Celeste's Berry Special Birthday Party

I was so behind in my updates with the blog that I totally skipped over big girl Celeste's birthday party! Whoops! What a great party too! It was a huge turn out and the strawberry theme was a sweet success! The Traver's backyard is absolutely perfect and accommodates everyone with plenty of room left over! I was so envious! I so wish we had that kind of room at our house! My favorite dish was the empenadas (sp?)! I could have had 20 of those! And the strawberry salad was delicious!

All the kids are getting so big! Here we have Bridgette Carroll, Sydney Smith, and Brennan Sullivan

The older girls... Ryan, Carson, and Charlie

Michelle and Erin

With me too...

Syds looks sad :-(

The grown up table - no kids allowed! LOL

Shawna Traver and Mrs. Traver

Everyone is ready to sing to Celeste. She is so excited!

Can you believe that Claudia made this cake?? Yes, I said MADE it!!!
Now that's talent!

Blowing out the candle!

The Ladies!

A BERRY HAPPY BIRTHDAY CELESTE!!

Other Pics from the Weekend

Having Jeff and Julie come to town and stay with us was so much fun!! From the moment they got into town on Friday, we kept pretty busy up until the wedding the next day! Here's a little play-by-play of the action...

Julie brought the girls Easter gifts! They loved their new bunnies and coloring books and crayons! What a hit! Julie won them over from the get-go!!

Friday night, Claudia, Joe, and Celeste and Liz and Steve came over for a little Mexican fiesta! We made sure to keep a beer in Julie's hands at all times... it must be a little crazy to meet the "in laws" for the first time! Oo... was that a little presumptuous to call them in-laws??? Whoops! Hee-hee!!

All the March birthday girls pose for a picture! Yes, of course I turned this into yet another reason for a birthday celebration!
(P.S. I couldn't get the picture to upload in the right direction, sorry!)

Typical... big guy didn't make it through the party awake! Oh well, better for Julie to know the real deal now, right? To Steve's defense, he'd been awake since midnight the night before so poor guy was beat!

Charlie and Celeste modeled their jammies!

Saturday morning we took Jeff and Julie to one of our favorite breakfast spots, Schooner or Later in Alamitos Bay. The girls love to go there to see the boats. Mommy loves to go there for the a.m. cocktails (oh ya, I don't get to do that anymore... bummer!!)

Our little lifeguards!
(Mommy is thinking this might make a good spot for the Christmas card photo! Hmmmm...)

After breakfast we headed home to rest up before having to get ready for the wedding! After reading my last post, you all know how that went so I don't need to elaborate! Haha!!
THANKS FOR STAYING WITH US JEFF & JULIE! WE LOVED HAVING YOU!

Robyn & Don's Wedding

Last Saturday was Robyn Coleman's wedding down on Balboa Island in Newport Beach. It was the girls' first wedding and they LOVED it! They loved seeing the bride in her white dress. They loved running around with the other kids. They loved the "dance party." And they loved stealing the candies off the table. I wish I could say the day was uneventful but we got through some traumatic events to make it to this wedding (pretty much on time!) Julie and I share a birthday (which means we also share a horoscope) and it said that the first part of April was going to be bad luck... we had a bit of that on this day but made it through with smiles!!

Julie was a huge help with the girls all day. Aubrey didn't show up to babysit so we were frantically trying to get everyone ready and out the door on time. Poor Julie's dress zipper broke as we all tried to get it on her. She had to wear one of my dresses! And in that process, she walked in on Steve in his skivvies and socks! What a trooper Julie! We are REALLY close now!!

The handsome boys on the ferry!

While we were waiting in the bar for the reception to begin, Steve's work partner came cruising up in his boat! Steve went out to say hello! What a coincidence!

All of the family congregated in the bar! No surprise there... we tend to like to get the party started as soon as possible!!

Godmommy Katie was a great help with girls too! Actually... everyone was! Mommy got a nice break :-)

Charlie is being reminded of the need for manners at the dinner table! Haha

Ahhhh... happy sisters are loving the experience!

Toasting their glasses for the toast! Start 'em young and get 'em used to it... we have a lot of long-winded "toast makers" in our group!!

Ginny, Debbie (mother of the bride), Steve, and Ryan

A family photo!

Kindergarten Shots

Last week Ryan had her 5 year old annual check up at the doctor. I had been preparing her for this visit for a long time but it didn't make the inevitable any easier! In preparation for kindergarten, she had to get 4 shots plus a TB test (which is a needle that she watched go into her forearm)! OUCH!!! Poor thing cried her little heart out! She kept telling me that she was going to be so brave but then couldn't hold back the tears. I told her that she was still brave and that even brave girls need to cry! Shots hurt... no bones about it!!! And then I said that all brave girls that are getting ready for kindergarten need an ice cream to make them feel better!

And feel better she did after that bubble gum ice cream with M&M's (yuck!)

Ryan showing off one of her shot band-aids!

Swim Season Begins

The beginning of the swim season is upon us! We enrolled the girls in swim lessons this month to get their skills up to par before summer begins! We have switched to a new swim school this year after multiple recommendations. We had heard about it before but they don't take kids under 3 yrs old so last year, it was not an option for us (unless we were going to drive them to different places). So far we really like it (it's so quiet without all the babies... Whew, What a change!). These pictures are from last week's first lesson.

Ryan learning some strokes from Natalie. Ironically Natalie used to be an instructor at the old school but she has converted too!

Charlie patiently waiting her turn on the "kicky bar"

Shy Charlie quickly found some friends to hang out with while Ryan was having her lesson. No surprise there!

This school uses a surfboard to help the kids learn to use their arms properly in the water! Ryan loved it!

Look at our little surfer girl!

Charlie practicing her skills and loving every moment!

Happy Birthday to Me

Steve took me to my favorite Captain Jack's Restaurant to celebrate turning 36!

Visiting Vegas

Oops~ All these pictures ended up in opposite order of how they happened over the weekend! Blogger is REALLY FRUSTRATING lately! It doesn't let me manipulate the pictures the way it used to so I have to remember to upload them in order! In my rush (at 5:30 a.m.) to get them up this morning, I forgot so please look at them in from bottom up...

Claudia and Julie late night Saturday after the casinos!

Jeff and Joe give a late night, "Let's hug it out man"

Jeff and Julie at TBones Steakhouse at the Red Rock. We had a great table, great food, and great conversation.

Jeff giving a toast.
(Sorry Joe, I missed yours... I must've been so entranced in your words that I forgot to snap the photo)

The girls shopping. Claudia and I called this our "first date" with Julie. We were so nervous. We went to lunch at Spago which was so yummy and went shopping at the Forum shops. Julie showed us around. This is where I bought my dress for Kelly Coleman's wedding.
Claudia, Julie, Lori, Kara (Julie's sister-in-law)

Jeff and Julie on Friday afternoon. This was the very first moment we met Julie! I promise that I did give her at least 5 minutes before I brought out the camera so that I didn't frighten her about the blog!

Ryan is Buzzing About Turning 5

First of all... sorry it took so long for the post! I have been having trouble with the blogger site.
A few weeks ago, we had a casual family get together to celebrate Ryan's birthday. We invited everyone down to watch one of Ryan's softball games and then headed over to the house to BBQ. The weather was beautiful and it was a great day all around.

The Smiths (Charlie's Godparents) even made Ryan a sign to cheer her on at the game! We had a huge crowd! It was awesome. Ryan loved it!

Michelle and Sydney

Ryan and Steve

Carson holding the sign! Poor thing...She is beat from all the action in the game I think! LOL

Ryan getting ready to go up to bat! She had two great hits during this game!

Back at the house, Uncle Tim helped out with the kitchen duties! Thank goodness...Thanks Tim!

Nonna and Grandpa

Lori, Ginny, Casey, Nonna, and Grandpa! You are a lucky guy grandpa with all those ladies!

Lori and Steve - the proud parents of a 5 year old!

Aunt Nancy and Cousin Cameron

Michelle and Sydney

Marzie even wore yellow and black in true "Stinger" fan colors!

Ryan blowing out her candles! She wouldn't even tell me what she wished for! I can't believe it... so stubborn!

Poor Cameron has to hold his own around all these girls all the time!

Uncle Mike is teaching him the ropes.

Casey, Bubba, Marzie, and Ginny relax and hang out.

Nonna and Big Tim

The girls pose
Ryan(5), Katie (5), Charlie (3 1/2), Carson (almost 4)

Mike and Nancy

The made-up game of the day... bouncing the ball across the pool net. Nonna loved it!

Everyone ended up hanging out in the backyard while the kids played. It was a great afternoon. Thanks for helping bring in her five years everyone!