wordless(ish) wednesday: cozy coupe

These pictures are actually from a couple weeks ago but I just got around to editing them tonight. JC received this cozy coupe for his birthday back in June but we just barely put it together last month. Although, I think he is just old enough to actually enjoy it. We still have the floorboard in it so he can't use his feet to Flintstone move it yet but we just push him around in it for now.

He loves it so much! When we are inside the house and he sees it in the backyard he points at it and says "THAT! THAT!" Since JC isn't really a fan of his stroller, I've considered using this as a means of transportation to get around the neighborhood or to the park. As soon as you put him inside of it, he starts rocking back and forth to try and move it. I don't understand how he understands how this works. But somehow, he does. When it's time to get out, I open the car door for him and he steps right out and closes the door behind him. This kid is definitely getting his driver's permit at exactly 15 years and 6 months.

I'm not quite sure of the origin of the feet driving skill.









{Linking up with The Paper Mama,a little king and i, and then, she snapped, Supermom, Live & Love Outloud, 5 Minutes for Mom, jenni from the blog and Baby Baby Lemon. Whew, that's a lot of linking up.}

wordless(ish) wednesday: such a boy

Going to the park with JC is always an adventure. He loves to run around, play in the dirt, and collect treasures. He probably handed me the same little piece of wood chip about forty times. Just wanted to make sure I didn't lose it! It's so nice to get out and enjoy the cool evenings at the end of summer.













{Linking up with The Paper Mama,a little king and i, and then, she snapped, Supermom, Live & Love Outloud, 5 Minutes for Mom, jenni from the blog and Baby Baby Lemon. Whew, that's a lot of linking up.}

wordless(ish) wednesday: old sacramento

Charles has been working so much lately, we just wanted to get out and do something fun on Sunday. We live maybe fifteen minutes away from Old Sacramento but we haven't visited since Halloween time almost two years ago. It's always fun and this was our first time taking JC to see the most "tourist-y" spot in our town. We grubbed on some pizza. Did some window shopping. Ate some ice cream. And walked on the dock (boardwalk?) along the river. Pretty good Sunday if you ask me.







{Linking up with The Paper Mama,a little king and i, and then, she snapped, Supermom, Live & Love Outloud, 5 Minutes for Mom, jenni from the blog and Baby Baby Lemon. Whew, that's a lot of linking up.}

fourteen months

Check out JC's other monthly updates here.

Every month it's the same, but I can not believe how big my little man is getting. This month has been crazy full of new milestones but the biggest one was definitely walking. JC took his first steps on the fourth of July and everyday he is walking more and more. He's still very wobbly but I think he's more sure footed than he seems. He went from primarily crawling with the occasional steps to preferring to push his walkers all over the house to walking primarily. He's also able to pick something off the floor and stand back up without sitting down or falling. I took him to the playground on Tuesday and he was practically running to the different equipment. I was so nervous that he was going to faceplant on the sidewalk but he did really well. It was the first time that I felt like he "belonged" at the playground. He wasn't "too little" to do anything. I was so proud of him.



I love this picture. He looks so big! I can't believe he could actually walk in those flip flops. Like a flip flop walking pro.

His vocabulary and communication skills have improved greatly as well. It's amazing how much he can communicate with pointing and grunts. The other day he crawled super fast through the kitchen into the pantry, sat up on his knees, pointed at the box of Cheerios and said "that". He understands a great deal of what I am saying to him, making it much easier to find out what he wants or what is bothering him if he's upset. Some new words this month: "bird", "button" (sounds like "buh-on"), "this", "that", "no" (i'm a little scared of this word), "again", and "done".



Pointing and clapping have been other skills that JC has mastered this month. He is learning when it's appropriate to clap. He is usually prompted by the word "yay!".

I'm not sure how much JC weighs or how tall he is but he is finally starting to outgrow some of his 6-9 month stuff (yeah, he's a little guy). I'm guessing he's around 20-21 pounds. He's been wearing 6-9 month and 12 month shirts, pajamas, and shorts/pants. Some 12 month stuff is still too big on him though. Including a REALLY cute Sesame Street t-shirt that looks like a tunic on him. I'm patiently waiting to put that on him.

JC cut one more tooth (his top left middle tooth) bringing our tooth total to four. Teething has still not really been an issue (knock on wood). I've discovered that if I give him something to hold, he will be distracted enough to let me brush is teeth for at least a few seconds.

His favorites this month include Yo Gabba Gabba, his Bright Baby First Words book, balls of all shapes and sizes, ducks and geese at the park, opening up all the cabinets he can find, taking awesome naps, and bananas.



I'm looking forward to what the next month has in store!

wordless(ish) wednesday: gilroy garlic festival

Over the weekend we drove two-and-a-half hours (eeek) to visit the Gilroy Garlic Festival. I've always wanted to go but never had the chance. So as soon as I saw it mentioned over two months ago, I made sure I entered it in my calendar so I wouldn't forget. It was the perfect weekend because my mom came along and we even convinced our besties to come along too.

It was kinda far, really hot (I was a sweaty mess, but so was everyone else so I didn't feel as bad) and FULL of people but the food was scrumtrelecent (if you haven't noticed, I like to reference SNL, like, a lot). I'm talking corn dogs with garlic infused batter, beer battered garlic fries, garlic pesto pasta, garlic tri-tip sandwiches, and that was just what Charles and I ate. It was so scrumtrelecent that we didn't even get pictures of any of it before we devoured it. And we even got to try garlic ice cream (actually, everyone else did but I was too chicken). The babies had a fun time being together despite the drive and the heat. By the time we left, JC was definitely ready to head home but he was in a good mood nonetheless.

One more thing off my summer bucket list!



















Linking up with The Paper Mama.

week in iphone pics, w.11

Last week went by so fast! I feel like we did a million things but I also felt like I didn't do much of anything. If that makes sense. Add on top of that, my mom and my brother came up to visit for the weekend. I've barely touched my phone or the computer for the last four days. And it was awesome. But I have a whole slough of posts for the week including our trip to the garlic festival and JC's fourteen month post!!! I can't believe he's already another month older! Ok, a little late, but here is our week in iPhone pictures!



Monday, we had a grown up night at the state fair. I'm not sure why, but the ground in front of a food vendor's booth was sticky. Like, CRAZY sticky. The sign was definitely necessary. Of course there's the fair rides. You can see the Zipper in this shot; that ride has become our fair staple. Although, after this last time, I'm not sure I will ever willingly go on that ride again. And I just thought that food vendor would look cool "instagrammed". And it does.



Tuesday, I got a picture of my awesome new tint job on my ride. It helps tremendously with the heat, which I'm sure JC appreciates. JC had to have a squeezy pouch break on our way to pick up Charles for our picnic lunch. Do you see this crazy sandwich? It was out-of-control how delicious it was. Great, now I want a sandwich. We hung out by the pond for a bit before we had to drop Charles back off at work. And JC was a great helper in the kitchen while I was making dinner, which was (as you can see) spaghetti.



Wednesday, JC and I hit up our grocery store circuit. We checked out some peppers and JC insisted on holding the apple juice. After we hit up Trader Joe's, JC had to try the squeezy pouches that we got there. He's kind of a squeezy pouch addict.



Thursday, JC spent most of the day pushing that train back and forth. He was pretty much on a loop about twenty times. After Charles got home, I managed to sneak away for a dinner date with an former co-worker of mine. That is a Patron pomegranate margarita from Chili's. It was amazing.



Friday, we went out to lunch at one of our favorite Mexican spots. JC munched on some cheerios while we enjoyed our chips and salsa. My mom and brother came into town this day. When Charles got home from work, we enjoyed little serenade. And JC closed out the night by playing with a cat toy. And having the time of his life.

Linking up with a good life and life rearranged.

I feel like I have so much to do this week! I have like three posts that I need to write, my etsy shop is still in limbo and I need to keep up with everything at the house too. Hmmm, if only I didn't need to sleep.

picnic lunches

One of my favorite part of this summer has been surprising Charles a couple of times now with a picnic lunch. JC and I pick up a couple sandwiches and head over to Charles' job at lunch time. Charles works very close to a big park so we go over there and find a shady spot to enjoy our sandwiches.

The best part about any park is the ducks (duh). JC got to have his first real duck encounter. I was surprised that this duck let us get so close to him without any bread to entice him.







I'm pretty sure I heard JC say "duck" a couple of times. He definitely said "bird".

We also got to experience JC's new favorite activity: pointing. At everything. I think because there was so much new stuff, JC was in pointing overload.







You can see how much work it took to get this picture



I love going to this park because the trees are huge and there are no shortage of geese and ducks. I'm excited to do more surprise picnic lunches this summer!

wordless(ish) wednesday: grown up time at the state fair

While I'm a little upset that we weren't able to take JC to the fair (ok, I'm a lot upset), I am happy that we were able to go with our besties for some grown up no kiddos fun times. It was really nice to get out of the house and act like we didn't have offspring for a little bit.

The evening was filled with all sorts of fun goodness like,

deep fried oreos



(they were amazing, bytheway)

and carnie rides



(do you see the smug smile on the guy who runs the ride? yeah, he almost killed us. i wish i was joking.)

and beer and corn dogs





(what is that you ask? am i a midget? no i just look that way in comparison to the foot long corn dog that i enjoyed. it was amazing)

Next year JC. Next year. I promise!

ice cream safari

Ok, here's the premise. Zoo open after hours. All-you-can-eat ice cream. What else do you really need?

We met up with our friends, their son and Charles' sister. We also brought our honorary nephew with us to give his mommy and daddy a mini-break since they just welcomed another little boy a week ago. It was so much fun and I can't wait to go again next year! I ended up getting there kinda late so I felt a little rushed; next year, we will plan it better.

Marley, Auntie Jessica, Charles and JC checking out the giraffes

The giraffes were definitely our favorite yesterday. They were coming up pretty close and the kids really enjoyed them.

Auntie Stephanie and JC, of course JC noticed the red ball hanging from the pole before he noticed the giraffes

Auntie Stephanie, JC, Damian, and Uncle Garrett

oreo cookies n' cream, yum!

Then, of course, there was the ice cream. Oh, the ice cream.

a little double stroller action

Just look at these two boys. Their chocolate beards crack. me. up.

Marley

I love all the fun stuff going on this summer! The state fair is tomorrow and I'm so excited!!!

high on school supplies

I don't know about you but, for some reason, I get super stoked when back-to-school time rolls around. It doesn't matter if I'm taking classes or not. Ever since I was little, I get a rush every time I go into a Staples or Office Max. I just love office/school supplies. I love that feeling of a fresh start for the year. All new supplies in pretty patterns and colors that make you feel happy just looking at them.

So since I watch the noon, 5:00, 6:00 AND 6:30 local news casts (remember, I'm home. all. day.) I couldn't help but notice that the Volunteers of America were holding "Operation Backpack". Basically, they are trying to get people to donate backpacks filled with school supplies to give to low-income and homeless kids. While I am taking one class the fall, I won't really need any new supplies so I decided to get my helping-other-people fix and my school supply fix at the same time.

JC and I decided to get supplies for a fifth or sixth grader because fifth grade was my all time favorite grade. We created our own archaeological dig y'all. With artifacts and digging up and everything. That's pretty cool if you ask me.



I loaded up my little dude and with our list in hand we made our way to Target. JC wasn't AS excited as I was for school supplies but I think he had fun anyway.

When we got home I got to use Charles' fancy camera (canon 7d, for you camera nerds out there) and take some pictures of my porn school supplies.



Had to get the pink Paul Frank backpack.



I fell in LOVE with this notebook. I actually got one for me too.



Had to get the pencils to match.



Are these not the cutest folders ever??

I hope the little girl who picks this backpack out is pretty girly. I realized that 10 year old me probably would not pick this backpack out or these supplies. But 25 year old me totally would, and did.