Lately

Yep, our last post was Easter. Bad Toneys. Here is a quick catch up on the happenings of Mr. Isaiah:

A deep love and excitement for all things "ball":

Getting very skilled at building lego towers:

Blowing lots of bubbles:

Disneyland:

Giving mommy lots of love for mother's day:

Being over all cute:

Our newest addition has been a train table (thanks nonna!) and a huge train collection (thanks carrie, cathie & boys!). He plays with his "choos-choos" all day long. I'll post some pictures soon. 

We had our longest time spent away from last week when we went to Hawaii for a wedding. We had a great time enjoying Honolulu and celebrating Brittany and Josh and Isaiah had a blast with Nonna, GG and grandma & grandpa. He recognized our voices right away on the phone and got better at talking on it when someone is actually talking back :)   However, we were more than ready to be back together.

He has also become very good at singing melodies. "Jingle Bells", "Happy Birthday" and "The ABCs" are his current favorites. It just makes my day to be driving along and hear his sweet little songs from the back seat. 

Overall, things have been wonderful and we are so enjoying seeing our little baby grow into a little boy. 

Christmas Music!

I posted this on my work blog , but I thought I would put it up on here as well.

In our house, Christmas music can be heard playing the day after Thanksgiving. We eagerly await the first play. Music is a huge part of my life and Christmas music, whether it is old classics or new originals, really brings the season to life for me.

The past few years, our most played Christmas album is by Sufjan Stevens , one of our favorite artists. It is actually a collection of 5 short albums- he records one each year and released these as a set. I could listen to them over and over. Quirky, creative and entertaining. I highly suggest checking it out. Click here to listen to it on iTunes. If you can, I would suggesting buying the actual collection, rather than buying it digitally, because it comes with a great booklet, a funny poster and stickers.

The second Christmas that gets a lot of play around here is The O.C. Mix: Have a Very Merry Christmukkah. It is super random because I did not even watch the show, but just happened upon it a few years ago. I love the unique songs. I skip "Christmas is Going to the Dogs", but other than that, it is a really cool album. I especially love "Rock of Ages" and "Christmas".

One of my new finds this year is The Hotel Cafe presents Winter Songs. I love it! One of my favorite singers, Sara Bareilles , who just got nominated for 2 Grammys! and who I also happened to go to college with, sings the opening song with Ingrid Michaelson and it is all good news from there. The Hotel Cafe is a small venue up in LA that we used to go to during our time at UCLA. The album has some more well known ladies, such as Fiona Apple, Colbie Caillat and KT Tunstall, mixed in with some great newer artists. Some beautiful stuff. Even better: some proceeds from the album will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Along side those are classics such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, which my husband and I danced to last night once we had decorated our tree :)  

Here is a list of some of my other Christmas favorites (in no particular order):

1. Coldplay: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

2. Ben Harper: "Silent Night"

3. Death Cab for Cutie: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"

4. Norah Jones: "Peace"

5. Sarah McLachlan: "The River" (Rachel Yamagata's version is also beautiful)

6. Harry Connick Jr.: "I Come with Love"

7. Ella Fitzgerald: "What are you Doing New Years Eve"

8. Mariah Carey: "All I Want for Christmas is You" (gotta love it, right?)

9. Sarah McLachlan: "The First Noel/Mary Mary"

10. The Darkness: "Christmastime (Don't let the Bells End)"

11. Kristin Chenoweth: "The Christmas Waltz"

12. Mick Jagger & Joss Stone "Lonely This Christmas"

13. Louis Armstrong: "Christmas in New Orleans"

14. Sarah McLachlan: "Song for a Winters Night"

15. Billie Holiday: "I've Got my Love to Keep me Warm"

16. Band Aid 20: "Do They Know its Christmastime at All?" (Bono, Chris Martin, Dido, Joss Stone, The Darkness, Keane and others)

17. Remy Zero: "Someday at Christmas time"

18. Tyler Hilton: "Merry Little Christmas"

19. Otis Redding: "Merry Christmas Baby"

20. Paul McCartney: "Wonderful Christmastime"

21. Kingston Trio: "Last Month of the Year"

22. David Toney (my hubby) & I: "Feed Trough" (You can listen to it here . #11. #11-#14 were from our Christmas single album last year. We record one every year to send out with our Christmas cards!)

What are your favorite Christmas songs/albums/artists? I'd love to hear!

We love San Diego

This weekend, we officially felt like San Diegans. We went to the big holiday event at Balboa Park with our good friends Jon and Jenetta . David's mom and Grandma came down to visit and got to spend some time with us there as well. It was so fun! I cannot believe that 300 thousand people go to this over two days. Crazy!

The organ pavilion was beautiful! We watched a cheesy choir performance while eating our crepes and french onion soup from the French tent.

I was so excited that Isaiah could wear his new cute little pea coat!

tired & overstimulated Isaiah:

Finishing off the night with gingerbread men and hot chocolate- one of my favorite parts of the night!

It definitely helped get us in the Christmas mood. I am sure we will make it a yearly tradition!

Speaking of Christmas, I recently started a series on my Joyful Weddings and Events blog highlighting some fun Christmas ideas and finds. Be sure to check it out!

Happy Christmas season!

being sick is no fun

David had the flu last week.

I came down with it yesterday.

So far, Isaiah hasn't gotten it bad. Lord, please keep him healthy! I cannot imagine how sad it would be for him to feel like I have felt the past day. Just in case he does, do you have any tips for comforting a baby with the flu? Specifically, how do you handle the throwing up?

Cute, happy Isaiah:

Running around the house with no pants on one sock:

Stay happy and healthy little man!