Stratford Family

My sister Amber is prego with her second little girl set to arrive in just a months time, so of course we needed to celebrate! I decided a tea would be a fun theme and it was a success! I made 4 types of tea sandwiches: ina’s egg salad, chicken salad, veggie pesto & cucumber mint. I enlisted the help of a friend and fab baker Gerry to make the scones and then of course we had lots of yummy treats! The tea was tasty; made better by vintage demitasse tea cups. I was busy being the hostess and didn’t get to take to many photos – but here are a few:

a baby shower is always more fun with a tiny baby in attendance to coo at

I love to make these Madeline’s

Stacey brought these gorgeous french macaroons from Paulette’s in Bev Hills

HUGE congratulations to this growing family – can’t wait to meet the newest addition!

I didn’t get too many fun photos of our celebrations – but we had a great day! We went down to Greg’s parents for a BBQ and took the kids out for a kayak ride which was great – it always seems like a hassle to get everyone loaded in, but such a fun way to spend the day. After some naps and cupcake making we headed up to Pasadena. Our friends Gary and Alejandro (aka Teeny) live in a gorgeous home above the Rose Bowl – it is literally the perfect place to spend the 4th of July. A nice huge lawn for the kids to run around, always some tasty food and drinks and of course the best fireworks show around. So pleasant and relaxing – thanks guys!!

My cupcake making assistant:

I used my paparazzi style zoom (well maybe not quite) to take a picture of the neighbors house. Every time we visit we ogle at this house – can’t you just see Greg and I living in this modern beauty with incredible views!

We hope you all had a lovely holiday!

It doesn’t feel right that I let Father’s Day pass without posting about how lucky my girls are to have such an amazing dad! He takes them on fun adventures, loves them dearly and they certainly love him back. There is nothing quite like the excitement in their voices when they hear the gate in evening and yell “Daddy’s home!”

I did snap a couple of pics Sunday morning after our yummy banana muffin breakfast.

After lounging around the house a bit we enjoyed lunch down on the patio in Naples with Greg’s family and then we got to head out for a night at the Hollywood Bowl. There is something truly special about a summer night at the Bowl, we brought a picnic, and this trip we discovered a shuttle bus from Lakewood – all around a great time. Combining two of Greg’s favorite things; live music and public transportation. We got to see 5 different groups as part of the KCRW summer concert series and my favorite of the bunch was a Tinariwen they are nomads from the Sahara desert and they rock!
If you have never been to a concert at the Hollywood bowl – go buy tickets now, it doesn’t matter if it is a band you love or not, it is all about the experience and I know you’ll have a great one!

We celebrated Charlotte’s year in Pre-K and her time at the J last Friday with the Pre-K celebration. Each class sang a song or two on stage and then we headed back to the class rooms for some treats and family time.

Here is a video of Charlotte up on stage (the song starts at 1:05 in if you want to skip forward:

Pre-K Celebration from Greg Stratford on Vimeo.

The girls dressed up ready to go, I love how this picture totally shows each of the personalities – classic!

Charlotte has been in class with friends Katie and Gabby since they were all just 2 – it’s sad to leave friends, but some friends from her classes with be with her at the Elementary School!

We shoo-be-doobied down to Rubys to celebrate for a fun lunch. Some friends from school ended up at the booth right next to us. These 3 will all be at C’s school next year.

To top it all off the girls got some milkshakes – they were a little thick to start, hence the look on P’s face.

We got to enjoy a lovely day in Ojai today with both mine and Greg’s family. We had a nice lunch, played at the park and then got to go for a swim.

This morning Charlotte said “Mom is there something you would like me to wear?” Um YES! Both girls let me choose their outfits and pretty much stood still long enough for a couple of photos.

We had some playground fun:

And the photos of the day…we happened upon a Native American drum circle finishing up – gotta love OJAI (which I’ve always been told means nest in a Native American language, although I don’t know which one).

Some are repeats of above – but here is a slideshow of the day:

Remember last month when I set some goals in anticipation for earth day in this post? Well the day has come and unfortunately I can’t say we deserve an A, probably more like a B- (but do we get an A for effort in being pro-active?)

To recap my goals and our results:

1. More consistently use cloth napkins – DONE! This was an easy change and it is a habit now. I would like to make some fun printed ones, but I’m still waiting for the shoulder to heal before I attempt sewing.

2. Work on the front sprinkler system to figure out how to alternate days – FAIL. This hasn’t happened yet, but I’m hopeful we can accomplish it this weekend as we aren’t too busy and many American’s observe Earth day on the weekend anyhow right?:)

3. Harvest some compost – plant some veggies – DONE! The  compost didn’t yield as much nice fine dirt as I was anticipating, I’ve learned I need to turn it more frequently. But the veggies seem happy and the tomato is growing like crazy.

4. Use the bike – walk and ride more. Well, this was a little un-realistic since I can’t really ride a bike (especially with a tot attached) with only one working arm. We have walked a bit more in the neighborhood, so this has a mixed result. We’ll continue to improve on this one.

5. Make, buy local and handmade gifts – DONE! With Etsy and many crafty friends this has been fun:)

This wasn’t one of our original goals, but after some encouraging comments we also purchased some reusable stainless steel straws that are working out great and we are no longer throwing away plastic ones a few times a day.

How about YOU? Share your Earth day goals in the comments!

Now take a look at these gorgeous seeds we pulled out of some puffs in Pfeiffer’s Maple Village class this week – YES those are natural HEARTS that grow on the seeds! We will plant them and they grow into a vine that grows puffs and when the puffs dry out we can pull them off and share the seeds with friends next year. These little hearts on these little seeds have me in awe at the beauty of the earth!

HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYONE

We had a fun egg hunt last night and the girls got some more treats in their Easter baskets this morning. The adorable chicks in their eggs are a big hit – so sweet. You can find them and other beautiful creations coming soon to my friend’s Magical Garden Etsy shop. P.Lou is very into the Ladybug Girl books, so we got her a little costume and she is zooming around in it. C loves her flip flops and is excited for a new Julius pair and a cute little outfit. Here are some highlights – we’re off to brunch with GiGi and most of Greg’s family for some more celebrating.

Happy Birthday to my big Sis Amber! PLou and I got to spend the morning with the birthday girl and little Bella – we enjoyed some coffe, scones, and some water play.

The cousins couldn’t get enough of the hose.

A little LOVE

Thanks for the fun!

Yesterday while I was recovering and trying to rest as much as possible Aunt Katie and her boyfriend Evan came over with crafts! The girls had a great time dying Easter eggs, decorating them, making bracelets, tasking Evan with dinosaur making and thoroughly enjoyed the attention. I don’t know if one armed egg dying was going to happen this year, so I am very glad that Katie & Evan took the lead.

We had planned on hanging the eggs from a branch inside the house, but clever Charlotte wanted to hang them from the wind chime and it looks beautiful!

As for me I am a bit woozy from the medication but slept better last night – lots of icing and rest for me this weekend.

We celebrated Bella’s second birthday today with a Minnie Mouse bash. Lots of yummy treats, a bouncer, good friends and family made for a mouse-tastic celebration!