Best Neighbors in the World!

OK, so these are not the "prettiest" pictures in the world, but they capture a very fun Friday evening over at Nicole's house. All the kids love getting together and luckily her philosophy is the same as mine, "The more the merrier". Everyone brought something scrumptious to share (nothing fancy of course), and then the adults engaged themselves in this wild and crazy game called PIT. The kids were coming in telling US to be quiet as we shouted as loud as we could all at the same time in order to gain the cards we needed to be the "winner"!!! Nicole and I were definitely the loudest and probably the most competitive of the bunch.

Hip Hip Hooray for Ice Cream!!!

Visiting with our new neighbors Fawn and Damian.

Crazy game of PIT...

Budding artists

Andrew has always looooved to draw, and it's fun watching the other kids follow in his footsteps. The evenings in our home are finally becoming a little more peaceful and quiet. The kids are quite good at entertaining themselves while I putter around the kitchen making dinner.

One of Andrew's funky caricatures.

I love the innocence of Miles' drawings.

Ruby also looooooves to draw and paint. Especially princesses with really long hair and dresses. They are a little bit "The Nightmare Before Christmas"ish. This particular day she wanted me to give her a rainbow face. A little cheesy but she LOVED it!

Lily, Lily, Lily....loves to cut playdough into 100 little pieces and make everything into food. Has just barely been able to sit still long enough for me to paint her face. Now she doesn't want to miss out on anything that her big sister does!

Celebrating Jessica's birthday

In celebration of Jessica Rockowitz's birthday, as many of us as possible gathered at a pizza joint in Laguna Niguel. The party consisted of myself and Ruby, Kelly and Mia, Simone and Dylan and Tyler, Jessica and Haley, Grammy, Shari, and Rebecca. Good times. In fact, not only was it Jess's birthday, but she is also graduating from college this year and getting married to her boyfriend of many years, Kyle. What an amazing year!

I just couldn't resist posting this hilarious picture of Tyler. He's such a good little baby and fell asleep effortlessly in my arms during the party.

Dylan, Mia, Ruby, and Hayley

I thought this was a lovely picture of my Grammy. Who would EVER think she is in her 70's!?! On our way to the pizza joint, we talked about how she met Grandpa Roy. Apparently she turned him down the first time he asked her out, and then turned him down again the first time he asked her to marry him! What a heartbreaker. :) After pizza I went to Cherry on Top (my favorite yogurt shop) with Grammy, Auntie Shari and Rebecca. We chowed down on the good stuff then went back to my moms and cuddled while watching American Idol. They are so cool.

Jessica and her BEAUTIFUL engagement ring.

Date with Daddy

Once a week Yannick takes one of the kids on a special date. Ruby chose to get her nails done for the second time in a row. It's turned out to be a good thing because she hasn't sucked on her fingers for the last six days, for fear of ruining her nails. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end to her finger sucking!

We FINALLY go to Sea World!

A couple of months ago the kids and I set a goal to memorize all 13 Articles of Faith. If they were all memorized by March 1st, then I would let them miss a day of school and I would take them to Sea World. Amazingly, they did it! And for the first time in my life I have the articles of faith memorized as well. Such a good feeling. I'm really proud of them, and I know they felt very pleased with their accomplishment. Bravo!!!

Andrew and Miles goofing off by the dolphins. Ruby was devastated to the point of tears that she was unable to pet a dolphin. We bought season passes so hopefully next time!

We were all mesmerized watching the whales.

I gave each of the kids 10 dollars to spend however they wanted. Ruby spent hers as fast as she could on cotton candy, and Miles immediately bought a huge popsicle. The two of them spent the rest of their money on treats and candy. Andrew waited to the very end of the day and spent his money on a stuffed dolphin (he loves his stuffed animals). He endured watching his brother and sister chow down on treats the entire day (of course he begged a few tastes off of them)--however I'm impressed with his self control!

Ruby with her cotton candy face :)

We were all fascinated by these HUGE bottom dwelling fish. They'd just sit there like statues in the water for minutes at a time. One of them apparently liked Ruby.

Ruby and her two body guards.

An amazing sight.