Fall Happy Hour "Drink Up Witches"

For several years now we have been hosting a Friday before Halloween Happy Hour inviting all of our friends to kick off the Fall season with us.  I like to call it "Drink Up Witches" since I received these fancy cocktail napkins last year from my friend Holley.

Bess made the cheese plate of all cheese plates. 

Lots of new friends!

And new and old friends

And lots of the same people in the same pictures over and over (note to self: try and get pictures of everyone at the party).

We invite everyone and their families to join us which is quite crazy in our small house. We had over 25 adults this year and almost 25 kids!  

(Yes Todd, we see you).

Cat ears and skeleton earrings Selfie.

And this crew stayed until the very end and I am laughing just typing this thinking of how many laughs we had. 

Samantha was a pretty good photographer trying to direct this crazy crew.

She got a pretty good action shot of little Virginia being strong-armed I mean picked up by her dad ;)

Don't worry, she was fine ;)

Imagine a world without iPads. I mean, how would adults be able to continue late night conversations about electronics, peanut butter and where to order nachos from?  You had to be there to get any of that ;)

I sported my cat ears to AYSO the next morning.  Soccer Mom of the year.

Followed by the best margarita I have had in a LONG time at Cafe Del Sol in Montecito.  That place is stuck in the 70's but man do they serve a good marg ;)

Still Flamenco-ing

Fiesta wrapped up this past August and with only a few weeks off of flamenco practice, we jumped right back in.  Crazy, right?  Unfortunately, with our fall schedule of cooking class and soccer for Samantha, our previous class did not work.  Then we had the option to join a class with older aged girls who had a few years of flamenco under their belts (or skirts I should say) but again, that class time didn't work.  So, until our schedule could open up, we opted for semi-private lessons with fellow flamenco-er, Fallon.  

We like to call them Fallon Squared. 

The semi-private lessons have paid off.  The girls have now joined their new group and are already learning their Fiesta 2014 routine.  

Here are some clips of Samantha and Fallon learning new footwork to get them caught up and also some clips from their new class which has 9 girls EXACTLY the same height ranging in age from 5 to 9.  Oh and next year there will be no scarfs, we've graduated to hats ;)

The Start of October

We kicked off October with a fun weekend of outings with friends!

Brophy Bros. with the Paskin crew ;)

Followed by ice cream at the Breakwater

Don't they look like they own the place? 

Thatch asked for a mohawk to go see The Colonel and Mrs. Janelle, Holley's parents, who were visiting from South Carolina. 

I'd say it is a good look for a party at Holley's house.

The Colonel got right to work on his famous quarter tricks for all the kids (and some adults too) ;)

Sending "Selfies" to Jack's mama who couldn't make the party

The weekend continued with a spa day for the girls 

And a plane ride for the boys

Thanks Pilot Mike for keeping our families safe ;) 

Random September Photos

So happy to have this girl home and even more happy to have her at Happy Hours!

 All the Mommies 

Sweet girls celebrating Bella turning SIX!

Mother/Daughter hair, yes or no?

I say YES! 

Sushi Bar Siblings

Soccer practicing at home.

We tried out iGrill so the kids could cook their own food. 

Having them cook was the best part of the meal.

Food was so-so but I am not blaming the cooks ;)

Beautiful morning run at the Ellwood Bluffs.

Samantha's sweet friend Kirra at school who is in her cooking class.

One of the many treats we get every Monday after cooking class.  

Painting "Renbows"

Kindergarten Recess