Quickly approaching 2!!

We went to UC berkeley to take Darrian's pictures for his "2" year shoot. Thank you to my friend who helped edit them, I love how some of them turned out. He was not in the mood at all, and was more into running away, around, anywhere but in front of the camera.

Here is a preview of what we ended up with...

Getting ready for school!

So Darrian is starting preschool on September 8th. *sigh* My little baby. We read this book called "someday" at bedtime. I let Darrian pick his bedtime story, and he chooses that one a couple times a week. It gets me every time. A story about someday.. it has this line in it like "Then you were my baby and now you are my child" . Gets me every time. Darrian is turning into a little boy in front of our eyes, so quickly. Even though he is still a toddler, he's changing quickly.


He is only going to school twice a week, and this is a test. He is a bit young since his birthday is in September. We choose to do this now instead of waiting because he really loves interaction with other children and would benefit from it on a consistent basis.


We have a parent teacher information night on the 1st, and one the 2nd the parents and children of the class have a playdate to meet. I hope Darrian loves it.





I saw this backpack and sent a link to Grandma who promptly ran off to buy it :). Darrian loved it, and did not want to take it off. I took these with my camera phone.

Etsy Favorites

I am in the process of planning Darrian's 2nd birthday party. I feel like I am getting almost done with the task I needed to do, a few loose ends to wrap up. Most of this party, like last years party is supplied by a site called Etsy. It is a site where people sell their goods, crafts, all sorts of fun things (even personalized cookies, flavored gourmet marshmallows). I wanted to start to highlight the people I use there because they are so talented. It feels so good to help out small business, and often times woman run.

The first highlight will be the person who made Darrian invites. She is amazing, a graphic designer. I went to her with a image of a dragon on a bounce house, and asked her to replicate it into an invite. She drew freestyle the dragon for me, I had told her I wanted it to be cute and child cartoon like. She did just that. I was so pleased with the outcome. I recommended her to another friend who is also using her for her son's birthday party and the stuff she did for that airplane party was amazing also. She designs banners, favor tags, stickers, water bottle wraps.. and the list goes on. I love that it is personalized, reasonable, and she prints it so I don't have to deal with it.

Her seller name is bndesigns, here is link to her shop:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=28968548

More and More birthday's

(first a flashback!, this was JUST three years ago!!)


..sisters..

Malia ready to open gifts!

Cupcakes that Ju-ju made they look professional huh?!

It's the month for them, a friend told me she saw a thing saying the highest birth's happen in Aug. I can feel that by the amount of birthday's that fill our calender this month. This past weekend we celebrated Malia's 8th birthday, and celebrated the 3rd birthday of Darrian's friends.

Malia had a swim party, it was a bunch of fun for him. He loves the water, he is not afraid of it at all. This is a good thing I think. He got out of the water about 5 times, and Keith kept taking his floaties off, even changed him into cloths.. and he went right back into the water. We had a good time, and it was great to see the girls (oh and their parents). I just can't believe how fast they grow. Malia being 8 seems impossible. It seems like just a few months years ago we were celebrating her FIRST birthday!


here are some pictures from our parties this weekend.

Awh.. Lily and Daddy. .

Pool time..







Practicing his kicks..

D and Lily playing together.. D likes to sit IN the water table.

D eating a cuppy cake

Ms. Lily showing off her standing skills..

PARTY number two.. S & A's 3rd birthday party. These twins are SO cute, it has been fun to watch them grow over the past two years... their Mom has been so helpful with D and life, it was fun to be apart of the celebration. It was at Superfranks, that place is a great place for a birthday party. They have lots of things for the kids to do and Darrian loves it there. The lighting was a bit hard, I think I have to get used to using the flash inside.

Sprinkle some soon-to-be-mama's ...

Two of my friends are close to adding #2 to their families. In the world of etiquette you don't really have a "shower" for baby number two, however in my world every child should be celebrated. Pregnancy is no joke, and well.. everyone should get some loving for making it through the many months of uncomfyness, even more so when chasing a toddler on top of it. So in my Mom's circle of friends we have "sprinkles" a low key shower. I hosted a sprinkle on Sunday for 2 great Mama's Laura and Katie. Everyone brings a snack, and their kiddos and we relax and chat while the kids play. We had about 30 people over, 15 woman and their kids. It was a bunch of fun. This is the first time Darrian has had his friends over and he was a great host. Him and his friend J played SOOOO cute together, running around the house laughing at each other's "jokes" very precious. We are lucky to have known these kids since they were babies, some before they were born.. can't wait to see the newest additions to our circle of friends.

I got some detail pictures before everyone came, then everyone got there and I pretty much put the camera down. I have to work on that.

Congrats again Laura and Katie, can't wait to meet the new additions!

Snack cups for the kids.

cupcakes I made.

D and J playing, they were SOOO cute.

Fruit infused water.

the set up without all the delish goodies from the other ladies.

D plotting to get a cuppycake before everyone arrived. :)

centerpiece

Little Ms. M. She was in love with D's car, and not something he shares well. He liked her sassyness, and by the end of the day was trying to give her hug after hug after hug.. :)

Mr. J very close to crawling!

Birthday's Gallore...

I think that Aug. has more birthday's in it than any other month. At least it feels that way. Several special people in my life have birthday's in Aug., so it has always been a crazy month for us. Now with Darrian and his friends, well we just up the craziness a bit. :)

D taking it all in, practicing for his big day. :) Who is this kid who wants to sit at the table and drink out of cups! ACK!

So far in the last 10 days we have celebrated my Mom's birthday, Keith's birthday, and Darrian's friend Greyson's birthday. Crazy how much fun we can pack into a few short days.

Here are some pictures of the festivities.

K's red velvet cake, we bbqd for him that night.

Mom blowing out her candles...

D at Greyson's birthday party, he loves ride on toys.

All the kids enjoying a snack. G's mom made really cool tshirts that went with the campfire theme, song books, and reusable snack packs. I think the best favors we have ever been given at a birthday party. All made by her, amazing.