iPhone Dump

I just realized that I haven't dumped photos off of my iPhone in months. So here's a smattering of images of our lives from the past few months. If you're my friend on Facebook, you've probably seen many of these pictures. Enjoy!

My beautiful, wonderful, dear friend Caralee (Eddleman) Weber and I were reunited about a year ago and it's been so sweet having her back in my everyday life. We all have Disney passes and have been enjoying the beautiful California weather together.

See, look--we're at Disneyland! (You're going to see a lot of Disney pictures coming up.)

Delaney was gifted with a beautiful pair of handmade fairy wings on her birthday by our friend Krista. So beautiful!

Delaney requested ladybug cupcakes for her birthday. Mission accomplished.

This is how much Steve loves his daughter. And how much he loves his wife.

The cable on the shifting console in our Saturn Vue snapped on my way to work last week. Good times. So I got to drive the VW. I love this car, fumes and all.

Oh, these two. I love these two.

Look--Disneyland again! With our adorable little friend Josiah.

Mickey and Delaney

Here's our attempt at a group shot: Josiah Robinson, Jude, Delaney, Harper Robinson, Josh Lance.

We took a family hike up Mt. Rubidoux the other morning. This kid is such a morning person!

Now that J. Billy is a year old, Steve and I took the liberty of escaping for a night. We started out our date with a viewing of a live taping of the public radio show Says You! We were the youngest folks there by a good 10 years. It made for some good people watching.

This is a picture of a big boy. Oh, my poor heart.

Can I just freeze this moment forever?

This was taken on Jude's first birthday. It's been a great year.

Back at Disneyland again...Jude was TERRIFIED of the carousel. So unlike his adrenaline-junkie sister.

This night we were at Disneyland again with the Webers. I love this picture of Matt and Steve with their girls.

Baby Ellie falls asleep in such funny positions!

This girl loves to craft it up!

Jude's Party: The Real Deal

I set a goal for myself to finish blogging about Jude's party before Delaney's birthday, which is this Saturday. So, please forgive me if this post lacks the usual witty dialogue. There are so many photos to sift through, and I'm posting my favorites in no particular order. After reviewing all of the pictures, I noticed that we don't have ONE picture of Nana and Papa, and they were pretty key players, seeing how the party was in their backyard. Sorry, Nana and Papa. You guys are superheros. Thanks to everyone who traveled near and far to celebrate J. Billy. It was such a wonderful, love-filled day. Here we go!

Our family, gone country.

Delaney loves her Fo-na (Fiona) so very, very much.

My brother, Uncle Redneck, came down to celebrate Jude. Here we're taking a break from the total chaos that surrounded us.

Gavin, Taylor, and Abbey, hard at work riding and roping.

Baby Town, courtesy of Matt and Tim. And Emma and Elliot.

Ben, Emma Q., Corinta, and Zoe getting crafty.

Uncle Monkey, Auntie Beans, and Grandpa teasing the birthday boy with some root beer.

My Gramps and Grams drove all the way from Oregon to be a part of Jude's special day. It meant the world to all of us to have them there.

Cutest outlaw ever.

Look at all of those presents! Now if only Jude could write his own thank you cards...

Delaney and Anneliese cheering Jude on.

Oh Ju-Ju-Bee, you're pretty great.

This guy was so into his cake.

Do you see this line? Pin the Tail on the Horsey was a crowd pleaser.

Alex stares intensely at his opponents, devising a plan to win.

The birthday cowboy enjoying a "tube steak," also known as the common hot dog.

Friends getting their grub on.

Delaney got to ring the dinner triangle and almost clocked me in the face. Aunt Joni was thoroughly entertained.

Folks just having a real nice time.

Auntie Kari and her camera.

Taryn and the sweet Baby Addy.

Boys vs. Girls

Delaney's first birthday:


Jude's first birthday:


The boy child is such a little monster!

Jude's Party: The Set-Up

We celebrated Jude's birthday on February 4th, and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. It was one of those days that remind you that sometimes, living in California ain't so bad. As I have mentioned before, the theme for Jude's party was a Western Round-up Cowboy theme, and golly did I have fun with it. Well, truthfully, party planning started out as a lot of fun, got really stressful somewhere in the middle, and then ended on a positive note when I saw it all come together. We really did go all out for this party, and to quote my husband, "We can't have any more kids because we can't have any more first birthday parties." So, prepare yourself for an obnoxious amount of pictures of just the party set-up. Please stop rolling your eyes and remember that this blog is really my family's digital scrapbook. Jude, are you reading this? This was all for you, baby.

This served as a fun photo-op for the kiddos, and they had fun putting one another in jail. We owe Uncle Monkey a great deal for all of his artistic handiwork, and this was one of the many things that I commissioned Mike to create.

The entrance to the backyard of Nana and Papa's homestead.

Remember all of Jude's wagon pictures? Yes, this makes me cry.

Pin the Tail on the Horse, another one of Uncle Monkey's creations.

This was the favors table. The loot bags are filled with "Golden Nugget" caramel corn, and the mason jars are filled with "Happy Trails" mix. Yes, I'm a dork. I also had out Jude's baby book for people to sign...I guess I should start filling that thing out now, right?

Remember all of those loot bags filled with caramel corn? You can thank this lady right here for that. I love you, Mom. You put up with my crazy ideas so well.

Bean bag "shoot out." All of Uncle Monkey's hard work almost makes up for the fact that he bought Delaney a Whoopie Cushion for Christmas. Sheesh!

We had a lot of little games around the lawn, but I liked the look of this one the best.

You can't see the sign, but this was the "Lil' Buckaroos" craft area. Grandpa, Jude, and Delaney make for pretty good-looking cowpokes, don't you think?

The food layout. We served up cowboy food, meaning hot dogs, baked beans, peanuts, root beer, real beer, and lemonade.

We had a few tables in the backyard for seating, and I wish I had a better picture of the runners and flowers. It was pretty cowboyish, trust me.

This isn't the greatest view, but we had picnic seating out front with tablecloths and hay bales.

Steve and his dad made these amazing saw horse ponies. My original idea was that the kiddos would take turns roping the horses, but really everyone had a great time climbing all over them. One of my former students let us borrow her saddle, which everyone loved.

And I just had to add this picture, because it's too good not to show it off. I love this cowboy.

So stay tuned for like, actual pictures of the party!

12 Months

Today is J. Billy's birthday. Crazy, am I right?

I didn't forget about blogging. It's just been wild around here, gearing up for Jude's Wild West Birthday Round-Up. The party was great, the sun was shining, and Jude was surrounded by love. But that's another post for another time.

So, Jude turned one today. I spent the day with 25 third graders, discussing fractional parts of a group, prefixes, and appropriate pacing when reading poetry aloud. Thankfully, I didn't have too much time to get emotional about my little man not being so little anymore. But yes, a few tears were shed.

Jude is such a fun little monster. He is such a wild, slobbery, happy baby man. We are all so in love with him.

Can you see his baby mullet blowing in the wind?

Sister had to help out because Monster kept eating his sign...

Oh, these two rugrats. I want to gobble them up.

Jude loves his Laney Cat!