Dinner out.. as a family!

Tonight I was in the mood for Claim Jumper, so we hopped into the car and headed across town.While I was deciding what to order for my main course Libi and Daddy got silly! They pretended to be dinosaurs and growled at me.

Perhaps they were growling because I took so long to decide what I wanted. I knew I wanted to begin with potato cheese soup and end with cream cheese cake (the BEST dessert ever!!) but the middle was very much up in the air until the last second.After dinner Libs wanted to stand on a rock that was out front of the restaurant.She needed help getting up, but once she was she twirled and sang a rock song.


You have to be careful on rocks!It was nice to be out as a family!

Mommy's Night Out and Daddy's Night In

After a reasonably quiet day we all parted ways in the evening. I went out with some MOPS friends and Ron hosted a BBQ for his family at our house.
I went to Karma, an Indian restaurant in Valencia. We had a great group of MOPS gals who were supposed to come-- several canceled at the last minute, but those who came really enjoyed it!
They have a lounge upstairs which we had reserved all to ourselves. It seats about 20 so our 6 gals had plenty of room. You are only allowed to have drinks and appetizers in this room, so when our dinner was ready we had to go down to the main restaurant.I was super adventurous when I ordered-- I got lamb and I tried everything that everyone else ordered. I loved everything!!! It was super tasty and tender-- I will definitely be going back (with Ron next time!)I'm so thankful that I have such a sweet group of gals to call my friends.

Hey, Ron here, as a guest blogger. While Heather was out having fun, Libi and I played host to my parents, Aunt Andrea, and Aunt Violet. Here, Libi feasts on some of her favorites: grapes, blueberries, and tomatoes, along with Aunt Andrea's bowtie pasta w/sundried tomatoes, and daddy's grilled chicken.
Aunt Andrea and I played DJ for the evening. My mom requested plenty of Three Dog Night and Lionel Richie, but we also made sure to include some Wiggles for Libi, too!
Libi and Grampy danced to the music!
Libi asked to swing, so Grampy, Grammy, and Aunt Violet were only too happy to oblige. What a fun evening!

Chatting with Nana and Pop...

This morning we were slow to get started! Daddy had a meeting at school at 7:30 and Libs and I took the opportunity to bum around the house.Libi watched (and danced to) Bunnytown--to which she remarked, "It's my favorite!" Her favorites are very fickle-- she says it about almost anything. I think I would much rather prefer having a child who loves everything as opposed to one who says, "I don't like it" all the time.Once Daddy got home we went to visit Nana and Pop. Libi was in rare form-- I think I say this about her every week we visit them, but it's always true. Today she went right in, sat on the sofa next to Nana, leaned in very close and chatted Nana's ear off.She then got off the sofa, went over to Pop, and repeated everything she said to Nana.Nana tried to get her to sing some Wiggles songs. At first she was very shy about it, but eventually she sang "Rock-a-bye Your Bear" completely and accurately.When Libs wants something at Nana and Pop's house she always goes to Pop. We hear, "Come on Pop!" often during our visits. Today she wanted Pop to: push her on the trike, get her a wipey, put on Elmo, and take her out to see the flowers. She LOVES her Pop!!Libs also throws great tea parties at their house. Today she first brought us iced tea and then brought us apple juice. With all the running she does while delivering the tea it's a miracle that we get to "drink" any.
After some errands and nap-time Libi and I tried a new cookie recipe. We made Ina Garten's ginger snap cookies.
My assistant was very helpful, but the kitchen still took a bit of a beating!
I think she enjoyed rolling the cookies in sugar best. Grammy and Mommy had to make sure they were covered evenly, but Libs did the initial rolling.
Here is the finished product! I think next time I'll make it without the crystalized ginger-- it was too spicy for me.

A slow summer day

We had a very poorly attended MOPS park play date today. Libs didn't seem to mind that there were only 2 other kids who were much older than she was.Her favorite thing today was to drive! She really loves cars, boats, all things transportation!She was telling quite a story while she was steering. She even honked the horn a few times with a rousing, "Beep, beep!"The rest of the day was spent at home, relaxing! It is nice to have a slower day after our busy weekend.

34th trip to Disneyland...

Libi has recently been very into watching Pete's Dragon-- which delights me no end! I love every single song in this movie and it is home to my favorite Disney song EVER, "Candle on the Water!" I even learned how to play the beginning on the piano many years ago-- that's how much I love that song.
Ron and I decided that we would take Libs to DCA so she could see Elliot live and in person in the Electrical Parade.We started the day in DCA at the Monster's Inc. ride. I think Libs could ride this a hundred times and never get tired of it. Luckily it's not too offensive for Ron and I either ;)We then went looking for some characters to meet. We first found Goofy so we decided to do a family shot.Mr. and Mrs. Incredible were right around the corner so we had to see both of them! Libs was a bit unsure at first, but when her hero (Daddy) went up with her all was OK.Since Libs had been asking to see Mickey (and Jammy and I weren't able to accomodate during our last trip) we knew we had to see him this time. The trouble was we weren't sure if we would make it back to Toontown so we timed it to meet him after his show in DCA. She was one happy camper-- until she realized that she wasn't going to get to see Woody too.We made it to Sunshine Plaza (the front entrance of DCA) about 10 minutes before the Pixar parade was supposed to start. I charmed my husband into staying put for it-- he is NOT a parade person and two in one day just might have been his limit!Libs was captivated!! All of her favorite characters in one place!! We saw the folks from Cars, Monster's Inc., Toy Story 1 and 2, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, Bug's Life, and...the Incredibles! She was a bit miffed that there was no Wall-E-- Ron and I were a bit miffed that every parade float got us wet.After the parade we went over to Disneyland for dinner and Tinkerbell!We saw Iridessa again-- I was sad because we missed Rosetta (the only fairy we've never seen) by about 20 minutes. I don't think this bugs Libs, but I really want her pictures with every fairy!!This was the best Tink we've ever experienced! She talked with Libs and took her time.Libs has been really into her "dalmation pupy" lately. She brought to show all of her Disney friends. When Tink asked her it's name she simply said, "Dalmatian puppy!" Poor Tink was confused because the collar on the dog said Lucky, but Libs was adamant that its name was dalmatian puppy!
I was all about family pictures today! Here we all are with Tink!While I waited for dinner, Ron and Libs went exploring and they came upon a penny machine. This was Libs first time doing this and luckily Ron took some pictures!
She picked out a Goofy penny and was proudly showing it to everyone!After dinner it was time for the parade. To fill the time, Libi danced in the street...... A LOT!!!When she realized she was being watched by other folks she danced even more. She was quite entertaining!Daddy even joined in on the act for a bit!Ron took Libs to pick out a light-up toy just for the occasion. She went back and forth before making her final choice of Stitch.She had so much fun making it go round and round and light up for her.The parade has a new start-- Tinkerbell has replaced the Blue Fairy and Libs couldn't be more pleased!Libi was awestruck by it all! She squealed with delight as she saw her favorites all parading in front of her. It was a great moment to be a Mommy :)
Notice that she didn't let go of her Stitch for a moment.When she saw Dopey she exclaimed, "Mommy's favorite!"
When Elliott rounded the corner, you should've seen her face! She was totally thrilled!
We will definately have to go see it all again-- it was such fun!
On our way to the car we stopped to watch the Disneyland fireworks. Libs had the best seat in the house!