Only in L.A.

Remember back when we were kids, and there were no such thing as American Girl Dolls? It was a sad and empty time for all of us, but fortunately for me, I have 4 daughters that I get to live vicariously through, and I intend to make the most of that. I have been telling my girls that when they turn 7, they would be able to choose their very own American Girl doll to love and cherish as their own. Much to my surprise, that day has come already. Lorelei turns 7 next Saturday, but that date happens to coincide with my cousin's wedding. So we celebrated early. Mimi and Papa came, and we all went to the Grove in L.A. to go the very special and amazing doll store for Lorelei. As we drove there, I said, let's see who can spot someone famous first, and Dan threw out the challenge that it wouldn't count unless we took a picture with them. Much to my surprise, fresh off the American Idole Finale, there at the entrance to Nordstrom was this week's winner, Lee Dewyze! I was so excited, we all talked with him, and took pictures as evidence!

So today was a success, we spotted a celbrity, got a picture with him, drank good coffee, and spoiled Lorelei with the doll of her dreams (still cheaper, by the way, than throwing her a bday party). In gist, we're grateful for these moments that break up the daily grind, and give us something to brag about, I mean blog about to our friends.

Generation Gap

I emailed the pics from my previous blog to my parents and my sister because I know they don't check my blog regularly. I love the different responses they gave me:

My Dad: "How did you do that fancy blurring thing on the edges? That was great, that was amazing..... do you have a special program... " etc. etc. etc.
(Basically he thought I was a genius and the equivalent of a professional photographer).

My sister, Beth: "OOOOH, Why did you do that cheesy thing where you blur the edges on those photos you sent me. Don't ever do that again, it doesn't look good."

Alrighty then....

Wanna Be Photographer

I see all these beautiful photography blogs, & think to myself, "I need to take cute pics of my kids," and then I try and I realize, I'm not too good at this. However, I do have some pretty cute subjects that put up with my attempts!

Open House

This is Lorelei's big week. Open house at school last night, grandparents day today..... My mom made her the dress she wore, thanks mom! And Dan's parents drove until 1am to get here in time to take Lorelei to "Grandparent's Day" at school. Wow, my kids should feel so loved! I love that Lorelei is at that sweet age still where she thinks Open house and grandmas and the dollar section at Target are all SOOOO COOOL! I guess I need to enjoy these moments. Of course, the realist in me kept thinking last night, someday I'll have to visit all 3 of their classrooms in one night. That thought made me tired.

Anchors Away

I was thinking of getting a new print to hang in my room and so I began scrolling through the many pages of art.com to get some ideas. My bedding has a lot of royal blue in it, and so I considered a nautical theme for the picture. I typed in anchors and in the midst of dozens of ocean blue images of various ship anchors, there was a picture of the silver haired fellow you see above. It took me forever to figure out why a poster of Anderson Cooper was an option for my bedroom decor. Once it hit me, I thought it was so funny....

And by the way, a poster like that hanging in my bedroom, not a bad idea.

TMC Reunion

There's me with Sandhya, Ashley, and Kristy
Tricia's beautiful lunch for us sans Tricia, my camera died before I

got a picture of her, but not before I got a picture of her ADORABLE baby Caleb!

This past weekend Dan watched the girls ALL BY HIMSELF for the FIRST TIME EVER overnight, for TWO nights in fact, so that I could go to Valencia and meet up with my former TMC wingmates and have a reunion of sorts to celebrate Tricia's new baby, Caleb, above. It was amazing to me that 12 years have passed since we were all living in the dorms together, and yet it was like we just picked up right where we left off, that's the beauty of true friendships, especially because we're united together in Christ. I was so encouraged to see that though there have been weddings, births, trials, and grief for each of my friends in the past decade, they've all been brought through each moment by God's grace. That underlying foundation was evident to me in each of their lives, and I'm so thankful for that.

I also realized, I'm definitely getting old, because after two very late nights (staying up talking), I was EXHAUSTED on Sunday night, and pretty much have been of no good use since then. I'm in a daze, I keep looking around thinking, "wow, I have a lot to do....."

Hopefully, I'll snap out of it soon, because if I don't they may decide to feature my house on the next episode of hoarders.

Kinda Cute if You Ask Me

I think all of my kids are super cute because, well, they're my kids, and I think it's some sort of maternal obligation you sign up for the second you see them and love them even though they sort of look like aliens at first glance. So yes, I think all 4 of my daughters are adorable, but Morgan is like funny cute... she makes these faces that crack me up. I thought I'd take a few pics today to try and capture what I mean.

The Binky Fairy Strikes Again

Soo, I'm one of those moms that bases a large portion of my parenting successes and failures on how accessible the nearest "binky" is in my house. But alas, my days of raising babies are gradually transitioning into a new stage of life, as my youngest is just weeks away from her 3rd birthday. And so the time has come yet again, to have a visit from the binky fairy. We did this with the twins, we told them that we would put all the binkies on the porch, and that while they were sleeping the binky fairy would come and collect their binkies for the tiny new babies that needed them, and replace their well-worn, disgusting pacifiers with some sort of "big girl" treat.

Well, we decided to try this whole charade yet again for Morgan, and so Friday night, Dan and I split up, he took Morgan and Maylin to Home Depot, I took Lorelei and Noelle to Target to find some sort of "big girl" toy for Morgan. Naturally, I had to explain what I was doing in the toy aisle to Lorelei and Noelle. The thought hadn't occurred to me that this would alter their universe. It was like the truth dawned on the two of them at once, "Why are you buying a toy for the binky fairy..... wait ARE YOU the BINKY FAIRY?" Lorelei looked at me, "Does this mean you're the tooth fairy too?"

Ahh man. I may as well buy them all ipods and let them get emancipated now, their childhood has ended. Pretty soon they're going to realize I don't actually know EVERYTHING, and then I'm really in trouble.

Needless to say, Morgan's now binky-free. But she's suffering more withdrawal symptoms than any of the others did. It's really sad, and not just for her....