You Know You Live in SoCal When:

1) Your 7 year old announces at breakfast, "IT'S SPRINKLING OUTSIDE!!!!!!!!!" in a voice that you would expect to hear if it were, perhaps, the second coming.



2) Said 7 year old declares that , "It's raining cats and dogs outside!", when in fact the water is practically evaporating before it hits the pavement.
3) The 2 year old, whose memory does not go back to the last time it rains, looks at the wet subastance coming out of the sky with bewilderment and quizzically asks, "Wet?"
4) The two with soccer games begin crying when they realize they'll have to play soccer in the semi-mist because it's, "...freezing outside mom! How can you expect us to play in such cold weather?? That's not right!"(Direct quote- it was about 65 degrees) 5) The children spend the rest of the afternoon playing "Singin' in the Rain", much to the enjoyment of the neighbors, I'm sure.
6) And, last, the giraffe umbrella that Grandma Pam bought many, many months ago is used for the first time.

Bat Boy and His Side-Kick Turquoise Belt Cape Guy

Thanks to Erin's radical gift of a Batman action figure for Grayson's bday, there was a marked increase in "Bat Fever" in our household last week. However, in order to avoid a massive meltdown of epic proportions, we had to compromise some of the dress-up items; Derek got the mask and the belt, and Grayson got the cape (being held together by masking tape, which happened to be the fastest thing I could find during the near meltdown phase) the action figure (of course), and was really excited about Carissa's turquoise belt.


Please ignore the dirty laundry on the floor in the background- we all had Bat Fever.

Report from Arvada

Brady looking adorable with Brett at Mt. Evans. We're at over 12,000 feet!

"There's a storm across the valley, clouds are movin' in. . ." Here we are near the top of Mt. Evans. So gorgeous------aspens turning color, evergreens, and you can see for miles.

Evan eats fries! After our drive to the mountain tops, we stopped in Golden for some lunch.

Arvada is wonderful and Mireille and Brett are great hosts!

Paint Job or I Left My Dropcloths in San Francisco

Erin and I spent a lovely day together on Wednesday when we painted her closet, err...... I mean her bedroom! I had to drop Mom and Dad off at the airport, so I figured I was pretty much half way to SF so why not? And I was cruising SOLO! That's right - no kids!

Here is the before shot - ewwwwww. (Actually it wasn't that bad - I just did that for the effect.) Erin goes over our checklist before we head off to Home Depot. Funny story - the lady at HD thought we were lesbians. What is the deal? That is like the 2nd time in our lives we have been mistaken for lesbians! We're sisters, OK!!!! It must be my butch hair cut...
Erin looks so happy to be painting. It was a beautiful day in the Bay, and with a view like this, I wasn't complaining. That's the Golden Gate Bridge, folks!!!
And the after shot. Her room isn't acutally that small, but it is close. Hopefully Erin will post a picture when she is done moving in!

Fun With a Sharpie

I believe these pictures speak for themselves.

He Shoots, He Scores!!

Here's a short sample of Under 5 soccer. Derek should be easy to see; he's the only blonde on the field.

Happy Rosh HoShona Everybody!!

How do you celebrate the Jewish New Year?? At Manhattan Beach, of course! Missing a beautiful 83 degree day would be like a sin, wouldn't it?? Carissa was fairly upset she didn't have school.
She was also pensive about life.
So was Derek. What he was really thinking- " How can I get back up to the bag and eat all the fruit snacks without getting caught??"
These two collected many shells and announced that they were, "...bringing them all home!!"

But first they had to sort them carefully.Luckily they got distracted by a passing pod of dolphins. Is it me, or do they stand exactly the same?
I only got one fin. There were a lot more, I promise.
Grayson was just happy to be hangin' out. Or...happy as long as no one told him to stop throwing sand.

Can't wait til Yom Kippur!!