flower girl

Yesterday, Suzy was the flower girl for Elvis cousin's wedding. I think being in a Salvadoran wedding was the best way for her to get her feet wet at a wedding....you can show up an hour late (which we did) and still be early, you don't have to go to any rehearsals, you can have 18 people helping you go down the aisle and instructing you on how to throw the flowers, and the paparazzi can be out in the aisle taking pictures. Then you can spend the rest of the wedding just running around and throwing flowers in the fountain. I don't think we're really cut out for the whole formal, start on time, stand still American wedding tradition yet.

Anyway, she was the cutest thing ever (in my humble opinion) in her flower girl dress we found at a yard sale (score!). And she has had the best time playing with her cousins Cami and Dani from El Salvador who have come with Elvis' brother for the wedding. I love hearing her play in spanish.

Here are some pictures from the big day:

cousin love!

with the groom, Tio Oto

Happy 4 months little man!

birthday month

We went ahead and got a head start on celebrating Suzy's birthday month with a little snacktime celebration at her school...krispy kreme style of course! 

I asked Suzy what she is going to want to eat for her real birthday dinner coming up in a couple of weeks (confident she would say pizza or pupusas...her favorites), and it went like this:

S: "I want green beans, cupcakes, and chocolate for my birthday."
Me: "Chocolate for dinner??!"
S: "It's ok mom, we'll have green beans too!"

I think she may have a thing for sweets....today's conversation went like this:
me: "You can have one treat today, so decide if you want it now or later."
S: "Ok i'll have some cake later. But instead of putting ice cream on top, let's put a donut on top."


That's my girl! =)

Fall in So Cal??

Today we took our first family road trip since Emory's arrival to a cute little town in the middle of nowhere that just happens to  be at the perfect elevation that the leaves actually change colors. I've missed fall so much since living in El Salvador and California! The whole town is full of apple orchards so we went up there today with some close friends to pick apples, learn how to press ciders, eat apple donuts, and enjoy the fallish atmosphere. Loved it!!

Halloween fun

I entitle Suzy's costume this year "Variations on a fancy princess"... (thanks Nana for the bling)

 Pumpkin parade at school....

serious about jumping during their song performance at school

her class

 Harvest Festival at Fuller...

Trick or treating with community kids 

Nana in LA

This week my mom came to help out a bit and we loved having her here! She helped with lots of day to day stuff that is harder now with 2 kiddos and gave lots of snuggles an hugs to make sure everybody felt special. 

One of the first things we did was go to the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros concert last Sunday. It was a blast! They are from LA and wanted to have a old timey circus feel so they set up a big top and had concerts four nights in a row, including a family matinee on Sunday afternoon so kids of all ages could go. Such a great idea! There were contortionists, acrobats, sword swallowers, etc etc etc. 

And of course, the music was awesome. They played on a rotating stage and the concert was in the round. They were so down to earth, walking through the crowd during the concert, opening up the mic if anyone wanted to tell a story,  and Suzy got to meet the lead singer after the concert! She loves their music as much as we do, so it was a success all around. 

under the big top!

Mom also kept the kids one evening so we could go out to dinner and coffee. We ate some delicious Vietnamese food.  

I was so worried about Emory b/c we had never been away from him that long and he doesn't really take a bottle well, but this is how we left him and this is how we found him when we got back:

snoozing all evening with Nana

 Some other random pictures from our week:

thanks for the Papi hat, Nana! 

attempt at a family picture

THanks Nana for everything!!! Come back soon!

pumpkiiiiiiiiiin!

Suzy and i have been experimented with pumpkin recipes this week...different pumpkin cookies (why have i never tried making these before??!), pumpkin muffins, etc. Today we made these healthy pumpkin cookies (really!! they don't have any butter or oil! and little sugar)
http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/10/24/healthy-pumpkin-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies/

You should definitely check them out. They are so healthy I may have eaten 5.

This blogger has apparently made a ton of batches of pumpkin cookies, looking to perfect her recipe, so I'm trusting her. Here is a page with a ton of pumpkin recipes (cheesecake, bars, etc etc)

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/category/pumpkin-recipes/

Tomorrow I'm making pumpkin frappucino from her recipe! I finished up my homework early this week so that while Suz is at school tomorrow, I can enjoy my frappucino tomorrow while watching the season finale of Project Runway. Anybody else watching? I dreamed the other day that I went to Heidi Klum's beach house. She offered me marijuana flavored sorbet (what?!), and I put E down for a nap there and when he woke up, he was a fully grown Will Ferrell. What?!

Speaking of pumpkin, check out this sweet lil pumpkin who is 3 months old today!

picture update

Don't have time for many words (gotta do homework!) but here is a picture update of the kiddos:

heart breaker smirk!

first pair of shoes! thanks Marcie!

this guy is all smiles these days!

at a Pumpkin Festival...where they ironically ran out of pumpkins!

Festival loot!