Let Him Eat Cake

I'm dying to show you pictures from Peanut's birthday party but iPhoto is not cooperating with me.

Until then I have a little slideshow of the past 12 months and a little video of some cake eating!

No, I didn't make him a special healthy cake.  It's a box cake with buttercream frosting.  

But I knew he wouldn't eat much, he mostly just likes to squish things in his hands.

It's so squishy!

Owl love you forever! Happy Halloween!

Peanut had an absolutely fantastic birthday party today.

We really have the most amazing family and friends.

There were so many people at the party I didn't really get to spend much time with any one person...
so I just wanted to say thank you all so much!

Peanut was a trooper and we didn't have a single meltdown.

The kids all did great in their costumes, despite the heat.

I had to take off his undershirt, socks and shoes but he really didn't seem to mind the costume.

He was being really cute in the picture above... until he pulled the mask back and snapped it on my face.



He had a great time and I'll be blogging about the party this week.
The cupcakes and the party!

Pictures, pictures and more pictures!!

I pulled together costumes for B and I at the last minute.
Really last minute as I made B's shirt last night at around 10 pm.

Oh I can't wait to show you pictures of the kids.
For now I'll have to sort thru the 383 pictures I took today
and see whats left after all the blurry pictures of the kids.

What are you up to for Halloween?




From Mama Owl, Baby Owl and Daddy Tree,
A Very Happy Halloween!!

My little monster

Today we celebrate Peanut's birthday with our fantastic family and friends.

I'll be sharing approximately 457 pictures of the party, I'm sure.

It just came up so quickly.

A year ago today I was taking long walks, eating spicy foods 

and wondering just how late this baby was going to be.  

I had a deadline to meet Peanut.

And then Halloween came around

and brought us The Great Pumpkin.

Or The Great Peanut actually.

My little monster, where has the time gone?

Sneak Peak

While Peanut has been reading his Halloween book,

my mom and I have been busy, busy, busy

getting ready for his birthday party.

We like to go with a "less is more" design aesthetic.

Bwahahahaha!

If you know us at all, you are shaking your head right now.

The thing is, the more time I have the more details that get added on.

You would think that I would start early and then finish early.

This is always the idea.

This has never happened.

Instead, every day another project gets added.

We started a few crafts back in September.

I still have a ton of things (like food and cupcakes) that can't be done ahead of time.

And maybe B & I will have little half-costumes, if I can give up sleeping and pull something together.

Yes, I know he's only turning 1.

But I figure I don't have that many years until he wants input on his parties....

and the 1st is always the biggest one.

Anyway, reinforcements are on their way.

B's parents come into town today and will be devoted to taking care of him 

so I can decorate 70 cupcakes and set up all of our Halloween decorations.

How do you celebrate Halloween?

Halloween Lanterns

These easy-peasy lanterns are great because they 

pack a lot of punch and look great during the day or at night.

They would be a great craft for kids or you could get really creative and elaborate with them.

We bought the lanterns in China Town for super cheap 

but you can also find them online and at stores like Ikea.

I like to get a variety of sizes.

These would also be great in different colors... like a green frankenstein or purple bat.

My personal favorite is the jack with the mustache.

All you need is construction paper, scissors and your choice of tape (double sided preferred),

elmers glue or hot glue.

It really depends on if you want to be able to take them apart to use again.

I figured either way I'll have to cover holes next year.

For all of these I folded the construction paper in half, sketched out a shape and cut 2 

so that they would appear even.

From jack-o-lanterns to owls, there are just too many possibilities.

You could do bats, cats, witches and ghosts.

You could add personality to you jacks' with eye patches or hair bows.

These can be as simple or elaborate as you like.

Don't worry if you make a mistake...

like the notches in the yellow wings.

Those are there because I cut the wings front he same paper as the nose and it overlapped a bit.

The hardest part about this was deciding which faces to make.

Have fun with it!

Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch, Irvine

Last week my mom and I took the boys to Tanaka Farms in Irvine.

This time of year they run a fantastic pumpkin patch.

It was really bright and a bit hot out but the boys were troopers.

I forgot a blanket to sit them on but I think they were too preoccupied 

with the mounds and mounds of pumpkins everywhere.

Except for the fact that Daniel really doesn't like the great outdoors.

He's wondering why we want to be in the sun and heat and sitting on prickly seats.

Tanaka Farms is a working 30 acre farm that also has a produce stand and

a CSA (community supported agriculture) program.

Aren't the pumpkins on the left so pretty?

They would make a great decorations for Thanksgiving.

We also loved the flying saucer squash.  

I've never seen them before and they are so interesting looking.

The shape and the color variation is so much fun.

We walked around the farm, checking out pumpkins.

Daniel didn't like the pumpkins.

He kept pushing them away with his foot. 

He kicked one right off the stroller.

Peanut tried to eat his.

It's organic but I don't think that stem is great to chew on.

You can pick your pumpkin right off the vine

or head to another area where you can pick veggies to take home as well.

They also have a corn maze (and smaller hay maze)

 with great information about growing corn and what not.

They pride themselves on teaching kids about farming, eating healthy and where your food comes from.

There are quite a few programs for children and schools.

Can you tell how excited the boys are about the maze and fun corn facts?

Eventually we made our way to the area near the produce stand.

On weekends they do a harvest festival with crafts, games and food.

Daniel does not like sitting on the hay.

Peanut just wants to pick it apart piece by piece.

Peanut was watching some other kids run over to the petting zoo.

He loves other kids.

We didn't go in the petting zoo but some of the animals made their way to us...

hoping for some food.

Peanut let them nibble and lick his fingers.

He thought it was really funny.

After a few minutes of this I wondered if they bite.

Which of course they do because, um, they're animals.

Rest assured that everyone left with fingers in tact.

Yay parenting!

I love how the one goat is in the food.

Sometimes you just want to lie down in your food, you know?

Daniel had a much better time when his legs weren't getting poked from every direction.

Peanut was still picking straw.

We had a really good time and I can't wait until next year when the boys can run around!

1 week until Halloween!!

Sacramento Zoo

One thing I love about having Peanut is the excuse to do all these things with him.

On our recent trip to Sacramento, while B was on a long ride,
some of the rest of us went to the zoo.



I loved the giraffes!

Even though I witnessed one drink the others pee mid-urination.

I'm sorry, I had to mention it because it was just as we were walking away
and I was thinking about how cute they were when it happened.




Alex had a half-day at school and was able to show Peanut around.



They had a great time together, as you can see.



I loved the otters!

He looks sleepy.

The otter utters by the lake, 
'tis getting hard to stay awake.



You know that feeling when you get out of the water and the sun feels sooo good?



I loved the flamingos!



Did you know that flamingos are pink because the beta-carotene in brine shrimp
 causes their feathers to turn pink?

I believe at zoos they add something artificial to their food to keep them pink.

I wonder if they could turn them blue and purple or red and green for Christmas, ya know?
I mean, since they are already artificially coloring them.

I'm just sayin'.



We actually took a little train ride around as well and he pretty much had this expression the whole time.

I loved the tiger!

He was awesome just lounging around.

So close to us, it was kind of odd.

At one point I was taking a picture and looking thru my camera when he
stood up and turned around.
It sort of startled me.

This big face looking at me.

Then he got sleepy.

But not as sleepy as Peanut.

Look at those eyes.

This was our second day there and he was still too excited for napping...
so this is what we got mid-day.

So go to sleep, my sleepy child
the tiger whispers in the wild.


As tired as he obviously is, he only slept in the car ride home and
I could not get him down at the house.
We had a get together that night and he was fine.

Why this kid hates to nap, I'll never know.

It was a great day,
we loved all the animals (in case you didn't notice)
and had a fantastic time.