It's a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame, For a Ballgame Today!

Last weekend David got 4 Padre Tickets from a friend at work. These were nice seats that David and I had enjoyed in seasons past. Our normal thought would be to pawn the kids off on some unsuspecting kind hearted people to take other grown up friends with us to the game. But, for some reason, we got the wild hair to just take the whole family. The WHOLE family. This includes the 3 year old who can't sit though any length of movie and the 7 month old who screams when she's ready for a nap.

Let's all go to the ballpark!

We had fun.
Strike that.

We had SO MUCH fun! I wish I could write the paes and pages of great stuff but I will spare you the details. Because I have pictures!

There was an Adrian Gonzalez Toothbrush Holder Giveaway...I think Adrian is saying "Brush your teeth, punk!"

Ella and I snuggled in the wrap for most of the game. She loved looking at the scoreboard.

The rest of the time she snuggled with Daddy.

Nate loves baseball!

Ella does too!

Lucy really loved the Padre's Friar Mascot and he came out and danced but then he went away. We talked about where he was and Lucy decided that he was taking a nap. But later, when he didn't come back up she told me, "Mommy, I want to snuggle the Friar."

Oh look! It's naptime!

When the game went into extra innings (you read that right!) David took the kids for a short walk and got a big pretzel for both of them. You can also see the key to us lasting at the game so long: go to a game played by a struggling baseball team the same day your not struggling football team has a game. All the seats around us were open with a few people who were very kind to our kids.

At the end of the game, we wandered down to the field level seats to grab a picture but we were too late. However, one of the ushers called Nathan down and had a game ball for him! The security guard on the field saw Lucy was with him and grabbed a brand new ball for her. The kids were elated.

Here's the wind up! (See Lucy's sassy shoes?)

All in all, this day will go down in my memory with our family memories of Colorado and Reno. We totally took a chance and had an outing as a family of 5.
And we all survived.

Shameless Self Promotion

While it will be “officially” fall in a few days, you can be sure our weather probably won’t be reflecting that anytime soon. But that won’t stop us So-Cals from pretending it’s crisp back to school weather! In that spirit, we are going to have a Fall Mini Session available on Saturday, September 27. We will have appointments available from 4:00pm to 6:45pm. Each session is $45 including the standard website hosting and CD with 3-5 images of your choosing. (Additional images available at $6 each.) Our location this time is still being determined but will be at either Old Poway Park or Miramar Lake.

A mini session is a 15 minute “guerilla style” photo session. Perfect for grabbing a family shot or one or 2 poses of your kids.

A few things to note:
- This session is a perfect way to show off a cute back-to-school outfit or think ahead and get some cute shots of your child in their Halloween Costume.
- We will still be having mini-sessions in November for Christmas cards.

Contact us right away to book your time or with any questions you may have.
And please pass this on to anyone who may be interested!

http://zabphoto.blogspot.com

"It's MY School Now, Mommy!"

Tuesday was Lucy's first day of (pre) school and we knew things could go one of two ways:
She'd be completely confident

or

She'd become a sudden new growth attatched to my leg.


Thankfully it was the first one.
She knew the drill: you get your bucket and go out on the front lawn for photos with Mommy.

She would NOT put the bucket down for a full outfit shot.

And why would you put down a bucket that has Sleeping Beauty on it?!

"Take a picture of me by this tree, Mommy!"

David met us at school and Lucy was SO ready. When we pulled into the parking lot Lucy reminded me that this was HER school now. NOT Nathan's anymore! LUCY's school.

Lucy has grabbed Goose to take along with her to school. I told her that today only she could bring him with her and he had to stay in her bucket. This is Goose. Not to be confused with THE Goose-that is the one in the brown shirt and curly hair. Goose is Lucy's "lovey" and he has never left her side. The moment he was first handed to her, she's been carrying him around the same way. When she was smaller, she figured out how to hook his beak on her shoulder and carry him around while still having full use of both hands.

Once we got to the school front doors, Lucy said she didn't need goose anymore. She said Ella could watch him for her. She had a PLAN when she got to her class. She'd been telling me about it since she'd visited last week. She was going to put on the purple princess dress as soon as she got there.

Success! The dress was not taken yet! Lucy had her teacher button her up and she went about setting up a tea party. I had to take Ella to a doctor appointment (she has an ear infection!) so I came over to be sure Lucy was ok.
"Mommy, when are you leaving?"
Yeah, she was fine.

After I picked her up, I got a full report of the full day in the first 3 minutes of our drive home. Completely opposite of Nathan's first day. We were invited over to a friends house for lunch afterward which quickly became the icing on a very good day.

Which one of you gave her permission to grow up?

Ten-ish On Tuesday...The Catch Up Edition

I have fallen behind on my Lists of Thankfulness and while normally I wouldn't think it was a big deal, I have some people who I missed because I skipped their letters and they deserve to be called out for making my life one to be thankful for. So this is a hybrid, a medley, a roasty sweetness blend (borrowing the description off David's bag of coffee) of the 3 missed letters.



The Letter M:


10. Missy Shell, Mishka, Michelle, Queen Michelle... She knows all the ins and outs of my life. She introduced me to my husband. She has graciously shared holidays and her family with me. She will sing old 80's and 90's KYXY songs with me. She's worn my bra on her head as a hat. Life without her....well, there just is no life without her.


9. Macaroni and Cheese...The Patti LaBelle recipe that I modified to contain so much cheese, it is practically sinful and costs about $50 to make. It is prepared once a year on Thanksgiving and often additionally for my sister's birthday as her present.


8. Mimi's. My favorite place to eat all because of the Buttermilk Spice Muffins. I am getting ready to leave right now to meet a friend there so she can also drown her sadness of sending her lastborn off to Kindergarten today. It was the least I could do. I am such a good friend. I ADORE their cobb salad and their spinach avocado dip is sooo yummy. Also, they are open late so when you have to meet a couple of gals there late at night and you have been having so much fun and suddenly realize they are pulling the cushions out of the booths and cleaning the floors, it's good and late and you have had plenty of time talking.

7. My Mom. She's awesome. She just got married in December and rode off to her honeymoon on the back of a Harley. She has some sort of magical power over my kids and if I were ever sick, she'd come over and rub my head till I fell asleep.



The Letter N:


6. Nathan. Nate the Great. NtG. Puppy. You made me a Mama. You love to snuggle and can fold yourself into the same size you were when you were 1. Laurel and Hardy make you belly laugh. You sing with me at bedtime and you will watch Star Wars all day every day for the rest of your life if I let you. You like every hair on your head to be just right and care very much about your clothes. And I love you fiercely.



5. Noggin. Best channel on all of TV. My kid will probably be the only 6th grader who watches Little Bear over Sponge Bob. And Franklin. And Oswald. We loooove the songs in between and I looooove no commercials. They used to play Miffy and Maisy too but they were rotated out and we haven't really recovered from that. Miss Spider is a sweet show but it just doesn't fill the hole left by a clay bunny who may or may not actually speak and a cartoon mouse who puts on a dress just when you thought she was a boy.


4. Naptime. While I don't get to participate as often as I'd like, I love the peace they bring to the house. I get 1-2 hours a day of no fighting or arguing. I don't have to referee anyone or redirect away from annoying siblings. And arranging it so David can take one on a Saturday or Sunday is a wonderful gift to be able to give him.



The Letter O:


3. Onomatopoeia...a word that makes the sound it describes. And, when used in the past tense, one can say, "That was extremely Onomatopoeious!" And then one could giggle.


2. Oreos...They make me think of my dad. (As do Mother's Brand Oatmeal Cookies.) I like mine Double Stuffed, or I will just make my own and leave all the naked cookies in the package for someone else to eat.


1. Overture...as in the 1812 with the great cannon blasts. Also because it means a show is about to start and I love shows, musicals or anything that considers itself important enough to have music dramatically play beforehand.

All caught up!!
Write up your won thankfulness list (we are on the letter "O") and also read MORE here:
Beyond Black and White: Give God the Crayon