James is 30!

James turned 30 last week (yes, we have a lot of birthdays this month in our house). To celebrate we had a big old luau, complete with a roast pig. Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the event.

Kris carved the pig in under five minutes.... he's obviously done this before.

I'm so sorry Mikey, I just couldn't resist.

Happy Birthday James!

Birthday Boy

Louis had a pretty rockin' birthday. He seemed to know it was his special day, and spent most of his day acting very important. He started the day in his PJ's, opening some sweet clothes from Grandma and Papa Faustino.

We went to the Children's Museum with a few friends in the morning, and Louis played his little heart out. We went home to finish the cake for our small family gathering.

However, after I spent several hours making and decorating the cake, I decided that someone else had to behold my beautiful work of art. So I decided that instant to throw him a small, impromptu birthday party.
This is Louis at the party, getting to play with my piano student's stickers. Its his birthday yo- he can do whatever he wants!
Here's the ridiculous cake I slaved over. It took forever just to die the frosting that shade of blue. It was my first ever real cake, so I was also pretty slow at the piping and making stars. But it turned out pretty darn good. For those of you without kids, this is Pablo from the Backyardigans. Louis totally recognized him. Pablo's his fav.
THen we gave Louis his cake and let him go. He really enjoyed it. He smeared frosting everywhere and looked like he was auditioning for the blue man group. Then when eating it was boring, he found other ways to enjoy the cake.
I'm glad we threw something together at the last minute. We love our little boy and it was great to celebrate him being in our lives.

Happy Birthday Baby

Its been a a good year.

The Neighbors

Our friends the Bs that live down the street have always been so great to us, especially this last year since we've had Louis. Not only have they watched him when we asked (which is a lot), but they've asked to take him just to give us a break when they've noticed we're especially tired or busy.

MB is always awesome with him. He even lets Louis scratch his face just so Louis will like to play with him. The pictures below are just one of the many ways MB has sacrificed his comfort and body to entertain Louis. We were playing cornhole (real name for the game people, not just a gross name James and I made up for the fun of it like some of you have thought) and Mike thought it would be fund to surprise Louis with something else in the hole of the board. Yeah, its a little weird. No suprise that Louis loved it.

And as of a week ago, our awesomely crazy friends are parents.....

I don't know why it makes me so excited and happy. I call their baby 'our baby'. I have to force myself not to go over there every day to see little JTB and some days its very hard not to. So congrats to the Bs and the baby. Knowing what crazy things Mike has done for Louis makes me anxious to see what crazy things he is comes up with for his own son.

For Meliff

To answer your question, this is how the pictures on the stairs came out.......

And here's how Mike's glamour shot came out from the back......
And one of the whole crew, just for good measure.

Heels and Pearls

Last month I decided to upgrade the aprons in my kitchen. The only one I had was a yellow one with a big turkey on the front. Functional, but it made me feel a little frumpy. Since I like to cook and spend some time in the kitchen and also have a real propensity for spilling things on myself, I thought I'd make some new ones that were a little better looking. Here are the results.........

I love the way they turned out and have to say, they make me feel much more stylish in the kitchen. I almost feel like I should put on a pair of heels and my string of pearls when I put these on to complete my hot new domestic look.

Chase Master in some Pretty Sweet Duds

So I'm officially back from my self-imposed, summertime blogging hiatus. We were simply having too much fun to have any time to write about them. I won't begin to try to recap the summer's happenings, but we've had a ton of fun camping, rock climbing, road tripping, fishing, hiking, and playing our way across a lot of New England this summer. James even let me escape to Washington DC by myself to meet up with some of my old mission companions for a long weekend in June. James seemed to do a better job juggling work, Louis and the house than I do.

Anyway, a few weeks ago Louis got to wear a super cool outfit. Not only was it a vintage, polyester jumper, it was his Dad's jumper from when he was a little tyke. James' Mom had the awesome foresight to save a few of his outfits, and forwarded them on to us when I was pregnant. This is probably the best one.

Later that day, Louis and James engaged in a rousing game of Chase Master. Chase Master (if you were wondering) is actually not a term or game from Dungeons and Dragons, but just the phrase Hawaiian children raised on the North Shore use for the common game of tag. Louis absolutely loves he and James' version of chase master. He comes barreling full speed from one room to the other to catch up to you. He is also very intense at times, and this can produce some really scary faces like the one below.... Luckly, most chase master sessions end with Louis catching you and giving kisses (his favorite new trick).
So thus ends the blogging hiatus. Be ready to be blown away with the posting frenzy to come. Ok, maybe not blown away, but at least expect to see something more than once a month.