A Star is Born!

Ryan had her first grade show last week. The classes were separated into seasons by wearing different colors. Her class was to dress in blue for summer. Any color blue. I wanted turquoise or aqua but I couldn't find something warm enough for her to wear in those hues... so navy and baby blue it was!

Waiting in line to get into the auditorium to "claim" our seats! We arrived early enough to be 3rd in line... woo-hoo! The downside to that, the girls had way too much time to play around.

Here is Ryan with one of her best buddies, McKenna and of course, little sister, Chuckie!

Extra time in line gave mommy a chance to be in a picture too!

In our fantastic seats (again, 3rd in line hee-hee), we had the good fortunate in sitting near Charlie's little boyfriend, Grant. Ironically, Grant is the little brother of Ryan's kindergarten boyfriend, Dillan. You probably remember Dillan from the pictures last year of Dillan and Ryan as dance partners. Now, Grant and Charlie are in the same class and the poor girl is smitten. You can practically see the stars in her eyes... all gazed over in L.O.V.E.

Charlie and Grant were totally content with the iTouch. She dazzled him with her electronics!
Nice work Charlie... good catch!

When the show began, I made little miss flirty come back and sit with mom and dad. I swear I got a glimpse of high school. I seriously think she tried to roll her eyes at me but couldn't quite get it down yet.

The show began and was so cute! Ryan talked about it for weeks and weeks.

The teacher in me wonders how much instructional time was spent on practicing this show?

The mother in me laughed and smiled and was so proud...

so I guess in the end, I will sacrifice a few instructional minutes for this moment.

(Uhhhh, but only if it was a "few" minutes!...haha)

Ryan should have collected an Oscar for her performance. She had a line in the second act.

She got to say, "And now we would like to introduce a musical documentary of a year with Frog and Toad. Join us as we experience all the seasons with two special friends."

Ahhh, a star is born!

Nice work Ry-Ry! Great performance

The Rookie and the Veteran Together at Last

The day has finally come that Charlie is old enough to be on a "real" team (as she calls it). Softball has started for the Grace Girls! The girls, probably for the only time in their sports' careers, are on the same team. Because of the starting age for T-Ball and the cut-off date, Ryan is playing in this division for the third time (aka "the veteran") and Charlie is probably one of the youngest in the league (aka "the Rookie").

We got Charlie all her own gear. She did NOT... I repeat, did NOT want Ryan's hand-me-downs. She picked out her own backpack, helmet, and bat and was beaming to have it all on and ready to go!

Look at how big that gear looks on her little tiny body?

Precious.

"The Buginator" as she likes to be called, has never been happier.

In this league, the girls can either put their real names or their nicknames on their jersey. Most put a nickname, especially when they are in these younger divisions.

Last year, Ryan had "Ry-Ry."

Short.

Simple.

Close to her real name.

Totally made sense.

Charlie feels confident to go with "The Buginator"

I tried to warn her that it might not fit. She hasn't budged.

Alrighty then Buginator, you got it!

Coach Ray Rojes gets the girls excited about the upcoming season.


Ryan has such a different attitude this year than in year's past. She has always been timid out there on the field. Not this year. Not this girl. Either she finally figured out that she likes softball and is pretty darn good at it. OR.. she has realized that she is the oldest and likes it!
LOL... either way, I'll take it. It's fun to watch her.


First time out in the field. The coach, bless his heart, has never coached little girls before. He said to them, "Line up in the field between 1st and 3rd base." I wish I would have gotten a picture of the girls' "what is he talking about" faces. huhhhh...
"What's a field?"
"What's 1st base?"
"What's 3rd base?"
This picture is AFTER Steve and Mike got them all situated.
(I suppose as much as 5 and 6 year old girls can be situated on the first day of practice.)


L.O.V.I.N.G it! Go get 'em lil Miss Charlie!

You can see in this action shot the girls who have or have not played before.

Charlie, in the foreground, obviously has not.

Ryan, Kendall, and Addie all in their veteran "down and ready" positions ready to go.

Practice is over! Ready for next week Coach!

Here's to a great season Grace Girls! We hope you will all join us for a game!

Welcome "Peace" and "Lily"

We took the girls to Build-a-Bear for their very first visit. the result: 2 new additions to our family

WELCOME "PEACE HUG GRACE" AND "LILY LIVEY GRACE"

to our family.

Look at how excited Charlie is in the picture... all lit up!

Ryan filled up Peace with just the right amount of stuffing for proper hugging.

Charlie was in awe with the process...

Ready to pump...

The perfect "cushy-ness"

Go ahead Charlie, kiss the $5 heart that you'll put inside of Lily and never see again!

Wow, the profit this place makes must be unbelievable...

Clean "Lily" and "Peace" girls.

(This was Steve's favorite station... I bet you can't imagine why! LOL)

After we finished clearning their new family members, we headed over to the wardrobe department. Whoa, totally overwhelming. I think I forgot to take pictures at this point because it became a little stressful making such fashion decisions. Steve "checked out" at this point... having girls is great he says.. but the whole fashion part goes right over his head!

Anyway, after a stressful Build-a-Bear fashion "try on every outfit in the store" extravaganza, we headed over to GulfStream for an early dinner.

Phew, uh... waiter... can I get a "little slice of heaven" and quick please!

New Years - Around the World!

Over the years, we have gotten pretty creative with our NYE celebration... especially with kids in the mix. First of all, we celebrate the East Coast New Years. 9:00 just seems like such a better scenario... we bring the kids with us (because babysitters on NYE is non-existant) and this way everyone can be on our way home before the driving REALLY gets bad out there! Since no matter where the party is hosted, most of the group will have to travel pretty far to get home. West LA, Seal Beach, Dana Point, Pasadena, La Verne, Las Vegas... a pretty big circumference, I'd say. Anyway this year, Vince and Erin hosted the festivities in Pasadena.

We chose a theme... which is relatively normal.

This year... Around the World.

Each couple chose a country to host and provided an appetizer and drink to share. We set up our countries around the house and traveled around the world.

First Stop... Japan

Ko ne shi wa... sake bombs anyone?

Way to model proper Sake-Bomb procedure Beanie!

Ryan and Tracy perfected the execution...


A little sushi and edamame for the appetizer...

And don't forget the decor...

And the food...

Steve and I were in charge of hosting Japan so we brought costumes too.

What you can't tell in this post, is that Erin... the hostess... downloaded the National Anthem to each country and created an Olympics vibe to the night. At each stop, we recognized the country with a musical tribute.


Next stop...

The United States of America! Our good ol' US of A!

Hosted by the twins... Beanie and Megan and their wonderful hubbies....

After the National Anthem, the group belted out a lovely rendition of "God Bless America"

(which actually happens at most of our events... no need to have a USA theme for this crowd pleaser!)

Middle America was the food theme for our great country... dominoes, funyeons (sp?), and beer bongs!

They even had these little, sparkly cowboy hats to wear in their country.

Onward to "Judea" hosting by the Smiths

(I know... you are probably wondering, what??? Long funny story... we'll leave it at that.)

I don't really remember what we had to eat on this stop but I do remember the trivia game. I know my children are going to read this as they grow up, so I refuse to tell you how poorly I did with my Jewish history. I think my dad is probably laughing right now... because I never was really good at history!

Irish Coffees and pastrami sandwiches from Ireland.

Thank you to the husband-and-wife-to-be, Tracy and Scott.

sisters enjoying a little sweet piece of heaven... Shana and Erin.

Dana and baby Kate.

I can't believe how big she is getting.

Claudia and baby Jack.

At some point, the babysitters only work for so long. at some point, these little ones need their mommies. Claudia and Joe hosted Mexico. Although, I don't think we actually visited "Mexico" formally. Claudia makes the most amazing guacamole so everyone devoured that before the world tour began even!

Dana and Bryan hosted Italy... Chianti and some fabulous appetizers. They were so fancy, that I don't even know what to call them... but delicious... all the same.

A little mingling mixed in between stops to rest...

Because, you know, "traveling" is hard work :-)

Now on to Germany hosted by David and Shana Hayden (Erin's sister)...

Hefeweizen and this amazing German-sausage-toasted bread-thing that was to die for...

I think I had 4!

After we finished traveling all around the world, Erin organized some Olympic events!

The girls team was triumphant of course! The boys cheated the whole time!

A quick time-out to bring in the New Year....

"Happy New Year!"

And then back to the game...

Erin worked so hard on this. She created a Jeopardy style game with questions about everyone in the group. Boys had to answer about girls and vice versa.

A couple questions that were asked about Steve... let's see how well you know him:

"What is Steve's favorite meal?"

"Approximately, how many pair of tennies does Steve purchase in one year?"

the girl having to answer the second question needed a clarifying questions, "Shoes for just Steve? Or for Lori, the girls, and Steve?"

Erin clarified, "Just Steve."

(Good thing because that answer could have gotten ugly... LOL)

The answers:

"Wheat Thins and Diet 7up"

"6 pair of tennnies... new ones every other month"

After the game... Erin even had set up an obstacle course. We didn't get to fully take advantage of her hard work though... all the kiddies were already in jammies and almost ready to call it a night. But it was awesome... and needed a little recognition!

A little fun with the kiddies at the end of the night! I can't believe they were all still awake!

"Oh Charlie... your eyes are gonna freeze like that!"

Look at Wyatt...

King of his throne with his lovely maids in tow!

He'll be posing for Abercrombie in no time!

WISHING EVERYONE A FABULOUS 2011!