Noah H e a r t s Milagro.

He visits the horses each morning after breakfast.
He jumps on bales of hay in the feed barn.
He picks wildflowers for mama's vases.
He swings and slides on the sunny playground vista.
He naps with the sounds of the birds and the bees wafting through breezy open doors and windows.
He runs alongside of the Lab pups, Pancake and Marmalade, each afternoon.
He collects rocks in his Halloween pumpkin.
He harvests lemons and blood oranges from the little hillside orchard.
He climbs and plays and sits and ponders and runs and squawks.

Noah H E A R T S Milagro Ranch.

For more pictures from our move and 1.5 weeks at our new home, visit us on flickr.

Happy Friday.

Welcome To Milagro Ranch, Our Home Sweet Home.

Oie. Oie. Oie. The ups, the downs, the stress and then the release, of moving.

We had, hands down, the most magnificent, fabulous, fantastic and splendiferously excellent friends helping us before, during and after moving day--and I have to say that I have never had so much fun moving before. Many, many beautiful, gracious thanks are in order for the following near and dear marvelous movers: Asami, Atsushi, Gabe, John, Kathleen, Yuka, Mark, James, Candice and Cassidy. The topping on the moving cupcake was the great piano feat--many hours of strategizing and heavy lifting, straining and cussing later, the circa 1889 behemoth was moved in one piece from it's former bustling home mid-city, Los Angeles to it's current place of residence, Milagro Ranch, Malibu.

I have so much to tell, thus much to write, but few hours in which to devote to writing it all down for now. Dean is super busy unpacking at work leaving little time for him to aid me in my settling down efforts here at the home front. But, hark, there is light at the end of this dim tunnel. He is set to have a three day weekend beginning tomorrow. Not only will I delve into un-boxing and decorating our new cozy little cabin, but I will also try and chronicle our life here at Milagro Ranch so far--one and a half week in. All I can say is . . . it's heartstoppingly beautiful. I have to stop and ask myself at least once an hour if this is really home . . .

In the meantime, enjoy . . .

New Spaces And Fun Places: The Movie.

New Spaces And Fun Places.

It is funny how packing up a home is for most adults a daunting, dreaded and scattering task as all things important get boxed up and taped and stacked. But for kids, it seems, moving is as exciting as finding themselves in an entire new cardboard playground each and every day. As we shuffle and shift things, Noah Finn finds new places to play, hide and explore. While packing up the kitchen today, I moved some large mixing bowls that were stored under our island. Noah quickly replaced them with his presence and it has been a favorite hideout ever since. What new shall be discovered tomorrow?

Anniversaries And Birthdays And Moving, Oh My!

Talk about an eventful week--this week is the definition--it's a week chock full of events. Anniversary yesterday, my . . . ahem, choke, gasp . . . 31st birthday on Friday and moving day on Saturday. Sheesh, Calgon take me away. . .

Anniversary celebrations yesterday were just what the Doctor ordered (flowers like those of my wedding bouquet and a surprise dinner date topped with garlic ice cream) and the birthday will hopefully pass uneventfully unnoticed (what's 31, anyway, but a reminder of how close to the hill you are?!). And, moving, well so far so good, my friends. We are uncharacteristically organized during this grand packing event. Thanks to the help of beautiful friends this past weekend helping to entertain and contain our Noah Finn, we were able to pack up more than half of our place. I may even venture to suggest that having a child forces you to plan, prepare ahead of time and be organized in a way that being single lacks. With the assistance of more Noah wranglers this week and Dean taking Friday off for last minute preparations, we plan to box up the remaining baubles and bangles and get this moving to Malibu feat going already.

So with fingers crossed for beautiful weather and strong-muscled friends present to help on moving day, we trek along to the spot of our next California adventure. Wish us luck!

10 Years Of Love, 3 Years Of Marriage.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

These pictures from our wedding can be found here.

Wordless Wednesday.

More pictures from our week and Wednesday at flickr.

Beautiful Things: The Moving Edition.

As we prepare to move over the next two weeks, I am sure my lamenting of what will be lost is only going to grow more often in occurrence. Though I am very excited about the move, it is in my nature to resist letting go.

Much will be gained naturally as a result of the move--we'll be surrounded by more wildlife and nature than we'll know what to do with-- but I cannot help but morn the loss of the man made beauty present in our current home that we will be leaving and losing.

I imagine that my next few "Beautiful Things" posts will be of those beautiful things that I anticipate missing and want to ensure I have captured ample memories of.

So, here is the first of what I imagine will be several collages of beautiful things found in our home soon-to-be-no-more lately.

Hoppy Easter.

Noah's first real recollection of the bunny, egg and basket filled holiday was a smash! On Friday we mingled at the L.A. M.I.L.K.s' (Los Angeles Moms I'd Like To Know) Easter soiree at the park where Noah collected and then destroyed brightly colored plastic eggs and their healthful contents--dried fruit and cereal. Skip Saturday, which was mostly filled with packing for our upcoming move (thanks to Nick--my sister's boyfriend who watched Noah) followed by a visit to our favorite local pizza establishment, Village Pizzeria, and fast forward to Sunday's festivities--a morning PJ egg hunt and an afternoon picnic at the park with Asami, Atsushi and Kai.

It was so much hoppin' we almost can't wait until next year! And, tons of more pics are on our flickr site, here.

My Little CasaNOAH.

Noey Finn and I have been seeing the same group of mamas and babies on Wednesday afternoons since he was about, oh, 4 months old or so. Early on, we deemed our little clan "Babies On Blankets" (or BOB for short) but as the babies have become increasingly mobile, it was only accurate to revise the title--to "Babies OFF Blankets". And just as the name has changed, so has our meeting location. We had to ditch our soft, green, grassy knoll under the shady pines of Barnsdall Art park in Los Feliz in search of more occupying play structures, sand boxes and ample romping obstacles to keep our toddling tots entertained long enough for us to catch one another up on current spawn news.

This week's meeting found Noah Finn in awe of Louisa's new knack for scaling the rolly slide at Griffith Park. He whined at the bottom as he watched her zoom past with precision and skill. But I saved the most interesting Wednesday bit for last. See the girl holding Noah Finn in not one, but three of the pictures above? No, we don't know her. Nope, Noah Finn doesn't know her either. But, he sure does look comfy snuggling in her lap, doesn't he? He hung with little doe-eyed girlie and her doting female companions for a good 20 minutes or so. I mean seriously, they fawned over him. I know that he has a preference for boobies--but those are mine and they squirt milk. Could it be that my little boy is already loving the not-my-mama ladies? No . . . yes?

Just call him, little CasaNOAH!