Elle's debut

For family night tonight, we are having our non-member friends come over. (They call it "game night"). Elle is giving the lesson on the ten lepers. Since she's been learning to play the piano, she's also going to play the opening song (treble clef only) which is "For Health and Strength." Here she is!

Elle's water balloon

Since Elle was eating lunch during the water balloon toss yesterday at the birthday party, we let her drop a water balloon over the side of the balcony today. Great fun.

Here's the live action:

Yet again!

Today, Elle and I went to a birthday party for a little boy who was in Elle's kindergarten class, and his twin sister. At the end of the party they had. . . A PINATA! Yet again!
The dad set up a rickety metal ladder and climbed to the third from top step. Then, each kid was blindfolded (I guess to make it even more ridiculoulsy hard)as they got a turn whacking the air and sometimes the brick-hard pinata. Finally, the pony pinata's head came off and it dangled Nearly Headless Nick-like while the kids all got a second turn. Then, surprise, surprise, no holes were made, no candy fell out. So, the dad fully decapitated the pony pinata and pulled out its candy guts and flung them into the air and onto the heads of the kids gathered around the base of the ladder. We parents cringed as we saw the suckers and other hard candy denting our kid's heads.
One of the moms told me of a pinata party she had attended not long ago that now makes her cringe with fear at the sight of a pinata. She said a kid was whacking away with a big stick at the pinata and the rest of the kids kept crowding closer and closer. Then, one little boy was hit near his eye which came out of its socket and lay danging on his cheek! EW!!!
Ya. I'm terrified of the things now! However, this mom did hear of a good alternative to the pinata thing. She said you get the kind that has strings attached and everyone grabs a string and one of the strings (no one knows which one--how exciting!) lets loose the candy. Then, out falls individual zip lock bags. Each kid gets one and everybody is happy. I guess. . .

Tandem

Every day this week (except Friday--Friday we went to Evan Almighty) Elle and I rode our tandem bike. It' my bike plus a tag-along we bought from Target online. Plus, we attached the Baby doll seat Elle got for her birthday last year. So, Baby comes too (she came with the seat). Puppy came once last summer, but he got dirty. It's so fun! We ride around Cheviot Hills (the neighborhoods above Elle's school). We go about 3+miles round trip. Elle's favorite parts are the bumps and sprinklers.

Elle's night and day by Elle

One morning, I was trying to make a pot. But I couldn't! So, I waited until Dad came home. And he helped me make a pot and then the next day, we baked it! Now I just need to paint it. The end

One morning, I had a play-date. It was soooooo fun! (giggle giggle) We played "Guess Who?" We did puzzles. We played fairy games. And then we went to eat lunch. Then, we took Clara back home. Then the day was over. The end.

Giant mushrooms

Today's post is narrated by Elle
Today, I went to the park. On the way home, I found two giant mushrooms. Actually, more than two. And my mom said, "How 'bout you pick some--only two." And she asked if I would pick the biggest one, and then another one if I wanted. So, I picked the biggest one--it was just laying on its side. Then I picked the next one. It was IN the ground. And it was like, it was too hard to pick, so I picked the stem. The stem is broken now. it felt like leather and it felt funny.
Love, Elle

Nintendo - Save The Pinata

Pinatas

Yesterday, I took Elle to the park to help her practice riding her bike without training wheels. She did great until she swerved off the sidewalk and onto the grass and off the curb into the road. She didn't have as much fun after that. (It was a side street, with no cars whatsoever driving by).
While we were there, I saw a birthday party. As usual, they had a pinata for all the kids to smash. And, as usual, I saw the parent ripping the pinata apart and scattering its contents for all the eager kids.
I'm not sure why we parents insist on the pinata thing. It NEVER works. The kids all take turns whacking uselessly until some kid manages a small hole and a token piece of candy falls out. Then, all the greedy kids rush up and fight over it. All us moms reign in the kids so they won't get hit by whoever knocked the one piece of candy out in the first place. After all that, more useless whacking. Eventually, the parents and kids are fed up and anxious for the candy. Thus, they all witness a grown up ripping the My Little Pony's head off, or, for better candy distribution, forcing it's body apart in the middle.
Then, they can all gather as much candy as possible, which is a lot for some kids, and none for others, resulting in tears and hard feelings.
I've seen this time and time again, and I saw it once more yesterday. So silly. When will we learn?

Sunday

Every Sunday, Mom asks what Elle wore and how her hair was fixed. So, here she is! Cute as a button.

The Zoo

After the merry-go-round, we tried to go to the pony rides, but, alas, they were inaccessible for some reason.
So we went to the zoo. We stopped and collected (not $200) but our free Zoo t-shirt for being zoo members.

As usual, we went to the petting zoo

We walked all the way to the bird show only to find the gates locked. Dang it!
Elle played at the park instead.
She's pretending that the above elephant is running and she's "trying to balance"

Griffith Park merry-go-round

After Dreamworks, Elle and I headed over to Griffith Park to find the merry-go-round
Obviously, we found it.
It's pretty cool. The horses are pretty old and they're made of wood.

Here's Elle as she's whizzing by.

Look closely--this horse totally has its tongue out! Ha!

Family Friday at Dreamworks

Elle and I had lunch with Chris today at Dreamworks because every Friday during the summer is family and friend's day.
I thought I'd post some pictures for all you family members out there to encourage you to visit us. He has to let them know the Wednesday before which guests are coming, so don't pop in Friday and expect to come to lunch.

Here's some pictures of the big pond outside

This is on one of the many paths you can take around Dreamworks
Isn't the grass in back crazy?

Elle's piano lesson

After watching and listening to her cousins practice piano every day while we were on vacation in Utah, Elle decided she wanted lessons too. So, I'm her new piano teacher.
Her lessons started Monday. I think she'd doing rather well. We added "practice piano" to her chore list.
Maybe someday she can accompany me when I play my violin!

Elaina, this one's for you!

Last night at book club, Kristen wore her princess slippers and introduced us all to what is called "toe cleavage." I thought it was so funny, I had to take a picture. (sorry Elaina--what can you expect--I live in a wicked city)

two more circus pictures

Here's the rest of the room and a sample of more of the food (can you tell I ate a lot that night?)
Connor and Elle shared a seat for a while. It was so cute. Those two are going to get engaged someday, I think. Next to them is Sophia and Abbey again.

more circus pictures

Kristen and Betsey and families came too!

It was a nice big room with plenty of food.
When the dessert car came, I chose the snickers cheesecake. It was so smooth and yummy! Chris chose the six (count 'em--SIX) layer carrot cake and downed nearly the whole thing!
Connor and Elle hung out together too!

Ringling Bros. Circus

On Wednesday, Robinin invited us to her boss' box at the Staples Center to see the Circus. It waf fun being able to watch and eat (a lot) and get up and move around and eat some more. :)



Elle sat by Mason and Abbey

Elle's roller blades

After our fun adventure at Classic skating in Utah, I decided to get Elle some roller blades. I found some at Target on sale for $12! She's been practicing in the hall just outside our apartment. She's getting better, but she's not quite ready to take to the sidewalk.

The trek stops here

We used spray bottles as we walked to keep cool.
It worked pretty well.
Elle was such a trooper when we were walking. She hardly
complained at all!

However, her exhaustion caught up with her
whenever we stopped.
This is our "after" picture.
Notice how excited and lively Elle is ;)

Here's the survivors.
Plus the goat.

Here are some of our clothes ready to be washed.
yuck! Pretty dirty!
Those were once white socks