The LA Drews

Thank You Friends for the Perfect Baby #2 Shower

I feel extremely blessed to have such wonderful women and friends in my life and felt very honored that so many of them wanted to give me & baby a special shower. I owe a very special thanks to Parrish, who put such hard work into organizing and the decorations, even while being ready to pop with her very own baby #1. Also, a huge thanks to Jessica, who hosted the shower at her place, even while being 5 months pregnant and with a napping almost 2 year old upstairs. There are so many other woman who contributed and helped make my shower just perfect including Izzy, Mel, Alison, Brooke, Sarah, Blaire, Carol and Anna. Thank you all for being such awesome, amazing women. I feel blessed to call you all friends!

Here I am all gussied up for the shower at 33 weeks:

 

Here's Rowan Thor, Mr. Bear, and Cheeta Cub preparing for my shower:

Here are some pictures from my shower. The food was absolutely fabulous with all of my favorites - crabcakes, kale salad, quinoa salad, fruit salad, deviled eggs  and more.  The decorations were beautiful and perfect for a gender neutral shower. (I know I made it hard on Parrish by not finding out the gender of the baby, but she rose to the challenge, of course!) The cake, made by the fabulous Anna of Lovely Lady Cakes, was beautiful and delicious. The candy favors were perfect for this sugarholic!

             
   

Many thanks to all of my favorite ladies who contributed, who attended and who made me feel so very special. I couldn't have asked for a better day!

(Shower & pics taken January 29, 2012)

Dirt Bike Ridin'

Rowan got a new, big boy dirt bike from Santa this year. It was a bit intimidating and took him a couple of weeks to put down his Razor and try the bike. But once he got on it, he was off and riding like a pro. And, we've got proof.

 

(Video taken 1/15/12)

GeeGee and Poppee Visit

GeeGee and Poppee celebrated Christmas and New Year's Eve in San Francisco with Val, Frank and Jon. We didn't make the trek because, again, we felt it was too much for me at 7 months pregnant. We were sad to not be with Greg's family, but we were lucky enough to have GeeGee and Poppee come visit us for a few days.  

Happy New Year video from the SF Drews to the LA Drews:

 

Opening our Secret Santa gifts together, with the SF Drews, via Skype. 

             

Mrs. Drews and Greggie love The Getty Museum. There is apparently amazing gardens there...appropriate enough for a 4.5 year old to run around. Plus, there is a train ride from the parking lot to the Museum. So, they did manage to fit a trip in during the visit. Greggie and his mama viewed some art and Rowan and Poppee made some art:

         

There were other fantastic moments - a trip to the Cow's End for coffee and a walk on the Pier, Rowan to see Chipwrecked with GeeGee & Poppee while Greg and I cleaned up the Christmas decorations, lunch at In-N-Out Burger, gelato at N'ice Cream on Abbot Kinney and so much more -  but we either didn't get out the camera much OR I've lost the pictures. All I know is that Rowan had a great time and so did we. 

Thank you GeeGee and Poppee for another wonderful visit. We love y'all!

(pics taken January 2 - 6, 2012)

 

 

Congratulations Val & Frank!

There is a Drewscobar baby on the way and we couldn't be more excited for Valerie & Frank. Yay for another cousin for Rowan and another grandbaby for GeeGee & Poppee. Baby Escobar is due in August. 

We were lucky to find out the news when Val was only 6 weeks along. Val & Frank had gone on a cruise with Frank's family and were in LA very briefly before Christmas. They stopped by for a couple of hours before heading back to San Francisco and told us the exciting news in person. But, we were sworn to secrecyfor a couple of weeks because Val wanted to tell the rest of the family when they arrived in San Francisco for Christmas. 

Here they all are when the news broke. Val pretended they were just taking family photos and then captured her parent's reactions on camera. Great way to let the cat out of the bag for sure! Obviously, GeeGee & Poppee are elated with the news!

       

Congratuations Val & Frank!

(pics taken 12/27/11)

 

Christmas 2011 in Sunny Venice, CA

Since I was 7 months pregnant for Christmas 2011, we thought traveling to PA and Atlanta, as we usually do every year, would be tough, exhausting and stressful for me, so we decided to stay put and have our very first LA Drews-only Christmas in sunny CA. Of course, we were sad to not be with our families during the holidays and missed them very much. But, we made the most of our time off at home, spent some great quality LA Drews familly time together, relaxed, visited with friends. We actually had a really nice Christmas 2011. And, as luck would have it, the weather was incredibly warm, so we ended up at the beach 3 days in a row!

December 23rd:

First up on the Christmas activities - opening gifts from Lety, Rowan's nanny. Since art and playing cars is an important and integral part of every day they are together, Lety's gifts were exactly spot on and Rowan was thrilled! Thank you Lety!

   

 

Next up...more gifts...from Aunt Patsy, Maria & Aunt Phyllis. A huge box of wrapped gifts arrived from TX with Rowan's favorites - Captain America gear, art supplies, puzzles, race track, super hero PJs, and so much more. Thank you so much to his Aunties and Maria!

       

Then, a fun evening with Brendan, Parrish, Jonathan...the usual Friday night crew...with a very special appearance from Miriam, all the way from Panama!

       

 

Christmas Eve, December 24th:

Feliz Navidad from Venice Beach:

 

 

Making Christmas cookies with my little love bug.

     

Snacks for Santa (and Rowan).

          

 

Christmas Day, December 25th:

Santa did visit! Christmas morning.What a fantastic age for celebrating the magic of Christmas - both Santa and Jesus' birthday!  

 

              

Plus, we finally let him open all the packages that Nana & PapPap sent all the way from PA. Boy, it sure was hard waiting to open those.

         

Look how happy Rowan is to be giving daddy his special gifts - soccer gear of course!

 

 

The weather was just sunny & perfect on Christmas Day, so we met The Moons  (JP, Lilly & Hank. Unfortunately, Izzy woke up with the stomach flu) at the beach for some Christmas fun in the sun. 

                                   

December 26th:

We were lucky enough to spend the day after Christmas with one of our oldest and dearest friends, Mr. Terry "TG" Gallagher... all the way from chilly Washington D.C. We took him for Mexican food, margaritas, and some beachy fun in the sun. So great to catch up with you in person TG!

   

 

What a wonderful and blessed Christmas 2011 in sunny Venice, CA! It could only have been better if we were surrounded by our families. But, we look forward to a new year, filled with many more blessings and tons of visits with our families when Baby Drews arrives in Feb/March.

(Pics taken 12/23 - 12/26/11)

Picasso in the Making

Rowan loves all things art and is very good at all of it - drawing, coloring, painting, crafts. photography. This night, daddy set him up in the ktichen with some painting supplies and let him go about creating his masterpieces.

     

(Pics taken 12/11/11)

Annual Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade

Here we are at the annual Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade...

                       

(Pics taken 12/11/11)

Annual Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade

Here we are at the annual Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade...

                       

(Pics taken 12/11/11)

Venice Family Holiday Photo Shoots

We wanted to get some nice family photos for our Christmas cards this year so we headed out for some photo shoots in Venice with Parrish, Brendan (and, Evelyn in tummy), found some cool backgrounds and went to work...

I must say, I do believe I have the most beautiful boy in the world!

First, Rowan giving some love to Baby Drews, due in March:

   

(pics taken 12/8/11)

Photo Shoot Day 1:

         
       

Taken by Rowan:

     

Rowan and Ella:

(pics taken 12/10/11)

Photo Shoot Day 2:

                   

Me and Parrish with our baby bellies. Parrish s idue on February 13th and I'm due on March 16th:

 

(Pics taken 12/11/11)

Bye Bye Movember Moustache. Hello Bare Upper Lip!

I definitely support the cause and couldn't be prouder of my Mo' Man for raising money and awareness for men's cancer. If you want to check out the cause and the reason I spend each November avoiding my usually kissable husband's upper lip, you can go to their site.

Rowan and I even donned moustaches in consideration of this family picture for our Holiday card this year. When it came down to it though...it was just too creepy and I couldn't pull the trigger.

But,each year, saying with a resounding ADIOS to the hairy moustache and HOLA to the beautifully bare upper lip, can never come soon enough! 

  

(video taken Dec. 2, 2011)

Happy Thanksgiving from Temecula

We spent a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving in Temecula, CA with Greg's family. Temecula is only about 2 hours southeast of LA and is beautiful wine country. We'd never been before, but highly recommend it for a quick out-of-town getaway for LA peeps. It's beautiful. It's relaxing. There's wine. Enough said. 

This year we have so much for which to be thankful:

• a healthy, happy, beautiful, intelligent 4-year old boy who says I can call him "baby" even when he's an old man
• Greg being pretty much pain free after his back surgery a year ago
• jobs for both of us in a still very tough economy
• a cute, albeit tiny, roof over our heads 
• cancer-free and healthy parents
• a wonderful social circle of friends who keep us entertained and are so amazing and generous with our son
• a Thanksgiving holiday spent relaxing, having fun, and catching up with Greg's family
• a beautiful and healthy Baby Drews #2 on the way!

and so so much more....

Hanging out in "the Bar Room":

       

Hanging on the Balcony and Sunset:

      

Bath Time:

       

Fun in the Pool:

   

Egg Races:

     

Family Pics:

                   

(Pics taken 11/23 - 11/27/11)

 

 

He Got Fired?

Poppy, Uncle Jon, Greg and I were discussing the Penn State (Jerry Sandusky) debachel and talking about who should have been fired vs. not been fired. A short converstion while we were waiting for breakfast. 

Rowan: "What's fired?"

Mommy thinking how to explain.

Rowan: "You mean a dragon fired him?"

Cute. Cute. Cute. I so love how the mind's of 4-year olds work! It makes sense, right?!?

 

(quote from Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011)

Look Mom! No Training Wheels!

My baby no longer needs training wheels on his bike! We practiced a while ago in the front yard. It was shaky and he was afraid to not put his feet down and he kept running into things. But, last weekend, Greg took Rowan to the park to play baseball and ride his bike. He was getting all of the baseball stuff ready and couldn't find Rowan. He turned around and there he was...Rowan was riding his bike around the outfield like a pro! 

Since I wasn't there to witness the momentous occasion, the next day we took Rowan to another park so he could show me his cycling skills and I could be his biggest cheerleader. Can I remind y'all...he's was just 4 years, 4 months when this happened! I'm not sure if that's too early or too late, but I'm very impressed either way! What a fun, happy, and proud moment for us all!

 

  

(Pic and video taken Nov. 6, 2011)

 

Happy Halloween 2011

Rowan's been talking about his costume for this Halloween since the day after Halloween 2010! He was going to be Batman and his best friend, Charlie, was going to be Superman. He never wavered. Then, a few months ago, we were going through a magazine and he changed his mind just like that! I guess he decided Captain America was just cooler.

So, Rowan was Captain America. He decided Daddy would be Batman. And, he declared that I would be Spidergirl.

The weekend before Halloween, we found a festival at the elementary school where Rowan will go next year (assuming we don't move before then.) We thought it would be a great way to get him excited about Kindergarten and let him check out the layout of the land. We decided to get more bang for our buck (these costumes + accessories can get quite pricey) and wear costumes. Rowan was set! Greg...well, he decided that he didn't need to buy a Batman costume. He was going to pull together the best Batman costume ever from "things he already had around the house". The only thing we bought was the cape from the $.99 Store and that looked like a trash bag! Not bad for spending only $.99, but still...poor thing! 

  
  
  

(pics taken October 29, 2011)
 

To be fair, Rowan thought Greg's "White Trash Batman"costume was amazing. And, noone knew us at the elementary festival. But, wifey was feeling a little embarrassed for her (Bat)man and decided we would not show up at Rowan's pre-school Halloween party or go trick-or-treating without the proper costume. As you can see...much, much better!  And, it was really cool to see some of the younger kids interact with Greg. They really thought it was THE Batman. One little guy ran up and gave him a huge hug. Really super cute!

       
  

Oh...and, I talked Rowan into letting me go as a "Pregnant Lady!"

After trick-or-treating, we headed to the Walter residence for our annual yummy taco soup night (thanks Mel!!). So so good! Rowan, Charlie and Luke had a great time passing out candy to the trick-or-treating stragglers while watching a movie (see the candy bowl in Rowan's hands).

 

We had a fun & very happy Halloween season 2011! Wonder what costumes my boys will don next year...my bets are on the Superheros coming to life again! And, I can guarantee I won't be a "pregnant lady!"

(Pics taken Oct. 31, 2011)

 

Pumpkin Carving Sunday Funday with The Moons

After all that fun at the Pumpkin Patch, we headed over to The Moons for a Pumpkin Carving Party, complete with pumpkin decorating & carving, bobbing for apples, dinner & amazing desserts, moustaches, and a viewing of It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

     
  
   
          

Thank you Izzy, JP, Lilly & Hank for such a fun, amazing Sunday Funday Night! Love you guys!

(Pics taken Oct. 23, 2011)

The LA Drews at The Pumpkin Patch

We took Rowan back to the same pumpkin patch we've been taking him to from the beginning. This year it was so much better - the set-up, the props, the photo opps. Rowan really had a blast this year...

...showing off his how strong he is and how huge his muscles are by picking up every single pumpkin there. The larger the better, of course.

 

...giddily running through the hay maze

    

...happily using the photo props (mom & dad too)

   

...allowing for some really great pictures in the midst of pumpkins

   
 


...posing with Casper and The Great Pumpkin

  

...and, being transformed into Batman.

 
 

(Pics taken Oct. 23, 2011. My belly at 19 1/2 weeks.)

Expanding Belly - 19 Weeks

Me and my expanding belly at 19 weeks.

 


Plus, Rowan getting one past me (of course!)

   

 (Pics taken Oct. 19, 2011)

Playing Hookie

Greg decided it was time to teach Rowan how fun it can be to play hookie from school. So, he picked him up early one afternoon and took him for a bike ride to the beach park for some daddy/son bonding on the monkey bars. Plus, we were having a a heat wave in October, with temperatures in the 90s. That's the best excuse I've heard for skipping out of school (and work) early!

Can life get much better for a 4-year old? Based on the huge smile on this happy boy's face, I think not!

       

After getting just the right amount of sand in all the cracks and crevices, it was home for a little rinse  in the sprinkler (and pee in the ferns). Again people...90 degree weather in mid-October!

        


(Pics taken Oct. 13, 2011)

Let's Go Cardinals!

We do love the occasional LA Dodgers live baseball game,but we're not really a TV baseball watching family. If you know us, you know that soccer RULES our roost. However, when the  Playoffs came around and the STL Cardinals were in the mix, we jumped on board since the man of the house is a former St. Louisian. Daddy even bought his little buddy an official STL hat!

 

Rowan really got into watching the games, learning the players names, figuring out the rules, cheering for homeruns and swinging a white towel after a win. The day after he watched his first game, he insisted we buy him a real and official batting helmet! And, he's become quite the slugger!

Way to go Cards!

(Pics taken Oct. 12, 2011)

Beautiful Boy & Beautiful Belly

Here is my beautiful boy posing with my beautiful growing belly at 18 weeks.

  

(Pics taken Oct. 12, 2011)