The doctor is in

Elise and mom made a pretend hospital in her playroom and that has been the highlight of her week. Elise's "clinic" is known for a number of surgical sub-specialties but she seems well practiced at the art of rhinoplasty (thus far her favorite. I mean, we do live in LA). It was too cute to not share:

In other news our fruit "trees" seem to be doing well. We already picked two limes and there are a ton of lemons that are itty-bitty but growing. Our herbs are out of control. The oregano has started taking over the basil and parsley (we planted them in pots) but they don't seem to be going down without a fight. Rosemary and thyme are better roommates-they stay out of each others' way.

Elise pummeling mom with tomatoes

Elise arguing about which one is a lemon tree. She refuses to believe that lemons turn yellow once they have matured

Try to ignore the dead flowers in front of Elise

The sun was in our eyes making for squinty pictures

Oh and our habanero peppers are coming along nicely as well:-)

Remember these?

Well, I just ate a whole bag and now I'm SICK. and I have a purple tongue..this is what happens when the now "health nut Holly" goes off the wagon. KEEP the candy away from her!!

The Sad Truth

Elise: "mommy that car looks just like yours. it's the same size and color."

Holly: "Yes Elise, it does look just like mommy's. That's a Lexus-mommy wishes she had a Lexus."

Elise: "but you don't mommy, you have a Nissan."

le sigh...

Superhero

Elise's version of Superhero:

If I ever..

If I ever make it big I want this to be my publicity shot:

Finally

Finally Elise and I made it back down to San Diego to visit our dear friends Katie and Thomas. It had been two months since we last saw them! They took us to their fancy country club which appeared to have one rule of admittance: must have breast implants. Lucky for us they let them become members and allowed them some guests;-)

Elise and Thomas enjoyed the maze of pools and water slides (public pools make Holly cringe but these were seriously nice) Katie and Holly enjoyed daydreaming of how they might join forces to rid the world of all things related to Ed Hardy..(insert finger in mouth and make puking gesture) Sorry to anyone who reads this and wears it...Michele.

Later on Katie's sitter came over and the moms went out for a lovely dinner and closed down the place after polishing off a wonderful bottle of wine. Dinner was fantastic even after hearing the loud man at the table next to us exclaim "He had a huge cancerous growth in his rectum. Can I get that sauce on the side?"

We had a quiet morning at a beautiful park with the kids and we headed back to LA after lunch. Next month when we go down we will brave Legoland or the San Diego Zoo. It was really good to see them!

Mike is away on his monthly excursion to Fresno which gives me time to clean and write and smell the roses...

been trying the french twist with E's hair

Her new favorite sport

OK, She takes really bad pictures and we're not quick enough to capture the good ones

Katie and the kiddos

sometimes I wonder...

If you're not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed are you bleary-eyed and bald and matted tailed?

Made out of fancy part 2

because we always find a way to celebrate something..we went out for date in honor of the new surgeon extraordinaire...

awkward family leaning picture:
note-I am standing in 4 inch heels...mike still has to lean in. 5'3 is a perfectly good height!!!! c'mon...


This is what I think about all of you picture:
show me sexy-work it for the camera:
we're so cool picture:
bad angle; too much wine later picture:

ok, by request I put up the "Belle De Jour" picture...what can I say, we were bored...

July 4th

The fourth was a pretty solid day. Maria and Mike's fellow INR Bill came over and we walked down to our neighborhood block party. Elise was thrilled that she got to jump to her heart's content in the big bouncy jumpy thing and ride a series of toy cars. I made some Hollywood no-no's (Rochester people should fondly remember these) for the occasion and I think they went over pretty well.

Later Mike grilled a beer butt chicken and we had the pleasure of watching fireworks from not one, not two, but three locations right from our own backyard. Amazing.

And much later, Mike and some wine convinced me to light Roman candles. It was too much fun for me and now I'm hooked.