surprise! it's meeeeeeeeeeee

tuesday morning, s1 and i got up and had some breakfast and then we prepared to go to courtney's. s1 and i had cooked up a little scheme where we were going to make my visit a surprise. i must say s1 is excellent at keeping secrets... i was ready to burst, but i knew the surprise on courtney's face would be way better. we drove down to san clemente and stopped by a nordstrom in mission viejo on the way. i'd managed to forget my sunglasses since i don't tend to wear them a lot here and i always seem to forget them when i travel. so s1 and i hurried in and had a couple nice salespeople help us. they did a great job as it usually takes me a hundred years to find some i like, but i love the ones i got! they are a deep purple coach... you'll see them in pictures to come. but i thought i might go blind, so thank you s1 for stopping at the nordstrom.

we get to courtney's house and park. we decide to leave the cupcakes in the car b/c s1 was going to take pictures of the surprise in action and i wanted my arms free for some hugs. we quietly made our way to c's door and knocked. i didn't know c had looked out the window, but when she opened that door i think it took a second for me to register and then the hugs began and i even saw a couple tears in miss courtney's eye. it was truly the best! s1 then ran out to the car and brought in the cupcakes before they melted... and i got to meet c's absolutely adorable little man!! alex has to be the cutest little boy and he is so full of energy! and he's walking so well that he's all over the place.

since it was about lunchtime, we changed alex (who is super squirmy - apparently he hates getting his diaper changed) and then all piled in to the car. alex has great taste in all the current music though i'm glad his little ears don't understand the lyrics yet and he is quite the dancer. he is so cute dancing in his car seat! the first place we tried to go to wasn't open which is too bad b/c it looked really cute. so we headed to el ranchito for a little mexican and a margarita. yum! lunch was great and alex was such a good guy - everyone fell in love with him. after lunch, it was waaay post poor sleepy alex's nap time so we headed back to c's house to put him down. he promptly fell asleep in his car seat.

while alex was napping, c, s1 and i all got to reminisce (all of a sudden i'm a dunce and can't remember how to spell that!!) about the good ole days over some bitch wine. it was bitchin. harharhar... i know i know, i am funny! we ate a cupcake and they were delicious if i do say so for myself.

once alex woke up, we went for an afternoon walk. i couldn't get enough of being outside this past week - it felt amazing. we put alex in his super trendy buggy thingy (c's blogged about how all the kids have this thing), got the dogs - lola gets carried, harrison gets dragged on the leash) and went on our way. sarah took over the 'walking' of harrison which was humorous b/c harrison, my precious little pooch, has gotten quite lazy. but, he made it! during our walk, we stopped by the little shopping center and stopped in to a couple of the boutiques. after that we went to the ralph's and picked up some components for dinner. back at the house, s1 did most of the cooking, but i tried to help! i stirred the mushrooms. and cut them. and tried to locate items in the kitchen for sarah. and oh yes, i was in charge of the garlic bread which was yummy. while dinner was being made, peter came home. his face was classic when he saw me. i think it took him a bit to register that i was in their living room! i love surprises when they work!!

we all ate big kid dinner and alex joined us. we had a delicious pasta and salad. and cupcakes for dessert. after dinner, it was time for s1 and me to leave which i did very sadly. it was such a fun day and i was just getting to know that little bugger and it was already time to go?? no fair! it was so good to see you c - you look amazing and are such a good mommy.

surprise!!!

me and sarah with the munchkin

so cute! what an adorable mommy and son picture!

and yes, all three of us were in stripes. i say great minds think alike!