baby boy

Owen looked so cute when he woke up from his nap. So we took pictures together. That's all.

Eaten Alive

Poor little Lucy was eaten up by mosquitoes the other night. At first they were small red dots and I feared she had Chicken Pox. But then they blossomed and turned into these:
Poor little thing. I can empathize because they attacked me too. I don't look quite as bad as Lucy, but man it's itchy. I guess they like females best...Owen and Casey are untouched. I can't remember being bitten like this since I was a kid. I'll chalk it up to the near-by fire in Sierra Madre that's chased those pests out of the hills. Time for Citronella candles on the porch.

Beach Trip #2 and REAL BBQ #1

It was a hot weekend again. Even as I type at 9pm, we have all the windows/doors open, fans blowing, lights dim, and we're still hot. But it was perfect weather for going to beach. Camille, Bryan, Jeremy, and Meredith were all headed there so we joined them! Funny thing was, we went to HB and Eric and Laura weren't even in town. It felt odd to be there without them.
Mere is a fabulous aunt to all the kiddies and spends time playing with them. She helped Lucy build a little sandcastle fort:
Jeremy saw the fun....
And then everyone joined in!
Of course, the beach is never complete without someone being buried alive:
The beach weather was actually a little cooler than I expected (since we were there from 3-5:30) and the kids were so cold in the water. But of course they still wanted to play. Each time I asked Lucy if she wanted to get out, she would shiver through chattering teeth and reply, "no." We finally got her out of the cold and threw some towels around her. After a few minutes, the teeth stopped chattering. And she looked so cute in her new swimsuit cover-up:
Our beach experience was definitely better this time around than our first trip and mostly because we bought an umbrella! Woohoo. Owen was able to chill on a towel in the shade and it only blew away once (and landed on 3 girls who were laying-out on their towels. It was really funny)Other funny things that happened....this creature came out of the water trying to scare his children (it looked better when the seaweed was on his head) and this lady tried to shield the wind by sitting in this tiny tent. I mean, how ridiculous does she look? Mere made me take a picture of her:
We finished off the afternoon with our favorite summer past-time, ice cream from Rite Aid! This time they had the flavors I wanted. YummmmThe ice cream scooper guy offered to take our picture for us. We didn't decline.
And in the short 10 minutes we were there, Lucy started organizing all the cars from their display. She loves doing that with items. She'll sort her toys into colors, shapes, and similar groups. It's real cute. Casey's mom said he did the same thing when he was a kid:Dreamy:
Everyone enjoyed it. We learned that Lucy now needs a cone of her own since she loved ours so much. We'll add ice cream to the short list of things she'll eat!
Fun beach day with everyone.

And on Sunday, my mom asked if they could come up here to see us. Sure! How fun!
We set up chairs and a table on our back lawn and cooked hamburgers on the BBQ and it was so yummy. A BBQ is never is never official until you have guests over to enjoy it with you. So, I consider this our first REAL BBQ. It's more fun to have good conversation as you enjoy the summer evening:
Lucy got this little hat on Saturday and spent most of the evening wearing it and pulling it down over her eyes. Only Camille will appreciate this, but it reminds me of Carrie Martin with her baseball cap, standing against the lockers at school.And Owen was content being held by whoever was around and sucking on his fingers. What a cutie.
Thanks Mom, Dad, and Meredith for driving up here! We had a great time.

Del Inferno

Since you all know I'm a Del Taco fan, time for an update. They have a new hot sauce! Del Inferno.
Eric and I have been talking for years about how much we love Del Taco, but we find their hot sauces a bit underwhelming. The mild sauce is too thick and the Del Scorcho is far from scorching. I actually do like the taste of Del Scorcho, but don't try to tell me that it's super hot cause it's not. Well the Inferno is! I tried it today for the first time.
It complimented my Spicy Jack Quesadilla quite well, but the consistency was still a little thick. I actually mixed Del Inferno and Del Scorcho together and voila! Delish. As you can tell, working at Universal for two days gives me way too much time to think, eat, and blog about Del Taco.
My mouth is still on fire.

Flashback Friday - backyard photoshoot

Since the blog is a journal, it seems important to document the past as well as the present. Thus, I'm starting a new thing on the blog here: Flashback Fridays. I can't take any credit for the idea, since our friend Collette has been doing it for months (and she's been at good at keeping up on it). I have so much fun looking at the old pictures she posts, so....I thought I would do it too!

A while back I made a Birthday pictures book for my mom, compiled of the many bday pics taken at each person's party/dinner. Well, looking through all those old photoalbums only brings out the best memories and the best comments on how horrible we looked. So I chose to kick off the flashback fridays with a special little gem. Check out this photoshoot my parents set up in our backyard for us kids. I'm not sure what the occasion was, but there's a nice individual shot of each of us (excpet for Meredith of course since she wasn't born yet. So I've included a funny one of her at the end).

I had to guess a little on our ages, but I think I'm pretty close. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I present to you (from oldest to youngest) the Suman children :

Saunja (Age 14)

Camille (Age 12)

Me (Age 10)

Eric (Age 7)

Mark (Age 3)

Meredith (Age5)

Um, wow to almost everyone but Mark and Meredith. Eric looked cute too, just funny to see him without any front teeth. Mark was always the cutest kid, even with his brown tooth (from falling off a chair). And I love Meredith in her Hulk Hogan outfit. We often found her wearing that. It fit perfectly and she hammed it up just enough for the camera.
But can I look any scarier? And homely? (When Casey saw these pictures his reaction was "ohh! Can you imagine coming in for the kiss on that?!" haah) At least I have a cute rainbow shirt on. Saunja's hair is dynamite and Camille's Maui and Sons Tee? It doesn't get more 80's than that, except for her rolled up sleeves.
Well, I guess we girls finally learned to style our hair and finished the years of orthodontic attention. So I guess we kind of turned out okay. Here are the final results:

Saunja (Age 36)

Camille (Age 33)

Me (Age 31)
Eric (Age 28)
Mark (Age 25)

Meredith (Age 18)

Can't wait to see all the grandkids with their own horribly wonderful pictures down the road.

Lucy, our big girl

It's been a while since I posted a little update on what our Lucy girl is like. I know I posted on her 2 year old birthday, but there are some things about her little personality and her growing up that I just don't want to forget. This post is mostly for me, so read what you'd like.
Here is Lucy.

For starters, she sleeps in a real bed! I wanted to wait till their room was put together before posting pictures. But who knows when that will be. Here she is:
We bought the little bed off Craigslist, picked it up in South Pasadena and spray- painted it brown. Worked great! The first night we brought it in the house, Lucy thought it was too much fun to play on the bed and pretend to go "ni-night". Once Casey turned off the bedroom lights though, she wasn't so sure about it. She grabbed her blanket and pillow and threw them back in the crib. But one week later after painting and prepping the bed, Casey put her pillow and blanket back on the bed and put her down for the night. And that was that. She slept fine, she loved it, and we haven't gone back since. In fact Owen now sleeps in the crib and she refers to it as "Owen's bed". She's moved on!
Here she is after sleeping in the big girl bed. She was such a ham. Her face looks gnarly in that first pic:
It's real cute to see her sleeping in a bed. She's growing taller and seems older to me every day. I walked in her bedroom last night to put Owen in the crib and we had our first real conversation.
"hi mommy"
"hi lucy"
"what are you doing?"
"putting Owen in the crib"
"okay!"
It was fun to have real dialogue with her.

For the most part, Lucy is a really good kid. So here are some Lucy-isms that go on at our house.
* She's generally an obedient child. Yes, she has her melt-down moments. But usually when I ask her to do something, she does it. I feel too fortunate at times. When she's running away and I ask her to "stop, turn around" she usually does. When she's playing with crayons and I ask her to put them away so we can do puzzles, she picks them all up and puts them in the can. When I ask her not to touch something, she won't touch it.
* She goes to bed easily if she's tired. But if she's not tired, she'll lay down in bed and say "night mommy" and then 5 minutes later we hear her in the bedroom playing with toys, in the dark for about an hour. Eventually she gets tired and climbs back in bed. It's harmless so we usually just leave her in there to play.
*She's great at saying Thank you. It's usually a "thank you mommy, thank you." And when I tell her thank you for something she responds back with another thank you (I'll have to work on "you're welcome" with her)
* She's really into Pirates and really into hats. The perfect combo:
* Her vocabulary increases each day, though she's probably still behind her peers on that. And she still speaks in jibberish. The other day when I picked her up from nursery, she talked non-stop to me for a minute, probably telling me this and that and what they sang and who did what. It was all in Lucy-talk and made me laugh.
* She doesn't understand the proper usage of some words. She'll say "more milk" when she hasn't even had any yet. And ever since I told her one day that Owen was being funny, she now laughs at the smallest things and continues to tell me "funny mommy, funny".
* She laughs when she farts. I'm trying to teach her to call it a "toot".
* Whenever she falls, she gets up and says to herself "okay?" (since that's what we've always said to her, "are you okay?") Now she does it to objects also. She'll drop her rag or her water cup and say, "Okay water?" "Okay rag?"
* She still carries that rag around. I need to limit it more often, but hey, there could be worse things. One night she woke up, wanted some milk and kept asking for a rag, but they were all dirty. So I tried to fool her by giving her a dishtowel. In the dark, she quickly starting working her fingers around the edges of the dishtowel, feeling it out. And immediately she handed it back to me saying, "all done! all done!" She knows her rag when she feels it!
* She's very visual. She knows all the letters of the alphabet, she can count (almost) to 20, and knows most colors. She likes to associate the color with the object, "black pants!" "red truck", etc.
* She's super good at puzzles. Even when she was real little, she could easily figure out the baby puzzles. So we got her some actual jigsaw puzzles with 12 pieces (made for 3 year olds) and she can almost do them on her own.
* She would watch TV for hours if I let her. She loves Backyardigans (especially the Pirate episode), Little Bear, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Sesame Street.
* She spends countless hours of the day jumping. She'll jump around the house, jump down the sidewalk, jump through the mall.
* She loves to go on walks. We usually take a walk around the block each day when it's sunny. She'll usually choose one thing she's on a mission for. Some days it's "flowers? more flowers?" and she'll pick up every yellow weed flower she can find. Other days it's "trees? more trees?" Well, on this day, it was sticks:
* She's very dainty and steady with her hands. She doesn't knock things over very often and she's good at building towers. But she likes to be tough and wrestle too.
* She plays well on her own. She'll play with her little people and farm animals for hours. When she wakes up in the morning she'll stay in her room playing with the little people till we come get her. Even if the door is slightly open, she won't come out till we get her.
* She's never been a child who pulls everything out of the cupboards. She's inquisitive and asks me "what's that?" all the time, but I've never had to baby-proof the house very much because she just doesn't get into things. When other kids come over to play they seem to find all sorts of things that I've forgotten about. It keeps me on my toes!
* ANNOYING #1: She has an easy gag reflex. If she gets too worked up from crying or coughing, she will likely throw up. If she takes too hard of a fall and gets super worked up over it, she'll throw up. I have cleaned up more throw-up in the past two years than I can recall doing in my entire life. When she starts crying too hard, we immediately put her in the bathtub. It's like she has this secret weapon we don't know how to combat! In time, I think she'll learn to calm herself down.
* ANNOYING #2: She often says "no" when I (or others) try to sing and whistle. She does this at home, in the car, or even at church when we're all trying to sing hymns. It's super annoying so I tell her "yes" back and we're working on letting everyone sing. This week, however, she let me sing all sorts of Backyardigans songs to her and even asked for them "again?" Maybe we're on to something.
* ANNOYING #3: She's a horrible eater. She's actually improved much in the past couple months. But for a while, her entire diet consisted of Milk, dried cherries, cheerios, an occasional peanut butter sandwich, and crackers. She will never sit down for a meal at a regular meal time. I have to be pro-active about offering her things before she gets too hungry because then she will just ask for milk.
* As a result of that, she's a skinny girl! She looks healthy though and continues to hop her way through life. So I know she has enough energy.
* She enjoys having her teeth brushed, which is a recent discovery. She thinks it's a fun game to open her mouth and have us scrub them for her.
* She likes to pose for pictures. Getting into some library music:
* She adores her little brother. She likes finding him in the morning when she wakes up, she likes talking about him "Owen funny? Owen's chair? Owen bath?", she likes laying on the floor next to him and making him laugh.
I'm so blessed to have two sweet kids. Lucy has been a joy over the past two years. Yes, there are days when I'm frustrated to wits end. But overall she is a real sweetheart and continues to make me laugh. I'm so excited to see what little people she and Owen grow into. Casey and I are blessed to be their parents.

What $207,000 can get you

Casey showed me this article from the LA Times this morning and I found it too interesting:

Buying power
The median price for a home nationwide has fallen to $207,000, according to the National Assn. of Realtors. Here's what you can get in that price range:

Brooklyn, N.Y. One-bedroom, one-bath co-op apartment in East Flatbush area. Four rooms total. Building has swimming pool and doorman. Asking $208,000.

Chicago One-bedroom, one-bath condo with hardwood floors in high-rise complex near Lincoln Park. Asking $208,000.

Los Angeles Two-bedroom, one-bath Spanish-style detached home in South Los Angeles with 648 square feet of living space. Asking $205,000.

Cleveland Two-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath home with 2,448 square feet of living space. Two stories and a basement. Asking $207,000.

Honolulu One-bath studio condo in a Waikiki high-rise. View of Diamond Head; 305 square feet of living space. Asking $208,000.

Austin, Texas Three-bedroom, two-bath home with 2,100 square feet of living space and a two-car garage on a quarter of an acre. Asking $207,000.

Boise, Idaho Three-bedroom, two-bath home built in 2001. Living space of 1,550 square feet; two-car garage. Asking $207,900.

Fairbanks, Alaska Three-bedroom, two-bath home on 1.2 acres. Single story with 1,064 square feet of living space. Asking $209,000.

Savannah, Ga. Four-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath, two-story home built in 2007. Central air, hardwood floors, 1,842 square feet. Asking $207,900.

Omaha Four-bedroom, three-bath, two-story home with 3,598 square feet of living space. Finished basement. Asking $209,000.

Weekend with the Willards

On an exciting whim, Jeff, Nicole and their girls decided to come down for the weekend. Working for Jet Blue makes last minute flying fabulous (especially when they fly into Burbank. Woohoo!) Lucy and Owen don't get to see their Willard cousins very often so we were lucky our schedules worked out and we got see them 4 days in a row!
The three girls were so cute together. They spent most of the time following each other around, running throughout Grandma's house and acting silly. Jacqueline's hair is getting so long. It's gorgeous. And little Jilly is such a cutie. We love those curls!We tried to get everyone on the couch for a photoshoot. Some were happier about it than others. Owen (4 months), Lucy (2), Jacqueline (4), Jillian (21 months):
We hung out with everyone Thursday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Then the kids and I joined them on Friday at Disneyland. While they waited in lines for tickets, I ran over to California Adventure for a moment just to use the bathroom. I handed the guy my Disney Passport and he informed me, "um, it's a blackout day for you." What????! Doh. I'm an idiot. I knew that Spring Break was over but I completely forgot that Friday blackout days had started. Lame! The guy was so cool though and asked if I was alone and said, "okay, just come in." Phew. I used the bathroom and got my hand stamped on the way back out to meet everyone. The only bummer is though is that the rest of the group bought D-land passes only, not Calif. Adventure. So I tried to pull the same move at three different Disneyland entrances and the workers kindly said, "oh, no problem. You can just go purchase a day-ticket for $40". Really? I can spend more here? Thanks so much. So, the Willards went into Disneyland and the kids and I went back to California Adventure for a few hours and played in the water. We had tons of fun! And both kids were angels. We even got some lunch afterward AND hit up one of my favorite fabric stores in Anaheim. And they were happy campers! Once we got on the road, they both fell asleep and we had a quiet car-ride home. Dreamy.
On Sunday we went back to Grandma/Grandpa's house for dinner. Yummy Stroganoff.
One kid for each leg:
And Jacqueline was real cute wanting to hold Owen. His head looked the same size as hers:
Jillian wasn't quite as sure about sitting with the little guy:
Cute little kids.
And the girls had fun playing this game over and over again. They love their Grandma Willard!

Glad you guys came for a visit Jeff and Nicole! It's always fun to see you and catch up on things. See you soon!

The big yellow Arrow

Lucy woke up late this morning, so we went the Glendale mall for a few hours to wear her out. And it worked! Only bummer...I ran out of milk for the drive home and she kept asking for it. I actually put some of Owen's formula in her cup, but she handed it right back to me. Come on, it's soy! Then I remembered that In-N-Out has milk. Hooray! It was right on the drive home (and I could get a drink too. yum). As I pulled into the parking lot she saw the big In-N-Out sign and immediately perked up. "Fries?! Fries? Pirates? Pirates?", she continued to say over and over. I couldn't believe it! We weren't even inside of the restaurant yet she recognized where we were and remembered those yummy fries and her favorite pirate toys she gets to play with each time we go. Good memory Lucy! Well, we went in and got our drinks and came back out. As I put her back in the car she sadly said "fries??" Sorry little girl, no fries this time. But I'm sure we'll be back on Saturday!

Can you hear the drums Fernando?

When my brothers were in high school, Fernando and the rest of the gang would come over to hang out at our house. The moment he'd enter the house, Rachael I couldn't help but sing the Abba song to him. He had never heard the real song and so we romanticized that one day he'd be in a room and hear the song playing for the first time and there would be the girl of his dreams.
Well, I don't think that's how it went down. But he and his new bride Diane were married yesterday in the Newport Beach temple.
The reception was at the Tijeras Creek Country Club. We spent most of the time catching up with friends, eating, chatting, and enjoying the party. And since Casey took the kids with him to his parents house (Jeff, Nicole, and the kids were in town) I had the whole evening to chat as I wished and take pictures. So luxurious.
And we wonder where Sumans get their flair for posing like idiots in front of the camera. Dad was asked to be the videographer for the night. Here he is in action:
With Mom and the girls:It was so much fun to see Fernando's two sisters, Carolina and Gloria. I loved hearing what they're up to. Such accomplished and cool girls:
And it was like old time seeing Eric and his guy friends sitting around the table chatting.
Michael Bloomer and his girlfriend Heather:
Jason Hope and his wife Elise:
The Sumans. Ava was always on the move:
But she did pose for me on the dance floor. So cute.
Jeremy had on the cutest pants of anyone in the room:Cool sparklers as they left the reception:
4 of the 6 siblings. Too bad Saunja and Mark weren't there.
Eric, Me, Meredith, and Camille....in descending height order:
I always love wedding days. It's exciting to see a new bride and groom start their lives together and it reminds me of the wonderful day when Casey and I were married. Congrats Fernando and Diane!