Loveliest of Quilts

Grandma made this lovely lovely summery quilt for the summer birthday girl, bright pinks and greens, polka dots and flowers, Julia has slept with it every night since it arrived!

Morning of the Party

Here we are the morning of the birthday parties for Julia and Papa. Took us awhile to get in gear, but we finally pulled ourselves together and had a wonderful time!

Jason reading Jordan a book, a book on both their levels, hahahaha!

Julia doing her favorite thing right now, chatting online with friends..

Jordan and Julia watching a video we took of Jordan being silly, he is quite vain...loves to see himself on video..

Jason and our stinky dog, who desperately needs a bath, a shave, a nail clipping...poor thing..'who's my mother?'

Me, pre-makeup, pre-tea, pre-anything..self portrait, wow, wonder what I was thinking??!!

Birthdays--again!

Birthdays birthdays--wonderful stress that they are! We have 2 in July, Julia and Papa, a week apart, and at the beginning of summer, perfect time to celebrate! I hosted 2 parties on the same day, the first for Julia and her best buddies, pictured below. We made sundaes, played Bingo and opened lots of fun presents--Julia has enough stationary to last her till she's a grandma!

Present stash!



Later in the afternoon we had a BBQ with our local friends for Papa and Julia, lots of food, lots of deserts, lots of drink! Oh, and presents too!

Renee and Kris' boy Keegan, or is it Kailan...sorry Kris, i keep forgetting!!! Well, there's Kris peeking out the back..

Daddy and Mr. Shibuya, chillin' in their seats..

Jordan entertained himself by climbing up our car.. gave us a few scares, fortunately Papa is tall enough to keep close..

Janina and her best buddy Emma, both 14 now

Kris brought this great apple pie, which I had for breakfast the next day!

I made a Baked Alaska, my first ever, and everyone kindly ate some!

Julia opening her gifts. She wanted an Ipod Nano so we let everyone know, and they all contributed to the cause--THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Papa and Bebe--who now says 3 words--Daddy, Car and Papa--HEY! WHAT HAPPENED TO MAMA???

More presents and cards..

Ken and I, being silly, or normal, probably normal, well, no, silly...ask our friends..

Patti and Emma, Patti brought some lovely pies, which I didn't get a picture of!

Kris's husband, who loved Renee's potatoe salad, everytime I saw him he was getting another scoop!

Of course, the teen girls, again!

Daddy and Mr. Shibuya, taking care of the grilling..or burning..a bit of both..

Ooops, that's the end of my photos! Wow, I should've kept that camera tied to my wrist! We had tweener boys as well, and little boys--Jay, Jo, and Keegan (or Kailan?), whom failed to show up for pictures. Catch you all later!

Playing Hooky!

Our latest hooky--a trip to the beach! Sand, sun, water, food, a day together, perfection!

Julia, Jordan, Jason and Chester, waiting for the car to start!

Janina, trying to get into the car

Mom and Dad, just before departure

Dad trying to put up the tent--with some direction from Mom, he figured it out

Juli, can't wait to jump in the water!

The boys--first ones in the water!

Jason, trying to be 'cool', hard in the sand and sun

Jordan wasn't sure if he liked the water or not, took some time to decide.

But muddy sand was awesome fun!

Janina, the teenager, spent most of the day lounging and listening to music, playing with her cell-phone..

A quaint little sand-castle, or hut..

Chester had to stay leashed the whole time, poor thing. We didn't realize the beach was off-limits to dogs, so we snuck him in and kept him on his leash. He ate lots of sand though.

Daddy taking a break in our tent

That's the end of the pictures, oh well! I do good for the first 20 minutes, then forget about the camera!