Sleepover

Dash didn't have a birthday party this year (that's what happens when, after opening the last of your 25 Christmas gifts, you start whining about what you didn't get. DASH.), but we did throw together a sleepover with two of his best friends, Will & Ethan. As a former-girl with some sleepover experience, I expected lots of laughing but also fighting and tears. Because that's what girls do when they spend a lot of time together and stay up into the wee hours of the night. Apparently boys just enjoy one another's company and then fall asleep when they're tired. Freaks.

The evening started with some basketball.

Then we made some fake blood out of corn syrup and food coloring, applied it to the boys faces and sent pictures of the bleeding children to their parents. Because those are the kinds of sleepover hosts we are. (That 4th kid is our neighbor, who came over to play & have cake, but didn't spend the night)

After cake (that's a mama-made Pokeball cake. I should definitely not compete on Cake Wars)...

And a sundae bar (I am just now seeing what Josh is doing in this picture. I should have sent it along with the one of the bloodied boys, just to really scare the shit out of everyone)...

It was time to burn off a little energy with some Just Dance 4.

Eventually the kids took a short break to decorate the jammies I customized for them.

If by "customized" I mean "ironed their names onto."

And by "decorated" I mean "colored with fabric markers and glow-in-the-dark fabric paint." 

Which I do.

And finally, just a little dancing nightcap.

The next morning we greeted the boys families with some bagels and donuts and boys who were still slightly stained with fake blood because we didn't remember to make them wash their faces. 

Birthday Morning

Lucky Number

An accurate timeline of Dash's life so far:

Pregnancy: eleven years.

Birth through sleeping through the night: one hundred years.

Ages one through seven: one millisecond.

Happy birthday, Smalls. You make everything brighter, funnier, happier. Just plain better.We love you.

So Cal

You know how everyone's always all, "the best thing about living in Southern California is that you can play in the snow in the morning and then hit the beach in the afternoon"? Well, I say the best thing about living in Southern California is that you can play in the snow in the morning and then be watching the Lakers from a suite in the Staples Center in the evening. (If you have super-excellent friends like the Babkes, who have access to that kind of fancy business. Which we do.)

This time, we joined up with our beloved Babkes & Verlaques and drove just about 40 minutes up the mountain from our house to Mt. Pinos for some sledding action.

The mountain was insane with sledders, but we explored a little and found a completely secluded spot for the kids and their adorable fathers to try and break the sound barrier.

Approach.

Landing. (That's a Josh sandwich, in which the bread is snow & Dash)

Adam took these pictures and Josh made this gif, but I figured out how to post it on this here blog, so I feel I should get the majority of the credit.

Even Mama got in on the action.

Pants was NOT amused.

Josh made a snowball. Then he threw it at me.

Moments before this picture was taken, Dash made a snowball. Then he threw it at me.

Ben also made a snowball. This one was so perfect that we carried it all the way back to the car with us. Then he threw it at me.

***

OK! SO THEN! We went home, had a little sit down and a nosh, then we headed downtown to see our Los Angeles Lakers!

***

Oh nothing. Just suite tickets.

Poor Josh. Ever since I got Instagram, I wander around like a crazed bumpkin, stopping in the middle of crowded crosswalks to take pictures and making everyone do everything 10 times because I can't get the stupid camera on my phone to focus.

VIP!

Look at those faces.

These boys. I don't know what's going to happen if they're ever asked to sit in the stands among the regular folk.

And now, in ascending order, Dash's favorite parts of the Laker game: Dessert Cart.

Laker Girls.

Cozy

Dash went back to school yesterday after his eleven month Winter break. Here's how we spent some of those last days.

Lou & Puss bonded

I broke out the watercolors and learned that I need more art classes.

The fellas nerded out on their myriad devices.

Josh brewed his own root beer

Dash made his own chewing gum (and learned about how chicle can help save the rain forests.)

We visited the Gould family in their brand new house.

And Dash drew them a house portrait in crayon.

Josh brushed up on his basketball coaching skills (oh, did I mention Josh is coaching Dash's new basketball team? It's pretty effing adorable. I mean badass.) with Uncle Lish's basketball bible.

Flurries

We headed up to the mountains last week and got to spend an entire afternoon in the snow. I've never been actively snowed on and it was seriously one of the most magical experiences of my life. Until it finally occurred to us that we'd have to drive back down the mountain without chains. And then we started spinning out. But then Josh rescued us and everything was magical again.

Snow bunny. (Can boys be snow bunnies?)

Speed of sound.

Dash & Roman tearing it up on the side of a mountain.

He made that face on every run, but apparently was enjoying himself despite all appearances.

Manly men.

We got those snowball-makers last Christmas (1. snowball-maker! 2. we live in Southern California!)

They made the most perfect, fluffiest snowballs ever.

See?

I spent the better part of the day trying to start snowball fights with people who had no idea because my aim is very, very terrible. Josh, meanwhile, could smack me square in the face from 100 yards away.

AND! I brought hot cocoa and marshmallows in a Thermos. Because sometimes I am a fair facsimile of a prepared parent.