In recent happenings.....William and I took a trip out to the "farmstead" with some buddies. You know, milking fake cows and stuff-

The littles and I visited Caleb and Ellie for lunch at school: 

Caleb acted embarrassed, but he secretly loved it....

Caleb and Ellie made sure we were aware of ALL of the lunchroom rules before we came. It was going great, until William ran up on the stage, pulled down his pants, and started shaking his biscuits.........eek.

We also completed the "Millbrooke March" at the kids' school. 

 

And it was all fun and games until William had a run-in with a tree....

We helped organize a little neighborhood pancake feed, and once again left feeling so blessed by our neighborhood friends, both old and new.

Batter up!

Dan and I escaped to San Diego for a week to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.  It was heaven!  Beautiful weather, great friends, and some new adventures....oh, and uninterrupted dining and sleeping...lots of it!  A mom's dream come true!

Our hotel:

Frolicking on the rocks-  we underestimated the size of the waves, which resulted in the purchase of some new clothing :)

Orfila winery tour-

Then off to the Stone Brewery tour (yes, in the same day..)

Dan and I took a hike up Iron Mountain.  It ended up being more strenuous than we thought, but the views were AMAZING-

We topped it off by taking the ferry over to Catalina Island for a day.  This was our view from the Wrigley Mansion at the top of the island:

 This man has given me so much. A safe place to let my guard down, encouragement to be my best self, grace when I'm not my best self, a light-hearted companion, a calm to my storms, a cozy home, and a whole bunch of babies!

And lots of laughs!

Then came Halloween.  We are FINALLY almost out of candy (thank goodness). 

We continued our Fall fun with a little family vaca to Big Cedar Lodge to celebrate Kyle and Katie's wedding. 

Next up on the celebration list: William turns 4!! (Did I mention I love birthdays?!?)

Per our tradition, he chose his birthday breakfast: 

 Then we took the birthday boy to burn some energy at Monkey Bizness!

 And a little "Go Fish", his fave:

William's been dreaming of having a dinosaur party all year long, so it was so much fun when the day was fiiiiiinally here!  He's been asking about it for, oh, about 10 months-

 Excavating some dino bones:

I was so lucky to have some party helpers:

Ellie loves parties- she helped decorate, and even came up with a few ideas of her own:

So, every year I'm like "I'm just going to do something simple...no big deal".....and then I go and buy a 4 ft blow up T-rex and an 8 ft backdrop-, and spend an hour making a volcano out of cocoa krispies. And when the Amazon deliveries start coming, Dan doesn't even ask! haha! What can I say, I love birthdays :)

The inflatable Dino was actually a recommendation from my friend Amy.  And it was a HUGE hit! 

Lots of Dino snacks, of course: 

 Now William is convinced that Bugles are called "Dino Claws":

 

 Our live volcano!

 We had so much fun celebrating William! This boy is full of energy, always has an opinion, and likes to negotiate, especially at bedtime.  He also LOVES hanging out with his friends, and will have a conversation with just about anyone.  He continues to give us lots of joy, and an increasing number of gray hairs!  He also just so happens to be my favorite snuggler- most mornings I wake up to the sound of his little feet patting down the hall and the sound of him dragging his blue blankie across the carpet- he shows up on my side of the bed and just climbs on in. It's a great way to start any day-