Annie's Birthday

Monday, February 15 was my middle daughter, Annie's, birthday.  A national holiday just happened to fall on her birthday this year.  We decided to celebrate with a brunch at 11a.m. so that Annie could join her friends in the evening for a celebration in Visalia (somewhere where birthday girls can ride a mechanical bull free on their special day??)!  Annie loves her family, so that is who we invited -- Grandpa Roger, Graner, Uncle Sam, Aunt Sue, and all of our immediate family.  Uncle Tom and Aunts Aletha couldn't make it, although Aletha dropped by a little later in the afternoon with her birthday wishes.  I made 3 kinds of quiche, monkey bread, fruit salad, fresh squeezed orange juice and a fresh strawberry cake.  I probably should have made 2 of the monkey bread since it is sooo yummy and poor Edward didn't get any when he arrived a little later.   We all had a great time together celebrating with Annie -- I am so glad she only lives an hour away and not the 4 hours it used to be when she lived in San Ramon.  Annie is such a blessing to all of us -- she is the energetic life of our family.  She is one of my three very special blessings and I love her soooo much!  Have a great year wonderful daughter!

Annie and Claire with 32 candles!!

Claire turns 9!

Claire Bea, my only granddaughter, turned 9 a few days ago.  To celebrate, Claire and her friend, Bella, Bella's mom Anabel, Katie, and I traveled down to Hollywood on Saturday to have lunch and shop at The American Girl store.  We had so much fun!  Katie's GPS guided us on our journey to the shopping area called "The Grove".  Anabel commented "It's Disneyland for adults!" -- meaning the main shopping area looked like main street at Disneyland, only with a variety of high end stores.  There was piped music, flowers, statues, beautiful buildings, no cars, etc. and the weather was absolutely perfect.  We parked in a parking garage and had no trouble finding The American Girl store.  I think I was as excited as the two birthday girls. Bella's birthday is a week after Claire's so this was her celebration too. 

The girls got to each pick out a "just like me" doll.  There were quite a few to choose from with many combinations of hair, skin color, eye color, etc.  They also got matching souvenior T-shirts and doll outfits that could only be purchased at The American Girl store. 

We went upstairs to check in for our lunch, and we oo'd and aw'd at all the mini stores for all the historical dolls we passed on the way.  Wow! 

The American Girl Cafe was the cutest place ever.  The color scheme was hot pink, black and white.  The tables were decorated beautifully -- there were cloth napkins with hair bows they could keep, for napkin rings.  They provided a "sweet seat" for the girls' dolls. We were served pink lemonade and mini cinnamon rolls soon after we were seated.  There were little black and white boxes with papers printed with conversation questions on them.  The menus were pink and had a variety of choices for our entree.

Next we were served a plate with fruit skewers, crudites and dip, and crostinis and bruchetta for our appetizer.  Yum!  We all placed our entree orders and the girls thought about names for their dolls. 

The girls and I  had "bity hamburgers and hotdogs" with curly fries.

  The waitress brought out tiny little black and white cups and saucers for the dolls -- so cute.

For dessert we were served a plate with a little frosted star cookie, a cup of chocolate mousse,  and a little heart shaped piece of cake.

Claire and Bella both had candles in their cakes to blow out while Happy Birthday was sung to them.

 What a fun time we all had.

 I'm sure the girls will never forget their 9th birthday celebration at The American Girl Store!!  I know I will always enjoy the memories.
Oh, and on the way home we made a stop at the Burbank IKEA store -- that is always fun.

Grandma Day

When my first grandchild was born -- Claire -- in January, 2001, I made a committment to keep her one day a week.  My daughter Katie was going to be a working mom and I wanted to give little Claire a break in the middle of the week from her day care.  I have kept that committment for 9 years and 4 Moreno grandkids!  I have been so blessed to have been able to spend this quality time with them.  Currently, Grandma Day is Wednesdays.  Around 7:30 a.m. my little Farmer comes in the back door.  He is usually dressed as a football player (Bengal or Green Bay Packer) or he has his farmer work clothes on.  Archer shows up with his mommy moments later and our day begins!  Farmer's favorite breakfast is mini-pancakes.  He also loves to squeeze his own orange juice (he likes to go out and pick them first).  So our day begins . . . we have done all kinds of things throughout the years.  I've taught them all (except baby Archie) how to make cookies, especially chocolate chip.  We put together puzzles, read books, make tents, etc.  Claire and Bauer are picked up from their school at 2:20 p.m. (usually by Grandpa) and they join the fun until their mom picks them all up around 5 p.m.  Of course I am totally exhasted by the time they all leave -- but it is soooo worth it.  Here are some pictures from our last Grandma Day.

Squeezing the oranges

Yum!

Archer is ready for breakfast too!

Farmer on his tractor, ready to go play in the mud (he wasn't supposed to, but that didn't stop him.  I guess he just couldn't resist).