jade's 1st birthday!

jade's first birthday started off in perfect swedish style; breakfast & presents in bed accompanied by two singing parents and a meowing kitten boy named ingo.  as always, jade woke up happy as a clam and was all smiles when pappa delivered her tray of birthday surprises.  from all our beloved family & friends jade received many thoughtful gifts.  she loved everything!

the birthday girl!

the piglet!

the twins [a.k.a. proud pappa & jade bug]

after a wonderful morning at home we loaded our buggy into the car and headed down to the san diego zoo.  jade woke up from a perfectly timed nap as we pulled into the parking lot.  jade was so happy to be at the zoo, spending her day outside in the sunshine with her parents and meeting lots of new animals.  

jade & pappa were able to feed the giraffes & of course jade thought the biscuits looked so delicious she had to try one herself!  happy birthday to me she said!

next stop the petting zoo where there were goats, goats, and more goats.  a few sheep were hanging out in the shade but weren't at all interested in the kids.  jade found a goat and a new friend!

we realize this gorilla is only a statue, but jade still took great pleasure in patting it on the head for several minutes.  as with every other animal jade has met, she thought this was a katt [cat].  patting it's head and repeating loudly, "caaaaaaaaatttttttttttt" made for one happy birthday baby.

we even saw this adorable panda who put on quite a show for the onlookers.  born in captivity, this bear was happy to stretch out in front of the crowd while enjoying an afternoon snack of bamboo.  it turns out jade has quite a lot in common with panda's.  not only do they have the same table manners, lounging with legs wide open, but they also poop up to 50 times a day!  who knew?

we saw lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  and elephants and giraffes and rhinos!  but by far jade's favorite animal of the day was a little monkey who frolicked playfully on branches above the hippo tank.  we could have sat there all day to watch our little jade screech with excitement each time the monkey made his way in front of her.  he poked at the water, harassed the hippo, ran across a tightrope, and stuck his tongue out at the crowd.  we stayed until the zoo closed and decided to get our little monkey two little monkeys of her own.  [thanks grandma becky]!  

we'd like to think jade knows just how happy we are to have such a precious bug a boo.  it sure seems like she realizes this was the best year of our life.  happy 1st birthday to our truffle pig, swedish muffin, baby puffin, pumpkin latte, sugar butt, cha cha girl.  we love you!

happy 1st birthday ingrid!

a weekend with pumpkin muffin

jade started it off with a little race car driving.

next we stopped at fashion island for some birthday shopping.
jade thought this polar bear was awesome!

this chair is cool!
can i have it mamma, can i?!

another beautiful day in laguna beach with blue skies.

going for a beach walk and testing it with jade on the back.
she seemed to like it, even though pappa didn't, as he couldn't kiss his baby on the head.

our favorite place.

nicole right at turn-around mark.
please note her drenched legs from high tide just a few moments earlier...

what a fantastic morning!

nicole is going to hate me for posting this, but…
yes - this is jade's constipated poop face.

sunset in corona del mar.

how can you not love so cal in october?
oh, and did we mention - no tourists or traffic. 

nicole's good friend vanessa came to visit and brought her daughter scarlett.
scarlett is one month older than jade, but about twice as big and just as sweet.

this is so cute one can die - jade's own passport!

oh, october. we love thee.

weekends like this remind us why we choose to call california our home...
we woke up to beautiful blue skies on saturday morning & knew it was going to be a wonderful day.  while jade and i watched some soccer on tv, nicole tried her best to catch up on some much needed sleep. let's just say jade has not been sleeping through the night lately. we blame it on "teething"...

jade and pappa watching soccer.

jade, as always, in control of the remote.

even though jade hasn't been sleeping much lately,

she's still happy as a clam when she wakes up.

we love waking up to this little muffin!

jade bug proudly showing off her new clothes.

every saturday at 10 a.m. bugs & i go to baby swim.  every week jade grows more fond of the water and is absolutely getting braver by the week, dunking her face in the water during the motorboat song and intentionally falling into the pool from the edge during the "i'm a little teapot" song [this is my favorite].  i should also mention that no one else in the swim class got the memo this was nudist week. either that, or they simply thought it would be appropriate to bring a bathing suit for their kids…
after swim class i took jade with me to the office for a couple hours of work.  she didn't help much since she was snoozing the entire time!  guess waking up several times at night caught up with jade, too... 

cute schnoodle pie after the swim session.

next stop was our beloved bagels & brew where we met up with mamma. tuna melt sandwich for me, salad for nicole, and, of course, pancakes and bacon to bugaboo! after this late brunch we decided to drive out to irvine regional park to visit the opening of their pumpkin patch.

the world's pretties girls hanging out on hay bales.

 this has to be the cutest witch & cat combo ever!

 jade and i riding the make-shift stick pony.

can we get this pumpkin guys? can we?! 

jade, nicole and i had a great time at the pumpkin patch. checking out pumpkins, taking a long walk through the beautiful forest, looking at horses and birds, hanging out by the lake and feeding the ducks, and, the best part, going on a train ride. not sure which part jade liked best - the train ride itself or the delicious snacks they served on the train (the tickets…)

since it was such a pretty evening, and we were only twenty minutes away from our favorite mexican restaurant, we concluded that we pretty much had to stop by rose canyon cantina in trabuco canyon for some mexican food and margaritas. the place was packed but we got to sit outside on their awesome patio area at a little bar and no one was more excited about this than the potbelly truffle piglet.

salsa chip in one hand, lemon in the other. don't mess with me!

sunday morning turned out to be just as pretty as saturday morning, so after watching arsenal lose to spurs in the north london derby (jade and i) and doing some laundry (nicole), we drove down to laguna for a long walk at the beach. october is our favorite month. clear, pretty days, no tourists, no traffic, long evenings and warm water. 

jade longstocking, in her pigtails, explaining the soccer game to mamma.

thalia street, laguna beach - our beach!

the aliso viejo gangsters doing their gang signs at the half way point of our beach walk.

bugsy monroe enjoying the view from dad's shoulders.

we ended our weekend at our favorite italian restaurant alessa with a fantastic pizza and an incredible pasta dish. jade bug, as she always does, made friends with everyone in the restaurant, and sat happily in her high chair, eating her side of potatoes. 

even after ten years in southern california the novelty of living so close to the ocean has not worn off and we are still able to find new places to love. simple things like lounging with our beautiful little daughter in the morning, swimming in the pool, driving in the car, playing at the park, going out for a nice meal, or strolling along the beach is all we need to put a smile on our face for days.  we are constantly reminded just how lucky we are to live in such a wonderful place. stefan lindholm once told us "happy parents make happy kids'" and we like to think this is the reason our little jade elisabeth is the happiest, most perfect little baby we could have ever asked for. 

oh, october. we love thee.