The Last Post...

Blogger has been giving me a serious headache the last month or so - sorry for not updating more.

However, good news! I've started a new blog over at Wordpress.

Please change your bookmarks to: http://vjlau.wordpress.com/

I'm hoping that 2013 will be full of good things...and I'll be blogging about them all!

Thanks for sticking with me! xo
Victoria

Hot fun in the Summertime!

It might be October tomorrow, but summer is arriving in the Bay Area! Finally seeing some of the famous SF fog burning off and the summer temps have been climbing. Yay! Today we went to celebrate Carter's friend Kaley's birthday. She had a super fun outdoor pool party. It was the perfect day for relaxing poolside and letting the kids have fun in the water.

Random pic to start things off - Berkeley has been crushing her face up to things as she sleeps lately. Snapped this pic of her in her bed last night. She LOVES this bed. I picked it up over a year ago for $5 at CVS. I've attempted to wash it, vacuum it, and clean it, but it is embedded with kitty hair. You can see the tufts clinging to the backside!

On to the party! The last of the September birthdays! This month we've been to parties for Malcolm and Justice, Mikayla, Tyler, Carter's own party, and now Kaley. Busy month. It's fun to see the kids growing up though.

Here's Carter in the pool.

Eating lunch. (kinda looks like my kid is picking his nose in this pic. He wasn't!)

Carter and Thomas spent a considerable amount of time jumping off the side into the deep end (8ft). Cracked me up that they both thought that one water wing each was going to keep them safer. They did pretty well though. Kept a good eye on them however. ;)

The Little Mermaid made an apperance at the pool and swam with the kids.

She also made cool balloon animals!

Carter, Thomas, and the birthday girl.

A super fun day! The perfect day for a pool party! Carter ended up going to Thomas' house after the party for a longer playdate. Steve and I took advantage and grabbed a sushi dinner!

This on is off topic, but thought I'd share. My friend Stephanie snapped these photos of Carter at various Walkathon activities at school. Some cool shots!

Craftiness!

I've been working on lots of little sewing projects lately rather than any paper crafting. It's been fun!

In a few weeks we are going to a Baptism, and I was sort of stumped on a gift. So, I came up with the idea to sew a little project. The little girl is about to be 1, so I thought a cute little cuddle blanket - either for the crib or the couch, or storytime would be a cute start. I went shopping for fabric (with Carter) and he fell so in love with this super soft fabric I decided to make him a blanket too. What a PITA!!! I thought these would go together so quick and easy. However, I quickly found out that wasn't going to be the case. First of all the cotton fabric was cut SUPER crooked. 5" off in fact! Thank you very much disgruntled employee at JoAnns. It took forever to square up. Then the minky fabric was WAY stretchier than I anticipated and I sewed the wrong direction first. In the end, it only took me about an hour to sew up Carter's blanket. It took about 2 hours of prep though. I am going to start Hazel's blanket this week. I hope it goes better!

In the long run though, Carter was soooo happy with his new cozy blankie. I expect he'll be sharing it with Berkeley too. ;)

On another note, here is what kept me busy on Friday. A giant cleanup of Carter's room. I did it while he was at school and a playdate. I took a ton of old books and toys to the Salvation Army, and threw away a ton as well. He noticed right off the bat that one thing was missing (his old cracked Darth Vader mask), but otherwise he hasn't said a word. Feels good to get rid of the old and have his room nice and neat again.

Purple Belt!

Carter was pretty excited to get his Purple Belt in Tae Kwon Do today. There was a LOT of new stuff to learn as a Green Belt, and he was a little worried he might not make it. He did quite well though!

One step attacks with Ma'am Sheila. I saw these pics and thought Carter looks sooo big with her. However, she is small and tiny - so they actually made a good team together.

The kick pics didn't turn out great. Forgot the *good* camera, but you can see the action in this shot. Even though they are blurry.

Getting presented with his new belt

Getting his certificate

Super proud smile for the camera!

Sweaty and tired, but happy!

Happenings...

Not too much new in our lives right now, but here's a little photo update...

Last weekend we went shopping in SF. Carter always insists on getting his photo taken in front of the hearts in Union Square. They change the scenes a few times a year, so here's a new one!

We also went into Macy's. Middle of September, and the whole top floor is devoted to Christmas. Wow! Carter was so excited and started looking for Santa. LOL. He attempted to sit down and write a letter to Santa, but we convinced him it was a *little* early. Can't believe they have all the stuff out though...

Last week at school they celebrated the end of their annual Walkathon. The school raised $40,000 in just a few weeks - a record! That money really goes directly to helping the school and the students. Thanks to everyone who sponsored Carter! The reward for the kids at the $30K mark was to have a "Dunk The Principal" day. The school principal is a really good sport to do it. Each of the kids and all the teachers get a chance to try and dunk her.

Here's Carter waiting with his friend Brandon (and Joshua in the background). Brandon is super adorable. He actually wrote me a love letter last week. Too cute! However, after an hour (I was volunteering in the classroom) he came and asked for it back. He told me I was still "really nice, but needed it back". I handed it over, and I expect someone closer to his own age got it ;)

Lined up ready to throw. You can see my kid was really pumped! The day (it was about 9am here) started off super cold and foggy (typical SF). I felt extra bad for Ms Mirt sitting in the dunk tank. By 10am though it was hot and sunny - I even got a bit of a sunburn.

Carter's throw - he missed the mark, but gave a really good throw.

VERY silly boys - Carter and Thomas hamming it up for the camera.

Swim Lessons!

Carter started swim lessons this week. He loved it!

This kids loves his googles...so cute!

With his teacher Patrick.

Star Float.

SF Ghost Tour

Last night we went out with some friends to celebrate Kym's birthday. She set us up to go on the SF Ghost Tour! Neither Steve or I have any real interest in anything paranormal. It was a fun evening though, walking around the city, hearing ghost stories and just hanging out.

The tour starts at the Queen Anne hotel in Pacific Heights. It's a really beautiful hotel and it's apparently haunted. We toured around looking for spirits, but didn't find any....or so we thought! Check out Steve's knee in this pic. It is the famous "glowing ball of light" we were supposed to be looking for. He claims he was getting a ghostly lap dance. I think it's really just a flash reflection. You never know though! ;)

Very cool ceiling/glass window in the hotel. It is definitely a fin place to look around. Even though I'm not a "believer" I don't know if I'd stay there though ;). The ghost is apparently friendly however.

Me and Kym...slightly out of focus. Hmm...ghostly interference? Or a crappy photographer? ;)

Steve and I!

We had a fun night, and Carter had a fun night hanging out with his friend Tyler. Steve and I didn't get to bed until a little after 3. It's a long lazy day around here! Thank goodness for new birthday toys to keep kids occupied!