Swimming at Mema and Pepa's

This morning, we went to the pool...in my Hello Kitty bathing suit.

I swam and Jordan soaked his toes in the water.

Eating Pear and Apple

Breakfast with my Babies and Dinner with Jordan

I love Camille and she loves me

Real Hot Chocolate

Last weekend, Daddy was reading me the Dora book "Chilly Day".  The story is about finding their way to the chocolate tree so Dora's Abuela could make her a special chilly day surprise -- hot chocolate. After we were done with the book, Daddy made me hot chocolate.  Yum!

I love my bath!

Cheese, Glorious Cheese

Yummy!  String cheese is delicious!

Look, Mama, no hands!

Just a handful of pictures (by Mama)

Mama here. Up at 1 am. Listening to Gigi breathe heavy. She has had a fever for more than 24 hours which is not her usual. Poor girl. Finally, some new pictures. My in-house technology consultant has informed me that with Picassa, I will be able to post pictures faster and easier than ever. I used a workaround suggested by a friend, but am ready for the upload of many pictures with one click.
And, this is why Gigi shouldn't be going to the grocery store (or ANY store for that matter) with Daddy. Can you say "wrapped around finger"? She brought this "thing" home from the specialty food store Allen goes to....same store that produced a Hello Kitty tin with a cake in it that we "needed"...it is still in the pantry, cake uneaten. The "thing" below is filled with fruit jellos or something like that. I don't think Gigi really likes them, though the picture tells a different story. She just likes the container which becomes a bank when they are all gone. Maybe I can make them magically disappear?
We have a picture of Gigi with this same cat when she was not even 1 year old. I should dig it out. Very friendly cat.

Melese....what a sweetheart and beauty. He celebrated his 2nd birthday last week and we had a blast at the party. Check out the amazing cake made by his Dad. Now, that is LOVE.





And, last weekend, we hired a new cleaning crew. They did an amazing job!

Interrupting this regularly scheduled program....

to learn how to use blogger with my new mac. Will learn soon.

Love,

Mama

Winter Break with Friends

We are off from school this week and the rain continued today....I had THREE friends visit....Nyla was here all day (this is actually a photo of me and Nyla from yesterday when we made Gingerbread Men from Trader Joe's).
This morning, Lyla came over with her brother and we all played together. They left at 2:00 and then Gemma came about 15 minutes later.

Nyla, Gemma and I made chocolate cupcakes. It was Nyla's Grandma's birthday so she took most of the cupcakes home with her to her Grandma's birthday party. We had so much fun together, but NannyG is very tired from the socialite that I am!

The Box and the Park (by Mama)

We had a wonderful weekend. Both this morning and yesterday morning, we had yummy challah french toast. We bought the challah (or "calah" as Gigi pronounces it) at the Friday Farmer's Market. Gigi's was made into a Mickey mold...even Jordan had some and loved it!


This morning, the french toast was made AFTER decorating the box we painted yesterday....yes, we started decorating at 5:38 am (would have been 5:30 if I didn't need coffee). This box is very special....it arrived a little less than 6 months ago from a local family Mama knows from a special place on the internet. They sent the box for Gigi to decorate, together with a gift for Jordan, after Eliza died. We haven't had the right time to spend together to decorate it, but it was a perfect project for this weekend. We laid low. Yesterday, we painted the box...

while Jordan looked on and played with Camille.

....and today, at a VERY early hour, Gigi remembered less than 20 seconds after waking up that the box was waiting for her to decorate. This was the perfect weekend for us to decorate the box...we had the time and Gigi was asking about her sister, so Eliza was definitely on Gigi's mind. Yesterday, she asked if I could put Eliza back in my tummy and today, before going to sleep, for the first time in months, she asked where Eliza was....she said she misses her....so do I. Maybe she can sense my recent sadness about Eliza. Of course, the sadness hasn't stopped but the mask was on pretty tight and only recently, did the sadness surface more than it had since right after Eliza died.

Abby suggested that if we wanted Gigi could use this as a memory box for Eliza. I don't want to suggest what she should use it for....I am waiting to see what she puts in it.

After the creative juices were flowing, it was time to get some energy out. We headed back to the new park and with great luck, the M and m family were available and joined us. It was quite wet after an overnight rain, but we still had so much fun.

Have you ever seen a more joyful family?

The park even has a way for Mom and Dad to get a workout

Melese was so sweet holding Jordan's hand. They are going to be good buddies. Though 18 months seems like a big difference in age, it is the same difference between Gigi and Zoe who play beautifully together.

And, the best part of the park for Gigi? Shamu is there!