Rollin' with my gnomies

Today was a great day.  After a leftover chili lunch, then a nap we dressed the boys to go trick or treating.  Ok, not really trick or treating, we just went to go visit family.  Palmer was so excited about being a gnome, he got his full elf on today.  Gram was not going to wear his beard, so as back up I bought face paint.  Well, guess what?  He didn't want to have his face painted either.  Aw man, that's ok.  I told him I was going to paint it to look like a lion and then he was cool with it. Of course, I didn't paint it like a lion, I painted a beard and rosey cheeks.   It was so cute, little gnome boy roaring like a lion.

We came home just in time to greet our own trick or treaters.  Just five came by (in one group).  Gram was so excited to see them and cried when they left.  He watched at the door for a while looking for more trick or treaters.  It was kinda pitiful.  But all ended well, we got a jack-o-lantern pizza and cinnamon wheel from Papa Murphy's.  Both were super delicious.

So now, I'm just enjoying the quiet, thinking of what a great weekend we had so far and thinking, "we still have one more day of this weekend! Yippee!"

Invitation

This is the invitation I designed for Erik's party.  I forgot to post it with the rest of the birthday pictures.  I really like the way it turned out, just disappointed that Erik stumbled upon it.  I was inspired by this handmade invitation, but no way I had the time or patience to make them.

The kiddos just woke from naps, so we are about to get dressed and head out for some Halloween fun!

Whooa...

After like 6 months of planning Erik's surprise 30th birthday party, it is finally over!  It was so exciting and fun, but with this crazy weather, well, it made me a bit crazy!  He was a good sport, but in the end, admitted to finding the invitation I designed on my laptop.  Could have saved me a bit of brain cells if he would have admitted earlier, but whatever.  There's no fix for crazy.

It's not a bra, it's a sleep mask.. which he always steals mine, so I gave him his own, then told him he had to wear it! HA!

All partied out, see the little hand reaching up?  Him and his brother were planned to go home with G for a slumber party, but that wasn't happening.  He wanted his mommy and daddy.

It was just as amazing for me as I'm sure it was for Erik to walk in the door and to be surprised by who showed up.  Oh gosh, I just love our friends and family and so appreciate each and every one of you who came to Erik's party.

This is the only picture I got of Gram and his bestie wearing their Halloween tie-dye.  The whole class wore them for their party and it was Capital P precious if you ask me.

And in all this party planning stuff for Gram then Erik.. I've left out Palmer.  In the last week he's cut a tooth and started crawling.  Tear.  My baby's not a baby anymore. (Not that he ever weighed technically what a baby weighed)

So it's ALL over.  I'm gonna have a drink (or two) then dive into the leftover cake, then soapapillo cheesecake, then pick a pepper with fritos, then I might go to sleep!  Nighty night!

Happy Birthday Ear-ick!

This Friday, Erik turns 30. It's his Golden Birthday. 30 on the 30th.

I've posted bits and pieces about Erik re-doing his "studio". So in honor of a Golden Birthday, I'm going to show you all the hard work he has put into his office.

As mentioned before, Erik and two pals began his company in 2002. From 2002 - 2007 they moved offices four times! All these locations were downtown, and each one was a pretty fantastic space. Well, the last office space wasn't quite so fantastic. My favorite space they leased was the loft:

It was a great space for a party!

In 2007, through disappointing circumstances, Erik's company dwindled to a one man show. That one man being Erik. Oh, yes, this was the same week Gram was born. How convenient. So Erik shut down shop and moved his business to our home. He worked out of our house for 21 months. Then when I was 9 months pregnant, HE started house shopping. We bought this house for the sole reason of the cute little gym in the backyard. Note: The previous owners were personal trainers who trained out of their gym. They were selling their house to start-up their own gym, which ironically is now located behind one of the best cake bakery in town. So you know, after your hard core work out, be sure to pick up a Hummingbird cake!

This is what the "studio" looks like from the back porch:

So when Palmer was two months old we moved into the new to us house. After both boys went to sleep at night, Erik would go out to the "gym" turned "studio" to work on it. It was painted sport related colors, something like marathon red and olympic blue:

He worked on the studio during weekends too. Actually, any minute he had free, he was working on transforming it. One time, I went out to check on him and he was working in his underwear! He said he got too hot in his jeans. I laughed. Then I quickly grabbed my camera.

He added a wall, which didn't exist before. On the other side of his office is now a storage room/Finch's (our dog) bedroom.

He has his work space:

He made a little play area/tv watching spot for the tots:

He set me up a work space:

And Gram one too:

He's added lots of little touches and mementos that are close to his heart:

He has lots of awards showcased:

As you can see, Erik has worked very hard on his man cave. We all love it. I especially love it when he takes both boys out there for a while so I can get housework done quickly and quietly.

Happy Birthday, Ear-ick! You are such an incredibly talented and gifted man. With your eye for beauty and detail there's no wonder why you picked me for your wife!

Thanks for visiting, you can see yourself out now!

Friday

I have a big mouth. It has always got me in trouble. In first grade, we went to the neighboring classroom to watch a video on Roman Numerals. Boring. Strict instructions for not talking were given. My six year old self liked to push limits, I pretended to talk (I just moved my mouth, but actually said nothing). I was sent out of the room. Darn, I was really looking forward to that video, too! Ha!

Anyway, my big mouth did it again. I volunteered to do an art project for Gram's class. It took most of the morning, but I'm sure the final results will be worth it. I'm sure you can guess what I was up to. But! There's more the class will do themselves to embellish the project. Hmmmm...

After my little art project, my mom and I went to Michael's where I picked up this cute little fellow. I had no plans for him, but he was 60% off - no way I was leaving him at the store! I was taking apart Gram's birthday decorations and decided I could reuse some elements that were used for his party. (It's only been a week, don't laugh at my ability to un-decorate). This is what I came up with. I'm in love.
Speaking of love. I totally dumped Jason Bateman for Matthew Morrison. Erik is aware of this. I love GLEE and am totally enamored with Mr. Schuster. The dancing, singing, hot teacher-ness is just all too much for me!

It's beginning to look a lot like fall

After Gram's birthday party on Saturday we took

him to his first football game! He loved the

band, the parachuters, the pizza and the Cowboys!

Erik was ready to go before Gram was.

I know theres a spit string, I just thought it was the

cutest picture!

Gram was in a super foul mood because he didn't receive a proper

nap. He napped in the car for most of our visit to the pumpkin

patch (of course Dad was in the car with him)

Can you believe I found this baby sitting in a pot?

Just kidding, that's our cuz, Baby Reed. It's a shame

we couldn't get a picture of the four cousins together,

heck, I couldn't even manage a pic of just my two together!

Happy Birthday Dear Gram!

Happy Birthday, Dude!

You turned two yesterday! We celebrated with a doggie themed party at our house today. Yesterday, you shared cupcakes with your friends at school and then we went and celebrated Paw Paws 82nd birthday at his house.

So far two is proving to be fun! Daddy and I have been talking about taking away your "pappy" for sometime. We said we would do it "cold turkey" on your birthday. Well, a week ago, you bit a hole in the pappy at school and that was it. We told you it was broke. You don't like it and wanted it back, but you accepted that it was broke. A week later you still are asking for it occasionally.

Also fun? You have proven your anatomical knowledge to your daycare teachers. Luckily, they think it's cute. They say you are the funniest kid they've ever met.

At your birthday party after unwrapping a gift, you'd say "open it". You wanted to open everything. It was very difficult to get through all your presents. Even the biggest present you didn't want to open because you were too enamored with the present your Nanny gave you. You got lots of trucks and truck related paraphernalia. You had lots of little cousins, friends and family come to your party! You are one loved little boy!

Joe rocked you once everyone left and you were out in a few minutes.

I hope you had a great day!

Birthday Morning

School Party

Baby Brother partying it up

Welcome to the party, C'mon in

Doggie Snacks

Cake Time

Tags on the "Doggie Bags"

Doggie Bags

Too much fun