Fun Fall Festivities

"Mom's Night Out" at our house, we got crafty and made wreaths, drank cider with some rum of course, and talked about our kids!! You know you WISH you would've been there!

All bundled up for the evening jog with Mom and Dad. Chilly!

Had to get a quick beard noogie from Dad. Giggles galore.
The Pumpkin Patch with the Cuz's and Aunty Ashy.

Pink Piglets were so cute.

Mr. Lukey on his tractor truck.

Showin off our Shay Loren Sparkle Clips!

We'll take those 2 right there please!

Hey, what's this Hay? I must taste...

7 Months and Counting...

Hugging Buddy...Buddy being camera shy

Love of his Life

Not boogers! Avocado...Yum!

Nie on Oprah

Ok my fellow Nie and CJane followers you must agree with me....as much as I love Oprah she totally missed the mark. Yes, Nie was beautiful and graceful even with her scars, the Nie that we know and love was right there in her eyes. But how could Oprah fail to mention her blog, maybe she didn't read her blog or even know about it! Certainly if she did she would've talked about it, how could she not? I was hoping the entire show or at least half of it would be about the Nielsons. Anywho, I'm so happy that they were actually on Oprah, geez it really doesn't get much heavier than that! So I really shouldn't complain....but maybe just a little. If you missed the episode, I so kindly will share the link on Oprah's page with you.

www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20090924-tows-stephanie-plane-crash

Your welcome!

Harvest Sparkle Clip Collection

You likey? I do! These are some pieces from my new Harvest

Sparkle clip collection. Adorable for baby and Mommy alike. Sure

to put you in the spirit of Fall and sparkly festivities ahead. I opened shop

and so far it's going great! You can visit and shop for yourself:

http://www.shayloren.etsy.com/

Just to forewarn you, etsy is by far the best online shopping site I've been to

and you will get sucked in for hours!

Everything is unique, handmade by regular shmo's like myself, there's even

a great deal of incredible vintage items. Soon the chain retailers

will be caput, mark my words!

7 Months

Shay is 7 months old! She's my best buddy and goes everywhere I go without a fuss. Honestly, she is the best baby ever. I take her with me to show houses, to the store, to lunch, to LA to see friends and family, even to Lake Havasu! Yep, she's already baptized as a true river rat. Unfortunately I don't have any pics of her on the boat or in the lake so I can't prove it! Bad mommy. We had the best time with Mo's family: Grandpa Gary, GrandmAnnette, Great Grandma Sally, Auntie Brit and Uncle P. They live out in Laughlin so it was a perfect excuse for us to get away and have some fun. Shay braved the 4 hour drive and made it just before a meltdown, whew! We stayed at Harrahs and slept in the big King bed with Great Grandma Sally.
We played in the Lake all day on our friend Jim's boat and rode Grandmannette's SeaDoo's. For a special surprise Grandpa Gary gave Shay a pair of diamond stud earrings, now we just need to convince Daddy to get her ear's pierced! Thanks for the fun trip, we'll be back soon!

Lovie

Our Lovie, Grandma Dawnie came down from LA. She's such a kick in the pants. I love her quick wit and sassy attitude that goes hand in hand with her uncanny ability to tell great stories. Great, true stories mind you. This time she told us the story about falling overboard when she went fishin with Grandpa. She had us all dying of laughter imagining her head first over the side of lil boat with her big straw hat, glasses, and oversized t-shirt. Of course Grandpa almost had a heart attack, he thought that dock was going to swallow her whole. She was fine, just shocked from the cold water and a bit ego bruised but she managed to get to shore and scared a few children in the process. They thought she was the lockness monster coming up from the deep to eat them. Hahaha!

So we hung out, listened to her stories, she loved on the grandkids and then she and Mom took off to the casino, of course! Those crazy ladies, don't they know we're in a recession....next time don't leave me behind! GEEZ!

4 Generations

Granny Janny and her Great Grandkids!

4 Generations of Ladies

The Whole Gang!

Just before 4th of July weekend my Granny Janny and Aunt Sher came to town for a quick visit to see the new family additions. If you've never met my Granny or Aunt Sher than you can't possibly know just how special they are. I absolutely love that I get to be related to such dynamic, beautiful, classy women. They both adored Shay and Noah and had so much fun seeing how big Isaac and Lucas have grown. While they were here we thought it was a perfect opportunity to get some long overdue family photos taken. My Mom has always wanted a picture of all the girls together, especially now that we have a new girl to add to lineage. Of course we called up our fav photographer Stacy Anne (http://www.stacyannephoto.com/) to capture us on film. We went to her gorgeous house, and were able to snap up some really good shots. Let me tell you though, it was not easy to get all 3 boys, and us 6 girls to smile and look at the camera all at once! Stacy, God Bless You, I know it must have been frustrating but you did an amazing job as usual!

Granny Janny, Granny Kins (Mom), Aunt Sher, Me and Ash.

Noah

Shay Loren, she made this sour puss face in EVERY SHOT!

Lucas, Isaac, and Noah...

future Ralph Lauren Models and Presidents.

Shay Loren Designs

When your baby girls hair looks like this:






You get crafty and make these:

Coming soon to a store near you! ( I WISH!!!)

BlueBird Wonderland

It was glorious summer day, the sis wasn't feeling well at all and her 3 doodlebugs weren't helping so I came to the rescue (rescued her and them) and took the 2 older bugs to the park, the littlest isn't quite big enough. Now it wasn't just any old park....we went to BlueBird park in Laguna Beach. Been there? Ya gotta go...actually come to think of it, I can't think of ANY place in the vicinity of Laguna Beach that I don't like. Anyone who lives in the OC knows what I'm talking about, and if you don't then you seriously need to take a trip to LB for the day. Anywho, we went to BlueBird park where the butterflys dance from tulip to tulip, a big ol tree canopies the center of the park, and of course the BlueBirds are singing. Are you imagining "Alice in Wonderland?" YES! EXACTLY! Except there's a giant spaceship with a long slide, a twirling whirling seat, an oversized spinny tire thing and a larger than life turtle with colored glass spots on it back, so it's EVEN better than Wonderland. Oh but it gets better, a morning at BlueBird park wouldn't be complete without first devouring a chocolate eclair and a Martinellis lil apple juice (the one in the apple shaped glass) . Only with Auntie Chan, can they do these sorts of things and Mom doesn't have to know.

Just a quick note...

Wow it's been too long once again, and I've missed you my sweet bloggy blog! What's been happening you say? Well......Shaybird is ginormica (new word for the day, cross between: giant, enormous, and mica). But honestly, she is my lil chunky butt and she is so beautiful. She has 2 TEETH!!! I know, she's an early bloomer, they came in just before her 5 month bday. Just call her advanced, I don't mind. Don't you love how all parents think they're kids are advanced, cracks me up. She also made the decision to be a belly-sleeper. The first night it happened Mo-daddy went to check on her, saw that she was face down and litterally wigged out. He flipped her over so fast like a giant omelet, and boy did she let out a wail! She was not a happy camper, I can almost hear her thoughts "What the HECK Dad, I was sleepin!! Don't you know some babies sleep on their tumtums!" Were'nt we all raised sleepin on our bellies?! It was sorta cute how concerned he was, "how in the world does she breathe when she sleeps like that!?" he said. I don't know, they just do. No matter how many times I roll her over, she ends up on her belly with her face buried in the mattress.
I must run along now, but I promise I won't be gone long....there's way too much I need to tell you and wait till you see the pics!!

Very First Father's Day!!

We celebrated Mo's first Father's Day this past weekend...it was perfect!

First we took Shay to the Farmer's Market and picked out some yummy fresh fruit and veggies, and we taste-tested the finest cake we've ever eaten in our lives...Butter Rum. It was a gloriously sunny but breezy day, kind of like the days you used to imagine from Winnie the Pooh. We opened Daddy's present, a cleverly crafted picture mug (so original I know) and a handmade cookie by Grammannette. Then we trekked off to BBQ and swim at Papa's house, well actually we didn't barbecue anything we boiled 10 lbs of crab legs! Yes, 10 lbs and we ate every last morsel of those lil bottom feeders, along with Granny Kins famous scalloped potatoes, sweet white corn on the cob and salad by me. You think I copped out by only making salad huh...hahaha well if you've ever had salad made by me or Ash you know how good it was. We enjoyed our dinner and the company, all the Rod's, lil Syd  E's youngest sister and Papa and Granny. So it was almost a perfect day...almost...then we lost the car keys. We searched and searched, tore the house apart and no keys. 20 minutes after the Rod's got home they called, someone had slipped the keys in lil Syd's purse (she's 12) I have a hunch who did it, but I'll never tell, after all it was Father's Day. 

 

Roll-ey Poll-ey Birdie!

Shay rolled over yesterday......sob, sob, sob! Just kidding, well sort of, I can't help but be so proud of my little Birdie but at the same time stricken with the fact that she is growing and developing so fast the baby days are numbered. I love the baby phase, I know some can't wait until they're walking, talking and dressing themselves but I personally want her to stay just the way she is. She's such a perfect cuddle size, she doesn't argue with me, she lets ME dress her, she sleeps through the night and takes 3 naps a day....does it get any better? I think not! Here's the video of her rolling over, which was actually the 2nd time she did it. The first time I missed because I walked into the kitchen for 2 sec's, and came back to see she had completely rolled over! This time I was ready with camera in hand when we started her daily "tummy time" activity. Oh, and just so you all believe me I recorded her nightly ritual for going to bed, I think she's unbelievable and you will too.....(first have to figure out how to reduce its size, then I will post)

Stacy Anne Photography

I can't stand it anymore....I've been waiting and waiting to post these pictures until I sent out Shay's announcements but I just can't wait any longer. I haven't even ordered her announcements yet, dreadful. I simply must get these photos out for the world to see the beautiful work of my new found favorite photographer, Stacy Anne. She may be a start up artist but her photos don't show it. Not only is she creative and gifted with natural talent to snap up the most precious moments of our little ones she is also very inexpensive! I think part of the reason for her success is her attention to detail in making a baby friendly environment for the photo shoots. She has a corner of her dining room set up as a small studio, with rustic wood flooring, rich brown painted walls, a changeable blanket backdrop, and tons of props for featuring the babies. When I walked into her house it was no joke about 95 degrees in there, and she had one of those soothing noise makers with the sound of the ocean playing and a space heater on full blast in the corner of the studio. Shay didn't even have time to think about going to sleep and she was out! In addition she had 2 girlfriends (also aspiring photographers), there to "help" out. Stacy said "Do you mind if we just kinda take her and get started, we're all moms and know how to handle babies". "Sure!" I said, "have at her!" I'm not kidding they had her naked and ready for her first pose in 3 min flat, all while she snoozed away. If she started to wake up one of them would grab her up and rock her back to sleep and then place her back in the bowl or basket for the next photo, it was amazing. They took hundreds of pictures, in so many different backdrops and props. I felt like Shay was going to be the cover model for Baby Magazine! Needless to say it was amazing and money couldn't have put a price on the experience and the fabulous photos the girls produced. Don't  wait until Stacy is so booked you won't be able to get in, make an appointment today! Her blog is www.stacyannephoto.com/blog you can email or her website is www.stacyannephoto.com. Stacy - you are truly talented and I can't thank you enough for these fantastic photos I will cherish forever! 

Here she is Miss Shay Loren at 3 weeks old...

 

Mo's at the MudBug Boil!

Yesterday we went to a real mudbug boil, given by our friends the Baileys. They have an awesome house in Ladera Ranch with a huge front driveway, perfect for setting up 6 six foot tables end to end and spreading the hot crawfish right down the middle straight from the boiling pot! Don and Jennifer have been throwing an annual MudBug Boil for the past 11 years, rain or shine! The crawfish were flown in from Louisiana packed on ice and still alive, mind you he ordered 400 lbs, if you can imagine. Then they are cleaned and prepped for the boiler with some corn on the cob, potatoes, spicy sausage and of course the secret louisiana rub for ultimate tastiness. Don throws them in the boiling pot for about 5 min and they're done! I have to be honest I was a bit freaked out to eat the first one, but really they taste like shrimp or a small piece of lobster SO YUMMY! The trick is learning how to get the meat out of the tail, it's alot of work for one lil morsel of meat. It's really about the fun of it, standing side by side with a bunch of strangers, cracking open crawfish, getting all messy trying to be the quickest. One extra perk for packing Shay around was everyone cracked the buggers for me so I didn't have to do any work ahhahahaha! We had a blast and can't wait for next years Boil!