sold!

i won tickets to the santa fe christian auction!

it was a fun excuse to get dressed up and head out for dinner, drinks and dancing with friends. i'd say it was fun to bid, but we didn't. maybe when our kids are grown and out of the house we'll have a few extra benjamins to throw down. for now we'll keep the kids and enjoy the free meal.

yes, they did hand out blinking crosses and thanks to our friend and amazing photographer, lauren bullock, we have proof.

fun group. i'll spare you the dancing shots.

street fair

the street fair was on and we were there. the boys loved sampling the food, seeing people and checking everything out.

one woman was selling these great recycled crayons. i have been thinking of trying to make my own and now feel inspired to get on it.

a snack break at starbucks

and of course a little water time. no surprise there.

isaac was sporting the new hat my mom bought me at the fair.

more celebrating

monday night was amanda's actual birthday. her wonderful husband treated our motley crew of friends to a wonderful dinner, celebrating the big day.

the ermanis clan

the kids were so amped you would have thought it was one of their birthdays.

the birthday girl makes her last birthday wish...

the dinner crowd

earth day

this past sunday anthropologie hosted an amazing event for kids. each child was able to pick out their own plant, pot it and take it home. they also had a huge coloring station, snacks and drinks available. it was ridiculous. i wasn't anticipating such an elaborate ordeal... so fun!

isaac was so pumped to see a huge thing of soil sitting in the center of anthropologie he almost dove right in. fortunately grammy helped guide him to the spoons and they were able to plant isaac's new flowers.

hard at work

way to go isaac and grammy!

these three were pretty proud of what they put together.

thank you anthropologie! and thank you allison, for the heads up!

birthday girl

saturday night we celebrated the birthday of my good friend, amanda. we have known each other since i was born and have remained friends for over 30 years. i could go on and on about amanda and how amazing she is. she loves God, her family and others well! what a treat to call her friend.

we're thinking of making this our christmas card this year.

fortunately we were able to pull it together.

the kellas'

amanda and adam, also celebrating their 3rd anniversary in a few days!

my hunky hubby- always looking good!

the huffmans

tracy, shannnon, amanda and adrienne

the team(minus my hubby)

life would not be as much fun without them

amanda and her youngest brother, lance. (my sister photo bombed the pic)

this picture totally screams "amanda"

"happy birthday to you..."

our little picasso

for a couple months now isaac has been attending preschool two days a week at mira costa college. it is one of the many free benefits he receives through the hope infancy program as a result of his partial deafness. the school is all play based and it has been a great thing for him as he loves to be with friends and spends countless hours exploring. friday night was their open house, so we got to go and catch a glimpse at what he has been up to.

we arrived nearly 20 minutes early, with plenty of time to take pictures beforehand. although i initially made fun of annie for making us get there so early, the place ended up being pretty packed by the time it started. you would have thought that monet had come back from the dead or something. i was, however, more than a little disappointed to find that there was no wine or cheese. isn't that supposed to be standard fare at these artsy sorts of things?

this was a painting the whole class had worked on together, entitled "forest". they took pine cones, rolled them in paint, and then onto the canvas. isaac's teacher let us know that each time he got paint on his hands, he would go over to the sink and wash them off. this is no surprise b/c there is not a day that goes by that isaac does not come home with one pair of clothes that has been entirely soaked by his time playing in any water he can find.

his is the second one from the left. can you tell he is more than a little proud?

a close up of what annie called, "isaac's first piece". oh, the potential.

isaac's teachers are the greatest: karina, yi-cheng, and brandi (from left)

grauntie brought down some magnifying glasses and bugs for the boys so they could be like sid the science kid. think mr. wizard's world for a new generation. she also took us out to islands to celebrate the big opening. isaac ate fries and chicken tenders like a man.

"popcorn" cupcakes

amanda and her girls came over for dinner and brought homemade "popcorn" cupcakes for dessert. they were a hit! my pictures do not do them justice. you should have seen the red wrapper that originally covered the bottom part of the cake. amanda is ridiculously creative and always coming up with new little things that we all get to enjoy. you may be thinking that all i feed my children are cupcakes. by the way my boys continue to ask for "pupakes," i kind of think i do.

my parents stopped by while they were out on a walk. my dad had the kids howling as you can see from the pictures.

little helpers

it was great to have catherine in town. the boys were excited to show off for her, but even more excited that they were in charge of making the dessert.

ryder prefers to insert his whole hand when baking.

yes, isaac did lick ryder's finger

then he grabbed his wrist to get a better taste.

ryder thought this was awesome and offered more. catherine and i were dying.

ryder was a huge fan of catherine's beautiful hair. stew hates when ryder sucks his finger. i kind of find it to be sweet. i am sure in a few years when we are paying thousands of dollars for braces i will no longer see it as sweet.

our newest niece

emma catherine lomicka arrived april 6th.

she weighed 8lbs 1oz and measured in at 21 inches long.

we can't wait to meet her this christmas!

congratulations to matt and lisa!

great week...

my aunt gave the boys these trains so that they could create their own little engines. what a great idea!

grammy was on spring

break this past week. we took the boys to the carlsbad airport to watch the planes. the boys talked about these planes all week. stew left for atlanta on thursday night and isaac has been reminding me that daddy is on a plane. i am pretty sure he still think stew is up in the sky in that airplane.

ryder loves blueberries! some really great friends dropped off a fun little package for us on tuesday night... blueberries, wine and a movie. what a treat! too bad ryder thought the blueberries were for him alone.

since stew was gone this weekend, i took isaac to happy hour at islands. he was pretty thrilled about the french fries and chicken tenders. there's nothing like fried food to help you create an incredible evening with your son.

today we busted out that great movie we received from our friends. we made popcorn and started watching UP. tomorrow we just might finish our new favorite film. the boys call it the balloon movie.

side note: thursday i joined some of our friends at the taping of the ellen show. the best part: i got to meet julie bowen (from my favorite show)and ellen degeneres and i received a courtesy $400 gift card to target. if you saw the show you know how courteous this gift was. and for all who have asked, yes, julie bowen is that small!

that's me in the white shirt, losing the game for julie bowen.