A few cute pix from this week

Monday Samantha and Ronda stayed to have yummy birthday left overs for dinner.

Cheers!!

Sam moves a little closer.

Connor locks Sam on the patio.

Putting the little hugga bug to work.

Connor's new cute Monkey apron.

Thursday night we had a girls night and Chris watch the kiddies. Chris' first time watching two kids on his own and things went great. He said it was a piece of cake. Bring on the kiddies.
Looks like we have a new sitter in town.

Samantha pouring cold water on Connor's back.

Chocolate ice cream always calms the savages.

Little sleepy bug.

Preschool drop out.

Well after several weeks of tears and sleepless nights we decided to withdraw Connor from preschool. As a mother, everyday I wonder "am I doing the right thing for my child". The more I talked about it and thought about it (sometimes all night) the more I began to think that Connor was just not ready and neither was mommy. Looks like the little guy will be stuck with dear old mom for the next few months to a year. Connor is so young and has his whole life to be in school. He doesn't need to be in school yet. He can finger paint with the girls and read with mommy and daddy. I'm not sure why I felt the urgency to get him into school the way I did. But I'm happy with our decision and I think he is too.

Laurie's 34th Birthday

Well my 34th birthday was one to remember. I had breakfast in bed with Connor and Chris and dinner at the mission with my dearest mommy friends & hubbies. Chris organized an amazing adult only birthday dinner. We dined alfresco at the mission rose garden. It was amazing, an Italian feast from Via Maestro with prosciutto wrapped melon, cheese boards, caprese salad, pumpkin ravioli with sage brown butter sauce, penne bolognese and polenta with mushroom ragu. Sarah and Mike Paskin brought a great bottle of wine and Marina and Phil Delio brought a decadent homemade chocolate chocolate cake. I swear I could have eaten the entire thing myself. Is it wrong to eat chocolate cake for breakfast before working out with a trainer? I'm assuming it doesn't count if its birthday cake. If that was not enough my girlfriends surprised me with an electric pasta maker. I could not have asked for a better present. I have borrowed my dear friend Marina's for over a month and keep telling myself "okay I must give this back tomorrow, okay next week, no the next week, okay next week." Well now I can.

I am so thankful for my friends and family and their kind thoughts and birthday wishes.
I feel like a very lucky person to be surrounded by such an amazing group of people.
I love you dear friends and family. Leslie thank you for granting my birthday wish.
Thank you all for your kindness!
What a wonderful birthday.

Correction

I wrote Connor can sign the "itsy bitsy spider" but he doesn't sign it, he Sings the "itsy bitsy spider".

Cute, Smart & Funny

Connor is saying lots of fun things lately and here are a few of my faves.

"Mommy, Mommy show you", then he shows me a funny face or a mess he's made or something funny he is doing to Zuki.

Random "love you mommy" & "love you daddy" (the best words I've ever heard)

When I pick him up from school he says "Mommy Mommy missed you!!!"

He can sing most of the "itsy bitsy spider" by himself.

He is stringing together so many words I lose count. It's over 7 that much I know.

This week

We had our regular pool date with Bella & Marina.

We went to Carpenteria and visited with Maria & baby Ava.

Chris' friends from college came into town to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. Rebbecca & Jeff have been together since they were 17. They had their 1st date at the Santa Barbara zoo. So this trip they visited the zoo for the 1st time since that 1st date. Only this time, they were accompanied by their 5 year old son Brent and 7 month old daughter Brooke.

Pool with Mommy

I took a great video of Connor jumping in right here
but my new camera only takes video in HD and I couldn't upload it, so sad.

Enjoying some yummy watermelon in the hot sun.
Perfect.

Party Playdate

These kids are too funny!

Reese playing a little hoops.

Connor getting out the surfboard.

Everyone got in on the surfin action.

The last few times Reese has been over she has taken an interest in the trains.
She even does a mean "chooo chooo".
Connor is delighted to have a train pal.

Feeding monkey baby.

Crawling like spiders.

Watching TV with big bunny.

Good sharing ladies.

Lollipop cheers.

And finally my dinner date. Last night was the 1st time Connor sat in a big chair and had dinner with me. We do this all the time when Chris is home but when it's just the two of us Connor usually eats in his high chair, while I cook and clean the kitchen. This was our 1st big boy and mommy dinner date. It felt like a big milestone.