Happy Birthday Bagga Jan!

Yesterday Bagga Jan came down for dinner to celebrate her birthday! It was a nice relaxing evening followed by a show...

...The show. Madison & Luke took turns introducing each other & then dancing a little for our entertainment :-)

Look at those moves!

Happy Birthday Bagga!

Quote of the Day:

Me - "Mommy's really tired today."

Madison - "Well Mommy, maybe you should stop doing so much laundry!"

I wish sweetheart!!!

Santa Cruz

What did I want to do for my birthday? Run 6 miles?? Not really.

My girlfriend Dara thought (and rightly so) that us "Moms" needed to do something for just us...not for our kids or our husbands. She thought we should enter the Wharf to Wharf race in Santa Cruz. It sounded like a fantastic idea (mind you I had never run more than 2 miles consecutively.) We recruited our friend Heather Sakai & she convinced her friend, Melissa Cahoon, that we needed to do this. The 4 of us had such a great time!!! We're already talking about next year. Because the race landed on my birthday my entire family made a weekend out of it. Uncle Jason & Aunt Jill flew up from San Diego & we all stayed at the Dream Inn, about 200 yards from the Start line.

Slight monkey wrench...we weren't comfortable leaving my parents 9 week old puppy, Greta, at home with our other 2 dogs so we smuggled her into the non-doggy friendly hotel. She was absolutely perfect, never made a peep!

This is Jason standing on the sidewalk behind some trees holding Greta while we valet the cars. See her cute little head sticking out of the bag! :-)

The view from our room

Greta snuggling with Jason

Post-race picture of adorable little Ryan Sakai (there are NO publish-worthy pictures of me post-race)

Sunday night we went to Shadowbrook in Capitola for dinner. The kids LOVED the fact that you had to take a tram down to the restaurant. All day Monday they kept saying that they wanted to go back to the restaurant with the choo choo train.

The tram

Thanks to my family for such an amazing birthday!!!

Summer Birthdays

In Mike's family we have 6 out of 10 people who have birthdays in July & August...Bagga Glen - 7/3, Mike - 7/17, Jenn - 7/26, Bagga Jan - 7/29, Conor - 7/31 & Ceara 8/17. Busy! This year we were lucky to have the Lafferty's here from Italy so we had a celebration dinner at Wente Vineyards in Livermore to toast all of the Summer birthdays. The evening started out perfect but ended a little off. Madison had been complaining of a stomach ache all night & about 2 & 1/2 hours into the meal she got sick & didn't stop getting sick until 3 AM the next morning. She was such a trooper about it! Not a single complaint. She's such a strong little one :-)

Conor & Uncle John

Luke landing a smooch on his Bagga Jan

Ceara, Bagga Glen & Aunt Jane

Bagga Jan & Aunt Jane

Madison (feeling good) & Mommy

Aunt Jane & Daddy

Welcome Home Greta!

Yesterday my parents welcomed a new member of the family...an 8-week-old black & tan miniature daschund named Greta. She is the sweetest little thing with a fun, feisty personality. She is the perfect addition to the family!

Greta's 1st few hours in her new home (Abby trying to get as close as possible)

Madison & Luke are in LOVE with her! Last night Madison kept saying, "Okay, Mommy, if I go to bed, then go to school, then I get to see Greta?" Precious!

Greta can sense the dog lover in Madison

Luke is upset that Greta isn't in his lap

Peanut getting in there for a welcome kiss

The above pictures were from Greta's 1st night here & below, as promised, are pictures from our visit immediately following school today :-)

Welcome to the family sweet little Greta!!!

Peanut's 6th Birthday!

Sunday the 19th our first baby Peanut turned 6-years-old! Happy Birthday Nut Nut!!

Luke & Madison helping Peanut blow out her candle

Celebrating just the way Nut likes it...with an egg! Madison was very concerned that P didn't have a cake but we assured her that an egg was much preferred by the birthday girl :-)

Cheers to many more Nutter Butter!

Madison on the Ferris Wheel

Mike captured this great video of Madison enjoying her ride on the Ferris Wheel...

The Fair

Sunday after the BBQ Mike took the kids to the Alameda County Fair with the Sanchez' & the Laffertys (I was recovering from another sleepless night...thank you Madison!)
Displaying our shaved ice tongues

Luke looking longingly at the cars

Luke sporting a sheriff's badge

Our turn on the cars!

Madison's favorite...the ponies!

Mmmm...fried foods...

Madison was brave enough for the Ferris Wheel!

If I knew this is how high my baby was I would have freaked! My little girl is braver than I am :-)

Mike's 40th Birthday BBQ

To celebrate Mike's birthday properly we had a few friends over for a BBQ. Thanks to everyone who was there for such a great party & we missed those of you who couldn't make it!

Mark, baby Grant, Brigit & Jill

The boys...Dave, Chris & Mike (these 3 have been friends since the 6th grade!)

Jennifer & Jason

Julie, baby Bryden, Rich & Jude (aka Grandpa Silly & Bagga Judy)

Lauren & Elizabeth

Bryden enjoying the water table

Mike, Joe, Jane & Joey

Luke & Madison working the bubbles

Aunt Jill & Bagga Judy

Mark, Grant, Jeremy (Sal) & Mike

Our house is so small we had to eat in the driveway but it worked out perfectly :-)

Glen, Joe, Jane, Conor, Joey & Jan

Mike & his Dad

The boys tending to their girls

John & Ceara

3 of the 4 Laffertys...Jane, John & Ceara

Luke hitching a ride on Uncle Jason

Baby Grant! (also referred to as "Slim" :-)

The boys sharing a laugh

Bagga Jan & Bagga Judy

Madison tackles Uncle Jason

Sean & Mike - I'm going to try & post it for everyone to see but the entire party had just watched an amazing video that Sean put together from pictures of Mike's life. It was really spectacular, I'll try & get it up to the blog for your viewing pleasure :-)

baby Carson just relaxing

The Allen Family

Trying to coral all of the Allen & the Laffertys

The Allens & the Laffertys...Ceara, John, Conor, Jane, Luke, Jan, Mike, Jenn, Madison & Glen

The Lafferty Family

Jane & her Daddy

Mike & his Mom

Jane & Mike

Jenn, Channing, Carson, Dara & Olivia

Mike showing off his Alexis t-shirt!

The party calming down...

Mike & Joe

Dave, Chris & Mike

Dave, Chris, Mike & Sean

Thank you so much to everyone for such an amazing party! Especially to Sean for the spectacular video, Dara for the bacon wrapped potato appetizer (mmmm), Jill for the gorgeous center pieces, Jan for the stuffed mushrooms (always fabulous!) & Jude for your famous potato salad! Thank you, thank you!!!