event-filled weekend

i am still trying to recover from this weekend, but it will most likely take me all week. we had 2 birthday parties (one for our niece Kaliya who turned 11 and one for Bryson and I), 1 wedding (Bryan's cousin Cady) and 2 baby showers (Kristie's and a surprise one for me!)

on our way back home we stopped off in santa barbara to have (we thought) a nice dinner with jeff and solera and instead walked into a room of our very awesome college friends who surprised us with a baby shower. we are so blessed to have such amazing thoughtful friends. they decorated onesies for us...some of which we can actually dress our baby in...i'll post some of my favorites later. i am still overwhelmed that they all threw it together so fast and that so many people came - we love you all!

(This pic is of the Barnes family at the wedding on Saturday...i love bryson's expression - priceless!)

santa barbara fire

many of you i am sure have heard that there has been a nasty fire in santa barbara / montecito this week. here is an update from yesterday on the westmont fire update website (Las Barrancas is the faculty housing neighborhood where many of the Westmont professors live & Clark Halls is a dormitory for freshman and sophomores):

326 students in Gym, fires out

November 14th, 2008

8:00 am: There are no active fires on campus, no injuries, and everyone is safe.

Wesmont has 326 students remaining in the Gym; those students with transportation have been released from campus because it is safe for them to travel on area roads.

Westmont has lost eight structures, four buildings in Clark halls (F,G,M,S), the physics building, the old math building and the two quonset huts. The later three structures were scheduled for demolition soon.

Fourteen faculty homes in Las Barrancas have burned; there is damage to trees, and wooded areas on campus, but much of the formal gardens remains intact.

New Shop Posts

we had a ton of fun at the patchwork show, and true to our promise we posted all the goods we have left over at our etsy shop. it has been so much fun making all these things, it can get tough to part with them sometimes because you put so much time and thought and love into each piece. but...we'll sell out, don't worry! i have some ideas i am working on for future shop items, mainly i need to beef up my BOY supply...any ideas???

the friendkidly three have been working very hard and we have basically put together a brand new shop with all sorts of new items and goodies...just in time for the holidays! remember to keep it handmade this holiday season and check out the stash!

www.friendkidly.etsy.com

im addicted

i just heard about these books about a month ago and after being accused of "living under a rock" for never having heard of them i ordered it through half.com and read it in like 2 days. i kind of wanted to not like it - i am not a big vampire fan...i guess...they never have really intrigued me i suppose, but i think this book sparked a new fascination. one thing i must say is that this book is extremely linear - there are really no side stories or side plots and it was odd to read a book about just one plot - that stuck out to me, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. what i did love is that the author - Stephanie Meyer - totally captured the high school love/crush thing. i couldnt help but harken back...way back to a crush on a boy who was no good for me and i knew it but i couldnt stay away...he wasnt a vampire, but then again - who knows? i loved the way she forced the reader to ride along on the hormonal rollercoaster of a 17 year old girl. anwyay - it wasn't shakespeare...which i still have yet to finish, sorry joel - but it was absolute brain candy and i didnt hesitate to order the second one in the series almost instantly...

Happy Veterans Day Grandpas!

to both of my grandpas - Wally and Darol - Wally was in the merchant marines and Darol in the navy....Happy Veterans Day and thank you for all you did for our country...Bryson and I visited Grandma June and Grandpa Wally today and I tried to keep the bull in the china shop from destroying their apartment...they were so happy to see us and i snuck in this little moment too of Grandpa and Bryson:

Patchwork

This last Sunday friendkidly participated in our first craft show at Patchwork in Santa Ana. it was a great event of local artists and crafters and we actually sold a bunch of stuff. More than that, the feedback was more than encouraging and we have all caught our second wind, despite multiple children and pregnancies and kids refusing to nap. we met some great people, ate some great food, heard some great (and not-so-great...lets be entirely honest) music. We are updating our shop this week with new goodies too since we passed out so many business cards! stay posted and remember to buy handmade!

happy birthday bryson!

my baby boy turned 3 on saturday...we had a great little get-together with family to celebrate the momentous occassion...he got all sorts of fabulous big kid toys that he is truly playing with now...maybe he will stop trying to use my desk objects now as toys...not holding my breath though! i am still not believing my son is 3...but he keeps reminding me - how do i know he is 3?
1. he asks "why" constantly
2. his imagination is overwhelmingly active
3. he is wearing big boy underwear and using the potty all by himself
4. he is able to be in a room by himself unsupervised (for at least 10 minutes)
5. he can dress himself from his shirt to his shoes
6. he can count to 10
7. he knows the street he lives on
8. he remembers when you tell him promises or bribes
9. he is trying to give up his nap
10. he is creating friendships and relationships in such an amazing way now

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

white clawed jesus

so suddenly it seems we wake up with a kid...and suddenly it seems we are meant to parent said kid...and suddenly said kid is asking all sorts of questions that i never really thought i would have the need to prepare to answer...like for example - bryson came into the office the other day while i was working and tells me he is scared of Jesus. "why?" i ask..."because he has white claws and white eyes and scary hair"...hmmm...i try to think of how he got this image of Jesus and who exactly he thinks Jesus is anyway - we say his prayers every night and he knows Jesus lives in heaven with stars and angels, but how did he come to be a monster i asked him...no answer...so i googled Jesus...isn't that funny? i wanted to put a different image in his head than a monster so i googled our Lord and Savior...anyway - this wonderful picture came up and i showed him that Jesus was a man and probably had a beard and was Jewish...i am sure we can discuss that later...but i suppose it helped replace white-claw Jesus with baby lamb Jesus at least...is there a book somewhere for all of this? cause i should probably read that book...this kid is surprising me every day with how he makes sense of the world...

Happy Birthday Jenny

happy birthday dear birthday twin/cousin...see you tonight at Hibachi...yummmm....Hibachi! You may have to click on the picture to see it better, but look at us...from our fake little performances we tortured our families with to our high school performances we tortured our families with...warning...do not look too closely at our little thigh sizes...we were in high school and it is never fair to compare 30 year old thighs with teenager thighs...just be grateful we looked like that when we had to wear those...in front of people...at some times in front of our own student body...it is because of you i got back into dance and i am so grateful for it - thank you for being like a big sis to me always! love you!

Halloween

can you guess who Bryan was? Bryan surprised me for my birthday and flew in Jena (and her baby Eliot who turned 1 year old on Halloween!) from Portland and my brother flew Ruthie in from Texas in to celebrate with me. such a sweet sweet surprise. i miss my girls so much and it was so wonderful to have them there with me...we went shopping and stayed up late talking and laughing and looking at goofy college pictures of us and had brunch and i loved every minute with them. I also loved that we got to be with Eliot on her birthday - what a darling baby and what an amazing mommy she has! definitely the best Halloween ever! we went to the carnival at our chruch. bryson couldnt decide between pirate and ghost so last minute costume decisions were made...he ended up a pirate!