he’s 6 today! he loooved waking up to us all singing happy birthday loudly to him and running downstairs to see his ‘tablescape’ as sandra lee would say! 🙂

kk is his nickname.. not sure how it came about but it’s been around for a good 5 years. he only lets people who are dearest to him call him kk. 🙂 off to get our day started! will be back with pics later. 🙂 oh boy, look what’s in store for tonight! 🙂 🙂 🙂

the little jogger companion went for a night run with her dada last night. here she is, looking soooo relaxed. 🙂 yes, i am all about the garamouche font again. 🙂

i cannot believe that in less than 30 days she is going to be ONE! chris and i were looking back on past blog posts when i was just so ready to have her and we can’t believe how fast this year has gone. totally amazing.

here she is with her 2 fingers in her mouth.. you will almost always see her like that. mommy is trying to get over the whole germ thing with fingers-touching-public-things-yuck! we have been thankful that besides the christmas stomachflu she’s only had a few colds. but ever since the flu, she’s been in bed with us.. which is where all our other kids slept when they were babies, so we are okay with it. she’s napping twice, but even the 2nd nap is such a struggle.. i can’t remember the age where they go down to 1 nap. i’m not ready…. 🙂 she’s pretty much eating everything we eat.. still has her favorites of grapes and pears… bananas sliding down a notch though. crawling so fast. goes up and down the stairs and knows how to get off the couch. dances to almost any sort of music. anything. vocabulary is: hi, hi ya, hi dad, bye, baba- (again all purpose word which also means.. bottle, ball, diaper, bath, apple) eeeeeze (please), tutu (thank you), uh-oh, nigh-nigh (night) and my current fave: OOZEDAT? (who’s that?) gives kisses by leaning her head in. has a fascination with toothbrushes. we had to childproof the kitchen cabinets and she is deeply offended that she cannot play with the bleach. likes to play ball. personal trainer to dad, circling the rosebowl with him in the new jogger stroller. always happy to see her siblings. likes to play with them. she trusts them. (aw!) smiles for strangers and gives them a headtilt ala valley girl and says hiiiiya! 🙂 just the little busy body all day long…our almost one year old. sigh.

this will be really cool. check it out!

swiped these off elsie’s blog.

and these from my friend shannon. 🙂

good thing they got these cute shots because i didn’t even bring my camera! thanks you guys. 🙂

little miss elsie turned 11 months yesterday. i can’t believe i have only one more month of buying formula! ha! kidding- i can’t believe my baby is almost one. i will post a little update if i get a chance this weekend. happy friday!

i spent the last 5 days at CHA. i commuted everyday though… it was hard to leave this every morning.

i have to say.. this was actually a very special time for daddy and the kids. he took the 5 days off and tended to their every need… sports games, church, school, food… everything. i am so proud of him. and elsie and dad had some major bonding time when the big kids were at school. a very good thing. i’m so glad it worked out so well..miss separation anxiety seems to have outgrown it now. phew. 🙂

so i went with the gals at Autumn Leaves this time around…

it was a great experience and i got to meet some really cool gals. loved it. 🙂 love the new AL product too.. yum! saw lots of new neat stuff but i didn’t take any pics.. i’m not too good at that. off the top of my head.. my faves my mind’s eye, anna griffin and scenic route. and of course KI and Elsie’s stuff. so wonderful and happy 🙂 but there was so many good things out there. excited to get them all in my hands! (hubby prob not too excited to get them in our room) lol- i have major purging to do.

i took today off from working the booth and brought my little elsie with me… got some cute pics of her in "the kitchen" 🙂 it was nice to be able to just sit and chat and talk to them. shannon and i talk almost everyday but it’s been a good 2 years since we’ve seen each other! here’s my els- all ready before we left. i got a kick out of seeing her say hi to all the scrapbooking ladies.. smiling for them, even letting them hold her- i was like.. who is that child?! 🙂

gotta love anaheim..with pics of her in the lobby… 🙂

got to see martha before listening to her "commentary on her magazine"

and the surprise i got last night when i came home:

so thankful for my husband 🙂 and all the great things i have gotten from scrapbooking. what a neat little hobby. 🙂

YES! i love it when they start telling you what they want! 🙂 it’s not yet in clear words, but she nods and shakes her head and body in such a cute way when she means yes. she shakes her head no. just today she started pointing at pictures on the fridge, walls, bulletin board and says, "who’s that?!" ok, it sounds like, ooooooat?!.. but it’s cute. she makes the funniest face for MMMMM… yummy. 🙂 and one of my favorites.. she knows how to smile and say CHEEEEEEEESE! 🙂 ok, so this is what i get half the time.. but it’s pretty sweet anyways. 🙂

another favorite: knows how to give love.. and when we ask for kisses, she leans in for then. 🙂 i wuv it. 🙂 and my fave of the week. i know it’s into the light and grainy but i LOVE IT SO!

and some of her playing oh so sweetly at home. don’t be fooled, this girl is teething and is quite the little sad/demanding/busy-body. let’s hope tooth comes out before CHA.

Cameron had tryouts yesterday for little league.  Chris has such fond memories of his time playing baseball, so this was a very special day for Cam and Dad!  Cam "clutched up" as dad says, and played great.  We’re so proud of our little fella. 

we can’t stay away from our new favorite bakery. 🙂 we find reasons to celebrate and get ourselves treats. 🙂

chris and i rented the 17-55 2.8 lens over the weekend, our second time renting it… but i am totally officially in love with it now. you would think i would have taken better pics than ones of my daughter eating a waffle off the kitchen floor.. but i did not. 🙂 it was for a wedding, so i didn’t get much family time with it. 

and that super easy and cute story board is from 2peas…erica made it!  i love it.
and i would also be loving grey’s right now if it weren’t for the dang scrubs musical that overruled my melodrama. whatever! 😉

before elsie came along, the bigger kids were pretty used to us going out almost every other weekend. but when they were little, it took awhile for us to get out because they were all soooo clingy. elsie is no different. the few times we’ve left her she is a mess. but last sunday… the day i took those pictures above, little miss elsie was glorious for my mom!  i can’t tell you how wonderful that feels… to be able to leave the bambino and have her happy.. and her caretaker happy…not ready to pull her hair out. 🙂 and of course to be able to have some time away from the kiddos. whom we love of course, but chris and i are big date people. we love our dates. 🙂 thanks els and thanks mom. xoxoxoox