Yolanda's Baby Shower

Saturday I had the pleasure of attending Yolanda's baby shower. I used to work with Yolanda and now she works in the same building as Ed. Small world huh? The event was hosted by the sister of the mom to be and she went all out for this shower, including so many wonderful little details and a chic venue. I found myself ooohing and aaahing at everything. Baby Christian is definitely one lucky boy to be surrounded with so much love from his family and friends. Congratulations Yolanda and Mike! Can't wait to meet the newest member of your family!

Now, onto the photos!

The beaming parents to be!

The hostess did such a fabulous job in decorating Cafe Circa Atlanta to a swanky baby shower venue!

The passed hors d oeuvres were sooo delish! 

So is this adorable cake.  A combination of key lime, neopolitan and vanilla cake!

The 5 layer diaper cake!

Sisters!

It was great seeing old coworkers! Can't believe that the 3 of us are now Moms. When we first started with the company we were all fresh out of college!

My favorite gift from the party. I adore the carved rocking chair!

Happy 2nd Birthday Allison!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Allison 2nd Birthday this past weekend. Her parents did a wonderful job making this mickey filled party a fun event. Happy Birthday to William's BFF!

2009 Pigs & Peaches BBQ Festival

Delicious smoke-cooked bbq meats, tasty desserts, family fun and live entertainment were the center stage for the City of Kennesaw's annual Pigs & Peaches BBQ festival.  Lots of yummy bbq. William sampled this spicy sausage and ate it all!The Holzis joined us for this fun festivity. Their lil girl Brooke had such a great time people watching. The whole event is family friendly and good for kids of all ages.
I was so impressed with the wide selection of kid friendly activities and the best part about it is that almost all were free. Yes you heard it right, tons and tons of jumpy places were free. Hey my kind of event!

For dinner, we all decided to head to the closest Taco Mac for a sit down dinner and to enjoy some air conditioning.

***CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES***

Exploring Our Local Neighborhood

We love our neighborhood and we are truly enjoying it's transformation. Great shops and restaurant are within walking from our house. This wonderful chocolatier, Maison Robert has been an institution in Chamblee. We were ecstatic when we found out that they were moving to a new location --- at a renovated building literality next to ours!

Friday night after work, we all decided to take a peek at their new shop and of course pick up some chocolates.  They have a wide selection---our favorite is the chocolate covered macaroon. 

Definitely check them out. It's soooo worth it. 
Here's William ooing at all the tasty selection.

Feed The Duck

Atlanta offers abundance of neat places for families to explore. Plenty of parks around the neighborhood. One of our favorite spot is Lenox Park. It's a great park and really close to our house. It has great grounds for William to run around and has a lake with plenty of ducks. We are notorious for not being able to eat a whole loaf of bread so we decided to share some with the ducks at the park.

Saturday Morning Fun at Roswell Riverside Sprayground

The long -planned Sprayground at Riverside Park in Roswell finally opened this summer so we decided to checked it out. Best thing is it's free. William was initially unsure about it but ended up liking it.  It's slightly smaller than Centennial Park and more toddler friendly. We met  some of our internet friends Kate and Hailey. I tried but it's so hard to get a picture of all three running toddlers.

I highly recommend checking it out!

21 months...err almost 22 months.

This post is a lil behind but time flies when you are having fun :) 21 months is a really fun age but it is also a challenging one.

• William has started learning colors - yellow, blue, red,pink and green. Funny how he can easily identify the secondary color orange. I suspect the Auburn fan in him has something to do with it :)
• He's a TV junkie just like his parents. I know, I know that TVs are not made for kids. However I think that everything in moderation is cool with us. Throughout the day, William gets outside playtime, we read books, etc. So it's ok. Speaking of TV,he loves the following shows Ni Hao Kai Lan, Go Diego Go, Mickey's Clubhouse and Yo Gabba Gabba. 
  

• He used to point to his pictures and call himself baby but now when he points to his pictures,  he says William.  He can say his first and last name too!
  
• The tantrums are here. Early start on terrible TWO. He's very persistent when he wants something. Nowadays, it's very hard to distract him when he's really focused. Kinda to be expected of him when both his Mommy and Daddy are stubborn :)
• He loves books and we have progressed to books with longer stories. He sits still and listens intensely when you read to him. He loves Dr. Seuss, Big Red Barn(Calls it Big Barn), Runaway Bunny. We just signed up membership to the local library and he LOVES that place. You'll often here him say "More Books Please".
• He's very friendly and loves being in a group environment. He enjoys being in school and loves his teachers and. He's also a social butterfly and says hi all the time to strangers.
• Can now drink from a cup. 
  
  
• Almost starting to talk in sentences.  Can pretty much repeat any words that you say to him.
• Sometime calls me Mymmmi. He's trying to stay My Mommy too fast.
• Is starting to go to the Potty. Work in progress here. Helps that his whole classroom is potty training too.
• Is very analytical and loves toys that you can put together. He loves stacking up blocks and smashing it when he gets so high.
  

• Says I love you to Mommy and Daddy
  
• Very easy to feed. No baby food in here. He will eat pretty much anything we eat. Loves rice, spicy sausage, steak, chicken. Still working on veggies with him.
• LOVES the outdoor. He loves it when we walk to the grocery store that's right around the corner from our house. 
• Fascinated with jumping. Jumps at the stair, likes jumpy places, etc.  A very active kid in here.
• Loves to Dance. Bops his head when he hears music.
• Can count up to 3 and says some of the letters of the alphabet.

Fun, fun age. Words can't express how much we love him. We maybe bias but I really think that he has such a great personality and has the best demeanor.

Rosemary Beach Vacation 2009

We had an absolute blast at this year's beach vacation. Beaches of South Walton is absolutely stunning. We stayed at Rosemary Beach --- perfect location for a family vacation. Everything is within walking distance and we didn't moved our cars throughout our stay. My kind of vacation!

We stayed at this gorgeous house. Stunning modern house with pool and state of the art kitchen. The house was huge and provided plenty of space indoor and outdoor for everyone to enjoy.

A group picture taken on our last day .  LOVE how everybody has this great big smile---a reflection of how much fun we all had. Great company and great times.  I love how we can have the greatest time playing board games :)
Yes, yes, we lounged a lot too. I wanted to show you guys how hip this house is.
A family picture in front of the house. The lawn was perfect for a game of bocce or just throwing ball.The pool was definitely a treat! Nice to just chill and cool off after a trip to the beach.Look how grown Allison and William are now compared to last year's vacation. These two are best buds! It's amazing how interactive they are and how they adore each other. Even hold hands when they walk. How sweet!The community pools (4 total) were fantastic! PERFECT for toddlers-they even have complimentary swim diapers. Now that's what I call service. Every single one has this wide shallow entry steps. William had a blast! I wish I took more pictures of the pools but I was so busy lounging :)

Strolling through the neighborhood  to grab some java at the coffee shop, which was a block away from the house we were staying at.

The shops and restaurants around Rosemary are charming and quaint. The town's architecture is so unique. The essence of Rosemary Beach comes from the careful arrangement of it's public spaces and private homes. Neighborhoods are interconnected by a network pedestrian lanes, footpaths, boardwalks.  The town's pedestrian scale ensure that everything is within no more than a five minute walk.

Here's Ed and William in front of Summer Kitchen Cafe'. Don't be fooled by the "country" look. By day, they serve casual breakfast and lunch. Nighttime brings a metamorphous into gourmet dining, serving fresh Gulf seafood at it's finest. We enjoyed our outdoor dinner. My grits and shrimp was so delish!

A glimpse of the town's shop and restaurant district.

William's favorite shop is The Sugar Shak. A sweet shop serving ice cream with waffle cones that are made daily plus lots and lots of candy. Pretty neat to see old fashion treats-Bazooka bubble gums, BB Bat Suckers,Bubble Gum Cigarettes, Zots candy, etc. It felt very nostalgic and reminiscent of our childhood.

Of course, let's not forget the beach! I can't rave enough how gorgeous are the beaches of South Walton. My favorite! Fine white sands, emerald green water and rolling dunes line with native flora beckon you to relax and rejuvenate!

The sound of the waves crashing was so hypnotic and relaxing and enticed William to take a nap at the beach.

I just have to add this cool picture of William. This was taken at the beach area of Pineapple Willys - located at Panama City. We grab a quick lunch at this restaurant before heading to our final destination. Rosemary Beach is probably 20 mins driving distance from Panama City. Pineapple Willys serves the best rum drink and po-boys. Ed had oyster po-boy and I had shrimp po-boys. They were both fantastic. I highly recommend dining in here.

Check out more pictures from our trip...

Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3