our birthday trip to southern califonia

last week, tagg and i flew down to california to celebrate our birthdays. craig had to stay home with sully (boo) but we managed to have a little bit of fun without them! :) i loved tagg's whole set up on the airplane. dvd, watch, and wallet. what else could a boy need? i kind of couldnt hold in my excitement when started to land in orange county......

my dad (my mom and dad met us down in southern california) picked tagg and me up from the airport and then we retrieved my mom from fashion island.

after fashion island, we went straight over to javiers. it is literally my favorite restaurant. the food, the ambience, the people. it just doesnt get better.

i was pinching myself that i was eating in the sun, at javiers, on my birthday. and tagg was pinching himself because he got his first pina coloda.

after lunch, we drove over to divers cove in laguna beach. it was seriously a gorgeous day.

tagg immediately stripped and began to run around in the surf. i have never seen a happier human.

he was yelling, "OCEAN! COME GET ME!".

finally, we pulled tagg away from the beach and my dad dropped my mom and me back off at fashion island. we shopped until neiman marcus turned the lights out on us (again. it isnt the friendliest of places) it was a wonderful afternoon with my mom.

that night, we met back up with the boys for my birthday dinner at flemings. it was so fun and i felt very special.

after dinner, we headed to anahiem to check into our hotel. i was so freaking tired but tagg had been talking about the hot tub all day long so i knew i wanst getting out of it. he loved it.

the next morning, we boarded the little shuttle to go over to disneyland.

our first ride: pirates!

my aunt brooke, uncle scott, and cousin nick met up with us at disneyland. we had so much fun with them. and tagg LOVES his uncle scott.

taggs favorite ride was buzz lightyear. we were able to ride it twice. we actually got to ride every ride twice. the place was empty! we basically had to park to ourselves. it was amazing.

next, the jungle cruise. how do the "captains" think of all those jokes? they are SO cheesy. but i still laugh.

nick and tagg. brooke and scott got tagg a "its my birthday" pin. all the disneyland employees were great about wishing tagg a happy birthday. he even got a few happy birthday songs!

i was so excited to ride space mountain. i hadnt been on it since i lived in san diego (about 14 years).

my mom isnt really the roller coaster type. i was so proud of her for going on it with me.

the first time i went on, my dad and i were in the front row. it was pretty insane.

we finished up the day in fantasy land. tagg got his picture taken with the weird mad hatter.

i get nauseous looking at this picture.

after disneyland, we drove down to san diego. the next day, we went to this lobster roll place everyone had been talking about. not worth the hype. but it was great seeing my aunt shanna!

that afternoon, tagg and i played in brooke's backyard.

my cousins came up to play with tagg. tagg was in heaven.

that night, we went out for pizza. i love spending time with brooke!

the next day, i met up with my cute friend from middle school, nicole. it was great to meet her little newborn, maxx!

then, before tagg and i headed to the airport to go back home, we picked up some AMAZING chocolate malted crunch ice cream. that stuff is out of this world.

tagg and i had a fantastic time in southern california. honestly, a few of the best days ever.

happy valentines day!

its been a crazy past couple of days... february always seems a little crazy.... too many birthdays! but no matter what, i was going to makes these valentines for tagg's class. i have been dying to use this cute, old school image. hope tagg's friends love their valentines!

the cutest valentine ever.

i had tagg take a couple valentines pictures a few days ago. i figured i wouldnt be able to get away with such cheesiness with my boys for much longer (sully already refused to participate). but how could i resist? tagg is just about the cutest little valentines boy ever.

happy super bowl.

i wanted to make football cupcakes for our little super bowl party today. i couldnt find any good inspiration on the internet (read: pinterest!) for cute football cupcakes so i just went with the look i had in mind. at the last second i decided to press my chocolate sequins on the footballs. it looks just like the bumpy leather! (or as craig corrected me: pig skin. duh) hope everyone enjoys the game!

tagg's fourth birthday party

i am technically not supposed to be throwing any parties right now (that was the deal craig and i struck in order for us to go to hawaii in the spring) so technically today was tagg's very low key birthday "get together". these were the invitations for the get together.

tagg was very cute about delivering his invitations to his little friends.

to keep things simple tagg and i chose a color instead of a theme for his party. he chose blue and "turpoise".

the little birthday table. initially, i wanted to put helium in the little water balloons to make them float on their own but the dumb lady at the party store wouldnt do it.

at 11.30am sharp, tagg's friends arrived.

their place settings.

tagg's favorite drink is a blue frostie from the root beer store. and they went perfectly with the party.

the party hats i made didnt last long... but they were cute for a second!

whats a party without the paper striped straws? not a party.

after lunch, it was time for games. first up was the bean bag toss.

tagg stood right there and cheered everyone on.

then it was "pin the candy on tagg's mouth". after i blind-folded tagg he yelled, "i cant see!". sharp as a marble.

and finally it was piñata time! i made the piñata (very time consuming. but very cool to be able to make whatever shape you want in whatever color you want) so it was kind of depressing to see it get ripped to shreds.

tagg cant stop talking about how he was the one to break open the piñata. tagger the bragger.

this was the face he made after he opened his presents. i could eat him.

finally, it was time for cake and ice cream.

the birthday boy.

i asked tagg what his favorite part of the party was and he said "when we hit the pinata and candy came out!".

happy birthday tagg!

april cant come soon enough so i can throw parties on the up and up. :)

happy 4th birthday, tagg!

yesterday, we celebrated tagg's fourth birthday. tagg requested a cake with chocolate frosting. and my aunt had given me chocolate sequins for christmas so i was excited to use them.

tagg had his little friend, charlie, come over to play. for lunch we headed over to "donalds". they had a fabulous time (i actually let my boys go in the play-structure thingy). tagg and charlie discovered the blow dryers in the bathroom and had a blast playing/screaming under the hot air until the manager came in and kicked us out. :)

later, we had family come over for cake and presents.

tagg sure is one spoiled little boy. he is the first grandbaby on each side and it shows!! happy birthday, my taggy. i love you more than you could know.