Happy Fall from my 3 Perfect Lil' Pumpkins!

Here's to my FAVORITE SEASON EVER! I adore the Fall. It holds so many warm and loving feelings and memories. Apple pickin', Disneyland, the pumpkin patch with my family, Halloween, Kate's birthday, Thanksgiving, apple pies...I could go on forever. I hope you're as happy and as thankful & fulfilled this Fall as I am...

Daddy's Birthday & Back to School

Eric turned 35 last week. Life just goes so fast. You blink and time flies. We just had a low-key dinner and cake with the kids, Jackie and my parents at Fuddrucker's on the day of his birthday. And then Tante Be and Teche were gracious enough to do a birthday dinner in his honor. It was really sweet of them and Eric felt really special. We are so lucky to be surrounded by such great people.

An inside joke filled with great memories for Eric.

My loves at Charlie's 1st day in Co-Op again. This is his second year in co-op and he is doing so well. He loves his teacher and is really loving having Mark and Julianne in his class. My big boy on his first day back to preschool

Charlie's End of Summer Sleepover

Charlie invited his cousins to have a sleepover before the school year started. They had so much fun. It was a handful, having all these kids here but it's something they will remember for a long time to come. They made smores or Snores as Mark likes to call them. They also rode their bikes and scooters. (A smart idea Eric had to tire them out)... we then gave all of them baths and they layed out their sleeping bags so they could have some popcorn and watch a movie. The movie didn't really keep their attention so out came the play-doh. I swear that stuff gets everywhere! How do they manage that?! The boys knocked out relatively quickly... Charlie and Kate both ended up in my room. But the girls... they were all excited cause Angie lost another tooth. They only fell asleep at 1:30am. It was a great night...

The girls

Blessed

I heard this song on the radio today and it made me cry. It made me want so much for my babies. I want so much happiness and so much joy for them. I want them to have the love of and for God, the special bond of family and the need for each other. The ability to know right from wrong and the innocence of childhood for as long as we can possibly keep it. The freedom from needing material things. I want them to be blessed with happy childhood memories of playing and learning and love. A life filled with adventures and experiences and travels. It's hard raising kids. There are so many things to teach them. I don't want to mess it up. Excuse my late night ramblings as I wait for Ella's next feeding so I can go to bed and snuggle in next to Kate and Eric. Snuggle. That's one of Charlie's favorite things to do before he goes to bed. For as long as I can remember, he has said this to me. "Mama, snuggle." Most likely, it's a ploy to get to stay up just a little bit longer while he buries himself deep into me and asks me to scratch his back and sing him a song... It's a little thing we share together that I hope he will never outgrow.

The lyrics to my song, turn the volume up on your computer, you will be able to hear it with me... Blessed by Elton John

Hey you, you're a child in my head

You haven't walked yet

Your first words have yet to be said

But I swear you'll be blessed

I know you're still just a dream

Your eyes might be green

Or the bluest that Ive ever seen

Anyway, you'll be blessed

And you, you'll be blessed

You'll have the best

I promise you that

Ill pick a star from the sky

Pull your name from a hat

I promise you that, promise you that, promise you that

You'll be blessed

I need you before I'm too old

To have and to hold

To walk with you and watch you grow

And know that you're blessed ...

San Francisco with my girls...

Jackie turned 26 on August 27th and we thought no better way to celebrate than by taking a much needed girls' weekend away. It was Ella's first flight. Both girls did wonderfully. They didn't cry once on the plane. It is a short hour flight so it wasn't that bad. Kate wasn't even phased by the take off or the landing. This girl has no fear of anything. That can be both a good and a bad thing. It was a little sneak preview on how the girls would do on the plane when we take them to Canada at the end of this month.

We stayed at out favorite Omni hotel. You can never go wrong at this place. It's beautiful and they are so accommodating. They brought the girls milk and cookies every night as part of their turn down service.

Kate loved being in the hotel.

She was drinking in having the attention all to herself and having a weekend alone with mama and Jackie. She really enjoyed her room service table and eating on the bed. She layed naked on the bed while snacking on her grapes fresh from the farmer's market at the Ferry building...
I enjoyed that one. She's so funny my little Katie.

We just shopped and visited all the fun stuff like Fisherman's Wharf, the Ferry Building, Union Square... we rented a car on Sunday and spent a lazy day driving to Napa Valley. The weather was beautiful! The scenery was even more beautiful. We took some pretty pictures of the girls with the fruitful vines.

There was a ton of grapes ready to be harvested.

We ate at the Greystone where the food is really beyond words good. The girls both slept the entire time we were eating so it was perfect. The next day, we did more touristy stuff... we found a restaurant named after Ella ;o) ... Well, you know what I mean. It's supposed to be pretty famous and the food there wasn't half bad. After more visiting and shopping, we had to hurry to catch a cab back to our hotel in order to not miss our plane... In the frenzy, I forgot a full bag of clothes that I had bought the girls in the back of the cab.

I was so, so upset. It was cute stuff too...

Oh well, like Jackie said, "It's gone, let's just hope that it goes to someone who really needed it."

I guess that makes me feel a little bit better. At least a little bit.

We made it to the airport in time and back home to a very excited little Charlie and a very relieved Eric to have us all back home and safe... Charlie loved the gift that Kate brought back to him, a sea shell that he could put up against his ear and hear the ocean of San Francisco. He thinks this is very cool.

Kate on the front steps of the hotel

Me & Ella at Ella's

Kate & I in front of the Ferry BuildingThe girls & I on the cable car
Kate's fancy apple juice

Kate in front of a cable car

The girls in their cupcake PJs

Eating grapes

We tuckered her out after a long day of shopping

Eating grapes fresh off the vine... Heaven for Kate Old Faithful Geyser in Calistoga Napa Valley Really good breakfast, Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen I love her little face.

It was a very good trip... I hope to go again someday or even take the kids somewhere new and exciting.

My goal is to have them do all the states.