6th Birthday!!!

We are finally winding down from the never-ending 6th birthday. We had the third and final birthday party of the season yesterday at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. The kids had a great time swimming with 20 of their friends when they were not running around screaming their heads off. The lifeguard looked pretty frightened when all 20 kids descended on the pool at once, but no one was kicked out or drowned so it was a success! More photos to come...

PS I love Meghan photo-bombing this family photo. Particularly since she is the most enthusiastic of the bunch!

Malibu after the Rain

El Matador Beach could not have been more beautiful today. LA sparkles after the rain and we had a storm yesterday that left a gorgeous day in its wake.

Thanksgiving in Ohai

We had a lovely Thanksgiving in the mountains of Ohai with our friend Tamarind and her family. You can just see a corner of Jack peeking out from the end of the table and Sadie doing what she can to throw off the picture.

Halloween

We may have had our best Halloween yet last month. We had way too much fun dressing up as Kiss. Between the kids seeing Kiss on Scooby Doo and J.'s stories of being in the Kiss Army as a child, Jack and Sadie were sold on dressing up as Kiss. Sadie choose to be front man Gene Simmons and Jack wanted to be the drummer Peter Chris. I choose Paul Stanley and J. Ace Frehley. Our neighbors were pretty darn psyched when they opened their doors and found the four of us on their door steps. One father told us that we had "won" Halloween.

Aldama Community Workers

I am back! I could not resist sharing these photos from Jack and Sadie's kindergarten class. They have been learning about community workers and these pictures of them dressed up as the workers they chose and some of their classmates were just too cute!

Kindergarten

Jack and Sadie bravely started kindergarten this morning! They were braver than me - I broke down crying. This is big day for us and everything is new. They have entered the dual language program at Aldama Elementary, where they will learn half of every day in Spanish. Jack started in Ms. Jung's room, where English is spoken. Sadie started in Senora Saenz's classroom, where only Spanish is spoken. I found it disorienting not understanding what was being said, Sadie said that the secrete is to copy what the other kids do. Jack said that he was a little shy today, but he has already asked for a playdate with one student in their program that he knew before starting. It is a new world for us with many adventures ahead!

Ice Skating

Life in LA is not all about the sunshine. There is nothing like spending a 90 degree day at the ice arena, which is what we did to celebrate Sadie's classmate Molly's birthday last weekend. The kids were surprisingly good at ice skating for first-timers. They loved it and had a ton of fun with their goofy friends.