A new year

Hello and happy 2009. WE have been busy moving into a new place while all trying to recover from this nasty lingering cold. We are finally moved in, not unpacked but moved in. It was no fun moving during Christmas and moving all of our stuff. With Tony's tool & surfboard collection, my fabric collection and zillions of craft gear, a furniture business and baby, we had a lot of crap. We like out our new place. Lots of little people for Brayden to play with and a cute neighborhood. We have a nice landlord who actually lowered our rent because he liked us and wants us to stay and as an added bonus he will be a great referral source for my mortgage business. We are very lucky. Tony and I both hate renting but with the price he is charging us and our month of moving we are very unmotivated to house hunt. We still managed to squeeze in lots of celebrating and family fun this year. I did not put my advent calendar I slaved over last year to use or my 25 days of Christmas activities that accompanies it. Brayden will be able to enjoy it much more next year anyway. Brayden Christmas day playing in the rain at Grandpa & Grandma's
Mr. mobile in his Santa jammies Christmas morning.

Interfering with cousin Alexandra's song at a family gathering up in San Clemente.

A brief visit with Santa at Quail Gardens. Can't say that I blame him. He was pretty creepy.

A new horsey from Grandpa Jacks. Complete with chaps and everything.

An introduction to VG's

What first birthday would be complete without a cake from VG's. Since Tony and I proved we are not cupcake designers nor frosting makers at his birthday party we thought we better leave it to the professionals for a mini celebration on his actual birthday. They had super cute turkey cupcakes for sale that day and could not resist.

Happy birthday to you.....Modest but loving all of the fanfare even after a couple of minutes.

Finally getting down to business.
The post party scrub down. 6 hands we needed to hose him down. I never realized how greasy and shiny VG's frosting is. Lard????? I hope not.
A successful attempt at converting to the sippy cup. Must be the big boy shoes.

Happy Birthday Brayden

We had lots of fun with Grandma Wendy and Mark this week. It is still hard to believe tomorrow my baby will be turning 1. He started taking his first steps this week and progressed to walking from room to room. Playing at the park in Leucadia with Grandma Wendy.
Playing with new birthday presents.

Learning to open packages with some asistance. Thanks Aunt Donna.

Celebrating with friends.

Here he is just a few days old.
Happy birthday Brayden-We love you!!

Halloween Fun

We had lots of fun last night walking around "Pumpkin Alley" downtown Encinitas last night. We got to see lots of friends and eat lots of candy. It was a great night.

Preview of chicken costume.

Pre- party mac-n-cheese dinner at our spooky table.

Fueling up for the big festivites. Tony and I went as chicken farmers. Braydens costume was not suitable for the 70 degree plus weather. The chicken body came off mid trick or treat. The pants did not last long after that.



A fun photo from lat weeks spooktactular at Sea World. No surprise the costumes were shed quickly. Pictured is Lily ( who was briefly a giraffe), Evan who manged stayed in cowboy flair, and Brayden ( who was briefly an owl)

The pumpkin patch

The Pumpkin patch has sure evolved- Carnival rides, $20 pumpkins, petting zoo, snack bar. Still lots of fun and gets and makes it official that summer is over. Happy 11 months Brayden! Chugga chugga choo choo.....

Hooray for hay.
Here is the only pumpkin we ended up coming home with that afternoon. We hope everyone had a nice weekend. We sure did. Pumpkin patch visit, Sea World Spooktactuar, and Great Grandma's 86 th birthday. That is one action packed weekend for a very lucky and fun 11 month old.

Family Photo

I was wanting a family photo for Brayden's baptism yesterday. The result was not quite what I had in mind but very us none the less- casual and kooky. Note to self- Try dress clothes on before you dress him in the car. Or even easier, bring a back up outfit.
Posing with uncle Jason
And here is how Christening parties progress in out house......


No Grandma.... Halloween is not for another 2 weeks.

Partied out. No nap until 2:30.

Playing catch up

After a long battle with the trojan virus our computer is finally working. Never let your antivirus protection lapse. I hit remind me later one too many times and have paid the price.

Update- Tony did not win the Cosmic Creek challenge but had fun trying. Maybe next year. We are busy getting ready for Brayden's baptism on Sunday. Not too sure how 30 people will fit in our house but it will be fun trying.






Lotsa drool!



























Fighting over the car with the friend and birthday girl Lily. The Birthday girl won of course.
















Helping dad install the sink at the cabin in big bear. It was cold. So cold Brayden had to wear mittens to crawl around and Tony is in shorts like it is summer. Don't ask.


































Here is my quilt and matching pillows. It will work for now. Maybe after my Halloween and Christmas projects are finished I will circle back and re-do the binding. Or maybe I will make a new one that is not so heavy. I like that idea better.







































Tony sporting new moustache and Brayden at the surf contest.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I will post photos of the baptism and overstuffed house on Sunday.