Team Schubert.

At the end of April, Andrew and I had a Sunday together ….

This shower was put on by Joe’s godmother … Aunt Mary. She went ALL OUT … It was AMAZING and so gorgeous and at a [...]]]> One final baby shower for Kaitlin … close enough to her due date that the shower host had a mild panic attack when Kaitlin called her the day before!

This shower was put on by Joe’s godmother … Aunt Mary. She went ALL OUT … It was AMAZING and so gorgeous and at a restaurant so she didn’t even have to worry about food …

The shower was both feminine and still for a baby boy :

And because it was at a restaurant, Joe and some of the other guys came too and spent the afternoon watching sports on the patio or the bar or somewhere else …

Katie, with Aunt Mary (on the right) and her friend who helped plan the shower…

Last one for awhile!

In mid-April, Julie hosted a baby shower for Kaitlin involving all of the old family friends from when she was growing up … all ladies that Julie just loves and have been part of [...]]]> As I type this Kaitlin is basically due any time…. But I still have TWO baby showers to show you!

In mid-April, Julie hosted a baby shower for Kaitlin involving all of the old family friends from when she was growing up … all ladies that Julie just loves and have been part of Kaitlin’s life since she was little. And me. And I was invariably introduced around as “Andrew’s wife” …. But everyone loves Andrew so I guess it could be worse.

One of Julie’s friends finagled her the use of the community building as part of their neighborhood HOA … This HUGE room with lots of natural light, a kitchen attached AND all these tables and chairs included…. It ended up working out perfectly.

Plus it was only a mile or so from my new house, so I could head over early to help without having to set my alarm for 6a!

Julie did the colors in this bright blue and red …. with a cars/trucks theme on the cake and favors. SUPER cute for a little boy

The shower started at 11a or so, so we did lunch and a couple games before opening gifts.

That lion bag in the image below? About 5 people wrapped their gifts in one! They must have been on sale at Target

homemade quilt from Kaitlin’s aunt…

Joey’s room is jungle themed, and a LOT of the clothes Kaitlin has been getting are animal themed too … I kind of love this shark outfit!

I can’t believe Joey is going to be here any day!!

Easter Sunday, Joe and Kaitlin came out to Santa Clarita early in the afternoon and we did some fun couple-maternity photos.

Little Joey is going to be so spoiled

Note: Katie also did some [...]]]> Andrew and I are going to have a nephew in just a few weeks! As in less-than-4 weeks! Hopefully.

Easter Sunday, Joe and Kaitlin came out to Santa Clarita early in the afternoon and we did some fun couple-maternity photos.

Little Joey is going to be so spoiled

Note: Katie also did some more intimate maternity photos with our friend Maggie Keegan Gross. You can check out a peek of that session here at Maggie’s blog

(Joe did this himself Such a goofball!  I wouldn’t ask anyone to pose like that)

Can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait!!!

I had all these grand plans to have a birthday/house-warming party on April 1 …. after we had been in the house for 3 weeks or so.

But alas, still no kitchen, which means boxes everywhere, which means no point in having a house-warming party.

So, [...]]]> I turned 30 last week, did you know??

I had all these grand plans to have a birthday/house-warming party on April 1 …. after we had been in the house for 3 weeks or so.

But alas, still no kitchen, which means boxes everywhere, which means no point in having a house-warming party.

So, instead we just got together with family….

Sunday afternoon Kaitlin&Joe and Kahla&Chris came up from Orange County and we all went to dinner at Don Cuco’s with Andy.

at Don Cuco’s when they sing to you for your birthday you “get” to wear this awesome sombrero

After dinner we went back to Andy and Julie’s for birthday cheesecake! I love cheesecake…

On my ACTUAL birthday (Monday) …. Andrew and I both had the day off with nothing specific planned. That pretty much never happens!

First order of business? Birthday breakfast!

I love going out to breakfast, and there’s this cute little cafe-type-restaurant near us that we decided to try for breakfast (having been there for lunch 10 years ago) – the Greenhouse Cafe.

Andrew’s mom and grandma met us there too …

After breakfast, Andrew and I pretty much spent the day running errands.

I hate running errands by myself, but I like getting things done.

First the library to get our new library cards!!! (I love the library)

These are new cards for the new library system with the City of Santa Clarita – when we went to sign up we were given the choice of several different designs and they’re all SUPER cheesy. Why would I want a library card with a photo of a skateboarder on it?

So, we picked these hilariously cheesy Mexican cowboy playing a guitar on a horse. Oh yea

After the library, a stop at Michael’s for some letter stickers, then to Sprouts for some groceries…. then home!

But once we got home I realized that that day was only time for about 2 weeks we would have a chance to go IKEA together to pick up bookshelves.

So, off we went to Burbank. In and out really quick since I knew EXACTLY what I wanted…

Then home (again) ….. And Andrew started painting the living room….

But I made him stop right away! Look at that awful color! That is NOT what it looks like inside Lowe’s … blech.

So, we left the house again for ANOTHER errand …. to Lowe’s to find a better color green.

This time we took the stirring stick with the UGLY paint on it to compare, took all the samples out into the sun and hoped for the best.

Once we got it home …. SO much better …

So Andrew painted the living room and I built a bookcase…. Such a busy birthday!

Once it got dark we relaxed a bit and watched Being Elmo before going to bed early ….

Because, honestly, I really love going to bed early and I never get to now since I get home around midnight.

Definitely a very happy birthday!

He’s been living/working in Afghanistan for almost 2 years; recently quit; and moved to Colorado to go to school January 9.

But that tiny couple-day window between Afghanistan and Colorado he was in Arizona, [...]]]> The first full weekend in January, I planned a last-minute spur-of-the-moment trip to Arizona to see my brother (without Andrew).

He’s been living/working in Afghanistan for almost 2 years; recently quit; and moved to Colorado to go to school January 9.

But that tiny couple-day window between Afghanistan and Colorado he was in Arizona, so I took a day off work and drove out there.

Kevin knew I was coming (because I wanted to check if he had other plans), but I didn’t tell either of my parents.

So, when I rang the doorbell and my mom answered the confused look on her face was hilarious!

I got there in the early evening, just in time to go out to dinner ….

Kevin picked Oregano’s – salad and pizza and Italian Wedding soup …. yum!

then later that night we did “Christmas” with Kevin …. Which was pretty much just watching Kevin open gifts.

He gave our parents their Christmas gifts, of course, but for the most part we just saw Kevin opening gifts …

(my dad got a chromatic harmonica … he pretty much just collects musical instruments)

That was Friday night.

Then we just had Saturday because Kevin was planning on leaving early early early Sunday morning.

Saturday morning he had to go to his storage unit to supervise the moving crew loading his stuff onto their truck.

I blogged and edited photos and took a nap at my parents’ house.

But that late afternoon …. my parents had originally made plans to have their annual get-together with their close friends. Families we’ve been friends with my whole life. Longer, even.

It’s nice that Kevin’s weekend in town coincided with this get-together! Getting to see most of my favorite people in 1 weekend!

We got there a bit before sunset …. And first and foremost went and met Sushi. The tortoise.

HUGE dude….. Like, 3 feet in diameter shell….

It was awesome.

Shawn and Nicole arrived shortly after that and I got to meet their 2 girls for the first time!

The last time I saw Emolyn was when she was just a few weeks old – and now she’s almost 4!

Elsie just turned 1 a few months ago …

They’re awesome…. LOVE them

(Emolyn told me that her sister Elsie learned how to walk by watching her. And then she went on to tell me that she was going to also teach Elsie to do the splits like this:

Next, our friend Chris came with his family – including his little girl Cadence who is almost the same age as Elsie

3 little girls all running around … all in pink!

my mom somehow corralled everyone out to the backyard to take a group picture in the sun …

Hanns, Thompsons, Thrushes, Haugens, Rolfes, Mozingos ….

(more or less)

Linda wrote about the night in her post here …. Check it out (including more photos)

We stayed through dinner, through sunset, through building a big bonfire in the back!

Elsie followed the cat around quite a bit …

Cadence – looking so much like her dad!

Miranda and her boyfriend Aaron showed up a bit later (just before dinner) …. Love that girl.

SPARKLERS!

Emolyn did so well with holding the sparkler toward the fire, away from the people…. Smart girl.

We all sat around the bonfire in the back, all snuggled up with jackets and scarves and blankets (which now smell SO much like smoke) …. talking about the Thomsons’ recent trip to Disneyland, or Miranda’s job, or Kim and Jed’s new baby! ….

SO fun. Seriously some of my favorite favorite people ….

Next year the get-together should be at mine and Andrew’s house!

Which means we got to do Christmas morning all over again on Monday (which was the Federal holiday so I had the day off)…  Christmas morning with only 4 of us (and Mom and Dad had already opened [...]]]> We did Christmas Day with Andrew’s family, and then that evening my parents came into town!

Which means we got to do Christmas morning all over again on Monday (which was the Federal holiday so I had the day off)…  Christmas morning with only 4 of us (and Mom and Dad had already opened their stocking)…

(I made him do a ‘Muppet face’ to show off some of the gifts)

I had gotten up at 7a to put the chuck roast in the crockpot … so we could have my mother-in-law’s recipe for French Dip for lunch.

Except we have it open face and call it French Drench…

(and potato soup)

After lunch, we headed up to my aunt&uncle’s house in Santa Clarita …. Some of the family was working, but others were home, my grandma was visiting and there were 5 dogs to hang out with!

FIVE

and all were super mellow and easy ….

My head cold was still KILLING me …. I almost fell asleep while we were there ….

Andrew and my mom played cards (Shang-hai) …. Favorite Hann-family game!

And we ended up leaving around 7p or so since I was so sick and needed to go to bed …. Fun, relaxing Christmas-ish day!

Tuesday morning we had more family time …

Andrew’s cousin came into town for a day or 2 and we made plans to go to breakfast….

Drove up to Santa Clarita, met Edmund and his daughter Camille, Daniel and Kaitlin (and Joe came later), and headed over to Coco’s for breakfast.

Edmund is the best ..

… and Camille is so sweet …

Andrew is great with her…

I ended up leaving early-ish again …. still sick sick sick … but Andrew stayed a bit to hang out with Edmund some more.

Then Daniel came over that night to play video games and hang out …

2 days full of family …. one of the best part of the holidays ….

Christian has family in Santa Clarita, so he and Avalon came down for the holiday and we got to meet them for breakfast! Christmas Eve fell on a Saturday and miraculously both Andrew and I happened to have off work ….

Andrew and I are going to have a little nephew in a few months!

I’ve always said I wanted to be an aunt before I became a mom – and luckily Andrew’s sister Kaitlin pulled through [...]]]> I know that most of you already know this …. but I still wanted to make it blog-official!

Andrew and I are going to have a little nephew in a few months!

I’ve always said I wanted to be an aunt before I became a mom – and luckily Andrew’s sister Kaitlin pulled through for me!

Joe and Kaitlin made these adorable ‘gender-reveal’ cupcakes to tell us all they are having a boy !!

AND he’s already named!

Joseph Paul LaRiccia

(and we’ll call him Joey) … we all had fun buying little boy socks and things for them for Christmas!

Coming May 2012!

Wait, let me explain.

Between not really having the floor space and potentially having to start packing any day to move into our new house, we didn’t really feel up to getting a big ol’ Noble Fir and dragging our boxes of ornaments and lights and [...]]]> We didn’t get a Christmas tree this year.

Wait, let me explain.

Between not really having the floor space and potentially having to start packing any day to move into our new house, we didn’t really feel up to getting a big ol’ Noble Fir and dragging our boxes of ornaments and lights and tree skirt out of storage.

We DID, however, help Andrew’s mom pick out and take home her Christmas tree, so at least we got that fun experience….

About mid-way through December on a weekday morning, we drove up to Santa Clarita with our truck and met Julie and her mom at the local Home Depot tree lot…..

Grandma Sheila actually ended up picking out the winning tree!

We looked at 4 or 5 or so, but the one on the end that she had pointed to was clearly the best!

Of course, being around all that Christmas, Andrew and I just couldn’t resist.

Instead of a *Christmas tree* …. we ended up getting a little Rosemary “Christmas” tree …. Basically a potted rosemary plant trimmed in the shape of a traditional Christmas tree….

That way we get to be festive without having to get out the ornaments and tree stand

Our house still smells delicious … AND if we can keep it alive, we can plant it at our new house whenever we find it!

Christmas time at Team Schubert Headquarters!