a pleasant saturday

Casey might disagree with my post title. Lucy was actually quite a pill all day and we spent many hours in the car driving from LA to Orange County, around, and back up. We were both a little on edge with cranky kids. But at the end of it all I thought, ah....that was a pleasant day!

First, I met my two fun girlfriends for breakfast. I haven't seen them in years and it was nice to catch up (more on that in another post).

Second, we met our niece Leah. She was born on Friday at 5pm and here she is just 23 hours old. What a cutie:
Gorgeous mom:
Good looking Dad:
Welcome to the World Leah! She already seems excited about it.
Third, we got ice cream at Rite Aid. We were stuck in HORRIBLE traffic on Newport Blvd. It was going to take 45 minutes to go 1 mile, so we got off and had treats instead. My choice of course:
Casey had something fruity, and the kids had chocolate:
While we sat there, an employee from Mother's Kitchen next door stopped by and whadaya know.....he was a balloon artist! So he sat there with us for 15 minutes making cool balloon animals and swords for the kids. They loved it. Yippee!
Fourth, we stopped at an awesome park I haven't been to since I was a kid: Tewinkle Park. I remembered it being great....but often our childish eyes are bigger than our adult realization. This place, however, did NOT disappoint! It's a huge park with beautiful lakes, bridges, waterfalls, ducks and geese. There's a large hill in the middle for climbing, riding bikes, etc. There are volleyball courts, a skate park, and a huge play structure for kids. Lucy could have stayed for another hour. If you're ever in Costa Mesa, check it out! It's near the OC Fairgrounds.

Fifth, we drove home with a sleeping Owen and a peaceful toy-playing Lucy. We had salad and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner and watched Flash of Genius.
What a fabulous movie. There's wasn't much hype on this film, so I'll give my hype to it now. RENT IT! We loved it. Based on a true story; Greg Kinear; and a great look at the human spirit and how we deal with life's curve balls. Get it this weekend! (in between your patriotic celebrations).

And there you go. Definitely a pleasant Saturday.

simple pleasures

Today was one of those pleasant days where we just hung around the house all afternoon and had fun. It was warm, yes. But it was perfect for running around the backyard naked, getting wet, and sitting on the back porch in towels. How I love these little kids.

lunch today

As I type this, my mouth is on fire. Woooo! One huge bottle of homemade salsa; purchased at our ward auction the other week.
This is MY kind of salsa. Tons of tomatoes, no huge onion chunks (I know the onions are in there but they're small enough that I don't get a huge ole crunch of raw onion. yuck.), cilantro, and some real kick! Reminds me of a salsa my mom used to make when I was a kid. Me and the cousins would sit out in front of our house, after-school snacking on chips and salsa. Gotta ask her for that recipe....

Lucy Crayon Hands

Let's hope there's no adolescent ostracizing down the road. Such a gift often comes at a price.
At least there's no crazy black hair or crayon marks on her cheeks.

Master Casey

A couple weeks, Casey graduated with his Masters Degree in Economics from Cal State LA. He has worked hard over the past two years, keeping his full-time career during the day and then heading to class at night and we truly are proud of him. He'll tell you that he got as much of a degree in Econ as he did in "how to jump through administrative hoops". Let's just say that Cal State LA is the DMV of colleges. And thus I'm even more proud of him for sticking with it, even when he was completely frustrated with his academic counsel. Here's to you Master Casey!
It was an early morning getting out of the house at 7am with both kids. But for the most part, they were really good sports. Having both sets of grandparents there was a huge help....and provided great conversation while we patiently waited for thousands of students to walk up, shake hands, and walk off with an (empty) diploma case.
Owen either sat on Grandpa Willard's lap or climbed on as many folding chairs as he could:
On the drive there, I had told Lucy, "we're going to Dad's graduation at his school! And he'll be wearing a black hat and black dress." So when we got there, all she wanted was to see her dad in his black dress. I kept telling her we had to wait till the graduation was over and she wasn't thrilled about that....
Finally, Casey's big moment arrived. I was able to walk down to the front for a few minutes to snap photos.
Standing with some class mates:
Ready to walk up, hood draped over his arm:
Of course we knew there'd be a picture like this, right? Fah-feddy, fah-fah
One of the professors, hooding the graduates:
A misplaced Renaissance festival-er (seriously, who comes up with these designs?)
And.....it's official! He has the hood. It happened. He did it.Walking away, hopefully feeling a little more accomplished and a little heavier with all that clothing on.
Congratulations! Our little family:
And our bigger family with Casey's parents on the left and my parents on the right:
Parry, Casey, and Linda:
Us getting kicked out of the stadium for being the last ones standing around, taking pictures:
And these were just too cute and funny. Gram and Owen....
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After graduation, we navigated 4 different cars onto 3 different LA freeways and headed:
Where we brunched at:
Casey and I have heard about this place for years and it seemed like the perfect outing for a truly LA experience. We can't say the food was all that amazing, but the atmosphere was perfect. Check out where our table was! We could see exactly what was frying up.
the wall menu:
The kids were a little worn out by this point:
But we opened some gifts:
And we had plenty of this to go around (mmm, sourdough french toast):
Thank you parents for heading up and over for the occasion. And Casey, we are so proud of you and always appreciate the great efforts you put in for our family. We love you!

Summer Giveaway and some thoughts

Some you have seen this on MADE already. But in case you missed, I'm posting it here too. There's a huge summer giveaway on my sewing blog, MADE (that blue-ish button/box on the top right of my blog. You can always click on that and go right to it). The giveaway ends Wed night, so check it out!
This was the largest photo-shoot I've put together and it was really quite fun. Five little girls, acting giddy together and drinking sodas? It was way too cute. Such varying personalities. Such cute little faces.
The sewing blog has been such a fun adventure. When I started it almost a year ago, I really just wanted to share my ideas and create an online portfolio of things I've made. It began mostly with comments from friends and family. And I'm completely amazed at how the readership has grown. I've met talented, interesting, fellow mom sewers and crafters from all over the world, who leave comments on MADE and who also share their lovely blogs with the rest of us. It's the updated pen-pal system! I hate to sound late-90s, but seriously, the internet is AMAZING.

I've been flattered to be interviewed on a few fabulous blogs here and here, one being my favorite Wardrobe Refashion site. And I was able to Guest Blog on a great sew-along site called Presser Foot with the Shirt Dress project. A big thank you to such great ladies!

I'm not sure where the blog will go long-term. It's still mostly an outlet for sharing ideas. But I hope it takes me to bigger places one day. Life is always interesting that way. I can definitely say though that this (designing, sewing, photographing, and blogging) is something I truly love.....much more than any full-time job I had during my career.

If you have a talent, craft, hobby you love, I highly recommend starting a blog for it. Your eyes will be opened to how many hobby-peers you have out there. There's so much to share with everyone! Many thanks to those of you who've kept me motivated on MADE with your lovely comments. Your sweet words really do mean a lot to me.

Crackers and Frosting, circa 2009

If you ever had graham crackers and frosting when you were a kid, then I'm sure you still love it. I had some left-over frosting the other day and decided to make us a snack. But I realized that graham with frosting is too much sweetness. So....I put it on Ritz Crackers instead and YUMMMM. Excellent Salty/Sweet combo.

Grab a box of these (love the retro packaging):
Spread 'em with your favorite frosting. Mine was left-over THIS.
And enjoy. Cream cheese sweetness with salt-brushed tops:
Casey and I thought we had a money making combo on our hands! Then we saw a pre-packaged version at the store. Ritz beat us to it. But homemade ones are definitely much better.

happy Father's day

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful dads out there! We hope you had a nice day, got some chocolate or a tie or a good book, and ate yummy food. We love you Casey. Thank you for working hard for us and for being the fun dad who wants to play silly games and run around the house. I know the kids adore you.
We spent our evening at Casey's parent's house. We ate yummy food and yep, Casey and his dad got good books! We finished with a lemon cream pie. The flavor was delish but the recipe needs a little tweaking since it turned out like lemon soup. Back to the drawing board....

jeans that fit

Lucy is a skinny girl. So often her pants are too baggy and too short. I've been on the search for the perfect Lucy jeans, and I may have found them! GAP skinny jeans, found at Goodwill for $3, and with a great worn out knee (which took her a day to realize. She said, "uh oh mom, there's a hole in my pants!" I told her it was so that her leg doesn't get hot. She was pleased with that).
And since she was posing so funny, I snapped a barrage of pictures. We did two photo shoots this day....the other for this little outfit. I guess she's used to my camera by now! What a funny girl.
I'll probably fix the knee one of these days. But no rush, since she'll be wearing these for a long time. There's still a good 4 inches of cuff to unroll.

Random Happenings

We are alive! Just busy. And well, the blog has taken the back seat for a week. Much has been going on and much deserves its own blog post. But for now, here's the randomness...

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For about 2 years now I've formulated a blog post in my mind called "does a skunk live in my backyard?" and I'm posting it now because the answer to that is, Yes. And tonight I saw him. But he's not so much like this:
He's a little more in this vein:
It's true, the city of Pasadena smells like a skunk. And since I have a greater sense of smell than Casey, I feel like I'm constantly complaining about it. It's not even that skunk smell is so horrible. But when you wake up in the middle of night because you can smell it seeping in through your creaky windows....well that's just obnoxious.
Tonight as I pulled in our driveway I saw the reasty creature skamper from our back door and into the foilage by the dumpster. EW.
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On happier notes, Lucy announced yesterday (in these exact words), "today I'm going green!"
How thrilling! I soon realized, however......she only meant that her eggs should be served on a green plate and her liquids in a green cup.
Ah.
I mean, how could this girl believe anything Al Gore says about melting ice caps?
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Owen loves to push strollers and play with dolls way more than his sister does.He's usually the one that gets Lucy roped in to pushing them around the yard.
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We bought our first watermelon of the season the other week and it was A.MA.ZING. The picture doesn't lie. Guess what we paid for this beauty? $3 at Vons! More please!
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Our landlords had our backyard trees trimmed. I hadn't noticed how bushy and tall they'd become over our 3 year stay here.
Before:
After:
Let's hope the summer's not too hot since our shade is now, gone.
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Owen's personality continues to make me smile and laugh. How I love this little face:
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And really, nothing is cuter than the kids gathering their chairs and waiting at the back door for Dad to come home:
They hear him coming!
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And that's it for now. So much more to blog about.....Casey's graduation, parties, Laura's baby shower, Lucy's jeans, a yummy recipe. So, more to come.
Have a great day!

June Gloom

Every year I act surprised when the month of June rolls around and it's cloudy and cold. I think to myself, isn't it summer time? Shouldn't it be sunny and warm? And then I remember...duh, I've lived here for 32 years....and it's always like this in June! In fact, I probably posted a similar post like this last year.
So here I am to tell myself, GET USED TO IT. And to tell you what we've been up to on these cloudy days.

Remember that pie I made last week....
I can't say that Casey helped me eat any of it. But I will report that both kids are pumpkin pie fans! Hooray!

We've played at the park, the mall, and a few times just had friends come over and play in our backyard. Enjoying the drizzly day:
Sunshiney-Hannah:
Playing in our ghetto asphalt pot-holes:
Enjoying the opportunity to wear a hood:
Sammy on the back porch, sporting his neon casts. He's doing really well since his leg surgery a few weeks ago and comes out to "play" as much as he can. Lucy doesn't really understand why he can't run around with her and Hannah. But she thinks Sammy's "pink boots" (as he calls them) are super cool:
And baby Helene, chilling wherever and going with the flow:
Well, nice knowin ya, June Gloom! We'll enjoy you while you last since the summer heat is coming soon. But I wouldn't mind if you let the sun peek out every now and then. Just a suggestion.

the Fair

A couple weeks ago our Stake held their annual Fair and every year....they go all out. Train rides, pony rides, 4 bounce houses, a dunk tank. And it's all FREE! They didn't have churros this time (which I was bummed about) but Lucy got her Fair-fill of pony rides (though I'm not sure how much those workers enjoyed it):
We watched our friends ride around too. Chloe (who will be moving to Boston in a week! Lucy will miss her dearly):
Caden:And our friends the Marriotts (who will be moving soon too. booo):
Owen looked a little like this for the first 1/2 hour:
...till we found him a bounce house and some livestock to pet:
Of course a 7-Eleven pit-stop for slurpees and Tootsie Pops really did the trick:
We love the Stake Fair!

18 months old

Yesterday our little Owen turned 1 1/2 years old. The baby is gone!
He's such a little boy now and I love it. Owen is a real sweetheart. He really loves to cuddle, socialize, and wants to be where the action is. We still have a love/annoy relationship some days, as he equally likes to whine....but I keep hoping that once he can talk, the whining will lessen (and probably just turn into whiny words. But let's think on the bright side!)
He has a good sense of humor. Sometimes when holding him, I stand very still and stare at his face, trying to get a reaction out of him. He totally gets it and slowly (with a straight face) turns his face very close to mine, stares into my eyes, and then he slowly starts to smile. We both start laughing.
He adores being outside. He plays in our toy car, picks up rocks, throws and kicks the ball, and just explores.
He has a cute shaped head. A funny thing to note but Casey loves to rub his little round head.
He loves being around Lucy. He wants to be where she is and do what she's doing. I often play police, breaking up fights over toys, etc. But there are many times they are so cute together and I even find them sharing. Those moments really make me smile.
It's not always easy to get a picture of them together but these expressions are so them:
Of course....wanting to do what Lucy is doing usually results in this (as does, shoving his mouth with chicken nuggets):
This little guy keeps me laughing.

He gets frustrated easily when he can't figure something out. This was his first time having a tootsie pop and he was frustrated that he couldn't bite through it, no matter how hard he tried. He finally gave in and was happy to slobber all over it. But I'm glad he has a determined heart.
Overall, he is a cute, cute boy! We love him. We love his personality. We love his energy. We love that he sleeps through the night (hooray for sleeping in the kitchen). We love that he loves to eat! And we love this little face. Often it looks just like this....with some scrapes, a slightly runny nose, and some leftover granola bar bits:
Welcome to the boy years Owen!

May is the new November

The weather this week has been odd. It seems we're getting the June Gloom already. Usually the clouds blow off by afternoon but on Friday they lingered all day. It wasn't entirely cold (we wore shorts with long sleeved shirts) but it was gray and dark enough that on top of making cookies with the kids, I made this after dinner:
and had a late night sample.
Nothing says May 30th like a pumpkin pie graph.....

kookie

Two things were certain today:
Lucy is kooky.
And Lucy likes cookies.
She's been in a really silly mood these days. Making little jokes, laughing at herself, dancing around and acting silly (though that's not really new), and just being funny. And since it was a cloudy and gloomy day it seemed the perfect afternoon for baking cookies. So we did. And we ate them in the kitchen.
I love this personality.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day and Labor Day are the perfect holidays for family, sunshine, and bbqs. And we were able to do all of the above!
We drove down to OC to hang out with everyone. And while Eric and Laura went house shopping, we and my parents took all the kids to the RSM lake to ride the paddle boats.
One of my all-time favorite people, my dad:
The boats were only $1.25 for a 1/2 hour. A dollar twenty-five??? Really? They could have said 5 bucks and I would have said, sure. The lake was popular that day so we had to wait 20 minutes for our boat. The kids were getting restless....
but Casey created entertainment:
Then we geared everyone up in their (required) life-vests. Lucy and Ava loved them:
Owen was less than thrilled:
But he didn't complain when Casey did this:
He just hung there and took it like a man. Not sure which looks worse, his squished nose or the strap riding up his crotch.
Three little monkeys, ready for the boat:
And three adults ready to chaperone:
And we're off!
It was actually a workout cycling those pedals (and holding a child on our laps). I'm embarrassed to admit that after 10 minutes, I was worn out! A well spent $1.25 though. We'll have to do it again.

Next we skipped, jumped, danced, and hopped over to the ducks. Lucy NEVER stops moving.
The ducks were marginally interested in our food (I guess that's what happens on busy holidays). But there was one big goose that kept coming back for more.
And Owen found him comical.
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Back home, we had a real cookout with my parents' portable fire-ring. Bryan and Rich got the corn roasting on coals:
Meredith continued the legacy of styling her nephews' hair. Often you'll find Jeremy with a crazy do, but I guess Owen's old enough to join the club.
Thanks Mere Pear!
Owen couldn't get enough of the red soda:
(no matter who was feeding it to him):
And we all enjoyed a yummy meal of hot dogs, hamburgers, smoked corn on the cob, watermelon, smores, cookies, and cherry cobbler. Aunt Karen:
Meredith and Camille:
Eric and Laura:
And even Lucy got in on the action. I thought she would have forgotten about the time she tried corn on the cob last year and liked it. But I guess she didn't!
We love living close enough to both our families for fun days like these. Thanks mom for all the yummy food, thanks everyone for the good conversation, and thanks to all those who gave their lives for this wonderful country. Happy Memorial Day!

what a Saturday

Our Saturday was jam-packed and I loved it!
It started with Lucy waking up earlier than normal. But instead of fighting it (with her watching an hour of TV while I tried to continue sleeping) I got up, showered, and got things in motion. The kids made eggs with dad, I packed up our day-bag of snacks, etc. and we were all dressed and out the door by 10am. Quite an accomplishment for a Saturday morning.

Casey found a cute Strawberry Festival online so we drove down to Garden Grove to enjoy it. Everything about their main street, old-town drag spoke of strawberries:
That's my kind of fire hydrant:
There was a parade down Main Street with all the regulars.....and Casey's favorite: a bunch of Shriner's:
Then we hit the carnival for all sorts of rides and treats.
should Casey need to use the facilities....
We all got something fun out of the day. Lucy got to go on two rides (which were way more money than I care to tell). First, Dumbo with mom:
Then the Merry-Go-Round with Dad. She told us 10 times while waiting in line that she wanted to get the blue dragon. And since there was only one on the ride, she was worried:
but........Phew! Got him:
Owen's treat was, hmmmm....hanging out and taking in all the sights:
(he took a face plant on Friday and his upper lip is quite red. I'd like to say it looks better today, but after taking two more falls this afternoon he only looks worse. There are all sorts of scratches now on the left side of his face. The joys of being 18 months old):
Casey got his mountainous Strawberry Shortcake:
which he kindly shared with me and Owen. Lucy wasn't into it (shocker):
And my treat??? Kettle Corn, of course! BUT, not from the fairgrounds. There was none to be found. But since we were so close to Disneyland, I made Casey stop at Downtown Disney while I ran in and picked up a bag. It really didn't take too long and was so worth it.
So while we did this on the car ride home:
The kids did this:
It was a joyous hour.

Later that afternoon we ate leftover homemade pizza in the backyard. (Casey doesn't always look mad while he's eating)
Casey and the kids washed both the cars! (I didn't even have to help)
And we worked on our latest project....stripping, sanding, and giving a new-life to this awesome table I bought at a garage sale two weeks ago:
we found the actual wood under all those layers of gunk:
I just can't decide what color it will be?? Here's the before:
The after will either be all-white (maybe with bright colored chairs) or all-yellow (lemon yellow). I won't paint it till we have an actual house to put it in and I get a feel for the dining room. But there's plenty of work for me to do till we reach the painting stage!

We finished our day with some laundry, movie watching, and panda express for dinner. Mmmm, I love a busy day. And I love a warm shower at the end to clean it all off.

Adam Lambert is even louder in person

it's true. And I give you my personal review because.....I went to the American Idol Season Finale last night!
But first let's recap recent events, because.......
It's a been a GREAT week for TV.
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Last Wednesday:
Our friend Brian Petersen's Volkswagen commercial aired two weeks in a row; during the LOST finale. Awesome time-slot. Funny Brian.

Monday:
We watched this favorite supporting actor:
on the 2-hour 24 Season Finale. Wasn't the best finale we've seen. But the president's daughter got the shaft, Aaron Pierce (above) played hard-ball, and we loved it.

Monday Night (while watching 24):
My friend Lyndsey emailed: "I have tickets for the American Idol finale tomorrow! Do you want to go???!"

Need you wonder my response?

Tuesday:
I dropped the kids off at Casey's parents house in the morning, headed home to get "idoled-up", and took the train downtown to the Nokia Theater for the American Idol finale!
Me, excited (about going to A.I. and being on the train without kids. Thank you Linda!):
interesting sites along the way:
Finally at Union Station.
After leaving my camera and other essentials with Casey at his office (and running a few blocks through downtown traffic), I met up with my group (Heather, Marissa, me and Lyndsey):
woohoo! We made it. And we had the official braceletes-of-entryThese girls were great fun to hang out with.
And thus ends the American Idol pictures (since nothing was allowed inside; not even a purse). So words will have to describe the rest.....

* We didn't have official tickets; we were Seat Fillers. But it ended up being awesome. As everyone took their seats, we jumped into any empty seat we saw. If the real ticket holder came for that seat we jumped up and grabbed a different empy seat.
* Lyndsey found a spot and stayed there the whole night. I wasn't far from her and 10 min before the show....all the former idols (Danny Gokey, Matt, Allison, Lil, etc) came and sat RIGHT in front of Lyndsey and not far from me. It was fun to see them all upclose. They were a cute group. And Scott (blind boy)'s hair is (as expected) really bad....looked like a curly, matted-down dog.
* Lyndsey chatted with Allison about her red hair and guess what, she dyes it herself! No bleaching beforehand....just dye.
* David Archuletta walked in and stood right by my chair. He's goofy, bouncy and still looks 12. People were going crazy over him, including a 19 year-old guy sitting by me. Um? Really?
* I got booted from my sweet chair behind the judges but found another great seat a little further back and next to a cool fashion designer who's on a book tour for her new children's book. She and I chatted all night.
* Anthony Hopkins was rows ahead of us. I could see his shiny white head all night. Lyndsey over-heard him and his wife talking to Kris Allen's parents afterward and telling them, "we just love your son". Wow. Can you imagine? Sir Anthony Hopkins thinking YOU are the celebrity?
* I talked to Brooke White for a few minutes during one of the commercial breaks. Casey and I knew Brooke and her husband Dave in our single's ward about 5 years ago. I've seen her on and off over the years, but wasn't sure she'd recognize me. But immediately she smiled and said, "dana!". She's such a nice person and a real sweetheart. She's very humble and spent most of our conversation asking what I was up to. She, however, is coming out with an album in July. Good for her.
* Ryan Seacrest stood right in our aisle when coming back from the SECOND commercial break (the break right after both guys sang their first song). AND, I'm in the shot for about 5 seconds! If you recorded the show, check it out. As Ryan walks down the aisle, you'll see a girl in a green shirt to his right. And then I'm right next to her, waving my arms back and forth, acting like a true idiot (but happy to be on camera!)
* Aaron Pierce (my favorite 24 actor above) sat a few rows ahead of me. At the end of the show, I walked up to him and said, "last night's episode was brilliant. You've always been one of my favorites." He smiled and replied, "thank you darling". What a sweet man.
* Lyndsey saw Katie Holmes walk in with Suri, stay for one song performance and then leave. Random.
* Carrie Underwood performed. She had sweet glittery eyeshadow and rockin boots. I want them.
* Adam's voice was seriously loud and awesome. He is brilliant. I didn't care for either guys' last-song performances. BORING song. And I can see now why people in the audience boo or cheer at the judges. Watching/hearing the performers live is a far better experience than on tv. You get wrapped up in the moment, as you would at a concert, and forgive the little technicalities.....thus, not always agreeing with Simon (which I usually do).
* Paula is a primadonna. She entered the stage, swaggering in a jade green gown, and waving like a beauty queen as if to say, "Fans...I have arrived!"
* All the judges got up and left the stage during each commercial break. Except for Paula. She could barely walk in her dress. Awesome.
* The place was swarming with Industry execs, 14 year old girls (in skanky dresses that even 18 year olds shouldn't be wearing), mad Idol fans, and tons of crew members.
* The show started taping at 5pm and we were done by 6:15pm. Impressive!
* It was truly fun to be there in person. Felt sureal. Something everyone should do! Next season, go to the website and sign-up.
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Since we got out earlier than I anticipated, Lyndsey dropped me off at Casey's work and he and I spent the evening together. He had a 9pm softball game on the westside. So we made at dinner stop at our favorite Culver City taco shop:
with these awesome ladies preparing the delicioso:
and these fun sights in the background:
We ate our tacos over at Brett's house, just a few blocks from Titos, and watched the first 1/2 hour of A.I. with Brett and Devin. Those guys are a sure-thing for good conversation and great laughs.

We finished the evening at the Albright Sportsmen Softball game. And since it was cold, I only lasted for 25 mins and spent the rest of the time reading in the car. It's always fun to see the guys again. Casey and Brian Petersen:
What a fun, fun day!
I'm rooting for Adam (and tried to vote, but couldnt' get through). We'll see what tonight brings. Thanks Lyndsey for the sweet hookup!

Business Casual

Apparently headed to a post church-nursery meeting, with rag and important notes in hand.

Jeremy and Gram's birthday party

We've been party animals recently (heading to OC twice for various Jeremy parties) and I'm finally getting around to posting about it. So here is happy birthday to my amazing mom:
And cute, fun, 7-year-old Jeremy:
We ate yummy dinner....
(with Mere entertaining Owen the whole time. yay! She is honestly a wonderful Aunt. I probably say that in every post but she's so sweet with the kids. She will be a great mom some day):
My beautiful sister Camille:
The kids played inside,
and outside.
We blew up balloons:
Opened gifts (with Lucy trying to help with each one. Gram was a good sport and let her pitch in):
Camile and Bryan got this awesome gift for my mom. July 4th is her favorite holiday and it often involves her dressing up like some patriotic figure. Lady Liberty was an excellent choice!
We gathered for a group pic and the timer accidentally went off:
The whole bunch of us (um, why does Meredith look 7 feet tall?):
Singing....
and blowing out the candles:
We finished up with lots of bubbles.
and sidewalk chalk.
A very pleasant evening!
Happy Birthday Mom and Jeremy. We sure love you guys!