Chris' Bday Pics (finally)

So I'm finally uploading Chris' birthday pictures, yay! I had mentioned in the last post that I was going for a vintage airplane theme, which I really only quasi-managed to do through the invites, Chris' get-up, and the map bunting...I totally blame it on feeling like shite the first trimester, but Chris seemed to be happy with the party, so I guess it was a success:)

Chris' awesome invite from Computer Art Nerd

Put him in an aviator costume and this is what happens...complete with airplane noises. Oh yah, and check out that spread! Jen and Pepper are wonderful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was awesome that his parents could make it out for the party

Yummy food!

Matching smiles

It was great to have extra seating for the buddies and their wee ones

And of course we had paper airplanes...lots and lots of paper airplanes

Photo bombing friends are the best

We had a blast at Chris' party and I just remember thinking the whole time that we have the best family and friends; they're always there to help us celebrate whatever it is we're celebrating and help us to set up and clean up the the fun!

December Stuff

What better way to announce our pregnancy on the blog than with Benedict Cumberbatch?:)

I know that the handful of people who read this blog already know we're having a baby, but I haven't announced it on the blog yet, so here you go! We found out on the 17th that we're having a girl! Her name is Evelyn Rose, Evey for short, and we are ridiculously excited. I even have some cute/creepy ultrasound photos!

This is the creepy one

And this is the cute one, she's sucking her thumb!

Evey is due on May 13th and I'm feeling the need to get her room in order, especially since we now know she's a she. That should be happening sometime in the next couple weeks.

So November and December were whirlwinds around here, mostly for me because I started a seasonal job at Barnes and Noble mid-November (which will end on January 5th). I don't want to say getting the job was a mistake, all the money I made went to my student loans, I met some great people, got a great discount, but I'm a bit exhausted and we had a lot going on in December, naturally.

We had a big party for Chris' 30th on the 13th which was awesome, and which I do not have pics of yet. It was a fun vintage airplane theme party with Chris all dressed up in aviator gear, map bunting and Chris' favorite foods. Of course Jen and Pepper were there and provided most of the amazing food, from a mashed potato bar (served in martini glasses) to to sliders, to mozzarella sticks in votives. It was a great time and as soon as Chris can find his memory card reader, I'll share some pics.

Chris' party was definitely a family affair with his parents and two brothers coming to join us. For my birthday I dragged everyone to high tea and a play, which, surprisingly, they all seemed to enjoy:)

Love High Tea!

Very serious tea drinkers

Amidst their visit I was working and scrambling to finish the XMas shopping/shipping (I'm happy to say that the last gift to arrive was two days after Christmas, not too bad). I also, unfortunately, gave up on my 20 book reading goal, sigh. I only made it to 10, but I'm trying not to feel that bad because, obviously, I had a lot going on. Soooo, now I'm going to make a 2014 book goal! I'd like to put the goal at 40, but with Evey's impending arrival, I don't think that's going to happen, so I'm going to say 25. And speaking of goals, I know Chris' is to finish the El Camino before Evey's born, so hopefully that'll get done (I really miss parking in the garage).

December has been an amazing month and we've seen a lot of our family and even friends we haven't seen in a while! Dan and Brittani were in town from San Francisco and we were able to squeeze in a 7 am breakfast with them, I had lunch and did some shopping with Sarah last Thursday (and who I'm looking forward to spending more time with in February and March while she's on leave) and Anna, who I haven't seen in 4+ years, was in town! We had breakfast and also did some shopping on Friday, and it was so much fun to catch up after all that time.

So, it was a very busy and very fun December and I'm glad we were able to squeeze in so much stuff into this month. January will be busy as we're having Nesha, Elijah, Sal, Oz, and two of their friends over next weekend, I will be an assistant educator for a winter break camp for a week at The Discovery, and we're going to visit my family in Tennessee for a couple days. Should be a good time and hopefully things will slow down a bit in February, but I see baby showers looming ahead...

Happy New Year to everyone!

Halloween!!

Ok, November 5th, not too bad for a Halloween post. Oh yah, and I just realized that today IS November 5th...

Remember, remember the 5th of November
Gun powder treason and plot
I see no reason the gun powder treason
Should ever be forgot...

And that's it for my nerdiness today, although I am not a Guy Fawkes buff, I really love V for Vendetta.

So I have lots of Halloween photos from our Witches, Wizards, and Familiars party, pumpkin carving, and Halloween night. I'm going to do my best to pare them down best I can, but no promises.

The Holmes family

I have to say this is the first time I've seen a wizard make out with a cowboy

If you're wondering, that's Harry Potter's uncle on the right, Larry Potter, from Jersey

Just the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, we made peace that night in order to cook up some awesome soups and goodies

A familiar and a wizard, they go so well together

A big thank you to my buddy Meghan for taking these pics!

Pinterest, what would I do without your guidance and wonderful ideas like this?

Pepper's amazing cupcakes

Cute little dinosaur

And an adorable flower

Meghan and Jen

Oh that flying monkey

Witch hat cheese ball! Not as cool as my Cheshire Cat cheese ball from last year, but not bad

Me and Debbie

Pumpkin carving time!

We watched The Nightmare Before Christmas while we got our hands dirty

So scary...

These are my super awesome and creepy ghost dancers that were blown down by the horrible winds the week before Halloween and were way too tangled to put back up

Halloween tradition, sitting outside in the cold and giving out candy. I am definitely my father's daughter

Do you see that super awesome hour glass?! Bruce (aka my Wizard of Oz supplier, if you've seen my kitchen, you understand) gave it to me the night of the Halloween party! I had an urge to hurl it from the top of my stairs to the first floor, but I really didn't want to break its loveliness

I like this shot, makes our house look a little creepy:)

So Halloween was awesome, as always, and now my mission is to come up with next year's theme and costumes...

Catch Up

Oh wow, it's been almost two months since my last post, how lame, especially when I promised Balloon Race pictures! Super lame...anyway, here's some more of the balloon race pics from last month!

Glow Show

Me and Meghan attempting to keep warm

Iayla liked Yoda's feet

Chris looks mean here but I swear he's not!

Pics of the two of us in front of balloons will never get old:)

The Holms Family

Spider Pig!

I love seeing all the balloons in the air

So obviously we had a good time at the Balloon Races and were able to enjoy the experience with some buddies. Later we went to Lilybelle's 1st birthday party which was so much fun and that night we met up with Meghan and her husband Brian and saw Bye Bye Birdie. It was fun and was the first time we'd seen a play at Bartley Ranch. Busy, and exhausting, day, especially due to the fact that we woke up at 3 am...

A couple weekends ago we went to Apple Hill in Camino, CA. We hadn't been in two years, and we'd never gone without Jen and her family, so it was interesting trying to find our way around. We managed though and found some great ranches.

We were starving when we arrived and ended up at Jack Russell Brewing Co. where we just sat on the grass, ate, and people watched.

Gorgeous pumpkins at Rainbow Orchard, which was, by far, our favorite

We loved sitting on the hay bales, surrounded by scarecrows and children hopping from hay bale to hay bale, all while enjoying some cider

Apple Pie a la mode at High Hill

Chris never misses an opportunity to climb aboard an old piece of machinery

Soooo, most everyone knows that I love Halloween, it's my favorite (and if you don't know this then we must not be that close, as in, we've never had a conversation). And of course we had our annual Halloween party last Friday, and I have pics, but I'm for my friend to give me some of hers, and I'm going to take more pics on Halloween, so that post is going to wait. Hopefully it won't appear two months from now;)

And I figured I could do an update on my book challenge, and I have to say it's not looking incredibly promising. I've only read 6 books out of the 20 I wanted to read, which isn't bad, but it means that I've got 14 more to go by the end of the year! And it's so easy for me to blame Halloween preparations for my lack of reading, but now I have to realize that we're entering into the Thanksgiving/Christmas/birthday season (I'm adding birthday season because I'm throwing Chris a 30th birthday party and people are coming up from Vegas for it and it's going to be kind of a big to-do). Anyway, I just got four more books from the library, so hopefully I'll knock those out fast and I'll only have 10 more to go!