just taggwe took tagg to the lake house last week. he loves just hanging out on the party barge with the rest of us....

as long as he is in the shade. he doesnt care for direct sunlight all that much. he is my little SEATTLE boy, thats for sure.

a couple of days ago, someone asked me whats one of tagg's new tricks. i said that he is starting to semi- sit up on his own and when he is on his tummy he lifts himself up with his arms.... but i forgot about this new trick: shoulder time with daddy. craig puts tagg up on his shoulders and he just goes nuts. he loves it!

when tagg is up there he gets this look in his eyes like: yeah, thats right, you know i am the coolest.

he also sings and talks his guts out when he is up there. we love it!

the last week or sohappy first fathers day to craig. he loves his two boys very much. and we love him more than he knows. he is such a good daddy and husband.

after craig opened his gift, tagg thought he would get in on some ribbon action. he is such an angel...... (excluding the hours between 6.45am - 10.ooam, when all i want to do is sleep for pete's sake)

craig's fathers day present was a box full of camping goodies. this signified the offering that i am willing to go camping for a night sometime this summer. craig has been begging me to go camping for a while now. is he delusional? does he know who he married? apparently not. however, my gift is not only that the smith family will go camping but it is also that i will have a decent attitude about it.....

i have been waiting and waiting to catch a picture of tagg smiling. i got it today!

he is the cutest little thing i have ever laid my eyes on.

i guess thats the mama-bear-in-me talking. but honestly, could he get any more white/fat/happy/adorable/AMaZING?

this past weekend, we were able to attend a good friend's wedding reception. the reception was held at salty's on alki beach. it was so beautiful. seattle is on the other side of the water from alki so we couldnt resist the preeeemo photo opt. here is the happy grandma with her little sunshine.

i came to this same exact place to take pictures right before my senior prom.... funny how times have changed. good times.

the sun was burning our eyes during these pictures. but my boys are such good sports.

this is inside salty's. there is a lot going on this picture.... the red-tile lobster, the fancy clothes, my mom's beloved collection of necklaces.....

sometimes we are scared that tagg's little hands and feet are going to explode. it looks like the skin cant hold the chub in any longer!

craig's birthday, fathers day, and our three year anniversary are all this week. so i decided to consolidate the holidays (how unheard of!) and surprise craig with a night out on the town. i made reservations at a ritzy hotel and ruth's chris steakhouse. it was all so much fun!

neither of us had ever been to ruth's chris before and it was so amazing! i splurged and got the special: petit filet and crab legs. how grossly decadent.

i realize the boys are too dark in this picture but i loved the trees in the background. i love seattle.

after dinner, craig went to a late night movie and i played with tagg until he fell asleep...... then i had complete control of the tv and got to watch all the trash (including QVC!) i wanted. hahA.

even though the water fountain was cut out of the picture, you can get the idea. last week, we took tagg to redmond town center and i put his feet in the little fountains. he liked it at first, but got over it real quick (as documented in this picture).

some summer treatslast week, tagg and i attended craig's end-of-year award ceremony. that event marked the end of his second year and the beginning of his third year summer term. even though craig has school straight through the summer, his work load will be considerably less, thereby allowing him to be around a little more. what a treat. :)

another summer treat are lemon tea cakes. my aunt came over tonight and demanded some sort of treat. we decided on these little citrus devils. they arent that much to look at but super good. (a note to those who might be turned off by lemon: i am not that big on everything lemon, but these are excellent) they are even better the next day.

lemon tea cakes
1 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon zest of lemon
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

preheat oven to 350 degrees. stir vinegar into milk. cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar until fluffy. add egg and zest; beat well. sift dry ingredients together. add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beating smooth after each addition. drop from teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. bake for 12 minutes (until set but not brown). remove at once from baking sheet and immediately brush tops with glaze made from remaining 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice. enjoy.

tuckeeee my sunshinetoday was my youngest brother, tucker's, 15th birfday. as is custom in our family, today ended the week-long celebration.

last night, we ate......... guess where and had a great time. i was kinda bummed though because both my cousin, anna, and i gave tucker sunglasses for his birthday. however, the duplicate aviators made for this cute picture.

craig and me, before we started taking turns walking tagg around the restaurant (he didnt seem to be in the partying mood).

cousins, tucker and anna. they are so lucky to have each other! we all love tucker very much and cannot believe how big he is getting.

our first triptagg and i just got back from our first big trip together. we had an absolute fabulous time in san diego. we (ok, just i) dined on great food and played with lots of family and friends. i really love and appreciate my parents for putting this trip together for us. thanks.

this is my aunt shanna and tagg at fins. shanna is the youngest of the four sisters and is such a wonderful aunt. i was glad that she was able to meet tagg.

right across the street from fins is the san diego temple. see the grey clouds? yeah, that was weather the entire time we were there: not. one. ray. of. sunshine. but the temple is beautiful no matter what.

i LOve my cousin, aaron. he is such a good time. we made some midnight taco bell runs and caught up on some interesting life tidbits.

my aunts brooke and shanna and my grandma at oscars. oscars restaurant boasts the best bread sticks i have ever had. seriously. i make it a major priority to go there when i am in town.

this is my brother tucker and me in front of my parents' first house. it is so sweet and cute. i would kill to live in a quaint little house like that.

mom and me in the kitchen. i am pretty sure i gained thirty pounds on this trip. we just went back and forth between restaurants and brooke's kitchen. very gluttonous.

my two babies. i begged brooke to let me bring home lucy. no such luck.

some of the cousins. ok, so i guess there was one ray of sunshine. but not enough to lay out. this is in brooke's backyard. she has such a beautiful house and she and scott are so incredibly generous. we love traveling to san diego and visiting them.

tagg was a good boy throughout the entire trip. he only cried for a little while on the plane (nothing i couldnt handle). however, i wasnt such a good girl about the whole sleeping situation. we had to share a room and i am way too light of a sleeper to have that work out. oh well, who needs sleep on vacay, right?. this is tagg in his portable crib. he loves his music!

tagg's rental car seat didnt have a headrest so i had to make one with his blankets. he didnt seem to mind.

my dad and tucker made a trip to la jolla shores before their day on the golf course......

while tagg and i headed up to fashion island.

i only brought tagg's little umbrella stroller and lets just say that it cannot handle my shopping addiction (quite like my bank account and husband and mother). no, but honestly, there were great children's stores at fashion island. and i DO NOT pass up the rare opportunity of good boy's clothing.

tagg, landing back in seattle.

what is the best welcome home gift after a trip? a surprise new quilt laying out on your bed! my mom is so amazing and she whipped up this cute number while we were gone. this newest quilt is so fresh and summery. i cannot wait to use it this summer. tagg is so lucky.

my worst nightmareon thursday, my dad, brother, tagg and i are flying down to san diego to visit family. we are all very excited to go. except that i am a little nervous about taking tagg on an airplane. i hope he does well so that i am not one of those moms with pure horror in her eyes because every passenger on the plane wants to murder her baby. on the flip side: i am very excited to use this super adorable lion luggage on our trip. my mom bought it for tagg when he was just a twinkle in my eye.

post script. tagg is not mad because i am making him take some superfluous photo shoot for my blog. he is mad because he took his second bottle last night and now doesnt want to go back to nursing. CRAP.

a day in the rough life of tagg smithwe rushed to cuban to beat the lunch crowd. the cashier knows us and our "usual" order. (i have been waiting my whole life to have a special place where the people say "want your usual?" and there couldnt be any cooler eatery than the cuban shack) after some quality food we hopped on over to the cupcake shop to satisfy my sweet tooth. the girls all know us there too. they mentioned how much tagg had grown since the last time we were there (only a week ago). i realized i was a creature of habit today.

craig went to the mariners game with my dad so tagg and i were on our own for the evening. my brother wanted to have a little partay at the lakehouse so i went to be the adult supervision. funny how i am that person now: the housewife/mom who opts to spend her friday night chaperoning excited teenagers.

tagg loved being outside. he just sucked on his fingers and cooed at the mosquitoes.

and then we decided to take the token baby-with-big-people-sunglasses-on picture. we are so original.

all in all i would say tagg has it pretty good. i guess that means i do too.