Jaime Got Married!!!

Our dearest friend Jaime got married yesterday! She is my sister Cindy's best friend and is like a sister in our family. We love her soooooooo much and are so happy for her! We enjoyed her wedding ceremony in the Los Angeles Temple, while our husbands waited outside with our kids. It was a gorgeous day and Jaime was truly like a princess and Mike like prince charming!! The reception was gorgeous. (Cindy and I got to help decorate the day before.) There were lots of pink roses and sparkly lights. They had cupcakes from Dots instead of a cake. Everything was like a fairy tale and I KNOW these two will live happily ever after! I love you Jaime!!

Happy Earth Day!!

Today we planted some impatiens!

Topanga Earth Day

We had such a great day!  While I did yoga, the girls played at a really fun playground, listened to "The Lorax,"  and kids music.  For lunch we ate some delicious Thai food and some veggie burritos.  Later, the girls got their faces painted.  We were delighted to find my absolute favorite soap man, Jim Derner, who makes Clean Living of Santa Monica soaps and lotions vending there. I had looked for him a few weeks ago at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market but he doesn't vend there anymore.  He makes the best lotion and soap I've ever used, and I've been using his products since I was pregnant with Bella!!  I was so happy to find him and get some soap and lotion from him.  We spent a lot of the rest of our day listening to great music and dancing.  Our FAVORITE was MoJoW and the Vibration Army (I'm so sad I have no picture!) They ROCK and GROOVE!!!!  Please visit their site, if you can. Click on press & video and then on video clips to see what they're all about--They're AWESOME!! We bought their CD and can't stop listening to it! We ended the day dancin' to Particle.  Wow, do they groove too!

Gorgeous Blooms!

Just had to post this--  My beautiful Mother planted these flowers many years ago--Thanks, Mom!  We always think of you, but these flowers sure make us feel your love and presence.

O Malley is cute!

It seems like the girls' world revolves around O Malley now.  Here are some cute things he does. He sits in the stroller and he snuggles in the plants!

Singing to Ceci and Opening her Present

After the Farmer's Market, we came home and sang to Ceci.  She really tried to blow out her candles!!  (But Bella needed to give her some help.) The cake was as yummy as it looked!  We all really enjoyed it.

We then gave her her present, which was this rainbow stacker from Three Sisters Toys.  She LOVED it and so did the girls-- they all had a great time playing with it together for quite a while. I think it was a really nice birthday for a two year old!!  Gosh, I love my little baby!

Ceci's Birthday

Yesterday was my little Ceci's 2nd birthday!!  Because we've been celebrating so much lately, we kept her birthday pretty simple.  We went to the South Pasadena Farmer's market to have a picnic.  It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day and we enjoyed strolling around.  We spread out our blanket with lots and lots of other picnicking people and enjoyed a delicious dinner.  Afterwards, the girls played with/popped bubbles that a very talented bubble man does.  He blew some tiny ones especially for the birthday girl. Later, unfortunately, Ceci started to eat kettle corn off the floor while her sisters popped bubbles!  So we bought her a bag.  She LOVED it.  We went home to eat our cake and open Ceci's present!

Ceci's Cake

For Ceci's birthday I made the most DELICIOUS cake. (and pretty healthy!)  I can brag about it because its Susan KB's recipe. (She made it for my birthday last year!) I have to share it!  I think its called "Yogurt Cheesecake."

I started with 2 27 oz. containers of plain yogurt.  I poured them into a cheesecloth and let the water drain out overnight.  (I put it in a stock pot with the lid closed tight and by pulling the cloth up, the yogurt was suspended giving room for the water to drain.) This makes the yogurt have a cream cheese consistency.  

Because it was plain yogurt, I needed to sweeten and flavor it.  I put in some agave and vanilla extract to taste.

I then made a graham cracker crust with two cups of crumbs, 3/4 of a stick of  butter and 1/4 cup of agave.  I pressed it into a pie dish and baked it for about 10 mins at 325.

Right before I served it, I put the yogurt into the crust.  I then decorated the top with tons of strawberries, kiwis, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries that I had glazed in more agave!! The result was unbelievably delicious!! I need to make this way more often.

We got a kitty!! (sort of)

Yesterday we took a walk and a kitty followed us home.  It was strange because I had been thinking I'd like to get a kitty--the girls have wanted one so bad!  We had had a kitty two years ago but he was hit and killed by a car.  I had tried so hard to make him an indoor cat but he just wouldn't.  So after his passing, I was really leery to do it again. 

So when we take our morning walks, we usually try to pet other peoples' cats. On our way home, 5 doors away from our house, we met the cutest and most friendly orange kitty.  We petted him for a little while and then we started home.  House after house, he followed us.  All the way up our driveway and into our yard!  He stayed the whole morning until we went grocery shopping. The girls were in heaven!!  Especially Bella. When we left, we thought he would find his way home.  And when we got back he was gone.  But Bella was so sad that she did not get to say goodbye.  So we went to the house where we found him to see if we could say goodbye.  But our neighbor said that he didn't belong to them!  He said he was pretty sure he was homeless.  (He's not neutered either, by the way.)  But where to find him now??

So this morning we were so happy to find him on our back porch.  He had come back to us!  I guess he really wants to adopt us.  We fed him and he ate like he was starving! He is the sweetest kitty.  He purrs all the time and is really snuggly.  We think we're going to name him Thomas Tiger Sunshine O Malley the alley cat.  That's a mixture of all the suggestions.  He'll probably be O Malley for short.  For now, we're going to post some signs saying we found a cat before we take him to the vet.

The Arroyo

I just felt like checking out the Arroyo in Pasadena today.  We needed some nature.  We packed some food and a blanket and went to see what we could see.  The pics tell it all.  We found this great calla lily and decided to put the blanket down right there for our picnic.  Where's Susan K-B when you need her?  Susan, you would have loved this, as you would love every single thing we do --longingly-- without you. 

Chocolate Strawberries

Today we made chocolate strawberries to share with our home schooling friends.  Our chocolate sauce was made of coconut oil, agave syrup and raw cacao powder and was delicious.  It was fun making them although the consistency was more like frosting than liquid-- so not easy to dip! We sang to Bella one last time at the park!