We have been so busy lately, I completely forgot to post any picture from our trip to San Francisco! We stayed downtown for four nights with some of Pat's friends and had a great time. You know first things first, I wanted to see some houses! We probably walked 8-10 miles each day, and my favorite was walking through the neighborhoods and whispering to myself, people actually live here! We walked from Fisherman's Wharf up to Lombard St (the most crooked street in America), walked all around Alamo Park where the Painted Ladies live and strolled through the different pockets to feast on the architecture. We definitely don't see this in the Midwest!

We took an open air bus tour around the city, saw the Golden Gate Bridge, and walked through Chinatown. Crossed over to the small resort town of Sausalito and spent time at the Golden Gate state Park, and took almost zero pictures of ourselves. Oh well, I got some great photos of some of the houses and when I plan on drawing some of them when I can find the time.

We spent time down by the piers, saw the sea lions and ate clam chowder from a sourdough bread bowl. We only had three full days there after travel time, but we packed a lot in!

Fiona's First Birthday

We had the sweetest weekend celebrating Fiona's first birthday and Mother's Day. My mom and sister came over on Saturday and we had brunch and cake, opened presents, and played outside with Fiona's new wagon from grandma. On Sunday we went to visit Pat's family in Bay City and celebrated Mother's Day with Pat cooking brunch for everyone and another cake for Fiona. She got some more Beatrix Potter books, a Jelly Cat lovey, a radio flyer wagon, a swing for the tree, some toy cars, a sing a long book, a tea set, and of course, lots of cute summer dresses (and another mild case of pink eye...boo)!

We are more in love with this little beautiful girl more and more every day and love watching her learn new things. Her favorite activities include, feeding her food to CeCe, letting CeCe lick her hands, snugs with mama, tickles with daddy, carrying around her pants while jabbering, and now, using frosting as hand lotion.

To celebrate her actual birthday tomorrow, Fiona is staying home from school with Grandma because she woke up with her third case of pink eye today...If you need us, we will be busy washing our hands!

One Week from One Year

Fiona is only one week away form turning One! This little girl is turning into a toddler more and more everyday. This weekend she learned how to blow a kiss and give a high five. She isn't walking yet, just with assistance. She has stood on her own for a quick second a handful of times. She looks so surprised and proud when she does it. She is fascinated by bookcases, but I have them packed in so tight so can't pull them out. I did have to remove all the old book jackets because she could tear pieces off and put them in her mouth...

She doesn't have a favorite lovey yet, but she loves to carry around her socks and pants while she's crawling around. Sometimes I'll put them in her crib with her if she is still clutching them :)

Our Rhododendron is blooming! Aside from a few tulips, this is the only color we have in the yard and I love seeing it everyday. We have been able to spend more time outside and are enjoying the wagon from Grandma Marie! We just need to get the canopy or figure out how to keep a sunhat on her head :)

I have been busy doing house portraits any time I can squeeze them in. Fiona goes to bed so early so when I get home from work I spend my two hours with her and then get right to work after her bedtime. I work for a couple hours and then try to watch a show with Patrick before bed. Currently we are watching Shameless on Showtime. One of the characters is named Fiona Gallagher!

I went to a mom sale on Friday night and got a jogging stroller which I've already taken for a spin and love! It is so much smoother than our current one and the canopy comes down a lot further so it shades Fiona's whole face. I also bought a ton of cute summer dresses and rompers that I can't wait to put her in. Bring on the warmer weather!  

Today I'm going to soak up this baby while I try to get a few things together for her birthday.

Also, how cuddly is she??

11 Months

Wow, it's been a while since I updated and Fiona is already 11 months old and we have been buying birthday presents for a one year old! This little muffin is turning more into a toddler everyday and I love it so much. Of course I am always sad to pack her tiny clothes away, but this month I feel more excited than sad. She is babbling non stop, eating all new foods (when she is not leaning over to give her food to CeCe), and will walk across the room with our help! I picked up this fur hat at a mom2mom sale a little while ago and I think it's finally safe to say we can put it away until next winter. Now she has a fur hat to match her daddy's!

I so love this photo of her messy hair in the bath, I blew it up using the engineer prints at Staples for less than 8 dollars. It's just a cheap black and white on thin paper, but I think it looks great in this frame at the top of the stairs. When Pat took her up to bed the other night he was saying goodnight to all the things; goodnight bathtub, goodnight dog, goodnight giant picture of you... hahahahaha

I love this picture of Fiona because she is just contently playing by herself and picking out the toys she likes. She looks like such a big girl already. So independent, right?

We are always cracking up at the faces she makes when she's eating or when she gets excited, and it is so fun to watch her figure out new toys. Thank you for the new shape sorter, Aunt Becci! Is she doing it right?

In other news, I've had a few orders a week coming in on my Etsy shop for custom house portraits and I am still finishing up some orders from the first Brickyard Buffalo feature I did last month. I am going to do another BB feature starting Monday, so it's going to get bananas busy again. Thanks in advance for all your extra help around the house, Patrick!

It is supposed to be sunny and 70 this weekend in Michigan, so girls are going outside!

xoxo

My Own March Madness

I've really been making an effort with my drawings this past months and was a featured vendor on Brickyard Buffalo, where I sold 40 custom house portraits in two days! They sold out much faster than I anticipated and I couldn't be more excited! My Etsy sales have also picked up from the exposure and they asked me back for next month! I love seeing photos of people's homes and hearing their favorites parts of the house, or this is the where we grew up and played in the yard. Each one is so different and I really love them all. I've worked my way through almost half of the portrait orders and these are some of my favorites.

You can see my shop on Etsy by clicking here: GallaDoodle

Photos from the Week

Not much news this week, just enjoying this taste of Michigan spring! The sun has been shining everyday and we have been playing outside every afternoon. Well, Fiona sits in her stroller, but CeCe is loving the extra frisbee time. I set Fi up off to the side like a queen's thrown watching the games. She claps and waves and it's so cute. One of her teachers at school said she waves through the window of the infant room when all the toddlers walk by. Hilarious!

Of course some festive pictures of her in her St Patrick's Day garb. I love this little bib my Aunt Kathy brought back from her trip to Ireland. Our little lucky charm :)