sun, the perfection. On the beach in the morning, trudging through snow in our driveway in the evening. Blech.

Could this picture be any more perfect? There's even a tiny sailboat on the horizon. I could cry.

Milo was catching waves in his bucket. Again, so cute I'm almost in tears. Why does the beach make me so emotional?

Dear husband: I would be perfectly happy being a bum on the beach, scavaging for seafood at night, basking in the sun in the day. Think about it. Think long and hard and see what you can do.

San Diego: Installment 1

Our Thanksgiving this year was spent in San Diego, new home of the beloved Workman family. It was so wonderful! I have a feeling we might be heading to San Diego quite a bit in the future- Becky, maybe you should just clear out a permanent room for us. 65 degrees in the wintertime, short drive to the beach... in love. The Marine base where they live is pretty rad, too. The armed guards and the entrance gates were a little scary though.

First up on the agenda: Legoland! Woot woot!

A few rides with some life-size lego animals...

A train ride through a lego farm...

And a little lego Christmasness all around.

Lego Vegas... be still my heart. So rad.

There was a little workshop where you could build your own car and then race it.

It was great. The best part about Legoland? Becky got us free tickets, so there was no pressure to have fun and do everything, which made it even more fun. If we had spent $150 to get in I would have felt like we had to ride every ride and be there all day. Which would have been awful.

The next day we headed to the beach. It was evening and a little cold, but you don't seem to notice until after you've played in the ocean and are soaked.

I love Emma's snarky face in this picture. This is the Christmas card shot.

Milo and I hopped waves until our feet were numb. He loved it. He thought there were alligators under the pier and wanted to go catch them. Then he kept tasting the ocean water and thought it was so funny to say "It has a sugar taste!" Silly boy.

der