Four Year Old Photo Shoot

Max was pretty excited to go on a special photo shoot just with me at the train station in Poway. He was awesome! He totally knew what to do, how to smile, to stand still and listen. It went great and I got some amazing pictures of him and his big blue eyes.















I still look at him and can't believe he's already 4 and quickly making his way to 5 and kindergarten and becoming a teenager and running away and getting married... AHH! I used to want time to speed up a little with him, he was such a hard baby sometimes, I knew he just wanted to grow up so badly. But now I want time to slow down. I can't help but get weepy when I look at pictures of his two year old little face. He's such a great kid. So creative and energetic and sweet and feisty.









I sure do love him!

San Diego Sun

The sun here has been strange this summer. We did get a few good beach days at the end of it this year so we took advantage of the sand and freezing water. I think we really only got to go to the beach a handful of times this year. Global warming? Maybe. But I have to say, I loved not dying of heat this summer.









I love how his arm is sandy up to his armpit!




That's Max out there. The water was really cold! But kids seem to not care.


We dug a lot of giant holes at the beach (me, Brooke and one time Danielle).



This was one of our biggest ones.

Happy Birthday to me... again...

Yes. It was my birthday. I turned 28. Or is it 29? I know it's not 30! Anyway... this birthday was actually really great this year!! My bestest friend Brooke took me on a magical whirlwind adventure day to LA to go fabric shopping and cupcake eating all complete with a visit to Santa Monica Pier -- my first time!!















I had the BEST day!! It was nice to just go and hang out and do whatever we wanted and buy REALLY cute fabric and just be FREE!! Well, as free as LA traffic will let you.

Then on my actual birthday we celebrated by going to Phil's BBQ and pigging out. Mm, ribs. The kids liked it, too. Oh wait, Max just ate corn on the cob. SO Lia liked it.








Hungry yet? No? How about this?



And then Tyler surprised me by buying me my very own motorcycle helmet so he could take me out to breakfast and cruise around on his scooter. I have to say, I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but it's actually really really fun!! I actually really like going places with him on it. (My dad is probably laughing).



THEN I got my free meal from Benihanas and enjoyed it with some great friends!


I have the best family, the best friends and some sweet memories.

Annual Julian Apple Picking

We went. We picked. We got really hot. We attempted to eat our favorite dumpling soup but ended up with big slices of pie and ice cream instead. We had lots of fun. I still miss apple picking in Connecticut though. I always want it to be the same when we go here, and it is fun, because it's a tradition now for our little family, but it's still hard when I know that my kids don't get to experience it like I did.









But we did have lots of fun! And I'm glad we got to go with the Bakers for one more year!

Tinkerbell Wrappie Woof Woof Party

Max has been a little obsessed with parties, like his whole life. It gets a little worse every time he has a birthday or we go to someone else's party. Lately he's been throwing his own parties for all the "buddies" he's attached to. The last party we had was for his wrappie (blanket) and his woof woof (stuffed dog). He made party hats and decorated with pictures of Tinkerbell -- it was a Tinkerbell party (both objects are girls). Now, I'm a fan of parties, especially a good Disney character themed one, but for the love could someone tell this kid we don't need to have a party EVERY day?? I'm a little bit over having to clean up the "confetti" he makes everyday all over the floor in his room. Or the incessant questions at Target about getting balloons and streamers and party hats and the inevitable tears that follow the "heck no kid!" Still, it's cute he cares so much about his pretend friends. That's got to count for something, right?

Fun Yet Strange Yet Fun

My bestest friend and I decided to go scope out some new possible photo locations and ended up having a slightly strange but very fun day that involved a giant plate of onion rings and a chicken.



Photo location was a bust. Rude lady at that place I won't mention because then I would be really mean, I'm talking to you! We ended up going across the street to this suspicious looking place that sold flowers and lots of cool old junk. Which is where we encountered Friendly, the chicken. She was a nice chicken and let the kids pet her, only I think Max and Sienna were the only two who wanted to.



We ended up getting a few cute pictures of the kids before moving on to thrift store shopping and a giant plate of onion rings at Angelo's where Lia insisted I peel the fried batter off so she could eat just the onion part. She loves onions.





He's at the age where me makes weird faces in pictures now. Is this his blue steel? Only time will tell.


And she's at the age where she just.won't.sit.still. It's a sad time for a mom and a photographer.


Despite the rude lady, the creepy guys at the questionable plant place, the deep fried onion rings and the sweet Spiderman costume I scored for Max for $6 at a thrift store made it a really good day!