meow

pumpkin carving party.

yesterday was our annual pumpkin carving party. it was a blast!

the girls loved playing in the unfinished sandbox.

allyson is a crazy driver!

katie and lanny. digging in.

allyson guilted mike into carving. :)

granny lanny and her pumpkin masterpiece.

Piper was pretty proud of herself with her brownie.

emily checking out the pumpkin she made with her momma. 

left to right - mike/allyson, verlanne, katie, seth, janica/emily, rachel, gabe.

love that little lady's smile. :)

left to right: mike/allyson, verlanne, janica/emily, rachel, gabe

hope everyone is having a great halloween season!

the happiest place on earth.

a couple of weeks ago, we went to Disneyland with Shaun and Ashley. it was a great trip! we stayed for about 8 hours and enjoyed tons of rides in both parks. i didn't get as many pictures as i had hoped, but i got these cute captures:

pigtail princess.

Shaun, Ashley, Ava and Mickey! 

minnie mouse sweatshirt.

family fun.

spring has brought me such a nice surprise

Ava popping right before my eyes.

This little girl has been growing fast and discovering the world. she loves to look around and explore when she's in a new place. She's getting very strong and better at holding her head up. She's sleeping much better through the night and is having a more playful, alert day. She's my sweet love and I think I can say that I'm getting the hang of this motherhood thing...

Here is my sweet daughter with one of her namesakes, Ava Butterbaugh. (my daughter's other namesake is my sister, Elizabeth.)

Ladies Lunching

Just one picture from my field trip last saturday.

Sunday, we took a field trip to San Pedro. Tonight we will go to Walmart. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm having less and less pain, with more and more energy. I'm looking forward to Friday - that will be a fun day and I will report on all of Friday's activities when the time comes.

Crafts, Friends, and EARTHQUAKES!!!

Saturday was a nice day for crafting. i made birthday cards and a wedding card for Claire and Kyler. As suggested by my mom, i took pictures of the cards (just the birthday cards, i had already given the wedding card to the recipients.) so here are the fruits of my craft time:

Saturday night, we went out with Claire and Kyler. They got married on Thursday and were leaving from Long Beach for their cruise today. (sidenote - their cruise was supposed to go to Mexico. But, thanks to the swine flu, the cruise has been redirected to Canada! needless to say, they weren't very happy with the change of course.) Anyways, i was sad to have missed their wedding but we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Cheesecake factory and had a wonderful time catching up. here's the happy couple -

(he doesn't like pictures...)


And here's me and sweet Claire! it was so great to visit with her!!!

NOW - just a few moments ago, there was an EARTHQUAKE!! It. Was. TERRIFYING! ok maybe not terrifying, but certainly unpleasant. so i hurried under a door for safety and watched as it rumbled around me and realized that it was any safer under the door! it was over like that but my heart was racing like crazy. Gabe, of course, thought it was fun. but i'm not such a fan. i haven't felt one since the Northridge quake, and i've had my fill of earthquakes for quite a while.