Catch up

We’ve been on this crazy ride since May started, and I don’t see it ending any time soon…  so much going on with the kids school, and Mother’s Day and now just a gorgeous weekend, and throw in the fun we have with crazy, smart kids – and it’s impossible to keep up.

Mother’s Day was the tail end of a Jacob sore throat and fever, so we didn’t want to do too much… we woke up with pastries and presents and kisses and then went for a walk/bike around Lake Hollywood.  Then we come home to rest a bit and spent the afternoon at Bar Bouchon, having champagne and snacks and then taking Mol for ice cream and Jacob to poke through a toystore.  Treats for everyone!  It was a lovely, relaxing, perfect day.

We also had open house at school, where we saw all the amazing things the kids have been working on, including a performance, in Spanish, of The THree Little Pigs.  First they sang some songs for us:

Then they did the show.  We didn’t get a ton of pics, but it was pretty Cute.  Molly was the first little pig, playing the flute and singing instead of making a house.  And Jacob was the Wolf:

School again… then this week was the Spring Concert.  They learned “Can’t Buy Me Love” in English and Spanish.  The kids all wore jeans and white tshirts and sun glasses to perform:

I didn’t get pictures at the concert, because I was taping it for Chuck.  We have it (it’s hilarious) and once we upload it, I’ll link to it.

Then this weekend was crazy.  We went from ballet to bike rodeo (where Jacob did a safety obstacle course and was so serious and adorable)

to tball to birthday party, where Mol got her face painted by Ariel:

Then today we had a perfect, sunny Sunday.  We hit Palisades for the farmers market, and then brought all our goodies (juice and cherries and peaches and croissants) up to Will Rogers for a picnic, polo watching and hike filled afternoon!

Where despite being slathered with suncreen, Mol and I got matching shoulder burns, since it was our first prolonged sun exposure of the season.

While Jacob and I were watching one of the matches, Mol needed some Daddy time, so they went for a walk and he got these cute pics.  Speaking of cute, we got Jacob’s official tball pictures yesterday and they are super cute.  This isn’t it, but it’s a cute one I took at the photoshoot, to give you an idea…

Got a couple funny stories too, briefly:

I mentioned they’re awesome kids right?  They blew us away the other night by wanting to play restaurant.  They named it (Souvenir), made menus, dressed up as waiter and chef (Chef Mol had to wear lipstick because “it is a fancy restaurant”), took our orders, served us (food I had made earlier and left plated int eh kitchen) then they presented us with a bill, money they had made to pay the bill (complete with serial numbers) and a receipt.  So much fun.

Did I mention we just started playing Monopoly?  The funny thing is, the only version we have is a James Bond one I gave Chuck ages ago.  So Molly is always the logo, Jacob is the airplane, and it’s pretty adorable…

T-ball and Ballet

Ok, nothing new to add, except to let you see these adorable ones in action!

Ballet:

Posing at home, before class.  And as Copelia:

And at class, my pretty ballerina:

Then right to tball, hanging out in the dugout:

And his first at bat:

On base:

and then playing first base:

At the ready:

And in action:

My ball player!!!

Grandma Roses Visit

So… we had a wonderful weekend with Grandma Rose!  She is sitting here with me, helping me pick the pictures we took this weekend to use, and I want to get the pictures up so she can see them when she gets home tomorrow, so again, short on commentary, long on pictures…

First thing, the kids made her look through cookbooks together.  Then we did a little baking and decorating (and cake eating!).

With a belated birthday celebration and early Mother’s Day…

There was lots of bedtime reading too…

Saturday was Molly’s ballet (pics to follow) and Jacob’s first tball game (pics to follow) and in between there was gelato:

and hugs.

And I have to mention that that night we say The Return of the Pink Panther.  And I’ve never, never heard the kids laugh so hard.  It was fantastic.  And now it’s their new favorite movie. Then this morning we went to Descanso before it got too hot.  Here are some pictures:

Three generations of Roses:

Playtime:

Resting:

Train ride:

And we waved and watched them go by from the pond:

And I’m doing this quick before we head to dinner at Molly and Grandma Roses favorite restaurant, Miceli’s.

 

Firsts…

Quick news:

Today was Jacob’s first t-ball practice.  He is awesome.  He is happy.  He is ADORABLE!

Molly has her first loose tooth!  She is excited.  And ADORABLE:

We went to the police museum yesterday.  They were funny.  And ADORABLE!

Theme for the day: they are pretty freaking cute.

Spring Breaking

No TJ & Tequila, more like TJ’s, matzoh & eggs, when you have kids and Spring Break happens to encompass both Passover and Easter.  Grandma and Grandpa were here to watch the kids for the week while we worked, so we crammed in a ton of fun, a lot of celebrating, and even a tiny touch of stomach flu (we can’t seem to get through a week without someone catching a bug!).  So this won’t include the day by day updates of all the fun and all the celebrating (and all the gifts and treats!!!), but here’s a quick pictorial to catch up:

We kicked off the week with a family trip to Descanso to see the Cherry Blossom festival.  Magic.

and

The kids were adorable:

and

Molly was posing:

and

(Lilacs were in bloom too – heaven!)

And Jacob was happy and silly

(Especially when we rode the train.  And watched the train.  And waved at the train.  And waited for the train.  We spent a lot of time on/near/about the train.)

They played with Daddy.  Or posed with Daddy (our Lady of Shalott):

Then with Grandma and Grandpa there was a lot of baseball.   And basketball:

And BIKE RIDING!!!  Jacob learned to ride his bike.

And now he’s a tricky little dare devil.

And as always, there was lots of reading.

There was our Seder:

Where Molly read the 4 questions, and Jacob found the Afikhomen (both activities thrilled them).  And Daddy.

And a trip to the Skirball to show Grandma and Grandpa Noah’s Ark.

and visit Lady Liberty

And make some trees:

and

Then it was Easter, and time to read the note from the bunny

Go on a hunt

find all the eggs

and then tear through the gifts in the basket:

Luckily, the bunny seems to know them pretty well.  Enough to get Mol a fairy that delighted her

And Jacob the Lego motorcycle he’d had his eye on.

So there had to be playtime

and build time

And that, my friends, was Spring Break!  We did lots more, but that’s the big stuff (or at least the stuff we have pictures of…).  And today we were back in school, having a wonderful time there.  And ballet starts this weekend.  And t-ball starts next week.  And the Grandma Rose is coming…

Friends

Busy.  Just busy, with school, Chuck getting the flu, work, and finally getting to fit in a few playdates!  Thought you all might enjoy a couple of pics of the kids with their friends lately.  Then next week is Spring Break, and a visit from Grandma and Grandpa to watch the kids so I can work, and Passover and Easter, so we should get a few more cute pictures in here…

But here are a couple from the Gymnastics meet we took them to at UCLA:

and running around on the lawn before the meet:

And then this past Tuesday at the Arboretum.  With the peacocks:

That’s Mol and her friend Love.  And the crew hanging out together:

and relaxing:

Chasing geese:

and chasing/tackling each other:

They are lucky and rich in their friends.

More soon…

Grandpa YaYa and more…

So, we’ve been quiet for a while, mostly because we’ve been sick.  So sick.  A month’s worth of sick, with at least one of us very, very sick each and every single day.  BUT!  There’s a light at the end of the sick tunnel, and the sun is shining, and I think we’ve finally emerged.  The really stinky part is that Dad and Mary Ellen’s visit coincided with ground zero of the flu, and we didn’t get to do all the things we wanted to do, or spend all the time we wanted.  On the plus side, Dad was a huge help in playing with the kids when I was sick, and they got to spend some serious quality Grandpa time just playing and reading and hanging out.  So there’s always a silver lining…  It also means we didn’t take many pictures, and everything since their birthday is a little fuzzy.   But here are some cobbled pics from Grandpa, the phone and a few I took when I was upright.

This was the first few days.  There was a lot of laying around.  But it was done with love.

There was also a lot of lego building, game playing, reading, and just hanging out at home.

I said a lot of building, right?

By the weekend, we were all feeling a bit better, and made it to a basketball game.

Where the YaYas got some excellent action shots.

And we hit Ferndell:

And Travel Town, too:

We had so many more things planned, and were bummed to miss it all, but I think the weather and grandchild proximity ensure that we’ll get another nice long visit before too long…  The terrible side effect of getting sick was that we didn’t get to spend much time with Matt, pre-surgery, but we did get to relax and hang out a little post-surgery and that was wonderful.  And Jacob fell in love with Matt & Alessandra’s dog, which was pretty adorable.

Then they left, and we were sad, but we didn’t have too much time to dwell on that, because we all got sick again!  We managed a few fun activities here and there… like a concert with friends

Cooking class at school:

And the awards banquet for basketball (everyone got one!):

And the coach made a really sweet speech about each kid and how far they came.

And that about catches us up! As I said, we’re finally healthy and looking forward to St. Patrick’s Day (we made cookies today with friends for it), a dance at school on Friday, t-ball tryouts this weekend, a gymnastics meet we’re headed to with a group of friends, and lots more.  So I will be better about pictures, if you all promise to Voo Doo the flu away from our house!