3 Months Old

Thatcher aka "Thatch" and "Thatchie" is the cutest little guy. He is always smiling and making cute noises. He loves to grab toys, my hair and his toes. He always greets us with the "gummiest" biggest smile each morning. We love Thatchie!

Little Sammie at 3 months :)

Say Cheese!

I plugged my camera in the other day to upload photos and I was shocked when it uploaded over 300 pictures. What is even more shocking is that my husband got caught red-handed letting Samantha play with my camera as evidenced via his mug happily posing for shots. Playing with my camera is a HUGE NO-NO seeing as how Sam has dropped and destroyed not one but TWO laptops in our house! Of course Todd's response was "she was expressing her artistic abilities".

Open-Faced Sandwiches with Ricotta, Arugula, and Fried Egg

I wasn't expecting these to be a "repeat" but I was wrong, the whole family loved them. This would make an excellent dish for a brunch or better yet, breakfast for dinner!

From Cooking Light Magazine

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 (2-ounce) slices whole-wheat country bread
Cooking spray
2 cups arugula
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
4 large eggs
3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

Preparation

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Coat both sides of bread with cooking spray. Broil 2 minutes on each side or until lightly toasted.

3. Combine arugula, 2 teaspoons oil, juice, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; toss gently.

4. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack eggs into pan; cook 2 minutes. Cover and cook an additional 2 minutes or until whites are set. Remove from heat.

5. Combine 1/4 teaspoon salt, ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and thyme; spread over bread slices. Divide salad and eggs evenly over bread. Sprinkle with remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a fun and exciting Memorial Day Weekend. We celebrated little Margaret Deakyne's 1st birthday party (and Super Mom Jenny Deakyne announced she was expecting Baby #3!), Jack Paskin made an early arrival, we enjoyed a walk at Butterfly Beach, lunch at Brophy's, the Mission to see the chalk paintings at I Madonnari and I turned 30ish. :)

Cutie Mag's about to eat a GIGANTIC cupcake

Getting Ready to Hit the Beach

Samantha and her Lucky Ladybug

Sleeping in the Sling

Brophy's!






Costco Cake followed by a kid-free night out to Opal for drinks and Arigato for sushi

And finally, my friend Holley took me to the most amazing event at Copeland Farms in Carpinteria called Outstanding in the Field . Stay tuned for more pics/details...

Rolling Over

At 11 weeks old, Thatcher is rolling from his back to front crushing Samantha's roll-over milestone at 3 1/2 months. I am actually not surprised by this as Thatcher seemed to enter this world lifting weights or something. He is one strong and BIG kid. I hope I am not setting them up for some sort of sibling rivalry by comparing them, it is all in good fun :)

I do have to say that Samantha's form is much better with her fancy leg kick: Samantha rolling over

And I think both kids are equally good at dancing: Samantha Dancing

And after all that work, Thatcher fell asleep in the middle of playing. Which by the way, Thatcher is a much better sleeper than Sam. But really, it's not a competition ;)

A Visit from the Fam

During the last week of March, both my parents and sister's family came to visit us in Santa Barbara. I had put off posting about it because my SISTER was SUPPOSED to send me pictures but since it is going on 2 months since their visit and I have yet to receive pictures, I am posting what I have.....

Basically we hit up all the touristy and not-so touristy places to shop, eat and see in Santa Barbara: Paseo Nuevo, Los Gallos, Starbucks, The Sea Center, Pizza Mizza, La Cumbre Plaza, Shalhoobs, IHOP, The Skate Park, Chase Palm Park, The Carousel, Yogurtland, Taffy's, State St., Butterfly Beach, The Mission, The Rose Gardens, The Harbor, The Wharf, The Beach House, Channel Islands Surf Shop, Brophy Brothers and I am sure there was more but I can't remember now :)

Sea Center

Samantha meeting her boyfriend at the Volcom Store

Little Model Lauren

Cousin Dylan and Uncle Jeff at the Skate Park

Auntie Michele, Sam and Lauren laughing at Uncle Jeff on a skateboard

Papa Ron trying out the skateboard

Papa Ron thinking he is pretty good and Uncle Jeff, not so good....

Breakfast of Champions at IHOP



Thatcher never opened his eyes once while my family was here....

Best Seafood in SB - Brophys!