Upcoming Fall Fun in San Diego

Last week Wednesday marked the first day of fall season in 2015.  However, with temperatures in the 90's here in San Diego, it hardly feels like fall!  Even though it's feeling like the summer that never ends, there are fun fall/Halloween activities happening all around town during the month of October.  Our family hopes to make it out to at least a few of these fun seasonal events!  

SEA WORLD

Halloween Spooktacular

Running weekends until November 1st

The park is decorated with some fun jack-o-lanterns, spiderwebs, and other Halloween decor and there are two new Halloween shows to check out.  Trick-or-Treat stations are also set up all around the park with trick-or-treating starting at 11am.  Dress up in your favorite costume and join the fun!  Plus, kids get in FREE with a paid adult for the month of October!

BELMONT PARK

Boomont Park Fall Festival & Haunt

Every Friday, Saturday, Sunday in October  | Starts at 5pm
Free trick-or treating, haunted house, pumpkin patch and more!  Dress up on Saturdays and enter the costume contest.  Or eat at the Wave House - dressed up kids eat FREE with the purchase of an adult entree.

BATES NUT FARM

Pumpkin Patch

Open everyday until October 31st

My family loves this place!  There are pumpkins, hay rides, straw maze, pony rides, petting farm, and lots more to enjoy.  A few pics from our visit last year:

PUMPKIN STATION

Six locations: Del Mar, El Cajon, Mission Valley, National City, Bonita and Rancho Bernardo

Last year we went to two!  The Del Mar location was a bit too "carnival-ish" for us, but the kids had a great time checking out the pumpkins! More pics from last year:

I preferred the Rancho Bernardo location because it was smaller and more peaceful.  We did the hay ride and corn maze with friends and had a lot of fun!  Again, pics from last year.  Can't wait to do pics at one of the pumpkin patches this year with Aubri in the mix.  :)

SAN DIEGO CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY MUSEUM

Fall Family Festival

October 25, 2015  |  9:30am - 4:30pm

My kids and I have been to this museum with friends and family numerous times and it's always a fun day.  This festival offers pumpkin carving & decorating, petting zoo, street fair vendors, costumes, and more!  Kids 12 and under are FREE. 

BALBOA PARK

Halloween Family Day

October 31, 2015  |  11:00am - 4:00pm

Activities galore, including arts and crafts, costume parades/contests, treasure hunts and more.  Plus FREE museum admission for kids 12 and under (with paid adult admission).

Have fun this month!

xo,
Carly

Aubri Month Two

It's monthly photo time for Miss Aubri, as she is now 2 months old!  The biggest thing I've noticed this past month is that she has gotten HEAVY.  Her pictures might not show her weight gain much, but my back sure notices - especially when lifting her up for middle of the night feedings.  Her 2 month checkup is next week so we'll see how much she weighs at that time.  This baby is getting big so fast, but that just means there's more of her to love!  

This little girl is just a bundle of sweetness!

For this month's chair photo, I just really couldn't get a good shot.  Half of her pictures showed her tipping over, and the other half had expressions that looked exactly like last month's.  But what do you expect from a two month old, right?  This one made me laugh though because she is smiling, and just looks like she is happy in her own little world.  

Taking photos at home is not easy for an infant with two older siblings around always trying to get in on the action.  But I have to say, Aubri puts up with them and their silliness quite well.

Just a day in the life of our crazy little family.  :)  Have a great weekend!

xo,

Carly

DIY: Beachy Towel Cake

When it comes to giving gifts, there's nothing more fun than a practical gift, presented in a cool and creative way.  Towels by themselves are admitedly a little boring, but gift it in a cake form and those boring towels all of a sudden gain some personality!

This was my first attempt at a towel cake so I went pretty basic, but it was fun to make and gave me lots of ideas for the next time.  Shaylin wanted to get in on the action too and make her own cake.

Of course Shay's cake included a tiara!

My creation would be for a dear friend's beachy themed bridal shower.  So, no tiara needed here.  :)

For this three tier towel cake you will need two bath towels, two hand towels and two washcloths.

Use any embellishments fit for your theme.  Mine included a spool of burlap ribbon, a spool of turquoise ribbon, starfish, and sea shells.  All items were bought from Michaels except for the starfish, which were an Amazon purchase.

Here's the breakdown of which towels you'll need for each layer of the cake.

Bottom layer:  1 washcloth, 1 hand towel and 1 bath towel

Middle layer:  1 bath towel

Top layer:  1 washcloth and 1 hand towel

To create the bottom layer, we'll use one of each size towel and roll them into each other, starting with the smallest.  But first, they need to be folded to size.

 Fold the washcloth into thirds. 

Fold the hand towel into thirds.

Fold the bath towel in half lengthwise, then fold it into thirds.

Here are the three different sizes of towels, ready to be rolled.  Fold remaining 3 towels in the same way and place them on the side to use for the other cake layers.

I wanted to make the bottom layer slightly wider than what it would have normally been so I started rolling the washcloth over an empty toilet paper roll first.  You don't have to do this, your layer will just be smaller.  I actually think I could have actually gone a little bigger but didn't have anything on hand that was larger than a toilet paper roll.  Once it is completely rolled, place the rolled washcloth on top of the folded hand towel and roll again.  

Then place that completed roll on to the folded bath towel and start rolling again.  Place a rubber band around the roll to temporarily keep them together. 

For the middle layer, roll the second bath towel by itself and rubber band it together.  And for the top layer, roll the second washcloth (without a paper towel roll), then roll it into the second hand towel.

Here's what your three layers will look like!

Now for the ribbons.  I placed the turquoise ribbon on top of the burlap ribbon and cut them long enough to fit around each layer.  Don't worry about how the ends look, as they will be folded and tucked in when pinned.

 

I completely forgot a photo here, but before placing the ribbon, I took off the rubber bands, folded the towel ends under, and pined them down with a sewing pin.  I did the same with the ribbon.

Starfish were glued on, and other shells placed for decorative effect, and the towel cake was complete!

I made a chalkboard welcome sign and small centerpieces as well.  Check out my post on digital chalkboard art to download the chalkboard background that I use.  

And here are some pictures of the shower!

The towel cake and welcome sign displayed on a table with some of the gifts.

A look at the centerpiece, and one of the many many dinner dishes we had.  It was Greek food heaven!

Favors brought by bridesmaid Caron all the way from Hawaii.  Her starfish and burlap decorations perfectly matched the decor I went with as well.  We didn't plan this at all!  As she would say...we're design twins.  :)

I didn't get a good picture of the centerpieces, but this simple arrangement included a mason jar, hydrangeas, starfish, nautical rope, a tealight, and some blue crystal rocks.

The morning after the shower was the wedding.  

And just for fun, here's a peak of the beautiful bride getting ready.

It was a beautiful day with my favorite people!

xo,

Carly

Under Construction

Hi everyone!  I ended up having to do a few tweaks to the website so things are a bit out of order at the moment. There are some blurry pics and broken links, but I am working on it.  I hope to have it all resolved in the next week.  (If baby Aubri gives up some of her mama time, haha)  Thanks for your patience!

xo,

Carly

Newborn Photography

I don't think it's a secret that I'm pretty obsessed with photography.  After Shaylin was born I bought a starter DSLR and took a class on how to shoot in manual.  I haven't been able to upgrade my camera yet, but it still works well enough for my various photography projects including real estate shots for our real estate business, food and DIY projects for this blog, holiday photoshoots for my kids, etc.  But there is one occasion where I will hire a photographer - for newborn shots.  

For anyone that hasn't experienced a newborn session, let me tell you...they're a lot of work.  I give newborn photographers a lot of credit because it takes a LOT of patience to conduct them.  A typical newborn session lasts between 2-4 hours because babies at that age (<10 days old) need time to nurse, and ideally you want your baby to be in a deep sleep to allow for easier posing.  Because many of the shots are done with the baby naked, the studios run heaters to keep the baby warm.  So while it's comfortable for the baby, that also means it's extremely hot for an adult.  

I'd say that all 3 of my kids were difficult clients.  Shaylin cried a lot, and her shoot took around 4.5 hours.  Landon was a very alert little guy and would not fall asleep during his shoot  In fact, our photographer offered to have me bring him back the next day to try again, which I took her up on.  And Aubri with her strong moro reflex woke up a LOT right when we posed her.  Her headbands kept moving position every time she woke up so there pictures where I wished the headband had been a little more to the side but with the amount she woke up and moved it, I'm happy we were able to get any shots at all!  

Here are a few of Aubri's photoshoot.  She was 8 days old.  Photos courtesy of Kristen Marie Imagery.  

And because I love reminiscing about when my babies were well...babies...here are some photos from Landon's newborn photo shoot in 2013.  Photos courtesy of Rachel Higgins Photography.  

And a few from Shaylin's newborn photoshoot in 2011.  Photos courtesy of Captured With Care Photography.

I ALMOST didn't schedule a newborn photoshoot for Aubri because I was so busy tending to my 2 older kids during this pregnancy that photos weren't on my radar.  But I'm so glad I got them done because babies are only this young once and I know I would have regretted it if Aubri were the only child not to have newborn shots.  Looking back at all these newborn pictures make me realize just how fast our babies grow up! 

xo,

Carly