My Baby Shower

At one point in my pregnancy I was more then worried that Cash would arrive before my Baby Shower. Thankfully he didn't an I was able to be showered with a ripe 35 week baby bump. Marsha put the whole thing together with help from my mother-in-law, sister-in-laws and mom. Marsha and I picked a beachy theme to match Cash's whale nursery decor. I was so grateful for all the loving friends and family that gathered for the occasion. I also shed a few tears in thanking everyone for coming because I had waited for this moment for longer then anyone I know and it was finally here (finally my turn).

RoRo's Big 3 Shoot Out Sheriff Birthday Party

Dayna's more than creative mind and eye did up yet another unforgettable event.

For Roman's 3rd birthday she created a Sheriff themed carnival style party geared especially for preschoolers and youngsters.

Tuck and I headed up to the Snow's house on Friday where we had play time and an adults night out dinner. At night all the boys snoozed while D and I loaded up the goodie boxes with hand cuffs and Sheriff badges.

The morning was filled with the set up of plastic table cover canopies (no help from the wind), candy filling (and eating), and the creation of all the booths in and around the house.



Tucker entertaining the boys all while checking his Fantasy Football.





Cannon practiced his dead guy face with a nail through his head.



Us fixing the plastic table cover canopy while Boden supervises.

Dayna is posing for a test picture at the mug shot booth.



Yummy candy table





Tucker and Garrett had more fun inhaling the helium then filling the balloons.

 Tucker maned the squirt gun balloon shoot out, I ran the artsy fingerprinting station, Garrett traced the children's bodies with chalk at the body outline station, Dayna was taking the photos at the mug shot corner, Hadyn collected the kids tickets in exchange for candy at the candy table, and the parents sat to socialize.
Then, the moment where all the other moms were sure that Dayna was the best mom ever.....a real life Sheriff showed up at the door to show the kids his big boy toys and cool cop car.

Roman and Cannon got to get in the driver's seat and push the siren buttons.



Roman tore through the gift wrap.



It was such a fun filled day that Boden was pooped and couldn't help but to take a well needed nap. 

Thank you Ro for letting us share in your special day with all your friends and family and please don't grow up too fast.

Birthday Partying

Jon Lyons had a fun birthday this year (I don't know how he felt but from my point of view it was fun). We all went to The Stinking Rose in Beverly Hills, which is one of my and Tucker's favorite restaurants. The birthday boy even took a fancy limo from Vtown. Us ocean people had chauffeur Tucker drive us to our destination. Sometimes getting older doesn't seem like such a bad thing.

One More Joins the 26 Club

The song "Girls Just Want to have Fun" was created with a purpose. Our girls get togethers are always "Fun." The excuse to get together this time was for Tanya's birthday. Another one of the girls will turn the big 2 6 (one more to go....it's calling your name Jen). We had a yummy sushi dinner in Santa Monica and gathered back at Tanya's place afterward.

It's Been Such a Long Time

Maybe.....just maybe you've been wondering what we have been up to the last few weeks.

The following events are not in chronological order.

I ventured to a work retirement party.

Ms. Dillion the VP of my school presenting my boss the retiree, Judy Dichter, the principal.
Me and a close friend/collegue/ mentor/room neighbor, Elaine DuRoff.
Me, my supervisor from CSUN (the fabulous Shirley Hoffner whom I deeply respect), and Ms. Kropp (a Kinder teacher)Ms. Wendy (the school librarian), Drama Sue (the school's drama teacher), me, teacher friend Karen Winston, and lastly my mentor teacher and student teaching support Laura Freedman

We went to Newport for my birthday.
Tuck and B playing Boccie Ball.
The sun even came out for us.


We went to Topanga Days.
There were more people than we expected and saw more "hippies" in one place then I've ever seen in my life. We staked out a spot on the grass lawn and watched the bands jam.


I planned Diversity Day at our school.
We created an Indian market place behind our classroom. I know no one knows the sweat and hustle that goes into our school's Diversity Day except the teachers at our school. But I'm glad that this year my class chose India for our cultural fair. They made rugs, booths, Gandhi fans (because it is hot in India), the boys wore dressy India hats and the girls made bangles out of toilet paper roles and puffy paint (what...I grew up in the 80's and the bracelets turned out cute). They even had little passports that they took with them to visit the other countries around the school. Fun times! And we've been gardening and nurturing our veggie plants.
There will be many more posts to come because I'm on Summer Break. There's now a new meaning to the song, "school's out for summer, school's out forever." I forget the band but I know you are singing it in your head just like I am.

What's in there?

Much to Tanya's surprise expecting mommies bellies aren't supposed to be poked.

For Kim's birthday this year we all ventured to a Mexican restaurant. She showed off her baby belly. We are so excited to meet baby Ryken in 3 short months.

also

Happy Birthday Er! We are so happy we got to celebrate #25 with you! Just keep our wishes in mind. We love you.

V is for Vegas

The weekend of the 18th some girlfriends and I ventured to Las Vegas for yet another bachelorette party. Marissa is getting married next month in New York. We began the weekend with a nice Bridal Shower in OOII given by her Matron and Maid of Honor. We flew to Vegas after the shower. Because Vegas is not G rated I'll leave out any details. I'll also only disclose limo shots. We had a fabulous time during a beautiful weekend.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Girls nights out are always an exciting event. Even though I knew the very next day I'd be relocating all our worldly possessions to Topanga, I drove to V-town anyway. Little did I know that dinner at BJ's would turn into a 2:30am bedtime. I love all my girlfriends, they make life so much more full.

Yes, the above shot is the infamous 10 second camera timer.

Then, Now and a Coverband

My family (mom, dad, Brendan and Tucker) drove to Bakersfield last weekend to catch up with some old friends. My parents friends, Bob and Sharon Chase, have two girls that are my age and I haven't seen them in 16 years.

THEN

dad, Sharon, Bob and mom

Connie, me, and Bobbie

We all reunited at Fishlips, a restaurant in their downtown area, to watch a ACDC coverband rock on stage. The band was called Bonfire, they rocked, and tried to be very authentic ACDC.

NOW

Brendan, Connie, Bobbie, me

It was a blast! My brother, Connie, and I were up in the front row singing all the songs. The singer even stuck the mic in our faces so that we could sing along (Tucker's not the only one in this family with singing talent:).

A COVERBAND

The next morning we met them all again for breakfast. We got to meet Connie's 1.5 year old Blake and Bobbie's 5 week old Payton. Thanks Chase family for touring us around, we had a wonderful time.