Halloween...the second installment.

If you carry a camera around with you long enough, you're bound to capture a toddler tantrum sooner or later. This one was mild....more of a pout.





It's funny what the promise of a lollipop will do! I guess I won the battle......or maybe the artificially flavored high fructose corn syrup on a stick did.



I just LOVE to bake. Lately I've been dusting off the Deceptively Delicious cookbook I got for Christmas. Here's Finn helping me with the brownies (with a 1/2 cup of carrots and 1/2 cup of spinach pureed in the batter!)



And now some cute shots of Selahbob, who is officially 4 months old now. She's such a joy. I get the biggest smiles from her as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning. She IS starting to lose her hair, like Finn did around this time. She still has plenty now, but they seem to be a series of comb-overs hiding bald spots. Oh well. She still so darn cute I think.



Does she look a bit cross-eyed to you?




I love the tongue sticking out.

Halloween Fun!

First of all, I love pumpkin patches as much as the next Nor Cal girl, but 4 trips in one season is about 2 or 3 too many I think. I'm feeling a little pumpkin patched out. Here are some cute pics though.





I love the beautiful organic vegetable garden they have there.




Finn stepped out of his timid shell to pet this big ol' goat.





I love scare-crows. This one was is peeking over the corn maze. It's a pretty difficult corn maze. Last year Nate and I split up in the maze and even though my dad and other family members tease me about being directionally challenged, I emerged from the maze before Nate. He and Finn were stuck in there for a good half hour. Needless to say, we didn't tackle it with two kids this year.



Finn is absolutely fascinated with tractors.


Our 4th and final trip to the pumpkin patch was with our Spanish group that we go to once a week. Here, buddie Taj decided to pull Finn, Daniella, Alleshandra and Solei in the pumpkin wagon.



Finn was stoked to be a fireman this year. (Good! Because this costume is about 2 sizes too big. I've got the next few Halloweens covered!)



Selah was our little fire hydrant. (poor thing).
I'm proud of the originality of this costume, but I only give it a 5.7 in execution. I always seem to make costumes that only last about an hour before they fall apart. Do you think she'll resent me for this one when she's older?


Nate was "fire" and I was "water". Nate's and my (lame) costume took about 30 seconds to put together. As you can tell, we were going for a theme here. We wanted to make it interesting for Nate's school parade on Halloween morning.

No more photos for awhile.....

I'm super sad today. After a fun day visit at the Lane Farms Pumpkin Patch with some friends, my camera didn't make it back home with us. :-( It is highly likely that I put it on the roof of the car while buckling the kids in their car seats ......and then of course, forgot to bring it INSIDE the car. (*long tired sigh*) My only glimmer of hope is that the nice person who sees it lying along the side of the road where ever it finally tumbled off my car, will have basic digital camera knowledge and see that the last 10 photos I took with my cute little Kodak were at the Lane Farms Pumpkin Patch (even one with the sign) and they'll be a good Samaritan and take it back there.


For now, please enjoy these cute pics of the toddler yoga class we went to last week. Yup...toddler yoga. (This is so quintessential Santa Barbara....like many things in Santa Barbara that I sort of want to make fun of but also can't help but participate in!)


Finn did very well considering it was his first time following directions in a class setting. Half of the challenge was keeping the toddlers on their mats. They did actually do a lot of the poses we do in adult yoga classes.




...they focused on breathing...


...and finally got get rid of all that pent-up toddler energy in a big empty echoy room. That's pretty much toddler heaven right there folks.


Ladies and gentlemen, introducing your future yoga instructors.

Good old Sacramento

Well folks, I can accomplish anything now. Last week I packed up my 2 1/2 year old and my 3 month old and drove the 6 hours (correction....8 hours) to Sacramento to visit my sister and her new born son, baby Eli.......and attend sister-in-law Lina's bridal shower. Yes, it was the longest journey of my life, but we got there safely and in one piece and with minimal crying - relatively speaking. How do single mothers do it?! I'll tell you how.....with a ton of patience, a Doodle-Pro, podcasts of kid stories, several kids songs and a 40 minute stop at McDonalds complete with a Happy Meal toy (Lucky Finn got a bobble-head wind-up toy of Chubaca's head on a robot's body. So stupid, but he loved it.) I don't even remember the last time I've been to McDonalds, but it was lookin' pretty good from the I-5. The week in Sacramento was a blast though, and Nate took the train up North at the end of the week and drove back with us....thank God.


Welcome to the world Baby Eli!

Joanne and I had fun just being homebodies with our babies and letting the toddlers run around, but we did manage a couple of field trips. We met mom and dad Summy (happy birthday Dad!) at the Bishops Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland. This is the one I went to as a kid, and it is so vamped up now!


Wyatt feeding a goat. Finn wouldn't get near them, but this kid has 2 huge dogs at home so nothing scares him!

Little Eli and Selah just worked on what they do best....laying there like blobs.


Right after we took that picture, Wyatt kicked a bunch of straw into the babies' faces. I had to take a photo before I cleaned her off. It was sort of funny. Gotta love 2 year olds!


Finn loved this old broken down tractor.


Finn and Mama on the horsies.


Grandpa Summy and the babe.


Grandpa Summy and the boys on the train.



We headed to Fairlytale Town the next day. It's such a cool little place for kids.



Walkin' the Crooked Mile.



Taking a rest on a candle stick.

It was such a surprise gift to be able to visit with one of my best friends, maid of honor and rowing buddie, Carrie who lives in Hawaii but just happened to be in town. Our babies are only 12 hours apart, so it was fun to meet little Riley, and let our toddlers toddle around together.






Next was a quick weekend visit with the Monley side of the family.

Tia Lina had some quality time with Finnermagoo.


More reading with Granny Peg.



Papa Tom broke out the scissors for a quick trim.


Granny Peg and Selah


Nate and uncle Josh serenading Selah


Lead singer, Finnegan Jack.

Just another week at the homestead.

Gearing up for our typical morning walk downtown or to the park in the soccer-mom stroller.


Finn got in trouble for pushing Selah too hard in the swing. Here he's showing me how gentle he can be. Selah's......not convinced.


A little shout out to our friend Jill in Chicago. Thanks for the adorable onesie!!


Finn was my biggest fan after last weekend's triathlon in Carpinteria. (It wasn't fast, but I'm getting back into it.)




We were just enjoying a nice morning of painting the other day when Finn pointed to something a few feet above our heads and said, "Look Mama! A spider!" This not so little beauty was suspended in a perfect web that stretched about 12 feet across. She was enormous. We had a good time checking her out. And then Nate came home and ......took care of it.


Raccoons, spiders...stay tuned for more creepy creatures.

Safety First!

We had our first softball game tonight, and we were so fierce!! Our hodge-podge team, "Safety First" is made up of 15 friends who just want to have a good time, and who think joining the city slow pitch league is just the place to do it. Most of us don't have much experience, but we're full of heart and guts. Double win tonight.... we scored more runs than the other team and had NO injuries!

Me and Anna after the game sporting our team t-shirts.




We've started a weekly play date with Vanessa, one of Finn's closest friends. Here's our little picnic in the the front yard earlier this week.



Finn would eat peanut butter and jelly everyday if it was up to him. But every once in a while he surprises me. Atta boy! Eat those brussell sprouts.


Neighbor and good friend Joyce with Selah.



While the kids ate brussell sprouts, we ate these! For our little picnic Joyce bought this delectable little Raspberry Charlottes from a local French bakery. Her language of love is feeding people. I'm happy to oblige. It was a little piece of heaven. They were so cute I almost couldn't eat it. Almost.


Just a few minutes ago, as I was posting this blog....I heard a scratching noise outside the window behind me. Literally inches from my face and only a thin single pane glass window between us, this is what I saw.....

Eeeeew. Raccoons give me the heeby-jeebies.


I can't end a post with that pic. So here's a cute one of my little princess.