Molly the Bat Mitzvah - Oy!

After years of preparation and training and my nagging, my precious daughter successfully completed her Bat Mitzvah ceremony. She was amazing! Poised, lovely and she read the Hebrew from the Torah like a pro!

We were lucky to have so many friends and family come to Burbank for this amazing event.

And more Ribniks in one place than ever seen in the past 100 years! (An educated guess.)

Front Row: Molly Ribnik and Marina Demaine

2nd Row: Jay Hamilton, Susie Ribnik I, Katy Demaine

3rd Row: Alice Young, Susie Ribnik II, Harlan Ribnik, Ron Ribnik

4th Row: Erin Dunn, Linda Ribnik

5th Row: David Young, Georgia Young, Nate Naill, David Ribnik, David Demaine

Will the real Susie Ribnik stand up - wait both Susie's are standing up!

After the ceremony, at Temple Sinai of Glendale, we had a rollicking party complete with an awesome DJ (DJeddie.com) and a photo booth. Lot's of food and music and fun.

No Bat Mitzvah is complete without the chair dance! Molly hung in there and didn't fall off!

Chair dancing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcsQhfkyFas

YMCA dancing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBTc4fIWYL8

Later - meals with family and Molly got to open the many wonderful presents and cards she received. What a great outpouring of love.

Thank you everyone!

PHOTO BOOTH PICS - awww, how cute:

2 Puppies - Double the Fun!

Well after falling in love with Sophie the Puppy, we decided to help out with the pet adoptions at PetCo.

While there we saw another dog rescued when Sophie was rescued - Charlie. He fell in love with Molly and spent the whole day curled up in her lap. What could we do? Adopt him too!

So, now we have two silly puppies. Sophie - about 4 months old and Charlie - about 1 year old. They adore each other, play and sleep on top of each other (ahhh, the true meaning of "dog pile"), keep each other company and keep us laughing at their antics.

They are nearly house trained now (ok there is an accident now and then) and are eating lots of stuff...but we love them completely and are very happy to have them as part of our family.

Welcome Sophie Ribnik - puppy fun!

The house has been sooo lonely without a fuzzy faced being to greet us and love us...so we adopted a new puppy dog.

We had planned a larger version...but Molly (ok and me) fell in love with Sophie. She is a little terrier and cute as can be. Oh boy, now comes the training and real fun. I know what Molly is doing for the rest of her summer break! :-)

Gee, she sorta looks like my childhood dog, Dolly. What a wild thing. I hope she is as good of a dog as Dolly was.

Good-bye to the Best Dog Ever

Max the Puppy

Max the old man

Max the Dog, the best dog on earth, left the planet on June 29th. He had to be put to sleep. He was very sick, in pain and wasn't breathing well. Though we know that he is in a better place, our hearts are broken.

Max has been an important member of our family for over 12 years. We can barely imagine our life without him - the house is already so very empty. Talk about unconditional love - Max didn't care if we were tired and cranky, if we smelled bad (he kinda liked that), he could always be counted on to eat anything that fell on the floor and was even willing to clean our plate if we let him (who needs a dishwasher?) Max was a great guard dog - he kept us safe from the evil mailman, the meter-reader and any neighbor rude enough to walk down the sidewalk or ride a bike in our street.

I will miss him waking me up at the oddest hours to go outside and "water the lawn". I'll miss the earnest greetings that I got every time I came home, as if he hadn't seen me for years and was delighted that I came back. I will miss his fuzzy face and the mounds of hair he shed and left as a present for me daily. I'll miss the understanding looks he gave me whenever we discussed the matters of the universe (or was he waiting for me to share a morsel of food...hmmm?) Mostly I'll miss the dog who was just glad that I was around.

Nieces Graduate!

Katy Demaine Is A High School Graduate! WOW!

We went to Phoenix to watch Katy receive her High School diploma. She was one of the speakers and did a great, great job. College bound in the Fall - U of A!

Marina Demaine finished Middle School! WOW!

We also went to Marina's middle school ceremony/graduation/continuation ceremony. She won an award and was too cute. Katy, her boyfriend Brandon, Molly and I were there to cheer for her!

The Renaissance Comes to Burbank

On a lovely day in May the Lords and Ladies of the Luther Middle School 7th Grade made merry. They dressed in appropriate attire for a frolic in the land. They bartered for each others wares, they watched and participated in sword play and dancing.

We parents were able to join in as judges of the student's knowledge of the Renaissance. Was a tough judge...you betcha! hahaha. I made Molly's outfit. I thought she looked just lovely.

Jr. Youth Group - Beach Party in May

Susie, Joyce and Cantor Mariana.

The Jr. Youth Group was at it again. Out for adventure and fun in the sun. Well, there wasn't a lot of sun as the day was over-cast, but there was lots of sand, hot dogs, chips, games, fun and more fun!

Some of the boys get in touch with their sand building talents.

Can you dig it?