Daddy Day & Darn Disastrous Dessert!

Samuel:

H A P P Y  F A T H E R ' S  D A Y !

Over a breakfast of all of dad's favorites
-served on the special plate and cup-

we celebrated dad!

T H E  B R E A K F A S T  M EN U

Eggs Benedict

Garlic Broccoli & Tomato Saute

&

Orange Juice

Dessert was another story.

It took on a life of it's own and decided to live in the pan!

I forced it out and did my best to piece it together again.

Oh, well.

Chocolate is chocolate, right?

Luckily,

dinner was a no-fail.

How can you go wrong with grilled steak?

...

T H E  D I N N E R  M E N U

Olive Oil & Black Pepper Marinated Tri-tip

Steamed Lobster Tail with Lemon-Butter

Iceberg Wedge Salad with Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes with Cream

We gussied up dessert with

a chocolate sour-cream ganache...

...and dug IN!

...

Samuel,

You change diapers,

comb out tangled hair,

wash dishes,

chase kids,

are THE best tickle monster,

AND 

carry me to bed every night.

We love you!

I love you.

So, so much.

xoxoXOXOxoxo

Momma & The Kiddies

Pure Joy & Sunshine

Even though all the birthday hoop-la has

come and gone with the boys combined birthday parties,

we still had a pretty special day when Gabriel's

real birthday rolled around!

Cake for breakfast, anyone?

What must you wish for at the ripe old age of two?

Once the candles were out,

the scrabble for cake began!

Seconds later...gone!

...

H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y,  S O N !

Gabriel,

We can't express how grateful we are for you.

You were definitely saved for these days,

and as much as we'd like to think you needed us,

we sorely needed you.

Thank you for being pure joy and sunshine.

We love you, son.

Always.

Love,

Mum & Dad

Lazy Days at the Pool

This year,

to the kids delight,

we purchased a family pass to the local pool.

How am I ever going to keep track of five kids in the water?

Luckily I have momma's boys who prefer to snuggle...

...and in the case of Iris...

...she loathes the kiddie area and

refused to play anywhere near it!

Well, lookie there.

I guess she's had a change of heart afterall.

And that drew Owen out of his towel too!

But per our agreement,

after a bit it was time to head over to the "medium" pool!

{ That's what we call the 0 ft. sloping to 4 ft. + pool. }

The kiddies also held out for the BIG pool,

and did great in deeper waters.

Plucking the boys out of the water was easy

once they saw the swim team stretching on the lawn.

The love nothing better than to blatantly stare at people.

{ smile }

Here's a quick snapshot of the big girls

heading up to the slide!

They swim like fish and rarely get out of the water-

making the most of every second of our time there!

...

The pool:

Good times!

Millions of Peaches...

Lucky for us we have two new grocery stores

that sell fabulous produce at deliciously low prices:

Sprouts &

The Sunflower Market!

While I don't can...yet,

  I do freeze!

And Gabriel,

well,

he eats...

"Millions of peaches...

Peaches for me..."

{ You know you're rocking out! }

Day-Trippin' in Davis

The Perfect Backyard Escape:

Davis, California

A major foodie town,

we had to check out the acclaimed

Village Bakery.

Sumptious slices go for $2-3 ea.,

in addition to the addicting breads & pastries that

tempt you from the display cases.

Seriously...

G O  C H E C K  I T  O U T !

Walking the downtown we came across this

awesome sign...

I'm officially this kind of vegetarian! 

The kids can't resist taking to the stage at the local park...

But we can surely tear them away for

a frozen treat at

Yoloberry!

...

The best part about our trip?

In only thirty minutes we'll be rollin' up the driveway.

Not too shabby for a night out of town!

Our Private Art Show

The kids went into art overdrive

and within minutes created enough pieces for a small museum!

Within minutes,

that small museum was born

out of our kitchen!

Complete with a bench they dragged in for Samuel and I

to sit on and ponder each piece!

Artist are notorious for being drama-mamma's,

and these guys were no different.

There was some heated squabbling over who

got the best real estate.

Apparently the oven door is a hot spot...

My kitchen was beautiful for all of two days before

the clutter drove me crazy and the artwork

went into everyone's personal collection!

...

T H A N K S  B A B I E S !

Happy Birthday Owen, Gabriel, & Julia!

I think this picture of my boys looks so, so funny!

Here they are at the ripe old age for four & two,

and yet I can look at this picture

and easily fast-forward to when they're forty-four & forty-two-

and get a good idea of what they'll look like then!

I dearly hope they continue to be a little GOOFY...

...a WHOLE lot of fun...

...and the very BEST of friends!

How is that they're so nice and composed for a picture with dad...

 ...and so silly and squirmy with mom?

The waiting is finally over...

 C H E C K  I T  O U T !

Superheros in the house!

We HIGHLY recommend this set from Amazon-

which is very reasonably priced!

If you're interested,

check it out here!

Since the boys birthday's are in the summer,

or in our house,

- C A M P I N G  S E A S O N -

s'more's are the way to go!

Yup,

that's all that were left,

and even these last morsels were snatched up by sticky fingers!

We're so fortunate to have both our families in town,

so we celebrated yet again with even more grandma's!

Aunt Julia turned sweet-fourteen!

H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y,  B E A T I F U L !



Sigh.

Another year has come and gone.

Owen & Gabriel,

You are,

and always will be,

my "two boys!"

We love you both so much,

and it is a joy to watch you grow.

All our love,

Mom & Dad

(...and your three other little momma's too!)

What a little white paint can do...

Going through the blogosphere

in search of how to make a zipper-less pillow cover,

I hit upon a great sight,

Vintage Revivals,

and fell in love with this mural tree tutorial!

I had a total

"I can do that!" moment,

and yes...

...within minutes I was on a ladder!

Check out the blog for details,

including how to project the image on the wall to

get the tree just right.

As for myself,

I'm a wing-it kind of gal

and chose to tackle the project free-hand style.

Either way,

the finished project is spectactular!

We added a few simple touches to personalize her space,

{ Don't you LOVE printers? }

and...

Ta-da!

Not bad for a few hours of work!

...

Now back to those pillow covers...

{ Smile }