Friendsgiving & Friendsmas 2013

This year we were lucky enough to celebrate an early Thanksgiving & an early Christmas with our friends! Since the actual holidays are almost always reserved for, and spent with family...it was great to be able to celebrate and share traditions with our friends...the Bay Area family we've chosen:)

This year's "Friendsgiving" was hosted by the Burriss Family, and was so much fun! Everyone brought a dish or two, Jeannine set a beautiful big table for all of us, and we ended the night with a toddler pajama dance party that made every laugh!

This year's "Friendsmas" was held at our house (like last year). We ran back the Italian theme, munching on baked ziti, sausage and meatballs, green and quinoa salads, garlic bread, and homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches for dessert! We did a White Elephant gift exchange again...and well, you'll see below what some of the top prizes were!

Landon-Less Fun This Summer

Before 2013 comes to an end, want to make sure I throw some blog love to the fun we had this Summer, without Landon! I am usually so eager, and quick to post the latest pics of him ('cause he changes so much), that I forget to post about the fun we have when we are "off-duty"! So, here's 3 quick updates from Summer 2013:  

CHICAGO GIRLS WEEKEND

In July, Haley, Sarah, Jess, and I "met in the middle" for a fun weekend in Chicago. The reason for the trip? Justin Timberlake and JayZ at Soldier Field. There were many many more highlights than just the concert! We kayaked through downtown Chicago, shopped, went out for great dinners and plenty of drinks, toured around snapping photos, enjoying a new city, and even snuck in a little pool time! No one can make me laugh like these girls...we were all so lucky to have the weekend "off" to spend time with each other! #sisterswithnomisters

KATE'S BACHELORETTE IN VAIL

Less than one month later, I got to fly to Colorado to celebrate Kate's bachelorette party in Vail! It was the perfect weekend: girl time, sleeping in, sunshine, great food, spa time, pool time, party time...all set in one of the prettiest places on earth! I just love my girlfriends, and am so happy that I got to spend a special, fun weekend "off-duty" to celebrate our Good Time Kate!

MIKEY & KATIE'S WEDDING

And, last but not least, Sean and I attended Mikey & Katie's wedding in August (thanks Grandma Donna for watching Lando!) It was a beautiful wedding, at a gorgeous site in the hills near Santa Cruz. As much as we love having our little guy with us on the dance floor, it was nice to enjoy ourselves without the standard "do you have him? where's lando? when was the last time we changed his diaper? do you have his sippy cup?"....type night! Oh, and did I mention there were CAKE POPS!? 

Landon Lingo: First Installment

Our 2 year old is an overnight talker! He is stringing words together, asking lots of questions, and answering most of ours! He is all of a sudden a miniature human, capable of pretty legit conversations! One of the longest sentences is something like "Mama, I ride the really loud and scary roller coaster at Disneyland" or "Dada, I eat all my blueberries and I get a special treat".

Along the way, there have been words that he mispronounces, that we think are pretty adorable. For one, he says "muse-kick" instead of "music" and our current favorite is "juh-man-ahs" for "pajamas". Since my example doesn't do it justice, I got this one on video last night: