Happy Halloween!

Lucas is walking up a storm, and loves to go for walks outside! (surprising right?!?) This is our neighbor's front yard. Lucas loves the hanging jack-o-lanterns and loves walking up and down their path. It's still pretty warm here, but he had to wear his cute Halloween outfit from Auntie Suzie, so we just left the pants off. 

This year for Halloween Lucas and Stoli dressed up as sharks. I always have to dress Stoli up too, and this year she got off easy. No body costume, just a fin I made out of felt and stuck on one of my headbands. They crack me up! Lucas actually left his hood on all night! 

 Giving Stoli a treat for leaving her costume on. This is possibly my favorite picture of the night. 

Okay, so I totally have a confession to make. In the past, whenever I saw little toddlers trick-or-treating I always thought it was a bit ridiculous since they can't say "trick or treat" and they can't eat the candy. But now I get it! I was totally that mom that took my toddler trick-or-treating tonight, and he LOVED it! We went with our neighbors who have twins that are two and a half. The twins were totally into it, and Lucas was right behind them doing his best to keep up! 

Seriously, doesn't this picture make you smile! He is getting so BIG!

He held his bucket the entire night! Matt and I were so impressed!

Trick-or-treating with his buddies!

Daddy trying to keep up! 

Lucas and his pumpkin.

Such a happy shark! 

My boys at the end of the night. Lucas didn't want to go inside. I swear he's going to grow up to do something that involves the outdoors.

I hope your Halloween was as amazing as ours! 

xoxo

b-day bash

I celebrated my 27th birthday with my wonderful friends and family last weekend. I got the biggest surprise when my amazing friend Emily completely surprised me and showed up at my house just before we were heading out for dinner. I was so shocked and excited to see her! It was also super special because Kevin and I got to celebrate our birthday together. Best thing about being a twin... you always have someone getting old with you. :) 

Two of my best girls!

My wonderful husband!

Twinsies 

I was so happy to see Em on my bday!

Thank you to everyone for such a great birthday! I really have the best friends and family anyone could ask for.

xoxo

Boise Trip

It has been a crazy couple of weeks! We made a trip to Boise to visit Matt's dad and stepmom a week ago. The weather was beautiful the whole week and we had a great visit. We took Lucas to the Discovery Center and many parks. My mother in law grows concord grapes in her backyard that are to die for! I went in the backyard everyday and would snack away. They are delicious! While we were there we made fruit rollups with them. So so good!

Seriously, doesn't this look fake? In their BACKYARD! We picked enough to fill the sink, and there were still so many on the vines. 

The little grocery store at the Discovery center in Boise. He loved pushing the little carts around. He would only put one potato in his cart, and if you tried to put more, he'd take it out. 

Look at the smile! Cheese!

WALKING all over the park!

I think it's safe to say that we officially have a walker. Over the past two days Lucas has been walking so much more. When he falls down he gets back up and starts walking again instead of crawling. I love watching him toddle all around. A part of me already misses him zooming around crawling, but I am loving this new phase he is in. Happy Friday!

xoxo

Pumpkin Patch

On Friday we went to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm with our neighbors for an afternoon of fun. Holy moly, this place is awesome! We had never been, but our neighbors go each year, and I am so happy they asked us to go along this year. Not only is this farm massive, it has everything from hay rides to train rides, delicious homemade pies, pumpkin patches that go on forever, and a ton of fun play forts and such for the kids to explore. Lucas had a blast and so did we! Once again I forgot my good camera, and ended up with only my phone. Thank goodness the iphone takes pretty nice pictures! 

On the train. He loved it.

Checking out the scenery with dada. 

Walking... um yes, WALKING like a big boy! He walked all over this fort and loved it.

 He was trying to keep up with our neighbor's two year old twins. 

However, he still chooses to crawl the majority of the time. 

Matt and Lucas looking for the perfect pumpkins. 

How beautiful is this pumpkin patch? 

My bug giving me some cuddles. 

It was a beautiful afternoon. Matt and I shared a huge cinnamon roll that was to die for. Lucas ate an entire large sugar cookie (maybe he is my child after all), and he enjoyed it way too much. We will definitely be visiting this place annually. I'm in love! 

xoxo 

Great friends, great times.

This past week we were lucky enough to get a visit from our good friends the Johnsons. Jerin and Matt were able to swing their work schedules so that they were both working in nor cal, and came to stay with us Wednesday-Sunday! While they were working during the week Matt and I were on kid duty! The house was crazy with three kids, Charlotte - 2, Lucas -15m, and Savannah -8m. At one point Matt looked at me and said, "I don't think we could have three kids!" haha! I reminded him that we would never have three kids of these ages, so not to worry, if/when (depending on who you ask), we have three kids it wouldn't be this hectic. (Please no one tell him that no matter what three kids would be a bit crazy!) 

The kids had a blast together. Lucas was constantly trying to keep up with Charlotte, and Savannah was trying to keep up with the two older ones. It was a lot of fun watching them all interact. I was so excited to get to see these two little ones. I babysat Charlotte two days a week for about five months when we lived in southern California. She was just a little older than Savannah is now when we moved away, and it amazes me how much they look alike. We used to live just around the block from Matt and Jerin, and spent many nights having dinner and drinking wine together. So it was nice to relive some of those times this weekend! I'm so glad they made the trip up to see us!

Here is our one failed attempt to get a good picture of the three of them together. I don't know what I was thinking not having my camera out when they were here. Actually I have a few hilarious pictures of all three in the bath, but there is too much nudity going on to post! haha! This was right before they left to head home Sunday. Lucas was ready for a nap, hence the tired eyes, they were watching Mickey, and we were trying to get them to look at the camera. One of three isn't that bad right?!

Haha, I love all three!

xoxo

The taste of fall!

Fall is officially here... well pretty much, its still a bit warm for my taste, but we have had some wonderful fall days here. On Monday it rained, no poured, ALL day. So what else could I do besides cuddle with my little guy, bake, and craft?! After Lucas' nap he "helped" me make chocolate chip pumpkin bread. Really he sat there and snacked on chocolate chips, while I baked. I love pumpkin bread, especially with chocolate chips. Nothing says fall more than pumpkin food. We made six mini loaves, gave three away, and kept three. :) I'm sure there will be more pumpkin baking very soon. I use the recipe from my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook and it's delish. You can find that exact same recipe here. The chocolate chips aren't part of the recipe, but I just add a whole bag of milk chocolate chips to the batter. Sooo good! 

yummm

Okay, so now onto a cute fall craft. I had started this craft the night before, and was determined to finish it fast. I crafted during Lucas' nap, and then when he went to bed to finish. It felt like it took forever, and really it was a trail and error process. I bought wood letters at Michaels to spell out Fall and cheap yarn in fall colors to wrap the letters in. Of course I saw this idea to wrap wooden letters with yarn on Pinterest. It took some time to figure out the best method, but I think I figured it out. I wrapped all of the corners and weird angles first, then went back over everything in one direction so it looks nice. Here are the two pictures I took, and of course they aren't of the same letter, but I'm sure you get the idea. 

Wrap all corners and angles first, then go over in same direction with yarn. 

Finished L

FALL
All finished! 

Eventually I want to make some cute cloth flowers to put on the letters, but for now they shall stay this way. I got the fall garland at Michaels last year, and it adds the perfect touch until I can add some detail. Oh how I love this time of year!

Oh, and an extra special shout out to my niece Bella! It's her 6th birthday today. Happy Birthday beautiful girl! I love you! 

xoxo

Getting Organized

I've have two calendars in the house, both of which I fill in with whatever activities or appointments we have. Neither of them are in a place where they are referenced often, plus they are for the whole month and can only fit so much information. I found an idea here, on Pinterest to make a dry erase weekly calendar using picture frames and scrapbook paper. Great idea super easy. Here is my version...

I found the picture frames at Walmart for $10 each. What a deal! I picked out paper to go with the colors of our house and found some cute letter stickers for the days of the week. Even though Sunday is the real first day of the week, I feel my weeks start on Monday and end on Sunday, so that's how I did my calendar. At the tops of the board I wrote "This Week" and "Next Week." At the end of the week I'll erase the "This Week" board, and write "This Week" on the board that currently says "Next Week." Okay, that sounds confusing as I type this, but it makes sense, right? They now hang on the wall right by the door to garage since that is where we mainly come in and out of the house. Next I need to buy some skinny dry erase markers. All I have are the big ones from teaching, but they will work for now! I'm starting to feel a little more organized. :)

xoxo

A delicious weekend!

What a weekend! We started Saturday off by going to the park, Lucas' favorite thing to do these days. He has a blast crawling all around the play structures and going down the big slides with "da-da". (He doesn't say mama, but says dada like it's going out of style. Never mind the fact that I stay home with him and take care of his every need... no mama yet. I'm not bitter or anything...)

Lucas cracking up going down the slide with Matt. 

After the park we went home and I made those Salted Caramel Mocha Brownie Cups that I told you about here. OMG!!! Let me tell you... they are A-MAZING! I already can't wait to make the again. Even my husband, who isn't much of a sweets person, was drooling over them! 

Next we headed over to El Dorado Hills for Lucas' friend Bennett's first birthday party! It was the cutest sock monkey themed party. We all ate tons of food, and Lucas had his first lollipop. Sorry this picture is blurry, but this is the look on his face with most sweets... utter disgust. Really?!?! If I hadn't birthed him myself I'd question whether or not he was mine. He took two licks and wanted nothing to do with it. 

Lastly, we took those delicious brownies you saw above to the Ramos' house and had a wonderful dinner, with Katie, Brent, and their two kids. I love getting together with them. Katie is one of my best friends in the world, and we spend so much time at their house. Lucas feels at home there, and loves to play with his "cousins" Bella and Jack. I wish I had a picture of the three of them together from that night, but since I don't here is one from back in April. Bella and Jack are like siblings to Lucas, and I am so excited to watch them all grow up together. 

Wow, I just realized how much we did on Saturday alone! That explains why Sunday was filled with hanging around the house, watching football, and me running a couple quick errands. Oh, and ending the weekend with KEITH URBAN!!! Matt had bought me tickets to this concert back in February for Valentine's Day, and it was so worth the wait. Honestly, Keith Urban rocking out on his guitar might be the sexiest thing ever! (Besides my gorgeous husband of course!) Thanks hun for taking me to a country concert!!! That's true love! :) And thanks to my wonderful mom for coming to stay the night and watch Lucas so we could be out late! 

Matt and I waiting for the concert to start.

I so so wish I had great pictures to share from the concert, but sadly I forgot my good camera, and only had my phone. :( There are none of Keith worth posting, but ohhhhh Keith you were amazing and delicious to watch!!! 

What a great weekend with wonderful people! 

Hope yours was swell! 

xoxo