For those of you who have been dying to see Pete's first wedding cake, here it is:





I tend to think he's rather talented.

I helped Pete very little with this cake; I did a few of the polka dots and helped arrange the flowers, but mainly I just ran errands for him and kept people (Amelia) out from under his feet so he could work. It took him about 15 hours total between baking, assembling and decorating.

Oh, and did I mention that all this was on my birthday? So I was really quite sacrificial to allow him to spend all of my birthday sweating in the kitchen and paying me virtually no attention so he could focus on this monumental task. I was really proud of him.

And besides, he took me to dinner that night at one of my fave restaurants--Pizzeria 712, you can read reviews here, and he got me a super chic new touch screen phone that I'll probably never learn how to use to its full potential. So it was a good birthday. Even if he didn't let me put candles on his cake before we delivered it to the reception.

Nine Months Old

Hard to believe this little bug has been out as long as she was in.

And that she likes to eat leaves so much.

More Photos by Lesley

Since I casually mention Lesley's photography more often than I realized, I thought I might as well do a post dedicated to the beautiful work she has done for my family. Here are some of her pics:

Playing at the Pumpkin Patch

Since I was a little girl my family would go to Vineyard Nursery to Pumpkin Land to buy our Halloween pumpkins. Well Pumpkin Land has become much more grand than it used to be; I remember a few greenhouses and a pumpkin patch where we could choose out our own pumpkins. Now there is a corn maze, a little petting zoo, a light show, a pumpkin castle for kids to crawl around in, and lots of other climbing toys. A few mommy friends and I took our kids to Pumpkin Land for a get-together. I snapped a few photos, but of course the pics that Lesley-the-amazing-photography-woman took are better. See if you can tell the difference.

My photos:






Lesley's photos:




Baby's a dollface either way.

Halloween in Retrospect

I suppose I should learn to control myself. But honestly, celebrating holidays is really what convinced me to buy in to this whole having children idea anyway. Besides, I’m still a McKinlay, and McKinlays have a genetic tendency to go over the top in virtually everything they do. Go big or don’t go.

So it should not come as a surprise to any one that Amelia had two separate Halloween costumes this year--one to coordinate with her Dad for Halloween parties, and one for Halloween night that was just so cute I couldn’t resist.

So I spent WAY too much time (to say nothing of money) on Halloween this year. But . . . it also should not surprise anyone to hear that Amelia won first place in the children's costume contest (a $10 gift card to Target!) or that Pete won first place for his Halloween cake; The Great Pumpkin. Happy Halloween all!

Stay Puft Marshmallow Baby



I'm supposed to be the nerdy secretary. Whatever, it's the baby's costume that's cute!



I actually got Pete to dress up this year in a costume that didn't involve sleeve tattoos (he has quite an impressive collection of tattoo sleeves).



This is the babydoll's other costume. She's a hydrangea.





Behold! The Great Pumpkin rising out of the pumpkin patch!