Monday, November 19, 2012

Baby Luncheon

My mom wanted to throw me a baby shower for Madden, and since this is baby #2 for us I agreed only if it could be more of a casual women's luncheon, and less of a "shower".  She listened, and threw a beautiful luncheon for me & about 15 of my friends & family who live in the San Diego area. 

The adorable diaper cake that my mom made by hand.  She shipped all the parts out from FL, and spent the two nights before assembling them in our office.

The luncheon was at a restaurant called Cafe Merlot, which is located at the Bernardo Winery, one of my favorite spots to hang out - the same place we used to have Wine Fridays before I got knocked up...and where we will continue the tradition in the spring when I'm no longer knocked up :)

Adorable wine glasses that had everyone's names on them.



With the great hostess

Lovely family - Aunt Marsha, mother in law Barb and sister in law Laura.  Barb & Laura also did a great job on the decorations and cake.

My lovely SoCal Chi Omega ladies, and little EmilyMae.

Beckie & Heather

Some of the RBHS football wives. 

Including us 3 mamas who are all due in December!  Katie is due with baby Luke the day after me, and Suzanne is scheduled for Dec. 27 with baby #2, gender unknown.  Yay for more football babies, and many more Friday playdates in the seasons to come!

You may be seeing these gems again soon, but worn by two cute little boys.

It was a perfect day spent with good friends & family, exactly what I wanted to celebrate our little man.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Halloween

We had a fun Halloween week this year, holidays are definitely getting more and more fun as Mason gets older!  
A few days before, we had the cousins down to our house for some pumpkin carving.  First we put the dads to work cutting them open and taking all the "guts" out.  Grace wanted nothing to do with the stuff, but Addie dug right on in with the men!


And then...the men continued to carve, and the kids lost interest.  So, this is what pumpkin carving looked like all evening.  My mom was actually picking out the seeds to attempt baking them for the first time while the two dads carved and the 3 kids played...

And blew bubbles.

And pretty much did everything BUT help carve pumpkins.

But like good dads, once their pumpkin masterpieces were completed, they gave the kids all the credit :)

Don't let these cute faces fool you, we had to run these three down and pretty much force them to pose with their pumpkins. 

On Halloween Mason spent the day with Gigi while Tristan & I worked, and they had some themed fun.


And then it was time for...dum dum dum...the DREADED COSTUME.  I purchased Mason's costume at the end of September, and had been talking up his race car driver outfit for a full month.  He was SO excited about being a race car driver, yet had NO desire to actually put the costume on.  If you remember Halloween last year, you'll know that Mason isn't much of a costume fan.

Just as we thought we were never going to get him into his costume, a little friend from down the street showed up to trick-or-treat for her first time.  I had Mason help me bring her the bowl of candy, which he had no idea had been sitting up on the counter.  When he asked for a piece, I explained to him that we had to be wearing costumes to get candy.  Suddenly, he was very interested in putting on his costume.  So yes...I sort of bribed my 2 year old with candy...but I feel like this is the one day that the bribe actually relates!!!

We got about halfway into the costume when the waterworks began...

And escalated...

Until he was a crying mess asking for one thing over and over...

LOLLIPOP!  There...all better.  The minute that lollipop was unwrapped, it was as if the costume didn't even exist.


And from there on out, he was a happy camper, so mom & I took the opportunity to grab some cute shots.

You like my ghetto Halloween shirt?

Daddy came home from work in time for trick-or-treating, and was prepared with a costume of his own to go with Mason's, as a mechanic.  I kind of dropped the ball on joining in on the fun.


The cousins headed down in their costumes, their parents toting along the ever-famous wagon-o-liquor, stocked with beer and wine for the adults.  This year it also carried an adorable 1 year old pumpkin :)

And then it was off for trick-or-treating!

Mason caught on quickly to the concept, and had a great time going up to the doors.  He did a great job saying thank you to everyone and kept up with the big kids for a good 30 minutes before he was over it.


That evening, Mason's dinner consisted of 2 lollipops, a mini bag of M&M's, and a few bites of pizza.  But luckily, he completely forgot about the candy after that evening, and never asked for another piece in the following days, despite his bucket sitting prominently on the kitchen counter.  All in all, Halloween #3 was a success!