Summer = Swim Lessons

Every summer, my girls look forward to their 2 weeks of swim lessons with their beloved teacher, Mrs. Lynne, and every summer I forget to take her picture with them! First of all, she's wonderful, secondly swim lessons are wonderful because the girls get to play and swim and most importantly, the lessons make them very, very tired, so they all sleep in each morning! Ahhh, bliss. Quiet mornings, happy children, what more could I ask for?

Whatcha Been Up To?

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays.... for her birthday, Lorelei
got to get a pedicure with her BFF, Lilah, and her sisters. You
may think this is a bit extravagant, but it's way cheaper than a
party, cheaper than a jolly jump, and oh so much quieter! Am I
smart or what?
Immediately, following my bday, and Lorelei's bday, is
Owen's bday.... and nothing says party to a 2 year old
like a plastic pool. Good times.
Immediately following the end of the school year
came a rare, but sweet visit from 2 of the girls' cousins
from Tennessee : Ivy & Chloe, they are pretty much
grown ups these days, ages 18 & 20. Could these
brunettes be foreshadowing my future?
When the cousins came, we hit L.A. and then S.B.B.
as in Santa Barbara baby. Here are the girls in front of
the mission. We looked for Oprah, but she was nowhere
to be found.
Then we decided to crash yet another birthday
bash in an attempt to mooch more free cupcakes
for the girls. This party was for cutie-patootie, Bennett,
who is not pictured, but I promise he was there.

In all, June has been full of sugar, chaos, and very little sunshine, but hey it's summer, and so I'm hip-hop-happy!

Life's a Beach

This month we had a brilliant idea. We thought we would have a birthday party for both myself and Lorelei since my bday is on the 1st of June, and her bday is on the 5th. Of course all of our friends have a bunch of kids so we knew it would be a little tight at our small, 1300 sq. foot abode. But no worries, we live in sunny, southern California, so we thought, we'd bring our party to the beach! That way, I'd avoid the mess and disaster of dozens of little kids running through my pathetic little backyard, and everyone loves an excuse to enjoy a day at the beach, right?

So this is what the beach usually looks like. In fact it was so beautiful last

Monday (Memorial day) we could barely tear ourselves away from it.

But on Saturday, the beach suddenly felt like this......
Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating and maybe that's not an

actual photo of Ventura, but seriously, June gloom set in, and the

beach was FREEZING COLD. So after 40 minutes of teeth chattering,

wind- blowing over our tables/decorations, and my parents looking

utterly miserable, Dan said, Forget this let's all go back to our place....
So there are some of my friends who had just driven 30 minutes to the beach, and now look - they're packing up and driving another 30 minutes back to my 1300 sq. ft. home that was completely messy and unprepared for guests.....

You'll notice in the picture, I'm smiling, laughing actually at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. I guess, the weather is sort of like children, it cannot be controlled and it often acts up when you most want it's cooperation. Fortunately, I'm 35 now, and wise beyond my years.... okay maybe not so much wise, as resigned to the fact that my dreams of Martha Stewart events are not so much ever ganna come true. And actually, that's okay, because in the end my friends were troopers, my sister made amazing cupcakes, and my kids had a lot of fun. So you know, Happy Birthday to me.