End of the school year!

Today marked the official end to Pen's first year of preschool at Little Angels. I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in less than a year! All I can say is she truly loves this school and I am so grateful to her teachers for making her feel so loved and safe. Thankfully I can save the tears for a few more weeks since she will be in the summer session. Here are a few pics of some of her "end of the year" gifts from her sweet teachers. They took photos from throughout the year and made a special memory book for her. They also gave me a super sweet frame filled with pictures of her class as a thank you for being a room mom. Penelope quote "I'm so proud of you mom for getting that present." love her!

Today they also had a huge party with ladybug rice Krispy treats and even a visit from a clown!! Wishing I had pics of that, but teacher Jenny promised to post some by tomorrow.

Hanging in Cambria

Every year my mom has a conference up in Cambria.

This year her and my dad scored with a huge two room suite at the Cambria Pines Lodge (their favorite place to stay up there.)

They invited us to stay with them for a night so we jumped at the opportunity.

James and I have spent many weekends in the sleepy beach town of Cambria.

We love to stay right on Moonstone Beach in one of the cute inns that have fireplaces in the room- listening to the sound of waves crashing at night=heaven.

The last time we had been there was for our babymoon when pregnant with Violet.

So it was fun to take the kids and show them one of our favorite spots.

the squirrels there must get fed because they are way to bold!
this little guy greeted us upon arrival and Penelope was super excited

posin

sunset while waiting for a table at one of our favorite spots- the Sea Chest

its nearly impossible to get a family photo with everyone looking in the same direction

my parents took us to the Cambria Pines flower nursery
it is so beautiful

there was a super cute play house there
if only I could take it home!

here it is from the outside!

fairy gardens!
I bought some really cute fairy garden furniture for Penelope's fairy garden here
I couldn't resist!

a flamingo garden? score!

bread in a flower pot? oh yes
another fav eatery- the Sow's Ear

Father's Day

Since James is one incredible father I decided this Father's Day should be pretty incredible too.

The weekend started with a good old guy's night out on Friday. Of course I wasn't going to be left all alone to my own devices on a Friday night- so I decided to invite the wives over with the kids for a yummy party with homemade apps and cocktails (and an outdoor movie for the kiddos!)

On Sunday James and his buddy Grant got to golf all day at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa (thank you Living Social for a great deal- and thank you Kate for telling me about it!)

Well, once I heard that the Ojai Valley Inn was voted one of the top family friendly resorts in the US.... annnnddd once I heard there was a tiny kiddie pool for the toddlers- I decided "hey, why not stay the night and make a true trip out of it?!!"

That way the boys could golf and I could lounge by the pool (can I hear "pool service") while the kids played their hearts out. A WIN, WIN, WIN!

After a couple hours of sitting in traffic (can you say YUCK!) Kate and the boys finally made it to the hotel to have dinner with all of us.

I can't say enough how great this hotel is for families.

We had an absolute blast there.

Thank you Jamers for being such a great husband and father.

You are my rock, my best friend and biggest fan.

I love you!

our friend Joe Beraldo created this image for James
he even made a tshirt

James and Grant stoked for guys night

my "yummy mummy" flat bread- thanks Jenn again, love this cookbook!

while the moms drank blueberry martinis and chased after the little ones
the "big kids" did this
yay for cocoa, popcorn, pizza and Toy Story
hmmm sounds like my kinda night

on Saturday the girls worked on their Papa Bear's (aka my dad) gift

my dad loves succulents and adores those arrangements you see at the farmers market
So we decided to make him a fairy house too!

ahhh chillin at the hotel

pool service, this was some kind of breezy cocktail

my strawberries

one hole was right next to the pool- so look who stopped by to take a pic
these guys are hilarious

and for dinner we ate right at the green, while the kids (and yes that is Kate) ran around
she really needs to take it easy ;)

the hotel even gave Penelope a tinkerbell bed! What?!!!

making daddy's gift at Knit Fit

these little monkeys were a handful at Knit Fit!

Sam and Connor got in on the action too