welcome to the world baby Z!!!

when chance and tatum and i were stationed in pearl harbor i had the wonderful experience of meeting and becoming friends with the world's sweetest, most thoughtful person. her name is larisa and she's all the things you'd ever want in a friend. hilarious, wickedly sarcastic (in a good way) plans amazing parties, reads as fanatically as myself, total foodie, worships hello kitty, twilight and starbucks and just the most all around fun person! is she not the cutest???

larisa is married to the sweetest guy named isom and together they created the future heart breaker, gabe.

cutest couple in the world.

told you. future heart breaker.


larisa and i met through a local moms group in hawaii. i consider larisa family. something about raising babies at the same time in paradise makes for fast and easy friendships. sadly with navy life there's always the time when transfer orders come and you're saying good bye to the people that have become part of your life. i think for military families in particular the friends that you meet along the way become surrogate family members. they fill the void of being so far away from your real family. larisa and her family made our three years in hawaii very special. my child still refers to larisa as "auntie risa"...lol. even after leaving hawaii almost 5 years ago she's one of the people i've maintained a relationship with through facebook, email, texts and sometimes even words with friends...hahaha. the reason for that is that being friends with larisa is effortless. she makes staying in contact an easy thing. when life gets crazy and i'm behind in emails and phone calls i know i can shoot larisa a text or a facebook message and it's all good!

i want to say this was my 27th b-day. funny story...the hubs rented a "party van" and chauffeured our tipsy selves around for the evening. to this date still my WORST hangover EVER. not my proudest moment but a very fun memory.

i've nominated them for "cutest family ever!"

so the reason for the larisa lovefest is that Sunday night she welcomed to the world her sweet new little bundle of baby boy. baby zachary was born at 11:12 pm hawaii island time ;) welcomed by his wonderful mama and daddy and proud big brother gabe. i am beyond excited for their family and so overcome with happiness for my sweet friend! chance has hidden my credit card for fear i'd max it out hopping a plane to hawaii to go meet this sweet little man. for now pics will have to be enough but i'm dying to get my hands on this little sweet pea! baby zach is going to be the most loved little boy with the most amazing parents (when your nursery theme is rock n roll you hit the jackpot for parents!) and the coolest big brother! nothing gives your day to day life more perspective then the arrival of a new baby for someone you care about. i think i've felt connected to larisa's pregnancy because we both spaced our kiddos pretty far apart for today's standards. she's such an amazing hands on fun mom to gabe so i know without a doubt baby z is in for a lifetime of love and larisa-ness ;)

zachary benjamin...awww

congrats to the majors fam on their newest addition and welcome to the world sweet baby zachary!!!!

xoxo, tobi

Insta-Friday week 3

omg! how is it friday again already??? these last few weeks of summer have flown by and mama is not happy about it! i love our leisurely mornings of nick jr, pajamas and my morning coffee i can actually sip and not gulp down like on school mornings. i'm determined to savor our last weekend before tatum heads to 3rd grade...sniff, sniff. how do i have a 3rd grader?? anywho...Insta-Friday is where i link up with jeannett at life rearranged to give you a peek into the silly, mundane and super random things i capture on my iphone.

tatum and carmen and a whole lotta face paint.

polly pocket world. also known as the room formerly know as tatum's.

we wrapped up our back to school shopping this week. yowza!! it's gotten expensive to send your kiddie back to school! a dry erase board, a ream of copy paper, clorox wipes and kleenex?!? what the heck? gone are the days of heading to school with just a new folder and a pack of crayons. one of our stops on the school supply stock-up was the vans store. miss t had asked specifically for hello kitty vans. i thought the display of girly vans was so cute!

so chance and his fellow chiefs are throwing an 80's prom to raise money for the navy's chief petty officer association. i'm over the top excited! totally beats the typical work function. the kiddies and i went to downtown ventura in pursuit of the perfect 80's prom dress. i stumbled across this totally radical jessica mcclintock sequin number! $2.95 at the goodwill! score! i cannot wait to accessorize this dress with the perfect 80's over sized hair bow ;)

technically this is from our trip to carmel but i just stumbled across it and had to squeeze it in. it cracks me up...now. at the time i took this i was actually sweating profusely and praying that wes wouldn't accidentally release the emergency brake and roll back through the garage door. my parents on the other hand were totally egging him on in his pretend joy ride in my mom's car. i think once you become grandparents your sense of humor suddenly changes and the sight of a 20 month old in the drivers seat of your very expensive car seems hilarious.

the boy and his blankie.

the paci, i KNOW! we still have it. i'm a bad mother and i cave when he asks for it. by age 2 i swear!!

xoxo, tobi

our mini summer vacay

well we're back from our trip and i thought i'd share some of our pics from our trip to carmel to visit my parents aka "mimi and pops." it takes about 5 hours to get to carmel from our house and luckily for me tatum and bubba were angels!

this is the road we all can't wait to finally see. the last hour of the drive takes FOREVER! once we make it to the spreckles exit we know we're in the homestretch.

pit stops at mcd's make the trip bearable for the backseat gang. wes has just been signed to a McDonald's national ad. ;)

the aquarium was a hit with weston. we had to drag him from the tide pool area. i apologize to any starfish manhandled by little toddler hands.

i remember being freaked out to touch this stuff and my kids were all over it. at one point wes was actually blowing bubbles in the water. again, any sea creatures disturbed by my child i apologize.

the one pic i get of my mom and it's blurry. grrr iphone!

we did lots of this. i somehow look topless in this photo. it's a bandeau top peeps i swear!

wes got to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a semi truck driver...

and fireman.

technically this pic isn't from our trip but i failed to get one single pic of my mom and my children so i squeezed this one in from a previous visit. sorry mom.

uncle will and tatum. she worships him and tries so hard to be "cool" in front of my brother. it's darling and he is so sweet and patient with her.

bubba and uncle will. even that hat doesn't make that paci look cool bubba. we are tossing it asap seeing as it's being used for a chew toy.

bubba and pops post ice cream cone. can you see the diabetic shock setting in?

our one group shot. we celebrated with a late birthday dinner for tatum. my mother is the most amazing cook! i think we all gained 10 lbs on this trip. the newlywed lovebirds in the back are my sister and her sweet hubby, matty b. they made the drive up from their love nest in temecula. something about going home sets me on the road to emotional wreck town. i cry over the stupidest things while i'm home. i revert back to my teenage self where i'm uber sensitive. it's a lot of fun for the rest of my family...sorry guys. my favorite part of going home is seeing my parents enjoy my kiddos. a totally different dynamic for our family. the things i'm stressing over as the parent totally delight my mom and dad. "oh look how cute! bubba's licking the priceless antique mirror!" or "isn't that sweet! weston's having a toddler meltdown and demanding chocolate jello pudding at 10 am!"

all in all a fantastic family reunion...minus chance :( next time babe! thanks mom and dad for a great visit!

xoxo, tobi

InstaFriday week 2

so it's friday and that means i'm sharing a little peek at our week via instagram pics.
i heart Insta-Friday! such a fun way to showcase the little moments that my iphone captured!

my dad and bubba. ice cream cake...in a cone. only with mimi and pops would this ever occur. wes was in heaven!

a pic from our trip to the monterey bay aquarium. so cool to take my kiddies somewhere that was such a part of my childhood! countless school field trips were spent there and i have such great memories of going as a kid.

uncle will and bubba. my brother spent much of his time winning weston's affection by sharing his iphone 4. my 20 month old is now partial to the 4 and wants nothing to do with my dated 3gs. toddlers!


my little anna kournikova and her new tennis racquet. one of her birthday gifts from my parents. watch out she's got quite the backhand!



1 of 4 gigantic tomato plants in mom's backyard. my mom apparently hoarded all the green thumb genes and left me with the ability to KILL any plant i touch. thanks mom. if anyone in a 50 mile radius of carmel needs tomatoes my mom can hook you up. she's got tomatoes coming out her ears!




this is what exhaustion looks like. all day at the santa cruz beach boardwalk will do that to you. pay no attention to the yoga pants and mismatched lounge wear.

chance posing in front of his spiffy new gate he built for our yard. this is 9:30 at night. do normal people build gates at 9:30 at night on a wednesday? my guy does and looks dang happy doing it too!

tatum wearing her brother's blankie as a cape. in this pic he's wandering aimlessly looking for the blankie totally oblivious tatum is wearing it. poor boy :(

toddler sized converse just make me smile.

xoxo

our backyard oasis

hey who wants to come over for a backyard bbq?

bring the kiddies for a jump on the trampoline and a trip down bubba's little tykes slide!

chance can grill up something great on the bbq! just watch your step around the string mapping out our patio outline.

you can all admire my 1 remaining piece of landscaping. this sad little plumeria is hanging on for dear life among all the backyard demo.

we can sit and sip cocktails here. so who's coming over??? anyone? yeah, me neither.

eventually this is the idea we're going for. a lovely paver patio with some bench seating and a fun fire pit for roasting marshmallows. also plenty of green sod for the kiddies to play.

we want something sort of like this too. i can just picture it now....

the hubs is insisting on a pergola as well due to the fact that we have zero shade in our backyard. the plumeria above isn't providing much.

i'm insisting on this precious little sandbox for my bubba. i'll also be investing in a cover so this doesn't become the neighborhood litter box for the plethora of roaming kitties that always show up in our yard. sorry cat people but they creep me out.

as for now though this is what we've got. when your general contractor also has a full time navy job the progress is a bit slow. if and when we ever finish though it's going to be AMAZING!