the mandel 5

Grandma Verna treated Megan and her friend Grace to a lunch at the new American Girl Place in LA. for Meg's birthday. We went to the one in Chicago 2 years ago and it was so much fun. Pretty dangerous to have one so close to my wallet. But the girls had a lot of fun. Megan got another set of bitty baby twins because not only do they have long hair to style, you can choose your own combination of boy/girl and blonde/brunette. They are more like toddlers - you can even buy them a potty seat.

Teri Montoya took this today for our association's website. She is the "grown-up" portrait queen. Me, I'd rather chase around the babies.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to get these up. Kari and Corey came over for a session last week. It's amazing how big they are getting - 10 and almost 8. Corey still *loves* to have Auntie take his pictures - not! You can't hear him but through his teeth, he is saying to his sister, "I hate this." =) Well, I love it and I love them and I love these pictures! Click here to see the rest......... kari and corey

For Megan's 6th birthday, we had a doll party here at our house (first house party in 5 years). We brought down all the doll and kitchen toys and my old dollhouse. Everyone played nicely. It was weird to have a party without my mom here. Even Kris, Lise, Janie, and Grandma Verna couldn't come. Dawn and Steph stayed and helped and so did some girl scout moms - thank goodness! Oh, and Kari - she was a HUGE help. I need to get me a 10 year old like her. =) After Megan's party, most of us headed down to Build a Bear in Northridge for another party - we were exhausted! Nathan BEGGED to stay and we let him. Rob took Lo to see the Cars movie. This was right before Nathan blew out Megan's candles, Megan pinched him, and both burst into tears. We had to re-light and do it all over again! Note the store-bought cake! We made baby doll blankets - just tied the flannel fringies. Megan wanted one of these "edible arrangements" so bad. Everyone brought a doll. Megan just ...

Forced the kids to do a session with mom before my beach shoots this morning. Out of about 50 pictures of the 3 of them together, Logan is looking at me in 2. On purpose.

Look at this pretty picture of a super-easy cake in Parents Magazine. I told Kris she could skip making the doll cake because this would surely take me 10 minutes and would go with Megan's baby doll themed 6th birthday party. I ordered a plain white cake and Rob and I stayed up until midnight trying to make this. The harder we tried and the later it got, the worse the blocks looked. And the worse the blocks looked, the harder we laughed. Finally, we froze the surviving portions of the cake and Rob made me promise to get a store bought cake in the morning. It was a good try... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If you've seen Megan in the last month, she has told you that she was born on Father's Day and that for the first time since then, it's her birthday and Father's Day together again. She has told every friend, family member, store clerk, Disneyland employee, swim teacher, dance teacher, Girl Scout leader, and Joe Shmoe on the street. Here are daddy and baby girl on her real birthday, at a few months old, and today, her 6th birthday. Time flies when you're having fun.

When I tried to take some pictures of Megan and Daddy on their special day, the boys wouldn't hear of being left out.

It should be called the HOTTEST place on earth! It was hot hot HOT there today! The kids had fun and didn't complain about the heat or lines. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride three times - it was everyone's favorite. We love Buzz. Megan and Nathan enjoyed seeing the characters so much that we stood in line to see a bunch of them. We also went on Small World, Roger Rabbit's ride, Winnie the Pooh, that rocket ride, and Peter Pan. Doesn't sound like much but we were there for 8 hours! It was sooooo hot! we took this one for uncle brady and chi chi - they are arielle's biggest fans. Logan is Buzz's #1 fan but this was way too close. Don't mind hot, sweaty me - did I mention it was HOT?!

All three kids did swim lessons with some teacher friends of ours. They were great - fun but tough. Megan can swim (with lots and lots of encouragement) across the short side of a pool. So can Nathan but he doesn't like to. Logan can put his face in, kick, and blow bubbles. He's pretty good with floaties. Megan is going to do two more weeks because I think by the end of that, she'll be a champ! Nathan and Logan have probably done all they can at this age. Look at my little fishies!

While the others were in Vegas, I had a couple beach sessions. Logan came along and Grandma Verna and Papa Bob chased him all over while I worked. I took these while waiting for my first appointment. He is so easy - Mr. Smiley Face. And easy to fool - "Look! It's Buzz Lightyear!" More are here