Friday night!

Everyone at Trung's work got a coupon for a new restaurant in town and it happened to be expiring today, so went to check it out.  It was very similar to it's sister company, Misfit, and was a bit salty, but wasn't too bad.  I personally liked my little cocktail.

Karate group pic

The police officer sponsoring the karate program came by to visit today.  We basically took pictures and then had to jet to Sophie's ballet class since her recital is coming up.

Group pic

"Kee-ya"

Last happy hour of the school year

Sporting the beachy look

Happy hour with a couple of regulars and a couple of "rarely come outs", but always a good time

Our view from the Penthouse at the Huntley Hotel.

From yoga to snow

We had a bit of a rough start on the yoga challenge, but after helping out my team by taking 18 classes this week, we are back on track.  It may seem like a lot of classes, but most of them are very different and I've enjoyed trying new classes out.  My poor hands are mad at me though because in order to protect my wrists, I've been using my fists and pads of my fingers, so my hands have been very sore.  I even have bruising between my knuckles...just gotta hang in there for 2.5 more weeks!

Later in the day, we had lunch at Brodard and then dropped by Mike's house for a quick visit.  Then on to set for Lydia and Sophie to do a simple extras job.  It was cool though because the set had a snow machine making snow to make it look like winter and our friends Amelia and Julia got to work with us.

Karate vs. booty shaking

The kids seem to be enjoying their karate class more now, which is definitely a good thing.  It's a pretty low key class since it is offered free through the city, so sometimes the girls goof off a bit.  Well, at least they turn and kick when they are supposed to.  :P

Grad party

My friend Ada's daughter Stephanie graduated from college a few days ago and she invited Trung and I to her graduation party at the restaurant that her husband manages.  I had the girls at play dates at separate places and they had a blast!  We enjoyed delicious homemade Mexican food and company from adult friends.  Congrats to Stephanie!

Stephanie and her boyfriend

Who says we can't be silly without kids?

 Ada (in the pink) with some girlfriends

Manhattan Beach Swim Meet

Lydia had another swim meet today in Manhattan Beach.  She swam in the same events as last time and did just as well, if not better.  So proud of my little swimmer; the meets really bring out the competitiveness in her.

Beating the butterfly

Ready for the freestyle, where she beat her teammate Una (on the left) by just two one hundredths of a second!

Hey Mickey

We had to submit a 30-60 second video to the agent showcasing Sophie's sparkling personality for a commercial.  Here's what we came up with...

Machine

Lately, I had been feeling that my workouts have been very routine and I wasn't as excited about them anymore.  Then Naam Yoga, where I work out, decided to do a 38 day yoga challenge where you get together a team of 5 and take as many classes as possible.  The team that takes the most classes get a private yoga class and any team that takes 100 classes total gets entered into a raffle.  Being the competitive person that I am, I was all over this.  Not only did I have my team Hot Mommas put together in a day, I also had two people on the waiting list.

So, in order to get our numbers going, I doubled the amount of classes that I normally take, but without the my team's help, we are only tied for second place.  Hopefully, next week, the other team members can step up to the challenge because I can't possibly reach the goal by myself.  There is no "I" in team as much as I hate to admit it.

Making music

Lydia's class had a little music presentation today.  I can't make it to all the kids' performances during the day, especially when I get a day's notice, but this one worked out.

Cute "hello" song in different languages

My little singer

Ah, that's how you spell it

Lydia's first musical instrument

A bit off key, but fun to watch

Family fitness

In addition to starting the family fitness class a few weeks ago, we have been jogging once a week.  We are fortunate to have such a fun, free program to encourage the kids to get into shape. 

Boxing exercises

Dodgeball fun after all the hard work is done

Wake me up...

I typically shy away from extra school activities because the kids do enough school stuff throughout the week, but one of Sophie's best friends Rachel was going to do the school talent school with a friend who backed out.  Rachel was very upset and her mother, also a good friend of mine, asked if Sophie would replace the friend.  I knew saying "yes" would require some practice times and rehearsal times, and I already had a full plate, but Sophie said she wanted to do it, so that was that.  Simona picked the song "Wake me up before you go go" and the rest was history.

The girls were the first act, so I guess the backstage crew was still working out the kinks

The last part of their performance since my phone kept going in and out of focus

Little 80's girls

M Street Madness

After swim class, my friends Magdalena, Lucy, and I decided to take the kids to M Street Kitchen for dinner.  Kids eat free there for Happy Hour and the $2 tacos are a great deal.  It was crazy with seven kids and only three adults, but everyone enjoyed themselves and better yet, us moms didn't have to cook dinner!

Krazy Kids

Lulu gets Frozen

Today we hung out with Sophie's old friends at Lulu's 7th Frozen-themed birthday party.  I'm so glad that I am still in touch with these friends even though our kids are all at different schools.

"Frozen" cake aka ice cream cake, of course

Another first

After our weekly family fitness class, we treated ourselves to a gourmet ding dong at Amelia's.  The girls had never had this dessert before and I'm sure would be disappointed to see what the real thing is like in comparison.

They don't make them like they used to