Around here

October has been a month of visitors.  Over the last 23 days, we've had company for 19 of them.  But I'm not complaining!  For real, both of our families have been an absolute God send while I recover from a third and (hopefully final) foot surgery.  

Last week my mom was on duty and I'm sure she's probably still sleeping, trying to recover.  We carried on with our normal routine and she was able to go watch Addison's dance class with me.  This was the first time that we were allowed inside the studio since she started about two months ago.  I honestly didn't have that high of hopes after "Annie" camp this summer.  But the girl did good!

She is in the Pixies class this year, which is a group of 2-3 year olds.

We're taking baby steps after she scrubbed the floor the entire performance of Annie.

I was so proud of her though, actually following directions and paying attention to the teacher even with an audience.  

She looks so big next to these little "pixies"!

After dance class, we headed to a small pumpkin patch to try to grab a few photos.

I just never works out as planned.

My kids had no interest in the pumpkins whatsoever.

The tractor was much more interesting.

But I went ahead and planted Graham for the token picture.

and then we headed home to something more his speed

Cast of Characters

We got to try out our costumes early this year.

In random order......

The Little Mermaid...

Lightning McQueen

& Justin
Justin Bieber.

"Baby, Baby, Baby...."

Justin was really proud of his outfit.

And I would be a Bieber Fever groupie.

You see those silly bandz?  

Graham was a little embarrassed.

I don't know if it was the site of his parents or the unitard they forced him to wear that did him in.

This cute chick, Amanda, put the entire party on with Tracy.

I thought I liked doing parties, but this girl is amazing.

She thought of every detail....including her Barbie Make Up doll outfit.

We were pretty proud of our outfits, but didn't take the cake by any means.

There were several winners.....

Eric, you did good!

 It was fun seeing the families that dressed in theme.

Star Wars...

The Flintstones

Addison comparing shoes with another mermaid, Eva

Batman & Robin

 Looks like a safari

My son was easy to spot.

He would be the one with the food.

I think he ate about 56 candy corn.

I'm quite sure the "guess the candy corn" game was null and void thanks to this guy.

Annie "Jessie" and I

My two little loves the day before at ANOTHER party thrown by Amanda for her daughter, Autumn.
I think Amanda's going to sleep for three days after this weekend.

 The Montgomery's pulled off Toy Story quite well.

And I really don't know what to say about this pic

Isn't Justin underage?

Just sayin 

 Thanks so much for hosting Amanda & Tracy!  We had a blast.

***I would also like to say that I'm not too sure about this new posting editor****

So confusing getting the pics, captions in order....I think it's back to old school for me.

3 day weekend 3 years in the making

We all know how important it is to steal time away with your spouse whenever you get a chance. We also know that's so much easier said than done. In the last three years, Andy and I have taken time however we can get it....a rare babysitter for a date night, a date night "in" once the kids go to bed or even just dropping kids off at the church nursery for an hour...we will take what we can get.

But a whole weekend away by ourselves hasn't happened since before I was pregnant with Graham.

We were so grateful that Andy's parents were up for a challenge (and it was a challenge), of watching our kids last weekend for three days so we could do just that.

We made a pretty quick drive 3 hours north to Santa Barbara. We had never been there before but had only heard good things.

We are not so much fly by the seat of our pants people.

We had spent hours on Trip Advisor and YELP planning every last minute of the 3 day weekend.

Starting with lunch at 3 Pickles where Andy said he may have had the best sandwich of his life.

Then we headed straight to our Segway tour.

Texting instructions to his dad, I think.....

I think we pull of the helmet look nicely..

So.much.fun.

This tour was one of the highlights of our weekend.

It was called the beach tour, but not only did we get to check out the beautiful beaches, we got to see some fantastic real estate and I gathered a little Hollywood scoop as well. Since Andy refused to do the TMZ tour I wanted to do, this was an added bonus for me.

Speaking of real estate....

if you ever bought a beanie baby, you helped pay for this $450 million estate.

YUP

$450 million. That's 4 of Tiger Wood's houses. Unbelievable.

I got Kardashian wedding scoop and found out where O lives.....both highlights of the tour.

Looking up at Monteceito Country Club, part of where "It's Complicated" was filmed.

After the tour, we checked into our Bed & Breakfast, James House.

I then stalked Oprah.

This was as close as I got.

Wine tasting!!!!

In downtown Santa Barbara, they had this little winery row, where you could go do several tastings next door to each other.

It was still only 4 o'clock on Friday. It's amazing how much you can fit in with no kids.

Dinner at Opal, where we ran into friends who were also in town from San Diego.

Well, "ran into" is pushing it....we orchestrated a meetup with Emily & Chris, since we found out they were visiting that weekend as well.

The next day was a wine tour. It was great...Brian picked us up from our B&B at 10am and we explored the Santa Ynez valley for the next 7 hours.

You might as well have called this the "Sideways" tour because we saw lots of spots from the movie that made Pinot rise and Merlot farmers want to throw in the towel.

Brian, our tour guide, showed us some clips from the movie before going into a winery where it was filmed. So fun!

The Samford Estate

This guy, Chris, works at the winery and the writer of Sideways liked him so much, he wrote him into the movie.

Getting a little "education"

Beautiful!

The second stop was our favorite! We had lunch, did some tastings, and just took in the view.

And....I pretty much don't remember much about the last stop, but I'm sure it was fun too.

Sunday on our way back down to San Diego, Andy and I tackled Disneyland WITHOUT kids.

45 minute lines are not so bad when you can sip on a drink, not wrangle kids, and get to ride something besides Teacups.

We had a blast!

Proudly displaying all of our "fast passes".

We officially Disney dorks.

2 1/2 days away with just each other was such a gift.

This stage of life that we're in is wonderful in so many ways, but so challenging as many of you can attest to.

We're so blessed that we were able to get away and refuel.

Andy's family stayed on this week to visit and help while I got my third foot surgery (and hopefully the last). They left this morning and my mom arrives tomorrow morning.

Doctors orders say that I am to stay on the couch for 4-5 days and not do much.

Those are tall orders when you have a 1 and a 3 year old.

But thanks to amazing grandparents, friends that have stepped in to help, and a rockstar of a husband, I have been able to do just that.

and four days on the couch is almost as nice as a 3 day getaway to Santa Barbara....at least for me, Andy may feel differently. =)