The aftermath

Max had fun with the decor from Francie's baby shower too...don't you love how he's peacefully reading his book after he was done with the cupcake wrappers?

Showering for Mama Francie

On Sunday I had the honor of hosting a shower for my friend Francie and her second little one to arrive in December (it's a girl!). I decided on brunch, and while Leon had boys time with Max, we girls gabbed away over coffee & baked goods. I am so excited for Francie's baby girl and I know Andrew will be a great big bro...AND I also like shopping for girls :)

Now, when you are hosting brunch for a large group of people, labor intensive foods or those you cannot prep ahead of time are out (like pancakes, and made to order eggs). Instead? go for the baked stuff you can stick in the oven (and prep the night before!) and not think about while you run around decorating and getting yourself pretty.

On to the decor...

Stole this cupcake garland idea from Pinterest. (Thanks for the new addiction Annika!)

Serving up the food: Egg bake "Boozy" Baked French Toast (with Baileys), sausage, bacon, fruit salad, scones, & banana bread.

The "Wishes for Baby" idea was stolen from my awesome party-throwing friend Annika here.

Cupcakes stacked in a mason jar as favors...also stolen from Pinterest.

The guest of honor Francie (middle) surround by fam & friends!

Lily & Marie

Nhat, Karina, Roxanna, & Christina

Make a baby play-doh game - this was pretty funny

The winner Mary with Francie and the "baby"

Last shot of all the gals

Labor Day - Later

Leon and I had an awesome weekend in Mendocino with friends during Labor Day Weekend, but I have no pictures to show for it.

I do have pictures from Labor Day when we took Max to the Children's Discovery Museum. This kid had a BLAST. He paid for it though, because I am thoroughly convinced this is where he caught the Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease (don't google it...you will only be grossed out).

It was such a fun time for him that we had a hard time getting him to leave. I know we will definitely be back one day.

At the water tables

Getting soaked

Putting sidewalk chalk in the plant buckets 

And...um...in the plants too

Fun at this maze (that hole was a vacuum that sucked in the ping pong ball)

Cool technicolor room with a carousel shadow

Sand table

Same weekend - different celebration

Yes...it was a busy weekend that one before last. We headed out to the Ritz in HMB to celebrate the impending arrival of the Paulson's twins! Whoo hoo. What a great excuse to have a fancy brunch.

The Kavals, Paulsons, & Chens ate our hearts out, took a mini-walk around the hotel, and hung out the remainder of the day. How cute does Angie look...would you think she was expecting twins? No!

Congrats Paulsons - we can not WAIT to meet these little girls!

The girls

The guys

Angie thinking "Why yes, bloody marys sound like a GREAT idea!"

Mama & Papa Paulson

And another bday...for PK!

And in that same week, we did a little celebration for Peter at our place. I baked him a cake (and Ann and Peter both had to convince me that they NEVER had a cake baked from scratch for their bday...apparently, Italians don't bake? Always storebought...shameful!!!!).

Anywho, I am not sure we really tasted anything because we did a little more celebrating than we thought with the JD and coke. We even did a "re-do" on Peter's happy birthday song because Ann thought she was recording it...but she wasn't. Shenanigans.

Love spending time with the Kavals, and especially celebrating PK's bday!

The cake (yellow w/chocolate-sour cream frosting)

Peter is pretty shy in front of the camera 

Blowing out the candles - part deux

A good pairing

Emma's Rock Star bday

Weekend before last we headed over to the Hamlins to celebrate Emma's bday. She had a Rockstar theme, so we put Max in some skinny jeans, a mohawk, shades, and headed on over. Leon dressed up as Max's "agent" and handed out his business cards. I was Max's "stylist" and primped him every once in awhile with my bag full of products.

The highlight of the party was Jeff (Emma's Dad) who dressed up as Justin Beiber and gave the kids a performance lipsyncing to the song Baby on the stage that they built for the party.

This was too fun and cute!

Justin Beiber & Max's agent

Max shows he's cooler than the flamingo

Staring the flamingo down

Max & bday girl Emma

The Beibs performs while kids rush the stage!

SC repeat - Day 2 cont.

And now...for some sand to touch the toes. It wasn't too sunny out, but still warm. Max didn't seem to be such a fan of the beach at first (he couldn't walk well on the sand) but Brett was such the Dad and showed Max the ropes of digging in the sand and breaking in his new sand bucket. Max did fall in love with the Lawrences' outdoor shower though once we were home and he had a total meltdown when I had to pull him out so others could get their turn!

Checking on the waves with Daddy

Chens in the sand

Leon, Max, & Maya 

Max with Daddy

Heather takes Maya for a walk

All the kids in the sand hole

Lazy day at the beach for everyone!

SC repeat - Day 2

Beach Day! Annika & Brett show us what their town is all about...the beach. First, the morning started off with a visit to the pier.

The Hivelys & Lawrences lead the way

The Chens on the pier

Uncle Brett shows Max the surfers while Leon looks on

Max with Dad walking the pier 

Max & Wiley look through the pier at the water

SC repeat - Day 1

The one weekend we were in LA, we did a repeat of the Stanford B-school crew visiting the Lawrences in San Clemente. Unfortunately the Paulsons couldn't join and we missed out on Hank in the action. It was great though to see all the kiddos together. We had so much fun and again had sparks of jealousy for the beachy life that the Lawrences get to live down in SC.

First evening we arrived, Annika's folks gave up their house for us to enjoy a great dinner with a breathtaking view. The kids also enjoyed running around AND the totally rad pool of plastic balls...GREAT idea!

Maya & Max check things out

Max mesmerized by the ceiling fans

Wiley always happy

Leon and Brad round up the kiddos for dinner

Annika takes pics of the pool action 

Wiley & Brooks show Max how it's done

End of the day family photo