the pumpkin patch

Well, it's fallish in L.A. so the perfect Saturday afternoon activity was heading to the local pumpkin patch. That "patch" is a grocery story parking lot covered in hay but alas, we do what we can in the city. Tate seemed to love the outing and we enjoyed taking a ton of photos of him on the outing. A perfect kick-off to my favorite month!

Tate as of late...

As expected, a lot of change comes with turning one. We have a very busy little man on our hands but it is so much fun to watch him coming into his own. I don't have an action shot of him walking by himself just yet but as of the past couple of weeks Tate can take anywhere from 8 to 12 steps all on his own. In the pictures below he is going to town with one of his birthday presents that is basically a glorified (and quite colorful) walker!

The older Tate's gotten the more he is also backing up the popular phrase of "like father like son". Not only does he already favor doing things with his left hand but he also gravitates toward all things sports. Enter the baseball bat! It's a habit he has that once he likes something he drags it all around the house and now that desired object happens to be a bright red bat. It's almost as if I have my very own security guard with me all day.

He just seemed like such a big boy to me in this picture standing up in his crib which is hard to fathom considering he barely took up any room in that bed the first night we brought him home. Other tendencies of his new "big boy" status include: understanding words and phrases that we say to him, clapping and/or bouncing when he hears music, "talking" to people in public places to get them to notice him and pointing at anything he wants more of.

Thank you Lord for this precious boy!

sailing into a new year...

After several weeks of tying ribbon, making banners, stamping anchors and making long to-do lists Tate's 1st birthday party finally arrived! We had the celebration at a beautiful park overlooking the water at a local marina. Thankfully the sunshine came out in full force and other than a bit of wind the party went off without a hitch. Phew! I believe everyone had a good time and while Tate enjoyed his first bite of cake I think he mostly liked playing with it and getting dirty! A special thanks to all the grandparents who helped make it possible and relieve some stress from this momma. :)

The amazing cake that Grandma Stephany made for Tate...and it looks just as good as it tastes!

We loved having you, Susu, and hope you come back to stay with us again soon!

September 15th

Well, this is a big date in our household as the majority of us have a birthday on this day! Crazy to think that one year ago today I planned on getting up to make my husband breakfast for his birthday and instead we got in the car, drove to the hospital and had our son. Alas, our lives were changed forever from then on but all for the better. I am so incredibly blessed to have these two boys in my life and I am honored to celebrate them both!

Daddy and T playing with some of his new toys...too bad I took a photo right when he was holding a pink one. Oops.

Appropriately reading the birthday book before bedtime. Good night, our precious one year old!

11 Months

Tate is one month shy of the big birthday and I sure believe it because he is looking so old in these photos! We both can't get over this first one especially since I swear you can almost tell what he'll look like as a ten year old practically. He continues to be so sweet and truly a happy little boy majority of the time. His latest talents include clapping and walking around the coffee table while holding on. Can't wait to see what he'll be doing on September 15th!

The older he gets the harder it is to get him to sit still with Harvey in the chair...as seen in this next picture, all he clearly wanted to do was get up and stand at the side table.

After the photo shoot I put Tate on the carpet to play while I went back and forth from the dryer to the couch with arms full of laundry....on my last trip I found my curious little "helper" had already gotten his little hands on some! I'm hoping before long he can fold them for me too.

City Slickers

At long last we finally escaped the dog days of work, smog and traffic and headed to the mountains of Mammoth Lakes to soak up several days of luxurious fresh air and breathtaking scenery on a good old fashioned family vacation. Tate did wonderful in the car except for a loud but brief meltdown when he got too tired in the afternoon. It seriously lasted two minutes tops and we're beginning to wonder if this child is too good to be true sometimes? In any case, we made it to Mammoth in impeccable time and allowed the adventures to unfold....

Lunch stop somewhere in the middle of the desert where we were lucky to find one lonely gas station with a glorious Subway attached...thank you, person who realized we might be needing more than just a Snickers to continue our drive.

It's so strange but you leave the giant city of Los Angeles, drive through a lot of desolate land and small towns and end up a mere five hours later in mouth dropping beauty.

So to our surprise and amusement, we just happened to go to Mammoth the weekend they were holding their annual Bluesapalooza and Beer Festival! We didn't know a thing about it practically but heard the words concert, food and Blues Traveler and went running. It ended up being a lot of fun as all three of us sprawled out on our quilt for several hours of live entertainment and delicious treats. Who knows, maybe we'll make it a yearly thing?

Funny thing is we didn't even plan this photo but I happened to look over and revel in the humor of our three beverages for the evening. It's like Goldilocks and the three drinks....the middle one for me was just right.

Not only did the cooler, dry mountain air not agree with T's sensitive skin, it also didn't do too well for his hair do.

We were excited to stumble upon this beautiful park which ended up being the perfect spot for a picnic lunch...

Yes, that is snow. No, it wasn't cold out. Yes, Brandon is wearing sandals.

Alas, vacation had to end but we felt very blessed to have the opportunity to take our little boy on his first family road trip. He came back a little rosier in the cheeks but happy nonetheless!