Best Party Throwers in the West!

Mom, you rock. I try to tell you that as often as I can, but you REALLY rock! The house was crazy clean, the food was amazing, and everyone had a blast.... Kisses!

Mel's Bridal Shower: The Prep

Have I mentioned how amazing my family is? Not only did my parents cook/prep the majority of the food for my sister's bridal shower, but they also came to my house Friday afternoon and helped me de-kid my house and empty out ALL of my furniture! Then I dragged my exhausted mother to Ross and Walmart to try and find decorations for my bathroom and living room, had her drop me back off at my house and then she had to feed/entertain my aunts and my cousin Summer who flew in for the weekend from LA around 10:45pm that night. My mom later told me that they stayed up until almost 2am slicing bread, mixing fillings and assembling tea sandwiches.

Saturday morning was a whirlwind of assembling centerpieces, greeting the caterer, arranging and prepping food, setting up the "registration area" with name badges and everyone's wine glass for the wine tasting, and then rushing to get ourselves ready in time for the party. After a nervous glass of wine for my mother and a beer for me, we smacked a high five and headed off to the crowd to conquer the party!

Pictures of the day to follow

Freaky Friday!!

I think she was hungry!!




My mom is hot!!




I love this picture... It'll probably end up in his high school yearbook!






Baby Lukey Duke rocking my favorite beanie....

Final Countdown

T-minus 2 days and counting until the bridal shower! My crazy list-making mother sent me the official itinerary/shopping/to-do list yesterday and in true list maniac fashion it was 4 pages; and not even just 4 pages, it was 4 pages, 3 columns per page! We laugh and joke about our manic addiction to list-making, but it really is a rough one! I have pre-designed grocery lists, packing lists, gift buying lists, you name it, I've got it. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I even have a notebook full of my unibomberesque lists tucked away in my purse at all times. I don't function without my lists.... I know, I have a problem :)

Anyway, we are well on our way... Caterer is ready and cooking, house is ALMOST clean, plans are set on how to hide the massive explosion of toys that has overtaken my house, and I think I may have actually found something to wear! My mom is a ROCK STAR and has this thing planned to the minute and I know it's going to go off without a hitch and be everything my sister ever wanted....

Wish us luck!!!!

Our Victory Garden

So, here are the pictures of our newly planted veggie garden! ENJOY!!






Not the garden... This is Lukey Duke's "construction site," aka the mud pit NEXT to the garden :)

Kids+Mud=HILARIOUS

I love my kiddos and I LOVE that they've never met a piece of mud they don't want to wear/throw/eat....



Of course I didn't make this giant puddle....



Me, throw mud at Lukey Duke, NEVER!



I heard mud is good for clothes!




Hmmmm, I wonder what would happen if I clapped?



Tasty, with an essence of earthworm and leaf!

Gettin' Dirty

We've dug up the earth and are excitedly counting down the hours until veggie garden planting day tomorrow. I caught Luke laying out his chosen get-dirtier-than-hell outfit along with his gardening gloves and camo rain boots this morning... Nothing cuter than my skinny little guy laying out his outfit with a level of care usually reserved only for the careful arrangement of dudes and matchbox cars in perfectly straight lines on the coffee table (yes, he's probably got OCD a little, we know).

The line-up for the veggie garden: 5 varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, carrots, strawberries, arugula, edamame (soybeans),and maybe eggplant and fennel if I can find it at the nursery.

Line-up for herb garden: Basil, dill, chives, oregano (from last year, still going strong), flat leaf parsley, cilantro, and green onions, so far...

I'll try to snap a few pictures of the kiddos all dirty... Wish us luck!

Testing the density of objects with her head

My poor baby girl looks like I've beaten her with a baseball bat... In the past few days she's fallen.run into. smashed her forehead into countless objects around the house and it's giving me a heart attack. I'm trying to remember that it's just part of the walking/running stage and she'll be fine, but it's hard to watch. I try to keep her away from things that look like they may wreck her tiny head, but she always seems to smack into them. Her latest talent was acquired by watching her brother climb onto our well-loved leather couch, and then run back and forth across the cushions before throwing himself backward onto the couch... I went to refill her sippy yesterday and as I turned around I heard her mischievous little giggle and saw her pull her booty onto the couch and proceed to wobble back and forth from end to end... I luckily got to her before she attempted her back inward triple axle onto the cushions but it about stopped my heart.

The girl has NO fear. I mean none. She runs full force down the driveway toward impending doom if she manages to get out of our front gate and loves to attempt somersaults over the dog. I'm seeing many trips to the Er in our future. It really helps to have a nurse in the family!

Wedding / Bachelorette Maddness

I know I've been a bad blogger, but this wedding stuff can keep a girl pretty damn busy! My little sister is getting married in May and time is flying as we get closer and closer to the big day.

So, as Matron of Honor, it's my responsibility to plan and execute a killer bachelorette party and through hell and high water I plan on making that happen. Through wishy-washy RSVP's, and various other issues, I've actually planned 2 entirely different Bachelorette parties in the past 3 months. It was originally supposed to be one wild night in San Francisco: Dinner and stage show at the world famous AsiaSF, followed by bar hopping until we were partied out, but we couldn't get enough girls to confirm and we had to back out of our reservations. I've heard so much about AsiaSF and always wanted to go and am bummed we won't be able to make it...

After much back and forth, my sis finally decided to bring the party back to Sac so we could get better attendance and hopefully bring the cost down a little. We decided on a lovely newish restraunt called Ella that I adore and I booked the hotel room today. (HUGE SIGH...) For now, I'm done and I can actually look forward to partying with the sis and the friends and not have to stress out about planning.

Now if only I could manage to find a dress and a pair of heels to wear to this little shindig...

Random late night thoughts

Have you ever caught yourself hovering over the crib, watching every breath praying to yourself that you'd never forget? Have you ever caught yourself, rubbing your nose along the top of their head, praying you could keep that clean, new baby smell forever? Ever been totally distracted while changing a diaper by the chubby little toes flailing in your face? Ever wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed with your quiet, sleeping cherub, nose-to-nose just to feel the chubby fingers brush against your face?

She's growing so fast and I wish their were a way to keep her my tiny baby just a little while longer....