Well, we survived the big limo party. The girls had a great time and thought that riding in a limo was way more fun than an average car. Which, of course, it is. The limo arrived at 3pm and we had to wait for one latecomer but fortunately she got there by 3:10. I was about to have the limo driver take us to pick up the neighborhood girls and the pizza to give her more time to arrive but she got there just before I was ready to leave. Here's a picture of the girls sitting in the car as we drove around. Joey's the one in the back with the while tank top on and the long dark hair.

They were so cute. I let them put on makeup and bought them all a pair of rock star sunglasses. It was pretty funny. They decided they needed to take a picture of the rock star grownups so Joey got Ed with his two groupies, me on the left and Stacey on the right. Oh yes, I think we belong in the back of a limo.

We went to D0minoes to get the pizza (isn't that what you're supposed to do in a limo? go to get pizza?) and then we took a nice drive to a lovely park where we enjoyed our pizza al fresco. Stacey was in charge of chasing the fat, overfed, fearless squirrels away. It was pretty funny to be sitting in the park while the limo driver just sat in the car waiting for us. It really felt like royalty. After that, we drove around the park some and then drove through the campground that was there. We got some interesting stares, too. We stopped at a nice area to take some pictures. It was 96 degrees out and the sun was very bright so when the girls go close to the windows, we could see them through the tinting. Here they are, mugging for the camera.

On our way back home, Joey opened her presents in the back of the car. It was noisy--they had the stereo blasting and were screaming and singing and dancing--and raucous and fun. When we got back to our neighborhood, Ed and Stacey and I got out and the limo driver took them around the neighborhood for 10 or 15 minutes unchaperoned. They were in absolute heaven! They turned up the music even louder, waved out the windows, rolled around on the upholstery and had a great time.

Back at the casa, the girls played in Joey's room and in the back yard until our take-out Chinese food arrived. After dinner, I set out cupcakes, frosting and decorations so they could make their own cake creations. Joey likes for everyone to get a candle on their cupcakes and she gets two. Here's a shot of the girls with their candles blazing while we sang Happy Birthday to Joey. She's the one on the left with 2 candles in her cupcake.

I like that low-light photo a lot. I took one with flash and then the low light ones and they were much more interesting to look at.

After cupcakes, the girls got on their pjs and I lit a fire for them in the chiminea in the backyard. They hung out there for about a half hour and then decided to get in their sleeping bags and watch videos. The grown-ups retired to the bedroom (Marcus, Stacey, Ed and me) where we all crammed onto our bed and watched TV (and Ed surfed the net on our new wireless laptop). It was pretty fun. The girls didn't go to sleep until about midnight, though. Ack!

I got up and did my impression of JuneFreakingCleaver and made some very tasty blueberry muffins for breakfast which were gobbled up by young and old alike. The girls went home at 11am and that left me, Stacey, Joey and Bayley free to do what we do best--shop! We went to the mall and got Stacey and Bayley reacquainted with N0rdstrom. We had a lovely afternoon. It reminded me how much I love and miss Stacey (not that I needed reminding) and we had such a great time.

There is one advantage to having them in Bend--when they're here, I get them all to myself for the entire weekend. So perhaps we don't get to see each other on a really regular basis, but the weekends we spend together are really great. I had such a wonderful time having them stay at my house. It was even fun just sitting around on our bed chatting and watching TV.

They left around noon today. We hung out this morning watching Meg Ry@n movies. There must be a new movie of hers coming out because she's all over the TV this weekend.

That's about it for the weekend. We went bowling Saturday night for our annual bowling extravaganza to celebrate the plethora of September birthdays amongst our friends. I gave Jamie and Stacey both their birthday presents and they were both delighted with them. It may be quite immodest of me to say, but I rock at gift choosing. I know my friends well and I spend a lot of time to find something that suits them just right. Stacey totally *loved* the bracelet I got her. I'm really wishing I had gotten one for myself. I still might go back to N0rdstrom and get one for me. I love it, too. Now I need to find a gift for Cherry whose birthday is October 18. She'll be here that weekend so I need to make sure I have it on time. Sometimes she's really easy to buy for and sometimes not. Thankfully she loves crystal and entertaining ware so I can always find something that she doesn't already have.

Now it's time to have a bowl of cereal. Ta!

--L