A little birdie told me that someone {I’m not mentioning any names} is having a “special” birthday soon.
With maybe this on her list:
Only I think the birdie said the aqua bike instead of the garnet, but isn’t it scrumptious?
{bicyclespleasanton.com}
And maybe these, too, for when it gets chilly in the SCV:
{eastbay.com}
*****
Happy Humpday!
Tweet. Tweet.
We had a fantastic 4-day holiday weekend.
On Friday Jay and I took the kiddos to see Toy Story 3.
A small fortune…
3 tickets to TS3 3D: $40 (apparently 3 year olds are FREE…thank goodness!)
1 Large Popcorn and 2 Large Diet Cokes: $18.50
Cute movie, but don’t waste your money on the extra 3D charge….
{Super cute grainy cell phone pic}
Later that evening 3/4 of the Sullivan gang joined us for dinner ~ Teriyaki Burgers, dogs for the kids, BBQ Potato Salad (which I added chopped jalapeños to!) & grilled sweet white corn.
For the burgers I just added some Montreal Steak seasoning and teriyaki sauce to the meat before making the patties. Jay basted the burgers with the same sauce while on the grill. We also grilled some pineapple slices to go on top! King’s Hawaiian buns ~ YUM!
Grilled peaches (with brown sugar & cinnamon) and vanilla bean ice cream for dessert!
*****
On Saturday we headed to Venice Beach and Santa Monica for the day.
I was immediately reminded 2 minutes after arriving why I haven’t been to Venice in over 15 years….
But at least we visited and can check that off the list now.
Being entertained by the plethora of hilarious t-shirts for sale:
Waiting for Holdy to zip up his sweatshirt “by myself!”:
I think this is my “let’s get out of here” face:
By the time we got to Santa Monica the sun was out and it was gorgeous.
Jay was craving wings, so where did we go for lunch?
Think orange shorts. Super short orange shorts!
It was actually nice…we sat out in the patio along the street and people watched, sipped ice cold beer, dipped fried pickles into spicy horseradish sauce and shared HOT (as in 9-1-1 hot) boneless chicken wings dunked in Blue Cheese and Ranch.
{The fried pickles here are the best!}
The street entertainers were out in full force so we strolled up and down, listened, watched and dropped dollars in their buckets.
My fave for the day was a twentysomething girl who sang Andrea Bocelli’s “Time To Say Goodbye” half in English, half in Italian and Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic. Cheesy, I know, but I just enjoyed listening to her and we even followed her after she shifted her spot to the other end of the promenade.
Jay ducked into Sur La Table to pick up this, and I took the kids next door to Yummy Cupcakes for a couple minis. I finally sampled the Coconut one….new fave!
Saturday night Jay did another beer can chicken and we made soft tacos based on this recipe.
Drizzled with chipotle-lime crema:
Delicioso!
*****
The 4th of July was greeted with some Krispy Kremes:
Later that afternoon we joined Emma and her family for some pool time, chips & salsa, margaritas, and a BBQ before heading out to catch the fireworks with The Sullivans.
As American as apple pie:
We parked our chairs across the street from the mall and waited for the show to start.
Spotting one:
It was a great show once it got started!
Enjoying some ‘mallows:
*****
Yesterday it was a small dose of reality.
Jay and the kids dropped U-Rod at the airport. I stayed home and straightened up. We lounged around and kept it classy watching episodes of “Operation Repo” on True TV!
To close the weekend, we made Pink Lemonade Ice Cream and visited with some old friends from Gilroy…Gina, William & Matthew visiting family here in Valencia.
{Emilie, Elliott, William, Dominic, Matthew & Holden}
They played out in front for a bit after the street lights came on.
Summer at it’s finest!
*****
Back to the old grind today.
Counting points.
Doing loads of laundry.
Heading to the gym this evening to start working off the the yumminess of the last 4 days.
Hope your entering the week with wonderful memories of another 4th!
{Google Images}
Happy Independence Day!
Wishing you a star spangled day filled with all things partiotic.
God Bless The USA
Just peeking out to wish you a Happy 4th of July weekend!
Jay has tomorrow and Monday off…
TS3 ~ Grilling ~ Pink Lemonade Ice Cream ~ Santa Monica ~ Cocktails ~ Fireworks ~ Pool Time
Celebrating Red, White & Blue all weekend long!
{Patriotic Pics…Wawona, Yosemite ~ 7.4.09}
Please have a sparkly & SAFE holiday weekend!
I’ve been asking Jay for weeks, “What do you want to do for Father’s Day?”
I guess men and women are different in that guys don’t really care or put a lot of thought into certain things.
So, yesterday morning at 9:00am he was still pondering…
Santa Monica? Beverly Hills?
He settled on The Grove since there are plenty of places to choose from with the Farmer’s Market, The Cheesecake Factory and The Farm.
We strolled around the market checking out all the different options.
Cajun. Kabob. Italian. Mexican. Korean. Chinese. BBQ. Seafood. Breakfast dishes. Sandwiches.
Now, I too, was indecisive!
We shared a sushi roll while we decided on something else.
Jay got beef kabob (which I was glad because he’s been talking about kabob for awhile) with hummus, pita and some middle eastern take on potato salad with mint which was delish.
The kids got pepperoni pizza, of course.
I finally decided that I wanted some spicy Jambalaya from The Gumbo Pot. The line was long…
We also tried the hushpuppies…
…and the beignets for dessert!
Trying to cool theirs off:
Powdered sugar everywhere.
Yum!
We were successful and got out of there without buying anything other than our lunch.
NOT EASY!
*****
I wanted to fix dinner, of course, but Jay wanted to do Sticky Brown Sugar Glazed Babybacks on the grill. I went to the store and grabbed a slab and a half along with the fixin’s for some Bacon Blue Cheese Potato Salad and Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream. I prepared the dry rub (cayenne, salt & pepper) and made the glaze (brown sugar, beer, cider vinegar, red pepper flakes and mustard powder) and he did the grilling. Thanks, babe!
Bacon Blue Cheese Potato Salad:
Sweet, sticky ribs:
This was our first time doing ribs. I was a little nervous, but they turned out fantastic. Next time Jay said he will not have as many coals going so they can cook “lower and slower” so to speak, but they were outstanding.
The tater salad was a new find, too and it was perfect with the ribs.
We made our second batch of ice cream…
Peanut Butter Cup ~ Jay’s fave!
In the end, it doesn’t matter if you’re indecisive or have the perfect plan in your head.
All that matters is that we spent the day together as a family and reminded ourselves what an honor (most days!) it is to be parents to E & H.
From the moment the Clear Blue Easy stick told me Jay was going to be a daddy, I knew he was going to be a wonderful one.
That was almost 6 years ago!
These two HAVE decided that they have the best daddy in the whole wide world!
We love you, Daddy!
XOXO
Yesterday was Elliott’s first dance recital.
Another big milestone. I’ve been excited about it ever since I ordered her costume in February!
Her little class was assigned to the 9:00am show ~ yes, 9am on a Saturday! That translates to getting up real early which for me is fine because I do it every morning, but for a 5-year old who went to bed at 11pm the night before….it’s not fine.
She had an 8:30 check-in so I worked the timeline backwards in my head and decided she needed to be up around 6am. I know, I’m overly conservative with stuff like this. I don’t like to rush so I figured I needed plenty of time to curl her hair, apply her “make-up”, make sure all the ducks were in a row before I dropped her off with the backstage “babysitter” (who she later told me was Grandma Jean).
Needless to say, she was less than thrilled by her 6:15am wake-up call (I let her sleep in!).
After we successfully, yet not painlessly, got all the rollers in, we applied a little Mac StudioFix:
…some eyeshadow and mascara:
With each cosmetic would come more pouting and whining.
Once everything but the lipstick was applied, I told her “Now whatever you do, don’t touch your face” and turned my back for 20 seconds to grab the hairspray.
Well, what do crazy tired, grumpy kids do?
RUB THEIR EYES.
RIGHT AFTER PSYCHO PAGEANT MAMA JUST APPLIED THE MASCARA!!
Seriously, I went into scary pageant mama mode for a brief sec and I am not at all proud…
I jumped up and down (apparently that was my first involuntary reaction) and yelled, “What are you doing? You just totally messed up your mascara!”
I know. I know. Terrible Mom award right there.
Well, that made her tear up and make things worse.
So, I took a deep breath, grabbed some Q-tips and went over and told her that I loved her and that we will just pile on the blush and lipstick last minute and everything will be OK.
Honestly, I felt so stupid by the way I reacted. Jay witnessed the whole thing. I SOOO could not be a pageant mom.
I just wanted everything to be PERFECT.
And it was…
{She’s 5th from the left}
Overwhelmed by the barrage of flowers:
After the show, our friends hosted a bbq for the dancers.
The tutus were traded for two-pieces for a dip in the jacuzzi:
…but not for long:
They even reapplied their make-up after the swim!
Here is a close-up of the trophy BEFORE it broke into 2 pieces ~ $15 down the drain.
…and here is one tuckered out, vampy make-up wearin’, lollipop eatin’, rainboot wearin’ ballerina.
It was a BEAUTIFUL day!
The title of this post was going to be “We Have Ourselves A Kindergartner!” and as I was typing the word “kindergartner” I thought, “That’s a weird word…I wonder where it came from and what it means.”
Thanks, Wikipedia for clearing that up. You can learn more about kindergarten than you ever needed to know here if you are totally bored and have NOTHING to do one day!
Nevertheless, we do have a kindergartner in the house.
She chose one of her fave restaurants for her special dinner:
…and opened a few gifts which included this:
{Somehow I think this lunch box is going to win out over the cute polka dot one I got her!}
The cherry on top wasn’t the one that sat upon the hot fudge sundae, but the JOY & HAPPINESS we all felt as we watched Elliott march out onto that parking lot in front of the crowd with grace and determination (after telling me, “I promise I won’t make silly faces like I did last time”), perform her songs, wear her cap and display her diploma, present us with her yearbook and wish all her little friends a “Happy Graduation” while handing them their leis.
Yes, she is ready for Children’s Garden and we can’t wait to see what’s waiting there for her to explore.
We love you, Miss Elliott. You make us SO very proud!
XOXO
What a weekend…
Today we ventured to the pool. For me, Memorial Day should include some pool or beach time.
It felt great to be out under the cloudless blue, getting some real color for the first time in months. A rainbow of flip flops lining the edge of the pool and at the sides of lounge chairs. The sound of little ones squealing and splashing. Mommies and Daddies getting caught up with their friends while keeping one eye on their little swimmers. Plastic tumblers holding “prohibited” beverages. Orange stained Dorito fingers and towels showing the same. Grilled hot dogs & cheeseburgers, macaroni & potato salads, chips & dips and brownies & cupcakes!
Dive sticks. Boogie boards. Floaties. Goggles. Wet towels piled up on the warm cement. Funny tan lines already emerging and peeling crying kids away from the water promising them another trip to the pool SOON.
Kids that fall asleep on the 3-minute car ride home and still look like this after 2 hours:
And little newly turned 5-year olds that say, “I had SO much fun!”
Now, that’s a good day.
*****
This 3-day weekend was also full of all sorts of summer fare.
On Saturday evening, I made Carolina BBQ Pork again. Along with Down Home Baked Beans. And some Blue Cheese Coleslaw.
I don’t normally get excited about coleslaw, but this stuff is GOOD. Thanks to Hollie for planting the seed by mentioning this to me a few weeks ago!
Note: I only used 1/2 cup mayo as the bag of angel hair cabbage mix was only 10 oz. (and well, because frankly NOTHING should contain 1 cup of mayo). I also used Craisins in place of the grapes and they worked well with the blue. If you need a slaw recipe for your summer, you’ve got to check this one out.
We used some of the BBQ pork and baked beans for some Southern Skillet Nachos on the grill. I layered chips, chopped pork, baked beans and cheese in a cast iron skilled and Jay put it on the grill for about 10 minutes (until the cheese melted).
Traditional deviled eggs were a must this weekend, too.
Jay wanted to do some carne asada this evening…
Time was running out so I just went to Trader Joe’s and picked up some of theirs. It was very lean and super flavorful. We grilled some onions and peppers and made some mini burritos:
We washed it all down with these margaritas:
{Keepin’ it classy with the Keystone Light!}
I would say that we definitely had a well-balanced holiday weekend.
Dance class. Birthday celebration. Hollywood. Pool time. BBQ. A visit from Gramma & Popsi. Games of Twister. Laundry.
Yes, well-balanced!
About a week and a half to exhale and then we have a visit from Lolo & Lola, a preschool graduation and a Mardi Gras themed dance recital.
I have a feeling it’s going to be a summer to remember!
Nighty Night!
Another birthday party down in the books…
Even if it was “off site” this time around, I am beat!
It was a great time, though and the little gymnasts had a blast ~ which is all that matters in the end!
…and one last celebration at home with Emilie…
Happiness is writing this post, sipping on some Chardonnay and knowing that I still have tomorrow to relax at the pool, grill with family and friends and know that my sweet girl is tumbling her way into FIVE with a big smile on her face!
Now a break from party planning for a bit, but since I am a freak and already know the venue and theme for both kid’s next festivities, I will be on the lookout for goodies here and there.
The joys of OCD!
Today’s events were full of flips and flops and all around fun…
…more jumps and tumbles coming tomorrow!