Flourish + Fun

We had our darling niece Joey come visit us, with Evangeline (her mommy) all the way from Australia this past weekend. We loved having them. Friday we took a quick field trip to where else, but none other than our favorite "hay-riding-animal-feeding-lunch-stop-and-picking-apples" special spot ... :-)

Day 3 of our little vaca was just wonderful. We left the Hollywood Hills to visit our old stomping ground in Santa Monica. We grabbed Bagel Nosh, specialty coffees, hung out at our best friends place and had a swingin' time at our favorite old park. Later that afternoon, we had some more friends stop by (whoa, 10 kids total! plus their parents) and the kids had some run around go crazy-jam time, and started their own little band! It got a bit out of hand (aka SUPER LOUD) so we headed back to the park later that evening. We ordered Thai food for dinner, and had Vanilla Bake Shop mini cupcakes (for Jayes Birthday) for dessert. We had a really nice time with our friends. I will say we were so tired by the time these last two photos were taken, and we still had to drive back home that night. But we wouldn't dare cut it short, despite our tired state, as we wanted to catch up with everyone and lucky for us our good friends The Jeds were able to hang out because they wer...

Our second day was a bit less exciting, being that Ava was up the night prior all night long. She was so out of control with her crying that the neighbors actually started peeking into J-O's place, and at around 12:30/1 peaked in to "check in" and make sure everything was alright. OY! And then the girls woke up at 5:50, and didn't go back to bed. Anyway, I started the morning meeting up with my sweet friend Emily and catching up. I saw her new home , which is just gorgeous! We had plans of grabbing breakfast/coffee in Larchmont but being that she is newly pregnant we ditched that plan and just cozied up on her couch. It was so fun talking pregnancy and motherhood with her. I am just thrilled for her to become a Mom!!! Later that day, we headed to grab sandwiches and picnic at a nearby park. We then settled into our late afternoon routine, swam in the pool and napped. In the evening headed over to our good friends (and Kyle's old business partner) Julies hou...

This weekend we headed to Hollywood for a mini-vaca with our little family. We stayed at our buddy J-O's bachelor pad in Hollywood, right by Runyon, such a cool spot. Although J-O was not there, because he was filming a show in another city, he welcomed us into his place with open arms so to speak, even though he wasn't able to hang out. Hollywood was super hot this weekend, with not much of a breeze and a 99 degree days, we were pretty overheated and not prepared with the right clothes, but nonetheless it was really fun. We played tourist with the girls (even though we used to live in LA, for over 10 years) we thought it would be fun to take Friday and bop around the city doing fun "new" activities (for them). First stop was the GRIDDLE! Because you can't go to LA without going here for breakfast, it's our favorite. Kyle said it best " When the pancakes are as big as your torso and come loaded with oats, pecans, coconut and butterscotch chips, you kn...

Ah, Summer! I truly do love this time of year. Beach days: walking in the sand, running towards the waves, and of course our most recent "adventure" collecting shells. Pizza Parties: Our neighbors have a wood fire oven, so we swung by for a pizza party and made some of the yummiest pizzas ever!! My favorite was the steak, potato, egg and rosemary pizza, so good. Butterfly Nets: Em loves butterflies, well so does Ava, who doesn't!? So our recent hobby has been trying to catch them in our little kid butterfly nets, and we finally did catch one! It was really exciting for the girls. :-) 

I got to hang with this fun friend a lot these past few weeks. And I absolutely loved it. She is witty, kind, honest and simply refreshing. Her family is great too, sweet hubby, darling kids, and they have great taste in everything from home decor to dinner recipes. Definitely hoping to hang out more with this one in the coming year.  Showered this lovely friend, who is due with twin girls next month. She already has two little ones, so praying that she is blessed with easy babies and a lot of family and friends who graciously will help her and her family with their new additions.  Neighborhood Cocktail Night. This monthly occurrence is such fun. It was finally our turn to host and I think I can say that we succeeded, or at least the drinks were a big hit. Super yummy!! Emmer-bemmer and I headed to our churches Mommy + Daughter Brunch. It was held at our friends gorgeous home. We had delicious quiche, scones, berries, and juices. We ate, listened to a Mo...

We planted our garden a few weeks back and it is already going wild! We love it!!! It is such fun to plant seeds and see growth within a small amount of time. We have planted tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, sunflowers, green beans, radishes, onions, carrots, strawberries, and a few others.

We had the cutest little ballerina brunch yesterday for Em and her friends, they were just darling! A photo recap below... Setting the table for our little ballerinas... Getting the ballerina buns and crowns in, along with matching outfits  {Ava had such a cute outfit-after this photo was taken, but I forgot to document, shoot!!} Em started practicing before everyone arrived...  Em's sweet dance teacher, Mrs.Anna taught the girls a dance lesson for an hour.   Trying on the special ballerina pointe shoes, a bit hit! And last but not least, after the dancing, brunch and a bit of silly playtime the girls headed to the living room to open Em's Birthday presents! :-)

She LOVES: Ballerinas. Being Independent Reading stories Playing with her dolls and dollhouse Scrambled Eggs, Honey Yogurt, Granola and Blueberries Warm Soy Milk, always We only watch a show if Mommy has to put Ava down for a nap, such as Strawberry Shortcake, Daniel Tiger, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Frozen Kirra, Peyton, Brielle, Emery, Axel, Juliet and Ellie Her cousin Cass, she calls her her big sister. So cute. Helping mommy with chores Nature, gardening, and helping us in the yard Collecting treasures, and being cluefinders and solving mysteries Art projects, the more glitter and stickers the better Being super silly, she does funny voices and faces too Counting in Spanish and saying her colors in Spanish Writing her name & alphabet, working on her last name too Super smarty pants, uses transitional words, big sentences, deep questions and knows about volcanos, atoms, outer space, moon types, and lots of other important and knowledgeable pieces of in...