Tag: holidays

Halloween 2011


Whew – Halloween was a big one this year! Of course, with this being the 1st one for Ruby, we were pretty excited. After solving the great costume debate (Ed wanted Ruby to be “the chest-bursting alien from the movie, “Alien”. He was going to put her in the Baby Bjorn, put a shirt over it with a hole cut out … you get the idea. I wanted her to be a cupcake), we found the cutest little garden gnome costume. It was perfect! (Big thanks to our friend, Jennifer for sending us the link to the costume!) We were just happy that Halloween went over better with Ruby than the trip to the pumpkin patch!

First things first – our friend Elizabeth decided to throw a super-fabulous Halloween Party just for our girls! We were so lucky, the Arzates threw an amazing party. Tony made his annual Pumpkin Stew (served inside the pumpkin – so cool!) and Elizabeth planned all kinds of cool activities for the kids.

We tried hard to get a pic of all of the kids – but wow, it was like “herding cats” (Actual quote from Elizabeth!). Here’s our best shot:

Ruby got to trick or treat in the backyard and got all kinds of cool stuff like a Gerber Graduates cereal bar, goldfish, a mini-book and more! Plus, she got to go “ghost-bowling”. It was an awesome time!

Ruby also got to ride her favorite car at Violet’s house:

Then, on Halloween day, Ruby’s Halmoni came over with a special box of treats for her.

Lucky girl! In the box was also her very first pair of TOMS!

They are a special edition from the UNICEF/It’s a Small World line carried at Nordstrom. Ed & I almost died because the pattern on them is a Mary Blair pattern, one of our favorite artists from the ’60s. Mary Blair did a lot of work for Disney and her artwork is iconic. We LOVE her. So … thats why we are flipping out over these shoes!

Back to Halloween … Grandma & Papaw came over and we took Ruby around to the neighbors to trick-or-treat. After we got home with her candy, we dumped it all in the bowl and passed it back out again! But she wanted to keep one piece of loot … so we let her :)

See more cute pics of our Garden Gnome here. It was a very Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch FAIL

As new parents, we were obviously very excited to take Ruby on her very first field trip to the pumpkin patch. We had visions of our adorable little baby clapping with glee as she looked at all of the pumpkins, and her cute little cherub face hamming things up as we shot a few pictures to capture the moment.

One word: NOPE.

For whatever reason, Little Miss Ruby did NOT enjoy her first trip to the pumpkin patch.

 

 

What to do? First, we tried to distract her with silly cut out photo ops …


Boring! You can see by looking at her here, she just wasn’t interested.

 

How about checking to see how tall you are, Ruby?

Nah, couldn’t care less.

 

So there it goes. Ruby wasn’t that into it. Oh well. There’s always next year.

At least we got her to smile for ONE pic …

Happy Fathers Day

The shirt is true - Ruby is a Daddy's Girl!

 

Today was Ed’s 1st Fathers Day! I could hardly wait to celebrate this – he is such a great dad and does so much for us that I wanted to make it special. I think I was more excited about Father’s Day than Mother’s Day! Ed wanted to keep things low-key, so I honored his wishes. :)

We started off the morning by presenting Daddy with a few gifts. Ruby made him a picture storybook called “Daddy & Me” with some of the best photos of the two of them so far. Want to see the book?
Click here to see the book
(You’ll see the book on the right, and use the “Next” arrow below to flip pages of the book)

After presents, we headed out to the beach for an early morning run (we had a delicious lunch planned, so we had to get our exercise in early!) Both of us enjoy running together and its always a kick to watch Ruby enjoy herself while she’s a long for the ride. We did about 2 1/2 miles from Bluff Park to Belmont Shore and back.

Finally, the part Ed was really looking forward to – lunch at Porto’s Bakery in Downey to enjoy empanadas, potato balls and ropa vieja sandwiches! We love Cuban food and Porto’s is simply amazing. The place was packed! Lots of families were in to pick up pastries for their own Father’s Day celebrations. It looks like our Foodie-in-Training is learning quickly – here she is making an attempt to steal our empanadas and potato balls! :)

We also had dates with both my dad and Ed’s dad to celebrate the day as well. We took my dad out on Saturday to Schooner or Later. It’s kind of a Long Beach institution and it was featured on one of my dad’s favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network, so it was a fitting location! We enjoyed a beautiful breakfast by the water…

On Sunday, we took Ed’s dad out to the new Gaucho Grill in Downtown Long Beach for some Argentinean cuisine. Basically, that means meat! It was delicious, and Ruby was in a really great mood and hammed things up for her Harabuji at the house before went out.

All in all, it was a great Father’s Day. I’m so lucky to have all these great dads around me to celebrate with!

Our First Mother’s Day!

It didn’t hit us until a couple weeks before Mother’s Day, but this year marks the first time Mother’s Day applies to Carrie, and not just our moms! Unbelievable! So what to do? Well, a Mother’s Day brunch would be just too predictable and not to mention crowded, so we opted instead to head out to Palos Verdes for a seaside picnic and hike. Given our new little family’s newfound love of the outdoors, it only seemed appropriate.

Our friend had told us about Terranea, a relatively new seaside resort in Palos Verdes set on top of dramatic bluffs overlooking the ocean, and its many stroller-friendly trails. So we hopped in the neat Chevrolet Volt electric car I was testing that weekend and headed out that way.

First things first: lunchtime! We brought all sorts of tasty stuff to eat out there. We found an amazing picnic spot overlooking the ocean. Seriously, the lunchtime view could not have been better.

No alcohol yet for Carrie (we don’t want Ruby getting drunk during her feedings!), so some festive bubbly apple cider filled in for champagne.

After that tasty lunch, it was off to walk the trails. Spectacular views were everywhere, and Ruby – who loves being outside – loved it too!

It’s amazing what we have in our own backyard; it’s all too easy to take it for granted. I mean, this is 25 minutes away from home!

It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday, especially Carrie’s first Mother’s Day. And as you can see here, little Ruby had a blast too.

Click below to see the entire album.

1st Mothers Day