Daddy's Little Princess

They adore each other.

Gourmet a la Rice Cereal

It's already that time for our pretty little princess to start on some "solid" foods.

Um, the real reason that I'm starting her on cereal is this.

She barely comes up high enough in her chair, and it just looks so darn cute.

Not sure how they justify calling this "solid" food.

Yikes.

Here we go!

(Try not to be jealous of how awesome my hair looks.)

...What...is going on...?...

...No, I don't think so..

..Why, Mother? WHY?..

..For the love of all that is holy, WHY?!..

...OH THE HUMANITY!...

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Well, I consider this quite the success!

And, by some miracle, Vienna survived the whole ordeal.

The Taste of Autumn

Fall is always the season that creeps up on me.

I'll be walking through the grocery store,blissfully thinking about green grass and sunshine, and all of the sudden I pass by the aisle with all of the orange bags of halloween candy. I shriek loudly with fear and rage, and maybe even shed a few tears... until security comes and politely removes me from the aisle, because the children shopping for costumes are becoming more scared of me than the Freddy Krueger mask.

After a bubble bath and a glass of wine, I calm down and slowly begin to adapt to this change.

And then I remember how the leaves turn beautiful shades of red and yellow.

I remember all of the fabulous scarves and boots I own that I can take out of storage now.

And I remember pumpkins.

Oh how I love pumpkins.

Pumpkin Breads. Pumpkin Pies. Pumpkin White Chocolate Mochas. Pumpkin Chilli. (Haven't tried it? It's awesome, please go have some.)

And one of my favorites, Pumpkin Muffins.

I made these a few times throughout the summer, which I know is a weird thing to bake during that season, but I was nursing like 87 times a day, was famished, and needed easy-to-shove-in-your-mouth snacks throughout the day(and night) that would tide me over.

And even though I consumed each one in an average of 3.5 seconds, I savored every bit of this divine treat. I hope you do too.

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice**

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 cups granulated sugar

1 can (15 ounces) %100 Pure Pumpkin

4 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup water (or orange juice, but I used water)

**You can make Pumpkin Pie Spice by mixing 1 part Ground Cloves, 2 parts Nutmeg,2 parts Ground Ginger, and 4 parts Cinnamon.

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Paper-line or grease 30 muffin cups.

COMBINE flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and water in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture; stir just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full.

BAKE for 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Store muffins in covered container or resealable plastic bags.

FOR 72 MINI MUFFINS:

PREPARE as above; filling 3/4 full. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes.

FOR 12 JUMBO MUFFINS:

PREPARE as above; filling 3/4 full. Bake for 33 to 36 minutes.

This Might Or Might Not Have Happened.

(Disclaimer: I am not a Stage Mom. I am not Angela from The Office who has a big thing for Anne Geddes. I'm not image-obsessed nor do I get embarrassed about how un-put-together me or my family ever looks in public. Vienna and I frequently leave the house wearing only one sock and clothes that don't match. So basically I'm not the kinda gal to put their kids through misery so that they can look fashionable. The End.)

Me: "So I might or might not have taken some reeeeaaaally cute pictures of our daughter today."

Luke: "Oh yeah? That's fun."

Me: "... And I might or might not have dressed her up for it."

Luke: *silence*

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So I've had these obnoxiously huge headbands laying around since before Vienna was even born. My cousin Olivia sent them to me for her and they're just darling. Just not exactly on the practical side of things, the chances that it would last even 3 seconds on her head while were out running errands are pretty slim. So I wanted to take some pictures with them on.

Also, it might seem to you like she's sad... but she's not. She's just confused by the huge black camera covering my face.

Oh, Vienna... You were born to be Fabulous.

Trip to California 11'

Last weekend Luke, Vienna, and I all packed up and went to the great state of california.

(By 'great', I of course mean 'large'. No offense.)

Not only had we never flown with Vienna before, but Luke and I had never flown together either, so I was pretty stoked.

I love flying.

My smokin' hot husband does not.

Why does Luke look like he was punched in the face, you might ask? Here's why:

This picture was taken at 5:30 a.m..

Our original flight was the night before, which we missed.

Due to a series of stupid events that were quite upsetting at the time.

So we went back home, washed our misery away with beer, fell asleep, got up, and went to the airport all over again.

So who punched Luke? 3 hours of sleep did.

Think that's bad? You should have seen me. It was like something out of Fraggle Rock.

(Note that I'm not pictured. Intentionally.)

We finally made it and my mom picked us up at the San Jose airport.

Vienna and her Grandma had a lot of things to talk about after a four month absence.

That night, we all went to The Cypress Inn, a large part of which is a lounge/restaurant/bar owned by the lovely Doris Day. One of the biggest attractions of this place is not only the live band that plays, but the fact that people can bring their dogs in. Carmel is a city that is ALL about dogs.

Example: When my mom and I walk around town, her with her dog 'figgy', and me with my baby- people will stop and compliment my mom on how cute figgy is and then proceed to glare at me that I would actually bring a child out in public there.

Needless to say, The Cypress Inn is quite a hotspot in town!

(But I don't think we're allowed there anymore.)

My brother Paul got to meet his niece for the first time.

Aww.

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The reason that we flew out to Cali was for my parents 25th Anniversary/50th Birthdays Party. The theme was Black and White with a Splash of Red.

(Kind of like their house.)

Daaaaaaaang Guuuuuuurl!

Let's all come together in agreement on this, LeAnna is waaaay too hot to:

1.) Be the mother of three children, me being one of them.

2.) Be a grandmother to my child.

I mean, how many grandmothers do you know that look like that?! What a Knock out.

She was the bell of the ball that afternoon, as it should be.

She kinda had a crazy/dysfunctional wedding back in the day that she really didn't have a whole lot of say in, so this was quite a successful do-over, the whole thing was gorgeous.

The runner up for the Queen Bee was, without a doubt, Princess.

This was her first time wearing shoes, and oh how adorable it was.

The black tutu didn't hurt either.

Jordan and Sean.

These guys became part of the family back when we were all in high school, and so naturally they both flew out for such a big event.

My dear cousin Olivia. She's my Pal.

And she looks pretty daaang good considering that she got into what should have been a fatal car accident just the night before. She was still picking glass out of her shoes that day.

Praise Jesus she's alive. And looking mighty fine!

My parents making some sort of announcement.

Probably about wine.

They're so cute.

Ummm... I LOVE this picture. For a number of reasons.

First of all, Who the heck has our camera?!

Secondly, this is probably the only moment I had during like 8 hours to outwardly convey how flustered I felt that entire time. My parents are probably the most popular people in California(yes, including the celebrities) and all of their friends wanted to meet me and their grandchild.

It was insane.

Thank God there was wine.

Aw, that's better.

(Ew, Gross Knees Alert.)

They got their vows renewed.

And then made out a little. Aww.

They asked me to make a speech.

Obviously I'm being funny because my mom and brother are laughing, and my Dad looks embarrassed. (That's always a good sign.)

Honestly, I have no idea what I said.

Thank God there was wine.

Now Paul is talking.

Thank God there was wine.

Just kidding.

Then my smokin' hot husband said a prayer.

I don't really know what he said either.

I was busy thinking about how delicious he looks in suspenders.

We got to dance. Which we loved.

Meanwhile, Vienna was busy telling some stranger her whole life story.

(Which is shockingly long, considering she's 4 months old.)

Luke bonded with my mom's dog while they both worked through the trauma of having to endure such a loud, crazy social event.

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On our last day there, all the relatives and friends finally scattered and we got some quiet time with my parents on the beach at sunset.

For as long as I've known her, my mom has been obsessed with fleece hats.

Something about how her ears get cold. Whatev.

So the next thing I know, she's got a fleece hat on my kid. Which was a good thing since it was cold on the beach, and during my packing I was expecting us to be in California..not the polar ice caps.

Clearly I was misinformed.

My goal in life is to get this stupid dog to love me.

But he looks more scared than in love.

This is Vienna's 'I love the beach' face.

We made a bonfire and drank wine. It was probably my favorite part of the trip.

Moonlight on the beach.

So thankful for my mom and dad for spoiling us and having a crazy fun party.

We had such a good time on this trip.

Thank God there was wine.