What a BUSY weekend the last weekend of April was! It was quite a whirlwind! In three days, we managed to pack in:
1) Jessica's first Crops2Remember crop - which was a huge success (to read more, visit the C2R blog, www.crops2remember.blogspot.com. There are photos of me cutting the inaugural crop cake with Nan and Naomi, and with our "Queen of the Crop" Julia, who was awarded her crown afterher layout was voted as the crops' best, but still managed to won more prizes than anyone, I think. (Good for you, GIRL!)
2) Rodney's parents, grandparents and sisters flew and drove in to town for his promotion to Gunnery Sergeant May 1.
3) So the both sides of the family, plus Will's friends could enjoy the boys' birthday joy, we had a party Sunday at Boomers! in Irvine.

Enjoy the selection of pictures!

Mark's Surprise 55th Birthday Party

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Rodney, Joseph, Gina and Jessica had been planning a surprise birthday party for their Dad for a month and it went off last night without a hitch! More than 20 friends and family members turned out to the Laguna Hills El Torito to wish Mark the best in his senior years. HE knew that he was going to the restaurant to have dinner with his kids, but had no idea that the buffet he commented on was for HIM! That was, until he turned and everyone shouted "Surprise!" Thank goodness we didn't give the old man a heart attack!

Mark mingled and chatted ... after dinner he opened his cards and gifts ... most of them, quite funny. (What is a metal probe anyway?!?) A poster and scrapbook displayed photos from his past (childhood photos were sent by my Aunt Carole - thanks again!)... a notable one was taken in 1960, when he was playing with an original Hula Hoop. Mark's cake was a tribute to his kooky nature and was quite tasty! Plus, he got a phone call from his Company of Military Historian friends, who were unable to attend the party because of the annual conference on the East Coast.

Happy Birthday, Mark! Now you can eat off the senior menu!

Will turns 5!

Will's birthday fell on a Tuesday this year and so he took cupcakes to preschool to celebrate. In the evening we headed to his favorite entertainment spot - the Irvine Spectrum, and we ate and played games at Dave and Buster's. Will's focus was to get as many tickets as possible so he could go "shopping" in the prize room. One of the big payout games is a pirates game, so it was all the better for Will. He managed to earn enough tickets for a stuffed Batman to go with his stuffed Superman at home, and a stuffed Scooby Doo. He phone chatted with all sorts of family through out the day, and ended up going to bed an hour late because he still had presents to open! He got a number of gifts from Mommy and Daddy, his favorite being a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle motorcycle set, and a pillow case his cousin Kara made with her grandma. Happy Birthday, Will! But the celebration isn't over yet - you still have your Boomers party at the end of the month!

P.S. - The head scrape was from playing too rough on the playground that day. Will is well on the way to recovery from that!

Family Pictures in the Park

Last Sunday we got together with the Paturzos and took family pictures. Nan and I both needed pictures for scrap projects that are coming up, so we figured now was as good a time as any. The boys cooperated, for the most part, but Xan was not quite as smiley as he usually is. We still managed to get some good shot of everyone!

Addressing his own birthday invitations

Will is doing very well in school ... so well, in fact, that his teachers canceled Mom and Dad's parent-teacher conference. He's ready for kindergarten, they said, there really wasn't much to talk about. So, Mom figured that on Monday night, Will would be able to address his own birthday party invitations he was giving out at school. (He'll be having his birthday party at Boomers when his Illinois family comes to town!) Will got all 23 invitations done in less than half an hour, copying the class list his teachers gave us to use. We are very proud of the careful job he did!