Chasing Bluebirds

halloween surprise

friday was our school carnival

 

and some time that day

lizzie got the stomach flu so halloween wasn't really that great. at least emily was able to attend a party and go trick-or-treating, but poor liz really had a tough time. she is still not over it today (monday) so it's been rough. no photos of costumes, thank goodness for the camp fire carnival we went to so liz got to wear her costume at least once! hoping we don't all catch this bug, so far so good! :)

matts wedding

sooooo back to my brothers wedding. i have a teeny tiny family so weddings are rare for us. everyone played an important role, chris was best man, liz was a flower girl, cousin natalia the other flower girl and emily was the ring bearer. i cant tell you how over the moon excited the girls were to be a part of a real wedding. they had no idea what to expect and it was fun trying on dresses and getting ready months and months before. liz whispered to me several times during the wedding night that this was the best night of her life and the best wedding ever! i had many opportunities to become overwhelmed and tearful. chris was nervous as hell to do his "best man speech" but he scored big time, it was the best "best man" speech i had ever heard, he was so fantastic, so funny and charming. he still doesnt believe us when we tell him how great he did though! i wouldnt want to put too much of my brothers business out there for the whole world to see (especially without his permission) but lets just say he has had some rough years, he became an RN against some pretty good odds and i am sooooo very proud of him! more than a few people made me cry at his wedding with their kind words and genuine love for him, it was wonderful to see and hear. my baby brother! ok, more pictures already!










my parents, married 44 years!



these photos were taken at my grandpas house
thanks for a wonderful night matt and tawny! xoxo and many happy years for you both!

matts wedding

sooooo back to my brothers wedding. i have a teeny tiny family so weddings are rare for us. everyone played and important role, chris was best man, liz was a flower girl, cousin natalia the other flower girl and emily was the ring bearer. i cant tell you how over the moon excited the girls were to be a part of a real wedding. they had no idea what to expect and it was fun trying on dresses and getting ready months and months before. liz whispered to me several times during the wedding night that this was the best night of her life and the best wedding ever! i had many opportunities to become overwhelmed and tearful. chris was nervous as hell to do his "best man speech" but he scored big time, it was the best "best man" speech i had ever heard, he was so fantastic, so funny and charming. he still doesnt believe us when we tell him how great he did though! i wouldnt want to put too much of my brothers business out there for the whole world to see (especially without his permission) but lets just say he has had some rough years, he became an RN against some pretty good odds and i am sooooo very proud of him! more than a few people made me cry at his wedding with their kind words and genuine love for him, it was wonderful to see and hear. my baby brother! ok, more pictures already!










my parents, married 44 years!



these photos were taken at my grandpas house
thanks for a wonderful night matt and tawny! xoxo and many happy years for you both!

Good Neighbor Festival (sneak peek Matt's wedding)

I never knew who my local council member was (or even WHAT a local city council member was) until i got involved with saving the wetlands and let me tell you. we have a wonderful representative in our district, she gets some flack of course, but she is spot on for what we need in this neighborhood. she is all for saving ALL of the wetlands, she is pro solar power (she organized a solar power group that tours houses with solar power units) she is pro camp fire (my girls sent her letters and she invited us to start the "duck patrol" as part of the lakes, ponds and wetlands taskforce she created) and finally, she started a "good neighbor festival" that promotes local organizations to get together and have fun. we have come every year since it started and for the last two years i have hosted a table for the wetlands and camp fire.

i got a lot of camp fire alumni with those ceremonial gowns!

always clowning around

(i like these squishy photos from the phone!!) and then sunday was matts wedding... here is a peek and more to follow on that BIG event!

someone didnt get a nap...

more photos later! happy thursday!

a special ceremony

so my brother is getting married and we were so excited to be invited to the bride's traditional vietnamese wedding ceremony... my teeny family (parents, chris, girls) were just blown away by all the colors and rituals. it was really quite sweet, much more interesting than a traditional american style wedding (which comes next month, wedding part 2) the girls loved it and bragged to everyone that this was their first ever wedding! i know my brother's new wife to be gets shy about her family's culture (she and her siblings are very "american" now) but i think learning about cultures that differ from your own is intriguing and special. chris and i both felt privileged to be included, lucky to be gaining such a large extended family to share the future with. here are a few snapshots i caught with my camera... iphone of course, it was hard to be sneaky with the camera when we didnt know what was really going on, i was mesmerized! stay tuned for the traditional "american style" wedding coming up next month, we will be fancied up and photographed to the hilt and hoping for cooler weather!

matts wedding

getting ready for my baby brothers wedding, liz will be a a flower girl with her cousin natalia and emily will be the ring bearer... here is liz in her dress

 

and a picture chris sent me when i was in vegas...our butterfly emerged... so cool! back to work tomorrow (busy busy work week) and i have a trip to portland oregon coming up (well not until thanksgiving) but we found a cool hotel to stay in and the flight is booked. so excited to hang with cousins i have lost touch with and are reacquainted now thanks to facebook! yeah oregon!

let summer begin!!!

glad to have a completely errand free day! now if i could just stop my mind from spinning on to new projects, stop it already! happy sunday!

happy fathers day!

whirlwind

my blog has definitely taken a back seat to this rummage sale (and facebook) but i am still here!! we are doing our guerilla art along the street trying to spread the word, i feel a mad dash feeling with one week left to the sale, hope i can pull this off! lizzies graduation was today, from pre kindergarten (preschool really) which made me tearful. emily went here first, this summer will be the last for liz, she is starting public school in the fall (can't say i will miss the tuition! but this was a very special place for both girls. if you are local i can let you know more about it!) congrats liz! boy was she excited! but the day wasn't over, we still had her dance recital to go to: at her preschool there is a dance school that teaches once a week. emily did this as well and it was such a great idea. you dont have to take your kid anywhere, they come to the school each week and teach. to me, it was the best kind of multi tasking! they run a swim school during the summer which incorporates the same idea, the kids are pulled from class each day for swimming lessons. this kind of thing isnt cheap, but there is zero hassle and i love the variety the girls get with different kinds of lessons. swim lessons are a must to me. i forgot to mention the frantic friendship bracelet making we are up to, we will be selling these at the rummage sale and offering "lessons" and i have to admit this was HARD to learn. as crafty as people may think i am, if i cant learn something fast i usually lose interest. the problem is i COMMITTED to this project BEFORE i learned so i was stuck. this was actually a good thing because i am forcing myself to learn and i am finally getting the hang of it! i found a few books on it (one was in my daughters bookshelf, she remembered getting some kind of kit once) and this post was the original inspiration. here is another link too. i will leave you with this lovely chalk drawing: chalk art on the sidewalk is working really well for us right now. its cheap, easy and the girls can really spread out. not as much bickering. we had a pretty rough day yesterday (an overscheduled day at the end of a busy week with a to-do list a mile long is not something i recommend) at one point i had a major meltdown but somehow we made it through and so far today is much better.

east coast weather

i loved living on the east coast and one of the reasons was the weather, yes the weather! i loved the tropical storms and humidity, loved it! today was one of those days here in southern california and actually all week has been quite tropical. lots of clouds and warm sun with sprinkles and thunderstorms. i remember this kind of weather in virginia right in the middle of summer, something you rarely see in so cal. i spent the day gazing at clouds and snapping pictures as i went. i let the girls hang a bit at lizzies preschool at pick up time to just play and it was so nice to not be rushing to another engagement. this preschool has been in our lives for 6 years now, two and half years with emily and three full years for liz. it is a fabulous place and today i felt a bit sappy that this wonderful school will soon be just a memory for us.