A little shake...rattle... and roll!!

At 11:42 am this morning we had a 5.4 earthquake, centered in Chino Hills, Ca, about 12 miles northeast of where we are in Whittier. We are not new to earthquakes, we've all grown up here, but this was the 1st one we've had in a long time...it shakes you up a bit. I think what got us the most was that it was JT's 1st time to experience one, and we wanted to make sure that he was okay. We had no major damage here, thank God, just a lot of opened cupboards, and droppped items off the shelves. It was very loud, and we've had some decent aftershocks...but, at least we are all safe! Just a reminder to plan ahead and be prepared!


(below)The TV coverage from ABC7 right after the quake hit.


(below)Sarah and JT calling to see if Scott is ok!
Little Lucy, hiding in the closet.


(below)Some of the fallen items in Scott and Sarah's room.

Our Little Lucy!

Just an update on Lucy, the cat...as many of you know, Lucy was thoroughly traumatized by the death of her boyfriend cat, Flipper. She was already doing the spring fever thing, where she runs away for a few days and then comes back, but once Flipper passed, she decided to take up residence in our neighbors' backyard, where she would eat their cats food, drink the water, and lay by the pool. We tried to get her to come back home, but she was too spooked. We were able to reach her once from the fence area, but she escaped our grasp and ran back to the neighbors' yard. So, it was a great surprise to see her relaxing under the tree in the back yard after we got home from JT's party;we couldn't get her to come in, but it was nice to see her back in her OWN yard. Well, today, we went into the back yard and there she was again under her tree, and we walked right over and picked her up, and brought her inside, where we played, took a nap, ate, and hid from Mr. Brightside! JT loved having her back in the house, although she was still a bit scared, but that's okay, she'll be back to her normal self soon...we hope! Sarah snapped this great picture of Lucy hanging out with us...just thought we'd share our happy, little moment with everyone!!

JT's birthday

We will have the pictures of his party up soon...check back!

The Cupcake Factory!

We are counting down the hours until JT's 1st birthday party, and we have so much to do! One of the major things that we had on the agenda for today was to get all the cupcakes made and decorated for the party tomorrow! So, armed with the cake mixes of choice--Funfetti, and Devil's Food, we set off for Grammie Kathy's condo to bake a lot of cupcakes--(we had to borrow the oven, since ours is still on the fritz).JT was such a trooper and he let us get all 68 cupcakes baked and cooled! We then came home and had a frosting party...it was so fun...frosting and sprinkles everywhere! The cupcakes came out great, and they taste super yummy too!!

(below)Sarah fills the cupcake tins.

Our tower of cake mixes!

(below)yummy cake batter....pretty little cakes!


(below)Sarah with the 1st batch.....then with the 2nd batch!

(below)Sarah frosting the cupcakes...so yummy!

(below) Chocolate cupcakes frosted by Melissa.

The final product after Sarah decorated them.

I love my neighbors!! (By Melissa)

So, maybe you live on a street where everybody knows everyone, and you're all great friends and you have block parties and it's like a big family reunion everytime you see one another, and if that's how your neighborhood is, then great you are lucky. But, for most of us, gone are the days where the neighbors were your best friends...no Lucy and Ethel here...for most of us, our neighbors are the people we pass on the street and casually smile or wave hello to, they're the ones you talk to when the ambulance comes to house next door and you all gather around to get the scoop on what's going, they're the ones you silently curse under your breath because their dog barks 24/7, or their kid screams all the time...for most of us, that's what our neighborhoods are like. My grandparents lived in a different time, their neighbors were their best friends, they played cards together, shared the bounty of their gardens with each other, went on trips together...it was an extention of the family...those were the days...or so I thought. Recently, I started attending a church around the corner from our house, and unbeknownst to me, a neighbor of mine with whom I also attended high school and shared many mutual friends with, also attends the church with her family. I was happy to reconnect with Shannon and her family, since I really had, had little contact with her since high school, other than the ocassional wave across the street as we passed each other in our cars. So, today was Shannon's 30th bday, and I saw her daughters at church and they were talking about this peach cake, that their dad made for her birthday, so when I saw Shannon I asked for the recipe. Well after I got home,(thanks for the ride Namahoe family) I was sharing with Sarah about church and the peach cake, when lo and behold Scott came and handed me a plate with 2 pieces of peach cake and said 2 girls came to the door and brought this for me. It was such a nice thing to do...the neighborly thing to do..I ran out the door to thank them and there was Shannon walking down the street to check on the girls...we stood on the sidewalk and talked for 30 mins, her son, hubby, and sister came and talked too, not to mention a neighbor from around the corner walking his big, pretty doggy. It took me back to the days when my grandparents would stand in the yard and chat with their neighbors, or back to those memories of," I love Lucy", when the Ricardo's would share dessert with the Mertzes'....it was a real nice feeling to realize that your neighbors don't just have to be the people you wave to on your way to work, or who you say hi to on ocassion, your neighbors can become your friends, and can make your neighborhood into a family of it's own. So, if you like so many of us, don't really know your neighbors, say hi, bake a cake and take it over, or just go a bit out of your way to be a friend and not just a regular neighbor! It's like Mr. Rogers always said...let's make the most of this beautiful day, since we're together we might as well say...could you be mine...would you be mine ...won't you be my neighbor...please won't you be my neighbor????