Newborn Love: Isaac Christopher Boniak

My dear sister-in-law (but not exactly because she's my brother-in-law's sister) Chelsea, had her first baby just last month and I got to meet him for the first time! She has quite a birth story! I won't go into it, other than her husband barely made it to the birth. In the end he made it but with his own hospital gown on! Way to go team Boniak...you are both very brave! They now have a beautiful baby boy to love and cherish. Congrats you two, we love baby Isaac so much already!

Another year, another missed birthday

Today is my dad's birthday. It marks the 8th year I haven't been able to celebrate with him on his birthday. He loved celebrating anything and he especially loved birthdays. One of the things I loved about my mom and dads marriage was they ALWAYS, without exception took their birthdays off work and usually went away for the weekend to a spa or somewhere romantic and relaxing. My dad was a total romantic. It was cute.

As hard as it is - and it's weird to say that it actually gets harder as the years go by, not easier - it's important to me to remember him externally in some way every birthday and every holiday. I want my babies to know him as best they can without ever getting to meet him. Of course they will meet him one day in Heaven so I guess I'm just doing a long introduction to their first meeting :-)

One way in which we might be able to commemorate him is through naming a building after him at CAL. He was an alum, and worked there for 20 years-my entire life! CAL and I will always have a very special bond - it will always represent my dad to me. I grew up going to nearly every single basketball (mens and women's) and football game...we even went to their rally's! I went to summer school there, and even transfered there after 2 years at UCSC to be closer to my dad & mom. He loved that school so much, and I was so proud that I could let him be a father to a student there :-) Of course it didn't last long because I got home sick for SC and came back pretty quickly! My dad actually died there too...playing basketball at lunch at the school gym where he played every week. He left such a legacy there - as you can see by the news bit in the Berkeleyan and the fact that they held a memorial for him on campus at which they had to shuttle hundreds of students and faculty to. The folks at CAL loved dad, and ever since he died they have been talking about naming a building after him. It would mean so much to my family should it ever happen. I could only imagine how blown away he would be if he were here and they named a building after him...he would be so moved. So happy birthday dad! Here's to naming a building after you! Oh, and go BEARS! :-)

Olivia's 1st Birthday ~ The Cousin Carnival

Well, all I have for you is unedited pics of the Cousin Carnival/Livy's 1st Birthday...I just don't have it in me to do much more than that. Hey, I'm just impressed that I finally am posting anything at all! It was the 10th bday celebration for Curran, Jack, and Eden, and the 1st bday for Livy, Ryder and Ruby. It was loads of fun!

 The photobooth

 My favorite: the pie throwing contest...all the dads had to take their turn for their kids to throw pies at them.

 Even uncle peter couldn't escape it.

 Jack, Eden, & Curran

 She didn't want to get her hands dirty, so she went face first :-) She only ate 1/4 of the cupcake.

Ryder on the other hand ate his up in seconds and then moved on to steal Ruby's. 

 She knows she was robbed.

The girls got their first baby dolls :-)

Summer

My goodness! I am officially a waylaid blogger due to the call of various mother-hood duties. So in the interest of catching up on the blog, i'm just going to do a series of photos, all UN-edited as a recap of the last few months. Please don't judge my photography on these posts - it's sadly just autofocus and iphoto editing. I got a new computer like 2 months ago and I STILL haven't had the time to install my photoshop actions! So I basically haven't edited a photo in like 3 months. OK, now that I have confessed, on with the show...

 We had our very first airplane ride to OR to vist great granny and bumper Franek. It was their first time meeting Livy and it was a joy to be with them. 

 She did well on the trip and even slept in the car (sometimes).

We had our annual 'day at the farm' in Prune-tucky with our dear friends, Mike & Judy. The kids swam, made s'mores, and did some carpentry in the barn.

Livy enjoyed the fresh blackberries!

 We enjoyed many Sabbath meals with the family. Olivia & Ruby are cheers-ing for their wine toast.

Olivia went surfing a couple times with daddy. Cousin Selah was proud :-)

 Olivia loves spending time with her older "sister" Makaena Marshall.

 Olivia had her first sleep-over with cousins Selah & Janessa. 

 A very fun new addition to our daily routine is a visit at Nana & Papa's which is now just across the path!

 As of the last 3-4 weeks, Olivia has become a little Tazmanian Devil. She leaves a wake of destruction everywhere she goes. It makes for more work for mama, but it's cute how curious she is.

 One of my favorite purchases this year - monogrammed bloomers, thank you Etsy.

 We had a visit from cousin Ayla Olivia, who hails from New York. She moved here just last month so we will be sure to see more of her!