This post is for Wordless Wednesdays and if you want to link up or see some really beautiful photographs, visit Alicia at A Beautiful Mess.
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head
The day we moved into our new home, it was 80+ degrees and to keep Lucas occupied, we set up his water table in the backyard. He was in heaven!
The spacious backyard was one of the main reasons we wanted this house. Sadly, it has done nothing but rain ever since move in day. As of yesterday, Southern California has received six inches of rain in four days and it is suppose to remain gloomy and wet through the rest of the week.
Lucas keeps looking out at the backyard, now a muddy mess, saying “park”. 🙁
I suppose it could be worse, we could live on the east coast and be dealing with snow and freezing temperatures. Us Californians just aren’t used to being this wet.
Here’s to a sunny, or at least dry Christmas Day.
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Week One
In our first week in Orange County we’ve been to Disneyland, the annual Newport Beach Boat Parade and a shopping trip to South Coast Plaza and have managed to settle in to our new home. There are still many boxes to unpack and a garage full of items to organize, but the basics are done.
I was five years old the first time I went to Disneyland in the Summer of 1977. How my parents managed to get this shot without another soul in it is beyond me. 
Fast forward to 2010 and this is what Sleeping Beauty’s Castle looks like today:
Lucas loved his first visit to Disneyland or “the Mickey Mouse park”, as it has come to be known in our house. If you ever get the opportunity to visit during the holiday season, it is really worth it. The Happiest Place on Earth becomes the Merriest Place on Earth with holiday decorations abound and it even snows!
We took Lucas on the It’s a Small World ride and he was bright-eyed and excited the entire time bouncing along to the soundtrack and enjoyed being on the boat, even after waiting in line for 40 minutes.
I was pleasantly surprised that he sat through the entire “A Christmas Fantasy” Parade, which includes all the Disney characters and Santa Claus too, after waiting another 40 minutes. He was mesmerized by the lights and dancers.
Handing us the park map so we can find our way to the “choo choo”.
Way more interested in his Mickey balloon than meeting Minnie.
It was a memorable and magical first of many trips.
Back to unpacking…
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What A Difference A Year Makes
Last year – 6 months oldOld pals
This year – 18 months oldComplete stranger
This post is for Wordless Wednesdays and if you want to link up or see some really beautiful photographs, visit Alicia at A Beautiful Mess.
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The House That Built Me
I love this house and I will miss it.
Today is moving day and I am excited, exhausted, nostalgic and sad.
Walking downstairs this morning, it hit me: last night was my last night here.
No matter how frustrated I have become with this house in the last few months due to its lack of space for Lucas, it’s cold, hard slat floors, it’s barely large enough to turn around in kitchen and it’s distance from good friends and family, we have spent four wonderful years here.
I was proposed to in the dining room.
I became a wife in the backyard.
I saw my parents for the last time in the living room.
I’ve enjoyed meals prepared by my husband, lots of takeout and countless bowls of cereal from the bar in the kitchen.
I’ve walked hundreds of miles on the treadmill in the office.
With my husband by my side, I have cried myself to sleep out of immeasurable grief within the safety and comfort of our bedroom.
We became parents in this house as we paced the floors comforting, soothing and getting to know our newborn.
We turned the upstairs guest room into a nursery and have read, sang and fed our son in the rocking chair in his room night after night for the past 18 months.
We’ve watched hours of mindless television catching up and trying to decompress from our busy days in our family room.
We’ve played “choo choo” and cars in every. single. room.
We have walked to and from the mailbox in hopes of running onto our neighbor’s cat, or better yet, one of our great neighbors.
We’ve hollered at one another at the top or bottom of the stairs, tripped on items that needed to go one way or the other and met each other halfway.
We’ve entertained family, celebrated birthdays and made new friends on our patio and watched a beautiful olive tree grow and bloom in the side yard.
I will carry with me all the warm memories this home has provided and hope that it’s new residents will treat it well.
I love this house and I will miss it.
Here’s to the next chapter…
This post was featured on the BlogHer Home page, in the featured members section on January 5, 2011.
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Simple Moments
Moving isn’t easy.
It was not made for the faint of heart, the unorganized, the patient-less, meant to take on during the holidays or the parents of a toddler.
What were we thinking?
As I pack, he unpacks.
As I make piles, he reorganizes them.
As I build boxes, he climbs in them.
A few ago, our friends sent us a change of address notice and used a similar trio of photos of their daughter popping out of a box and I loved it so much that it is still on our refrigerator (well, it was until I packed it the other day). This was my attempt at duplicating that.
This holiday, try to enjoy the simple moments, the silly moments, the moments you know you’ll never get back and each and every photo opportunity. I am!
This post is for Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop – Prompt #1: Simple
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Happy Holidays 2010
Hallelujah, our holiday card has been ordered! Now, I just hope it arrives before we move IN LESS THAN A WEEK or that Shutterfly will pay for forwarding…
This year’s card is doubling as a change of address notice. Two birds, one stone, as they say.
Out the window went the idea of a professional family photograph, this was selfroid was taken by Todd on a recent visit to the beach.
Lucas has grown so much in a year. Here’s last year’s card, if you’re interested.
This post is for (not so) Wordless Wednesdays and if you want to link up or see some really beautiful photographs, visit Alicia at A Beautiful Mess. This week she is spreading lots of holiday cheer in the form of outtakes from her family holiday card photo shoot.
Wishing everyone a very happy, fun and safe holiday season.
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Here Is Your Best Shot
With holiday greeting cards starting to arrive in our mailbox, a ‘To Do’ list a mile long, an impending move and having already previously canceled twice, I had to keep my appointment yesterday at Sears to have Lucas’ 18 month/holiday photos taken.
I purposely picked a time mid-morning when he is usually happy and playful, full from breakfast and hours from lunch or his afternoon nap.
Lucas is really into bargaining right now, or rather being bargained with; eat three more bites and you can have a cracker, help Mommy clean up your toys and then you can watch Elmo, first we need to go to the super market and then we will go to the park, etc. I’m building trust so I never let him down. He seems to “get it”, but he is only 18 months old, so I wonder.
After I told him how long it would take and what to expect, I told him we would go for a ride on the choo choo (his current major obsession) after we got his photos taken.
Big mistake!!
It was all he could focus on.
“Choo choo.”
“Choo choo.”
“Choo choo.”
900 times.
It was insane.
I can laugh about it now, but I wanted to ring his neck during the 45 minutes we wasted in the studio.
He wanted nothing to do with the photographer or her fun antics to get him to smile, show some teeth or demonstrate his sparkling personality. Between the two of us, we must have looked like complete fools as we jumped, danced, sang, fake sneezed and peek-a-booed. Lucas was not amused and not cooperating.
Lucas only wanted “choo choo”.
Of the 45 shots the poor woman (a consummate professional with way more patience than me) took, exactly ONE picture came out. And that’s even debatable.
The rest looked like mug shots. And I am not kidding.
This will definitely be a photo shoot to remember.
Needless to say, I followed through with my promise and took my son on that god damned train and I’m going to have to go with Plan B for the family holiday card.
Sadly, I don’t have a Plan B.
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Date Night
I am loving the Hipstamatic app for iPhones and the BlacKeys ultrachrome black-and-white film.
I also love date nights! On Friday night, my husband and I went out for sushi and pool with our neighbors. 
This post is for Wordless Wednesdays and if you want to link up or see some really beautiful photographs, visit Alicia at A Beautiful Mess, but bring a jacket because this week’s photos will make you shiver.
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My Son Has A Crush
My son likes Elmo, but LOVES Abby.
He enjoys watching her on Sesame Street, pointing her out in books, looking for her whenever we are out and about and toddles around saying Abby, Abby, Abby all the time. It truly is one of the cutest things ever.
He almost jumped right out of his skin when he saw her on the Sesame Street float during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
My sister recently got Lucas his very own Abby doll and the two have been inseparable ever since.
Seeing as my son has such a crush, I thought I should do a little background check on little Miss A.
According to Muppet Wikia, Abby Cadabby is a three-year-old fairy-in-training and made her debut in the first episode of Sesame Street’s 37th season.
Her name is a play on the magic word Abracadabra.
Abby’s magical powers are limited to popping in and out of thin air, floating when she’s happy, and turning things into pumpkins.
Although familiar with the world of fairy tales, Abby is astounded by such basic learning skills as drawing letters or counting, prompting her catchphrase “That’s so magic!”
She frequently uses her wand cell phone to call her mommy. When she’s asked to return home, she says that she’s “gotta poof.”
I gotta respect anyone that can turn things into pumpkins, but personally, I think it’s her bright pink color and adorable freckles. I don’t think I have to worry too much. I mean, really how far can a relationship with a Muppet go?
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