Last weekend we went up to San Luis Obispo for a little reunion trip with all my old college roommates. It’s too bad we couldn’t rent out our old home, but really not too bad, because where we ended up was at this century plus old farmhouse, built by the Madonna family. It was unique, and the property was perfect for a 3 year and the dogs to explore. It was a weekend to celebrate 5 marriages in 5 years, babies, dogs, birthdays. We got a night out on the town, one of the highlights for Mom and Dad, because those kinds of nights just don’t exist anymore. We cooked tri-tip, watched football, stayed warm by firepit, fell into weird hot-tubs, washed muddy dogs, drank far too much wine, took photos(evidence below), and generally just enjoyed one another. We talked about making this house a tradition, but upon the realization that we would quickly outgrow it, we joked about pitching tents in the yard for the kids. Though that might not be an actual joke, it could happen one day.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Buddy!

We spent New Years Eve down in Newport Beach with Grandma & Grandpa, and you had this Cookie Cake on New Year’s day before we came back home. A stop at the discovery cube, to do something fun before heading home to get ready for your birthday party.

Super B! Capes and Cake Pops.

  And your best friend Finn.

I put so much effort into making those capes, but I think B wore his for about 5 minutes total. The cake pops were a hit, as well as the balloons, which all the kids enjoyed bringing outside and letting go….

Bennett’s favorite gift was having his best buddy from school come to his party. I think they just get each other in some special way. Finn was one of the first things Bennett talked about, when he started talking. He’s been a household topic of conversation for some time, even if we had no idea what the conversation was about, other than “Finn.” When I asked B what he liked about Finn the other day, he said, “He always be SO FUNNY.”

So its about time. Saying goodbye to 2014. You were wonderful, really. I will not miss being pregnant. I will miss the fleeting newborn summer days you gave me, they were sweet, but too short. 2015, you’ve started out swell.

Life with these two just gets better everyday.

Flashback to Parade of lights at the Ventura Harbor.

Legoland, 2014, Thanks again Aardappels!

Early Christmas with Family in San Diego.

Babies and Christmas lights. If you’re confused about why there’s another baby on here, its because we just adopted her. Her name is Cora, not to be confused with Clara. (Sometimes I have no idea if Clara’s name isn’t actually Clora, because half the time that’s what comes out of my mouth now.) Our good friends moved to Camarillo at the end of 2014, and we couldn’t be happier about it! Isn’t she adorbs?

Clora at 5 months :)

  Christmas-ing

Christmas morning with little babes is the best! Look at B, sprawled out with all his toys, ha!

Solids! She loves Everything. peas! carrots! sweet potato! banana! apple! green beans! oatmeal!

None of us actually had any major dental work done, but you know what I mean. Getting Grown Men to play dress up (putting on a shirt that is too matchy is a hard concept to overcome), Getting little boys to even wear a shirt, making sure everyone has had a snack or coffee and is ready for some smiles, babies that keep spitting up, its all so difficult. Most of us would all rather go in and get some laughing gas and get a tooth pulled than spend an awkward hour in front of a big lens. And then there’s the posing. Should I look at the camera? Should I awkwardly look away? What if the camera catches that weird angle of my face that makes me entirely look not like me? What about my double chin? We’re no models.

I’ve noticed something over the years about photos of myself. Photos I remember once seeing and feeling like I hated at the time (my hair wasn’t straight, my arms are too fat, why didn’t I smile with my teeth??) I end up loving them a couple years later when I come back to them. Funny how that works. So I’m always grateful that I have the photos to look back on, no matter how many I love of myself at the time. This year, we hired Felicia & Maddy and not only did we love them, we absolutely love their work. They made it pretty easy on us, Tim was grateful that they helped in positioning, but kept it natural and free to be us. I think the images are stunning really, couldn’t be happier. I could have put up all 168 images, but I think that would be overload for you, and lets be honest, you’re never going to get to see the ones that I don’t like of myself, it is afterall, my blog we’re on here.

So, traveling back exactly 1 month ago….here we are:

A couple weekends ago we did the pumpkin patch, opted not to go to Underwood family farms to do the whole big shebang, but instead a smaller scale patch down the street. We decided on one really big pumpkin instead of a couple smaller ones. And I’m glad we did, because it made this possible:

Bennett decided on a Fireman this year, and we were pretty happy he did, because he kind of wanted this green dragon costume at first, not remembering of course that last year, I hand made him a henry hugglemonster costume that he hated, and pretty much refused to wear. Henry Hugglemonster is basically a cute dragon monster (for those of you that don’t have disney junior running round the clock.) And while I’m on the subject of Disney Junior, did you see this episode of parks and rec? we almost died laughing, and basically quote Ron Swanson on the daily. So anyway, I didn’t want yet another dragon costume……to go unworn.

When did you become a Child?

Rescuing the house from the giant one-eyed Spider:

Fire Chief Business is real serious:

We went to the Oaks Mall today, In full Fire mode, and he got SO many compliments from old ladies, people wanting to stop and take a picture with him. so funny. I mean, today is halloween, did people forget? I know the kid is cute, but I didn’t think it would be so shocking. He loved the attention though.

Favorite part of this image is the chubby little hand dangling:

And last but not least, a reading by Bennett:

happy pumpkin day mouse from nicole oman on Vimeo.