11 month boy

you figured out how to stand up in your crib on your 11 month birthday

and now we have a few bite marks

and a few flag casualties

but I could eat those cheeks

and I love you to the moon

my valentine

read his shirt and weep.

 yup.

that's right he was my valentine

as my valentine

 he was woken with a new racer to help him scoot around

however, on valentine's morning

 the back door was just a little bit more interesting.

i also set this adorable table for the day

nate was MIA for my sweetheart breakfast

but in consisted of delicious heart-shaped pancakes and homemade coconut syrup

brig and i were big fans

this guy was the best valentine ever.

and my best valentines ever.

just a slow day of naps, heart shaped food, a date to the gym where child care is free, and a movie

i felt happy all the day. 

it maybe would have bode a little better for nate had we watched a romantic comedy instead of karatekid

but, 

whose complaining?

hope yours was as heart shaped as mine :)

puttin' on the ritz

yup. i got to spend the night at the ritz-carlton half moon bay.

it's was lovely and beautiful weather and a 24 hour extravaganza.

well, not really. 

nate had a work retreat thing and when he found out he was going to have his own room, he didn't really have a choice. i was going too.

pretty much we slept in the same bed and had lunched together the next day and that was all the interaction me and the hub had. 

but brig and i?

we just enjoyed the lovely rooms, views, sunshine, and beach

just the twos of us

the view from our morning stroll

after a lovely excursion to the beach and 18 holes for natey we headed to our favorite half moon bay joint, sam's chowder house and enjoyed lobster rolls.

lovely, lovely

and

my biggest lesson learned?

a stroller is a girls best friend

i'm invincible with that bad boy

a very presidential day to you too!

i love monday holidays.

they're great and sometimes i can even convince nate to do a half day of work or something like that...

brig represented ole' hickory this year 

(andrew jackson)

he's among my favorites for many reasons

maybe it's just the true southern gent in him... i don't know and it is a bit awful the trail of tears falls under his office.

my high school history teacher had a undeniable devotion to him and i think we spent at least a month on just his office and antebellum US in general. it was fantastic.

although further investigation proved that presidents day is actually president's day (ie only celebrating washington) brig gave jackson a wear today.

and that

is as presidential as we got.

ps

brig climbed his first stairs during these little snippets

bravo briggy!

brig forgot to ask....

won't you be our valentine?

yes i intended to post this on valentines but apparently blogger wants me to pay to blog now?

it took me a week to figure it out.

anyway...

my dapper boy suited up once more to extend this invitation to you.

finally...

i say that loosely...
because
a. we're finally here where brig is doing things
but
b. it makes him very grown up

 this week brig decided he was ready to grow up


he started pulling himself up earlier this week and now he's pro
and we really can't get over his cutest little bum
(he's wearing shorts because it was 80 today)

when he woke up from his nap to see our super bowl snacks spread across the coffee-ottoman
he was, well to put it nicely, excited. he quickly tried to get any and everything.
we settled on celery being the safest option

he got a stick in both hands and attempted to eat them for a good 30 minutes.
he even shared :)

this week brig learned to pull himself up
and
drum roll....
he's doing tricks!
finally
i've been working on any and all tricks i can think of
apparently i've been the problem cause it was his dad who made 'em stick

now in brig's repertoire he:
copies dad's laugh, it goes on for hours :)
sticks his tongue out on demand
does "so big" with his arms up

we are soooo close to finally getting waving to stick and pretty much are on a trick a day regiment

ohhh we're crazy about him and ohhh i feel like he's grown up so much since he started crawling
and ohhh it makes me baby hungry
okay, i said it out loud.


love you my boy
and 
i'm so sorry for making you sick this week.
i will use better judgement when taking you to kids korner
2 hours of working out was not worth the 5 days of a cold

traintown

it's 1/10 the size of disneyland!

literally, it says that on the brochure.

anyway. 

it was fun.

i was a little stir crazy by saturday
i get that way when nate's gone for a weekend.
so saturday when he moseyed out of bed and off to the gym he knew he was in trouble
when he got home and i was sitting down in the shower he thought it a good time to let me know he planned a day for us.

it worked
we headed to the cutest little place in sonoma and met up with the cousins



it reminded me of a place we visited in colorado when i was little
tiny town.
honestly, i thought the place was cooler than disneyland.

brothers and babies

i really love the combination

the weather was not perfect, after a week of the mid-60's saturday decided to hit the 50's and drizzle

but you take what you can get

this girl is cute as a button.

and full of tricks, like kissing her cousin :)

jon and cass stole mckay for the day to join us

never was a cuter boy.

and 3 is simply magical.

the mini train takes you on a 1.5 mile track and stops in the middle at a "tiny town" that also has a petting zoo. i would have more pictures of the adorable "tiny town" but they only leave you there for 10 minutes and my dear animal lover of a husband ..

fed the animal.

the whole time. 

luckily i stole brig away and we got one cute shot of the kiddies in the jail

oh train town.... you were just what my week needed!

love, love,love family outings.

just wish they happened more often