Christmas in September

Today is the first official day of fall, although it is suppose to be in the mid 90's. I can't wait for the brisk weather, bundling up, and the holiday season to begin.

This past weekend was not the best for the Trojan football team but it was fun for the O'Connell family....especially me. Sometimes I get homesick. Don't get me wrong, effective October 1st my sister and I will have lived in the bay area for 7 years. It has been an amazing 7 years and I love it....especially Marin. However, sometimes I miss home. I miss my parents, I miss my grandmother, I miss Pasadena, and I miss my friends in LA. It's funny because my sister sometimes feels this way too. We are however lucky because we have three cousins that live in Northern California and they all have amazing kids (and sometimes they even get homesick despite the fact that they have lived in Nor Cal for over 15 years). Well, when Susie and I need our family fix we can visit one of them.


On Sunday we went out to Alamo to celebrate my little cousin's Ella's 4th birthday. Baby Catie (as she is know by the kids) loved spending time with the older kids and watching everything that they did. She even had a cupcake which ended up all over her. It was such a fun party (great job Jenny and Kelly). Colin caught a glimpse of his future....15- 4 year old girls running around, crafts, face painting, pinata, bouncy house, etc. Ah, the future birthday parties.


After all of the kids left Colin, Matt and Kelly watched football and we (we being my three cousins Kirstin, Michele, Jenny and my sister) watched Ella open her gifts, had some wine, and spent some quality time together. We all stayed for dinner and then headed home. It was great to spend time with my family and as my cousin Jenny said several times, "It's feel like Christmas with us all here". One of the many reasons that I love Christmas....family.


Here is a picture of Catie having her Sunday night dinner. Such a fun day and a great way to end the weekend. xoxo

Summer is over

We have had a busy past two weeks and I can’t believe that summer is now officially over. Where did it go?

We spent the last official weekend of summer (Labor Day) in Pasadena and had a wonderful time. We went to the USC game with our friends Dana and CJ and had a blast, despite the 100 degree weather. Great win Trojans! We also went to the Jonathan Beach club, hung out by the pool, spent time with Little Nonnie, and had a lot of great food and tons of laughs. Thank you mom and dad for a wonderful weekend. We can’t wait to come back down.

Here is a picture of Catie wearing her game day gear (thank you Lissa for her tutu) standing behind the baby gate that Bampa made for her. We are still so impressed Dad!

On Sunday my friend Dana came over to take some pictures of Catie. She is an amazing photographer and I can’t believe how incredible the pictures turned out. I am almost through picking the ones that I like but in the meantime here is a glimpse of one of them.

Last weekend we celebrated Da (Tom) 60th birthday. B (Barbara) threw Tom a wonderful surprise party at Boudin’s Bakery Café in Fisherman’s Warf. Erin flew in for the weekend to surprise him and it was a great celebration. Tom was definitely surprised.

Catie looking out the window waiting for Da to arrive!

On Sunday we all had brunch at the Olympic Club and then Susie babysat Catie so Colin and I could see a movie (haven’t seen one in probably 8 months). We saw Julie & Julia and loved it!

This has been a busy week. We have had several showings of our house (it’s still on the market) so we have been leaving and taking Catie on walks in her new tricycle (which has a push bar for us until she gets bigger). She loves it!

Well, she also loves eating her toes.

We are home this weekend and looking forward to spending sometime hiking, playing in the park, and relaxing.

Have a great rest of the week!

Weekend at Home

For the first time in a long time we were at home this weekend. It was wonderful. We accomplished a lot around the house and got some quality family time in. On Saturday morning Colin went on a bike ride and then I went to a Bar Method class. When I got home I showered and then we headed to the Discovery Museum for an afternoon picnic and play time. It is so much fun taking Catie there because as she grows each time we go she can do something different and discovers something new. Unfortunately due to a broken water pipe the stream that she loved was closed, but she seemed to really enjoy the play mats, maze and drums (her dad really enjoyed them to as you will hear in the video).

Catie playing the drums (and her dad's solo)




Catie loves the play mat and crawls right in

Catie crawling through the maze (the dark part is where I had to put the camera down to lift Catie over the hump)

Sunday we went and got coffee and breakfast and then went and purchased some new plants for the front of the house. I planted the new flowers while Colin did some work.

After Catie woke up from her afternoon nap we went and got some ice cream. Catie loved it and really enjoyed the old fashion cake cone.

We ended the day with Colin reading Catie a book about Lance Armstrong, go figure.

It was a great weekend and we are all rested for the week. Let's hope that it's a good one!

Tahoe Take Two!

Last weekend Colin, Catie, Susie and I headed up to Tahoe with a bunch of our friends (Marni, Katie, Lesley, Jackie, and Scott). We had a great time and Catie was a real trooper. She was super adorable and very active. She went to bed at 7, never woke up once, and started tickling my arm (her new way of waking me up when her pack and play is next to me) and 6:30. She's officially done Tahoe with the group (she has accomplished so much this year).

We arrived on Friday afternoon and went to SunnySide for drinks/ lunch. There couldn't be a a better place to be. The weather was warm, the lake was gorgeous, the company was hilarious, and the food was yummy. A perfect way to start the weekend.

Ok, so sometimes parents do things to their kids just because they know that it will be funny. An example, my first boy girl party when I was 13 was a pool party. When your 13 and just arriving at a party you start with girls hanging out with girls and boys hanging out with boys. This is how my party began. Typical. What wasn't typically was my mom saying "Kim, you might want to get that bug out of the pool before you get in". Well, I leaned over to get it and she pushed me in. Yes, she pushed her own daughter in the pool at her first boy/girl party. There went my florescent shorts, matching hyper-color shirt, and pink scrunchie. Everyone laughed and of course I yelled "Mom"!!! She did it for two reasons. One it was funny and two it got the party started. Thanks for that mom.

Well, long story short here is a video of me doing something to Catie only because I knew that it would be funny. Ok, so maybe I have done it a couple of times but her reaction is always great. Enjoy!

So a great weekend was had by all. Singing, eating, drinking, rafting, and laughing. Until next year....

Let her eat cake!

This leads to....

This....

Which ultimately ends in a happy baby!

Reflection

Catie has discovered her reflection and I think that she likes her new friend.

The Little Traveler

Where has the summer gone? I can't believe that we are mid-way through August. The past couple of weeks Catie have consisted of parties, wedding, and traveling. After Catie's first birthday we headed to Lake Tahoe for a couple of days.

Colin grew up spending two weeks in Lake Tahoe with his family.He has so many memories of his summers there and it was fun for Catie to be there creating memories with her daddy. The O'Connell's rented a place in Chamberlands for two weeks and Erin and her boyfriend Ken also flew down. We arrived late Wednesday night and Catie slept the whole way. We spent the

week and weekend enjoying the lake and pool at Chambers, the guys rode their bikes in the am while we walked, we had great meals, jet skied in the Lake, and laughed...a lot. Thank you so much O'Connell's for a wonderful time. We are already looking forward to next year!

We got back from Tahoe on late Sunday night and on Thursday morning Catie and I flew to Pasadena for the weekend.



My friend Christi from college was getting married in Orange County so Catie and I decided to come home a little early to spend time with the folks. On Thursday night my grandmother "Little Nonnie' came over for dinner. She couldn't believe how much Catie had changed in just a couple of months. Catie sat next to her as she had her bottle (my mom took pictures so I will post them when I get them) and Catie showed Little Nonnie how she can walk around holding onto the furniture. It is always so special for me to see Little Nonnie and Catie together.





Now that Catie is 1 she can have real milk and eggs so on Friday morning she ate her first scrambled egg (which my dad is famous for...at least in our house he is). She loved them!



Colin came down that afternoon and we headed to Annandale for the summer bbq (his favorite).
On Saturday Colin and I headed to Orange County while my parents took care of Catie. They took her in the pool, ran errands around town, and even took her to one of their friends parties. As usual she was the hit of Pasadena. Meanwhile Colin and I hung out in Newport with our friends Lesley, Lissa, Dana and CJ. We had some drinks, sat in the sun, and got ready for the wedding that night. It was a beautiful wedding and Christi looked gorgeous. Congrats Christi and Scott!

On Sunday morning we headed back to Pasadena and my mom and I took Catie to Huntington Gardens. It was beautiful day but was very hot. It was great because they have a new children's garden which has several water areas. Catie loved the fountains. She would splash her self and then crawl over to the next one and splash herself again. She had a great time and I am so glad that we brought a change of clothes for her. She was soaked!


















After a wonderful Sunday we headed back to Nor Cal. It was a great weekend filled with family and friends. This weekend we are headed back up to Lake Tahoe with our friends and Catie!! We are looking forward to another great weekend and I promise to get some videos of Catie. XOXO