Yet another birthday...Grandpa Bob!

Sorry, I didn't forget this one, I just forgot to mention it in the last entry! Last year we gave Grandpa Bob (Mike's dad) the best gift we could think of...twins! Our babies were born on Grandpa Bob's birthday and he was thrilled! This year we were able to celebrate his birthday with him in person - I slaved all day on this exquistite birthday dessert for him (ok, Mike may have got cupcakes at the grocery store!)

The picture below shows the first time the babies met Grandpa and his wife, Grandma Minta. They live about 4 hours from us and they managed to come over to see us just days after the babies were born. I couldn't even begin to tell you which baby is which here - they were baby burritos much of the time!



Once again, Grandma and Grandpa made the trek this year. What a difference a year makes!! (Rachael is on the left, Jilly on the right. There's not really that big of a height difference between them - I think Jilly was just bouncing up and down at the time!)




Grandpa is always good at giving Ellie a hard time - she's just as good at giving it back (and check out that new sassy doo of hers!).

One thing I really have to hand to Bob is the fact that he ALWAYS gets down on the floor and plays with our kids. He has a bad back, has had hip replacements and is currently fighting a little bout of prostate cancer and even on this trip, he was down on the ground with the kids (of course I don't have a picture of that, but you'll just have to take my word for it!). It kills my knees to do it and I'm a tad younger than he is. Thank you Grandpa Bob for going that extra mile. We love and miss you and wish you and look forward to seeing you again soon!

Happy Birthday(s)!!!

So getting back to our crazy busy month. May and June are busy months in our family, well ok and March too. May and June mark the birthdays of both of my nieces, all three of my kids as well as my mom. My mom, AKA Grandma, Gramcracker, or now Grammy as Ellie calls her, turned 65 this May. This is unbelievable to me. Grandma looks fantastic, is very hip and is somehow able to keep up with all of her grandchildren and their likes/dislikes, shows, concerts, swimming lessons, etc. PLUS, she showed up at our house the day of her party wearing a black "skort" and this very fun zebra print shirt. I hope I can wear short skirts when I'm 65!! Mom, you look great and I love you very, very much.

A LOT, and I do mean A LOT, of people helped me those first few months after the babies were born. After I cried on the phone and begged my mom for some regular help, she was here two days a week for about about 3 months-ish. I never got anything more accomplished, only occasionally actually left the house, but just having those extra hands during my day to day was SO helpful!! Poor Ellie, she was not even on the back burner - she had fallen behind the whole stove! Grammy somehow always managed to feed a baby and still play with Ellie while I trudged around the house with the other baby, literally barely able to keep my eyes open. On several occasions my mom and my sister would come over from about 7:00pm to 11:00pm so Mike and I could get a few hours of sleep before the l-o-n-g night ahead. I am eternally grateful for every bit of help that we received, but my mom and my sister really got us through it. Thank you. More on this later - I'm just so far behind on my blogging!

Somewhere in between our Disneyland trip and my mom's birthday party, my oldest niece turned 12. How does this happen? When Mike and I met, Cailey was about 10 months old and now she is all cute and hip and grown up and athletic and smart and funny and dare I say...responsible?! Unfortunately, I missed her birthday party and the cute shirt we brought back from Disneyland for her was too small. I feel like I owe her a re-do on her birthday wishes so in the words of the talent agent in "Bolt" (one of Ellie's current favorite flicks), "let's put a pin in it". But we'll do it for real. Cailey - I love you and will come up with something fun to commemorate your 12th birthday!

I think Ellie took this picture. As big and tall as my nieces are, I don't think they're looking down at me quite yet! That is another entry that I should do sometime. Ellie gets a hold of my camera and I never know what she has been up to until I dump them onto my computer. Excellent job, Ellieo!


Did I mention that twins run in our family? Ha - actually they do not but check out this pic of my mom and her sister. Again, I hope I am as hot as these two when I'm a grandma! Whoo!

Ellie and her Grammy...

Where the heck have I been?!!

I know, I know. What is the point of having a blog if you never update it? As my husband so nicely reminds me all the time, I cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. I hate to admit it but it is true. You know how they say having a baby sucks your brain from your head? Well I'm sorry but having two at a time has given me a complete lobotomy. We have been very busy the last month and I just couldn't quite ever seem to get to this. I also managed to put my 3-Day training on hold for an entire month. Well, I'm back, on both counts so here I go...it could take me a couple of entries!

One month ago today Mike, Ellie and I left for Disneyland! Just before the babies were born we told Ellie that when she was 4 we would take her to Disneyland. Ok, she was a month shy of 4 but she didn't seem to mind. We left the babies for part of the time with my sister (THANK YOU!!!) and for the other part my mom (THANK YOU!!!). Though we missed them, I have to be honest, we (especially me) did not miss the rigid routine that comes with having an infant or two around. It was SO great to rarely look at a clock and to just be able to do what we wanted, we wanted.

We had a fantastic time in good ole SoCal. Our weather was perfect, we were able to see some friends (Hello King Family - and congrats on the new bun in the oven!!). We did Disneyland and California Adventure for 3 full days. We did most everything we wanted to do - I guess we missed a few things but we'll just have to hit them the next time! Ellie really enjoyed having us to herself for 5 days. She loves her sisters but boy do they take up an enormous amount of our time!

Ellie loves a good thrill and luckily she hit that magic 42" mark so she was able to go on a remarkable number of rides! There were really only a few things she couldn't do. But for her, the more scared she was, the more she wanted to do it again! The biggest surprise to us was that after the white knuckled ride on the Tower of Terror - she immediately said she wanted to do it again! Are you kidding me?? So we waited in line and did it again. Here are some of our favorite pics - we had a great time and can't wait to go back with the babies when they are old enough: