"Summer...Summer....Summertime...

Just sit back unwind." I think Will Smith was right that is why I took all summer to relax and unwind at least that is my story for not updating my blog since May!

I will pick-up where I left off in May. Emily turned five years old and celebrated by having a week of birthday parties which kept me very busy!

Here are some of the pics from her parties:

Making her birthday cake with Grandma Gloria

Here she is with the cake, ready to take a bite!

On the day of her birthday Emily woke up to her room being completely decorated in celebration of her turning five


She and Grandma Eling share a birthday so we had a small dinner to celebrate


She then had a party with all of her school friends at Docs


That same week she graduated (and we had another party)


That was it for May - I will update June tomorrow and hopefully by the end of the week I will be able to be post this weeks pics of Elise starting 4th grade and Emily starting KINDER!

Weekend Morning

How do you spend an early weekend morning? Emily likes to start off the day in song. Here she is serenading me as I make her breakfast:


Serenading Mommy from Jennifer Cabreros on Vimeo.

Mother's Day x 2

I began my Mother's Day a week early this year by treating myself to a spa day the week-end before Mother's Day. I figure since I have two kids I get two days! So far Joel hasn't questioned it and I am going to roll with it until he does! I met Davette, Samantha and Amber for some lunch, hot tubing and 90 minute full body massages. We had a wonderful time relaxing and chatting. It was so nice to be able to catch-up in person with Davette and it reminded me of how much I miss her since she moved to L.A. I guess we will just have to start scheduling "Spa Day" more often!

Here we are donning our white robes and matching towels before we were off to our individual massages:

On the actual day of Mother's Day the pampering continued when Elise and Emily served me breakfast in bed. Once I finished eating they presented me with their handmade gifts.

The sweetest part of Elise's gift was her card that she gave me the day after Mother's Day because she forgot it in her backpack. This is what it said (sorry about the quality of the photo I am still learning the settings on my camera):

Mother's Day afternoon was spent playing minature golf. We teamed-up, Elise and I against Joel and Emmie. Elise took the game VERY seriously and Em just enjoyed playing each hole and of course she got a hole in one!! Not bad for a four year old. I thought for sure they would let me win seeing as how it was Mother's Day but no such luck, Joel and Em spanked us! Maybe next year.

Thank you girls for a wonderful Mother's Day!

Disneyland Part II - California Adventure

Unfortunately my brother and his kids had to head home and so we had to hit the California Adventure park alone.

Thankfully California Adventure was not nearly as crowded as Disneyland. The longest we had to wait was 45 minutes for Grizzly River Run. It was another hot day (upper 90's) and the water ride looked delicious! Emily made the height requirement and it was great to be able to ride together as a family.

We got drenched and it felt so good!!

We were able to ride all of the main rides and then we headed home. It took the girls all of five minutes in the car and they were out for the count. They didn't wake up until 20 minutes from home just in time for a drive-in dinner at Wendy's. As I helped Em out of the car a cool Central Coast breeze hit us. Em looked up at me and said, "It feels SO good to be home." I couldn't have agreed more.

Princess Alyssa Turns Seven

My super sweet and sassy niece Alyssa turned 7 years old on April 23th. To celebrate we packed our suitcases with lots of shorts and sunscreen and headed to Anaheim. After a few couple hundred, "Are we there yet" we finally saw signs that we had arrived at the magical land.

Our main plan of action while in L.A. was to pamper princess Alyssa and how better to do that than have a make over at:

Princess Alyssa Gets Pampered

Emily Smiles Pretty

Elise Getting Her Hair Done

Looking Glamorous

After the girls were done being made-up we headed to dinner with Alyssa's Grandma and Aunties at Rainforest Cafe. We had a loooong wait and at some points I really do think my stomach began to eat itself from lack of food. Do you suppose my girls get their flair for dramatics from me?

Here are a couple of shots taken at dinner:

After dinner we headed to the hotel where we convinced the kids to catch some zzz's so we could get up early and go to Disneyland. Everyone woke up bright and early filled with excitement. The last time we all went to Disneyland together Elise (now 8) and Dylan (almost 9) were 2 and 3 and Alyssa was 6 months old. Em wasn't even born yet. This time Em was with us and at 4 years old she is now 42 inches which qualified us to officially move to the BIG KID rides!

We arrived to a VERY busy Disneyland on one of the hottest days of the year so far. In fact it was so hot that the kids quickly lost all enthusiasm. And once they realized we would be waiting in sixty minute lines they all began to beg to go back to the hotel to swim in the pool. I must admit with four wilting kids and long lines I too secretly wished to return to the comfort of the hotels air conditioning, but people I had just spent my life savings to get into the park (and yet again I return to my flair for dramatics)!! We were going to get our money's worth no matter what! If you look closely you may notice the beads of determination....I mean sweat:

This next photo makes my heart smile every time I see it. This was the first ride of the day and Emily was a little reticent to ride a big kid ride because in person the ride was well BIG, and scary. Dylan noticed her fear and without prompting he gently took her hand and told her, "Don't worry Emmie I'll ride with you, don't be scared." And he did just that and her fear quickly melted away as they rode off together. After the ride they posed together in a gentle embrace.

Here they all ride Pirates of the Caribbean:

Emily finally gave into the heat:

Happy Times at "The Happiest Place on Earth"

We stayed until Emily finally gave in and fell asleep at 11PM. As we walked down Main Street to catch our bus the girls spotted Minnie Mouse and we HAD to get a picture.

Happy Birthday Alyssa! Thank you for turning seven and sharing your day with us. You are a very special part of our family and I am so blessed to have you as my niece. I love you, my little cell phone toting, pro-texting princess!

Movies Under the Stars

Last Friday I got an invite from my sister to join her and the gang at the drive-in. The line-up last weekend was back-to-back kids movies. We couldn't have picked a nicer night! The weather was so perfect that we were able to sit outside our cars on lawn chairs. We even enjoyed a dinner of hot dogs that my bro-in-law barbequed.

At intermission the kids made a break for the concession stand where they convinced me to buy them glow in the dark lollipops. Come on you know the evening would not be complete without tons of junk food! The kids were in heaven!!

Waiting for the Movie




Cute Cousins


Family Fun Night At Its Best


And to top off the evening....I even got TWO sweet kisses from this cute little face:


To say the evening was a total blast would be a complete understatement! A good time was had by all!!

Save Me a Seat!

Growing up I lived on the outskirts of town on a small street. Our little road held twelve house and each of those homes held few children. The children that did live in my neighborhood were all boys. Each morning I would walk to the bus stop only to find rowdy loud boys running, jumping and throwing rocks. Once the bus arrived I would climb on board and take a seat furthest away from all of the noise. As I rode to school I would sit in my seat and imagine what it would be like to have a girlfriend on my bus route. I imagined her saving me a seat and waving me over to join her. We could whisper and laugh together until we reached the school gates. It was never to happen, no girls ever moved into my neighborhood and I rode the bus alone. I know whoa is me...can you believe I survived to tell the tale?

Fast forward 25 years and I am climbing aboard another big yellow bus and as I turned to make it down the long aisle I heard, "We saved you a seat!" and I saw these two smiling faces shinning up at me:



We all had a great time laughing and whispering together on the ride to Elise’s 3rd grade field trip. When we pulled up to the gate of the park Elise asked how we had gotten there so quickly. I wondered the same thing. I guess sometimes you do get your wish you just have to wait awhile before it comes true!

We all climbed off the bus and met the docents to learn all about the Michuchumash Native Americans.



Elise learned how hard it was to grind acorns into powder (one of the main sources of the Chumash diet):


Playing a Chumash "dice" and string game:




"If its three leave it be - If its hairy its a berry!"


What good listeners!


Chumash Baby Carrier:


Enjoying the sun and wind with some friends after lunch:


Elise had so much fun that she said she wished the day would never end!