FIFA who?

One June 26th we headed to the Imelli's to watch the USA get their butts kicked by Ghana in the World Cup match. Claire got these cute pictures of the kids. Grant & Lauren shared their homemade vuvuzela that wasn't nearly as annoying as the ones on TV.

Screw this bottle, gimme that 40.

Guilty.

Vuvuzelllllla.

Escape to the Beach

The Housewives of Willow Glen (and the Rose Garden) escaped for a fun weekend to the beach. And by "beach" I mean the chilly spot where the fog lands in Northern California in July. And by "housewives" I refer to only three of the five of us. Although the other two would argue that they do that job in addition to their paid careers.

Thanks to Robin who was able to reserve her family's condo at Seascape for the weekend. We had a front row view of the ocean, easy walk to coffee, dinner, hot tub & pool. An evening of wine and Italian food in Capitola and then another day of shopping in Capitola and lunch on the deck at Zelda's. Good times!

Lea, me, Claire, Arlene & Robin

It was even better to get reports from the Dads that the kids were all having fun back in the heat of the 408.

Dinner @ Palapas...where our waiter had recently competed in a Ernest Hemingway lookalike contest in Spain. Wish we'd gotten a pic of him...

Red, White and Sof

We gave Sofia a week to get used to being one year old and then threw her a party. To accommodate the family's busy travel schedules, it worked out that the most convenient time to celebrate the big O-N-E was on the fourth. And who am I to argue with a built-in party theme? Our little firecracker embraced her shared party by sporting some glitter and tulle. Never have the stars and stripes been cuter.

Dancing with Grandpa.

Decor.

The cooks, the cigars, the ribs and the smoker.

Yummies. And the adorable Sofia look-alike cake topper, a gift from Susie. When it arrived in the mail, there was no card, but it looked very much like another great cake topper I'd seen somewhere before...

Family photo with the finger making sure that molar is still on its way.

Girlfriends!
Gabriella (2.5) & Lauren (3.5)

G Man (15 mos)

Dominic (14 mos) doing laps in the pool.

Before

After - Hooray for blue frosting!

Happy Birthday to the Little Firecracker and America!

One Year Old!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!

Wow, what a month! I feel like Sofia has had more milestones this month than the rest of her 11 months combined! Ok, maybe not, but it's significant stuff:

*She waited and tried and waited and finally figured out the crawling thing on her 11 month birthday. Now, she's OFF...loving to crawl all over the house (and show us how dirty the floors are).

*However, if she's hanging out in the "pit" (which is most of the time) she prefers to stand and holler. She stands up and yells as if she's stuck. And she is pretty much stuck, since her cruising abilities are somewhat limited, but she's getting there.
*Sofia LOVES Daddy. She literally jumps out of my arms in excitement when she sees him. It's the cutest thing in the whole world.

*The sleep situation: She's FINALLY sleeping (at night) without being swaddled. We haven't tackled naps yet because the swaddle routine is working, so we're going with it. We finally lowered the crib mattress and added a breathable bumper which keeps her limbs in and saves the pacifier from the floor. Also notice the cream crib cover. Our little "termite" as Nono has coined her, was really enjoying munching on her crib railing. This seems to have helped and she hasn't noticed that there is plenty of wood still within reach.

*We've been *trying* to utilize the sign language that we learned in the 6 week course we took in April-May. To be honest, we're not as diligent as we could be, but I'm more motivated now that I see she's actually getting it and learning the signs VERY quickly. After just one or two times, she'll remember a new sign and associate it with the word. She's not exactly using them to ask for things, but she does use them when the word is said. "Twinkle, Twinkle," milk, waves and duck all seem to be the same. Just depends on if I'm quacking or holding a bottle. She does seem to be using "more" and "eat/food" in the right context. But she'll push her bottle away, sign for more but then not want it. Eventually she'll make sense of it all. Or we will.

*We completed our second session of swimming lessons at AVAC (24 weeks total) and a short week long session at Presentation H.S. with our friends Amy & Mia. Sof is very comfortable in the water and will hold her breath and go under, no problem. The perk of the lessons at the high school is that we can walk there. Since the locker rooms are not exactly equipped for changing a wriggly child out of her swimsuit, I decided to just bundle her up, head home and hope for the best. I think (hope) the wet spot on the stroller seat was from her wet bathing suit.

*The most amazing development is that she finally seems to understand what we are saying! It's like a lightbulb went on this past month and all of a sudden when I ask her to find the stuffed ducky, she crawls over and picks it up. AND gives him a hug when prompted. Amazing.

Enjoying the St. Christopher Festival with Grammy & Nono

Standing tall.

Studying her photo album.

She looks so grown up in her stroller! Although not very happy.

Birthday Balloons!

Maybe his name should be "Early-ton"

Our new friend, Leighton James Effertz, made an earlier than expected arrival on June 10th - six weeks early! Thankfully, he is doing just fine and was able to finally come home from the hospital this weekend. He weighed in at a whopping 5lbs, 13 ounces at birth! His weight has gone down as he's been trying to figure out this eating thing, but he'll be back up in no time. We can't wait to meet him!

Baby Effertz

I snuck away to LA for TWO whole nights in May for Marie's baby shower. It was heavenly! Of course, I missed the husband and child. But it was really fun to be in LA on the westside and visit with some of the LMU crew. Friday night enjoyed a fun dinner with Liz, Jen and Maile...so good in fact, that I forgot to take a picture. Must have been the pitcher of margaritas at Mucho's in Manhattan Beach. Saturday morning Jen and I took a stroll on the Strand in MB/Hermosa and oogled the houses.

Donna Martin Graduates!

The shower was at the adorable Chado Tea Room in LA and it was virtually the most stress-free shower I've ever co-thrown. Me and the girls exchanged maybe 5 emails and it was planned. Like Steve said, this wasn't our first rodeo. And the tea house did most of the work. We loved seeing Marie's pregnant belly...the last time she was this pregnant she was looking adorable in a bridesmaid dress in my wedding.

Me, Marie, Katy (due in August), Gigi & Stacy

Baby Gianna Luna at her SECOND tea house baby shower. She slept the whole time!

Yum.

In addition to the fun shower, I got to spend some quality time on the road with Amy-Jo and Gianna (who wasn't much of a conversationalist). It was great to sneak in a catch-up session on the 405. Post-shower Marie and I made the obligatory Coffee Bean run and spent the afternoon playing Super Mario on the Wii. I couldn't have asked for more!

Jackson prepping his "tickle fingers" for his new little brother.

Mother's Day Redux

My first Mother's Day was thankfully must less dramatic than my last Mother's Day. Once again, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Evvia but I was feeling just fine on the drive home and the evening was uneventful. The star of the show was most definitely Miss Sofia. She had a spot by the door so she could greet and wave bye-bye to all of the patrons. When not acting as the only blond hostess, she was busy making Marissa pick up her toys from the floor. This would have been OK, except that poor Marissa had suffered a curling injury just a couple days prior. Yes, you read that correctly. A perk of working for Google is that Marissa gets to go on cool outings like the one to the Sharks Ice Arena where her group received a curling lesson. The most important thing she learned was not to fall on her wrist when slipping on the ice.

Buddies.

Uncle Michael, Sofia on phone, Andrea, Sofia in person & Auntie Val.

We're still working on her manners.