The Premiere

Baby J and I went to the L.A. premiere for the new movie Julie and Julia this afternoon with my friend Lauree (it was Lauree's third premiere so she knows the routine). The event was at Mann's Village Theater near UCLA - a fun, hipster spot to stand around waiting for movie stars to roll up in Audi clean diesel SUVs instead of limos.

We didn't get any autographs but Meryl and Amy Adams were right in front of me! I LOVE a good star sighting (I saw Conan in the airport in NYC and Robert Redford at Sundance, Utah).

Other stars are invited to the premieres for publicity - Yvonne Strahovski (the tall blonde looking down) aka Sarah from the TV show Chuck walked behind me on her way to willcall -D and I are big Chuck fans. I also saw Giada from FoodNetwork, some Office characters, and Alice from Twilight.

After seeing all the beautiful people I decided I need to practice walking in higher heels and try to be taller, thinner and tanner - just kidding :) I love L.A.

ps - D and Little S had a fun date night while I was away. They made english muffin pizzas, ate an artichoke per Little S's request and had fruit pizza for dessert. Then they played games on PBSkids.org. Tues morning Little S came in our room and when she realized I was back she told her daddy, "I want mommy to go away again so you and I can play together."

a little more love

My little brother requested more pics of Baby J, saying she hasn't gotten enough love on the blog lately. So, here you go - the pics below are hot off the presses - just taken today...

Yes, she eats her toes. She wants to eat anything else she can get her hands on, but sometimes her toes are the only things within reach.

Cheeky smile :)

Please, big sis, could you just leave me alone sometimes!!

Little S: "Mom, come look at these beautiful flowers." It was a bucket of sunflowers in the new PB catalog - a fun, light read for this 3 year-old.

Skirball

the.coolest.kidmuseum. Today I was mesmerized (as was Little S and even Baby J) during our visit to the Skirball Cultural Center. The museum is in L.A. and my friend Cass and I have been wanting to take the kids for awhile, now. Noah's Arc, a giant 4-room interactive space filled with all things animal, is their big attraction and it did not disappoint.

Little S walked in with her hands over her ears - this is her new gesture to indicate she's nervous/uncomfortable/or something is just too loud (the arc was quiet so I think she was indicating her nerves about the giant boat and animals). When all the other kids moved into another room to create a thunderstorm with musical instruments Little S stayed and explored the space on her own, got comfortable with everything and then had a great time playing.

A perfect circle... she creates these types of scenes at home - the animals or her dolls set in a circle so she can read to them. She loved the big gorilla and carried him around looking for his food (she was concerned she couldn't find bananas for him to eat among the plastic fruit).

Another favorite: the play food area - she loves creating place settings

The animals filled every space of the giant arc - most were created using repurposed materials in the most clever ways

I'm loving this place!

After the arc, we visited the Super Hero exhibit. Little S was excited to find a stash of dress-up clothes and then played in the phone booth with Colin.

Don't forget about the drop-in art studio. Today the kids made African wrap dolls. Little S wanted the pink sparkly fabric and the blue sparkly fabric for her doll.

Cass's minivan was at max. capacity - two adults, two baby seats and 3 kids in the back being entertained by the dvd player (that helped with the 2 hour ride home). We all had a great time during our adventure in the city today.

Dance!

Little S danced with this group over the weekend at the Children's Workshop sponsored by our local Community Summer Music Festival. (Each group that performs at our outdoor bowl puts on a children's class the next day) D took her to the class and the two of them had a great time - the music took D back to our trip to Brasil 3 years ago for his work - we had 8 month old Baby S with us and she was partying all night as one must do when in Brasil! It was a trip of a lifetime - so many great family memories - the Brasilian music and dance from Bahia was a major part of the trip events so it was awesome for D to hear and see it all again (and maybe faint memories of the music are somewhere in Little S's mind, too).

On Saturday she wore the dress I bought for her on the beach of Costa do Sauipe three years ago- she finally fits into it!

Here we are with the Capoeira dancers near Salvador, Brasil (2006).

I bought dresses for Baby S from these vendors on the beach in Brasil...

quote of the day

Little S: Mom, is pilates the Spanish word for class?

grandpa came to town

My dad came to visit us last month - most importantly he came to meet his second grandchild, Baby J. Grandpa stayed for a week and babysat Little S over the weekend while D and the baby and I vacationed in Santa Barbara. Their weekend together included going to the movie theater to see UP, frozen custard and Little S even took Grandpa to Sunbeams with her.

The two of them got along pretty well during their 2 nights together - only one minor incident: Grandpa realized he hadn't heard Little S around the house in quite a while. He was panicked as he called for her throughout the house. He eventually found the door to the master bathroom closed and locked and assumed she was inside getting into something (right on). After calling her name a few times, she answered. He told her to open the door, she said she couldn't because it was too slippery. "What?" said Grandpa. She went on to explain that she had too much lotion on her hands and couldn't turn the door handle and that he should get the stick above the door and open it for her (he had no idea what the deal was with the stick - fyi, we keep wooden skewers above all the doors that lock for this very purpose - you can unlock the doors by poking them into the little hole in the handles). He kept (moderately) calm and walked her through using a towel to wrap around the door handle and then open the door. He was frustrated with the lotion mess on the towels when the fiasco was over, but happy that nothing more serious happened during his watch.