Wendy's photoshoot

Wendy took these pictures back in June for a Father's Day gift she put together for Jeff. I borrowed her camera today and downloaded them so that I could post them here.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Julia!

Julia turned three last week on Tuesday (the 17th) and we had her birthday party yesterday. Just a simple backyard affair, but lots of fun. Julia's friends from the neighborhood and various playgroups were there. The kids seemed to have a blast. Here is what the scene looked like:













The cupcake eating was, as always, a highlight, with Andrew really getting into it.



























And speaking of Andrew, he was the entertainment highlight of the party, running around like a drunken sailor. He really did look like a drunken sailor, it was quite funny. We did not stage the picture with the beer bottle, by the way... he picked it up and we snapped a quick one before pulling it out of his happy hands.

































Finally, here's Julia showing off her new dress-up dress and fluffy heeled slippers, a gift from Nathan and Hannah. She loves it!

The Moms get a girly break

Andrea and I have a bit of a tradition to go away for a pampering weekend once we have both weaned our babies. With Andrew and Hannah over a year and both well weaned, we left the kids in their daddies capable hands this weekend and took off for some decidedly girly fun. We didn't go far, but it turns out we didn't need to, to have a great time.

I picked Andrea up early and we took a nice refreshing walk on a pretty trail near her house. From there, we headed to Santana Row and found a restaurant serving brunch. Then, we checked into the Hotel Valencia right in the Row. It was a short stroll out the door for some shopping. A stop at the makeup counter yeilded good results. Here we are showing off the results:

Then, off to more shopping. Look at these FABULOUS shoes Andrea found!
Shopped out, we headed back to the hotel where we stopped in at the spa for a couple of massages. Finally, it was off to cocktail hour and dinner. Here's Andrea at Tanglewood, the place we had dinner. We tried to party late, but by 9:30 we were yawning, so back to the hotel we went for a blissful night sleep in complete uninterrupted quiet. A leisurely morning breakfast completed our getaway, and off we went back home. Thank you to Jeff and Craig for giving us the gift of this getaway, and thank you to Andrea, for sharing it with me!

Quilting again!

I completed a quick little quilting project to get myself back in practice, inspired by Cheri's gift of the I-Spy quilt. More details on my quilting blog, but here is the finished product, a gift for a 3 year old neighbor girl, named, obviously, Emma.

Andrew in the sandbox

Andrew just loves the sandbox. He's a very happy baby and has a smile on his face most of the time. Here are some examples!

Julia at the beach

Back in May we took the kids to the beach and snapped some darling photos, that we managed to not download until now. I just love this one of Julia, and I decided to play with it in Picassa. I think I like this sepia effect. What do you think?

Camping trip a success!

Last weekend we went camping with our friends in Big Basin, where I used to camp as a kid growing up. It lived up to my memories. We had a great time, and the kids loved it! We went with the Staas family, who we became friends with back in business school in North Carolina (before they were even married, or had kids.) Now, by some miracle coincidence, they live right across the street from us, and have two girls, Emma (one day younger than Julia), and Katie (5.) We are so fortunate to have such great friends, with kids of similar ages, right across the street. Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend:(Above, from left: Katie, Andrew, Julia, and Emma.)

Happy 4th of July!

WOW! I-Spy quilt keepsake from Cheri

We received a very mysterious box in the mail from Aunt Cheri today, which contained, we were thrilled and excited to discover, a gorgeous I-Spy quilt! WOW WOW WOW! It is spectacular! Look at this!

Julia would hardly let me look at it, she was so excited ("I want to put it on my bed!" Give it to me!")

As the very cute accompanying letter explained, the quilt is full of activities and entertainment. You can play a number of hunt-and-find games with the quilt, or build creative stories out of pictures found on the quilt. Look how every fabric is unique and features a different picture.


Or you can flip it over and talk about the map on the other side. (Where did you find this very-cool idea for the back?!)

Being an occasional quilter myself, I can quite clearly see that this quilt was painstakingly crafted with hours and hours of detailed work and love. Each fabric is darling, and so carefully cut to showcase the featured picture. Look at this detail:

What a fun, beautiful, entertaining and personal gift. Thank you so much to Cheri for this treasure!

Portraits at swim class

Susan and Paul have been staying with us this week to watch the kids while our Nanny is on vacation. They have been taking the kids all over the place, keeping up with all their activities. Paul has been putting his camera to good use, and captured these two darling shots of the kids at swim class.
Many, many thanks to Susan and Paul for watching the kids this week! What a lifesaver for Jeff and me, as well as a precious opportunity for Julia and Andrew to spend some quality time with their Nana and Grumps. Thank you!!!