Happy July 4th!

Dan had to work today(Holiday-pay plus time-and-a-half? Of course he chose to work today!). Since it was just Ben, Emily, Mimi and me, we chose to celebrate the 4th in a less than traditional fashion. We didn't attend any barbeques, out-door festivals or fire-works displays. We decided to spend Independence Day at the mall, instead! I got my eyebrows done, Mimi spent way too much in the Disney Store for Ben, Emmie and herself, spent some time at the mall's outdoor play-area and we enjoyed a delicious, if not peaceful, lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I never realized how not busy the mall and restaurants are on the 4th! I totally plan to spend all my 4th of July's there from now on;) Who needs to risk sunburn, food-poisoning and fire-damage when you can just spend cold hard cash in the cool a/c of your local mall? I really think I'm onto something here!

Once we got home from the mall, we took a dip in the pool. Ben got a spiffy pair of Nemo goggles(which he calls "gargles". So cute.) and couldn't wait to try them out. Never once did he put his face in the water, but he wore them the entire time, whether in the water or not! Emily, I'm pleased to report has become much more comfortable in the water. She discovered that she can walk around easily in our little pool, and has become very mermaid-esque since. She walks around like she owns the place, jumps up and done, even kneels in the pool when she's feeling brave. We played many, many rounds of "ring around the rosy" today, and she loved it=) At one point, while walking around on her own, she tripped and ended up submerged under water until I pulled her up. She cried, as expected, but didn't immediately beg to get out! She said, "Emmie fell down, mama. Emmie fell under water", but quickly got over it and kept playing! This time last week, she clung to me like an octopus and begged to get out after 3 minutes. We might turn her into a water-baby yet=)

All in all, it was a very enjoyable holiday! Here are some cute pictures from the play area today=) We hope your 4th was just as fun!


Mr. America, proudly wearing his "Merican flag shirt". He loves any clothing that's patriotic;) Mimi bought him an American flag a month or so ago and his love of the red, white and blue emerged. He was beside himself for weeks when he accidentally broke the flag. I heard, "I'm SO sorry I broke my 'merican flag, mommy" daily.

Emmie had a hair-raising fun time on the slides=) Every time she slide down, her hair shot up from the static electricity.

"weeee!" Yes, that giant, green sphere to the left is me; in all my 37.5 week glory;) Three babies in under 4 years has resulted in a belly of epic proportions this time around. You should have seen how small I carried with Ben...sigh....

Bath-Time Dora also joined us today. Here, she enjoys the shade and a nice, cold, strawberry lemonade while Ben and Emmie play.

The Big Move

You may have noticed a big lapse in recent blog entries lately? The reason for this has to do with our recent adventures in co-habitation;) The G. Family moved to Mimi's house two weeks ago as we prepare for the arrival of Baby Callie and deal with the unfortunate timing of an un-paid maternity leave followed by a job loss for me(Hazel's ALSO going to be a big sister! Her mommy is due just 12 days before me and will keep Hazel and her new baby brother home starting July 2nd!). We're also dealing with a transfer to a new store plus a pay-cut for Dan:(

I won't go into the sorry details of our financial predicament, but for the next few months, we're bunking at Mimi's! June 13th was The Big Move and it's taken some adjustment-time for all of us; my mom and step-dad, Dan and me, and the children, naturally. I tried my best to explain the move to Ben and Emily in ways they could understand, and they were always been pretty enthusiastic about the idea. Ben had some issues coming to terms with the idea that we couldn't go back to "his home" anymore, which has been breaking my heart into tiny pieces. I don't know how to explain it to him in a way that will comfort him when he starts crying about going home. It usually makes ME start crying, too, which doesn't help. For the most part, he and his sister seem pretty content here at Mimi's. They're sharing a room still, which probably helps a lot. We all try to make it fun for them and help them to adjust to the new situation, but it's not easy for any of us. I'm terrified that all hell will break loose once Callie comes home, but I'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

Looking on the bright side, staying with Mimi has it's perks! We now have a front and back-yard to enjoy. The back-yard has their playhouse, bikes and balls PLUS the recent addition of a small, above-ground pool that Mimi bought for us to enjoy this summer. We set it up Saturday and have hardly left it since. Ben loves to be in the water and it's helping Emily become more secure, too. Look forward to some swimming posts in the near future=) Here are some pictures of Ben and Emily enjoying the big front porch and steps at our new digs!


Popsicles and bubbles make for a lovely late afternoon!

Sweet Emmie-Boo enjoying the dappled sunshine of the front steps.

Bubble Boy, blowing bubbles!

Tiger WHO?!

I've mentioned before how much Ben loves to play golf. His love affair started when he saw a commercial for a toy called Gator Golf. He reaaaaally wanted us to buy it for him and his lucky day came when my aunt gave him a Target gift card as a belated birthday gift. We brought the toy home and it quickly became one of his very favorite toys. I'm not even exaggerating when I say he played with it for nearly an hour(which is pretty amazing for a 3.5 year old!). Recently, I posted pictures of him enjoying a mini-golf display at our local Children's Museum. He talks about playing George Golf all.the.time. after that. When he saw commercials for a local mini-golf park, he quickly started begging us to take him. Dan got the lucky honor of taking Ben to play his first game of mini-golf last week while I stayed home to watch Emmie and Hazel:( Thankfully, he took some cute pictures for me and gave me a full account of their game. Ben apparently loved it(surprise, surprise!). What's really surprising is that he beat Dan by 2 points! PGA Tour members better watch out. We're coming for you! Benny G. is watching and waiting.

Father's Day '09

Here's the only shot I took of Dan with one of his children this Father's Day. He wanted to spend the first part of the day sleeping in and running errands by himself. We spent the rest of the day hanging out together as a family=) To fill in the rest of the post, I added some favorite shots from the past.


Dada and Emmie snuggling on the couch

What happens when you ask daddy to undress baby for you. Little things like snaps can really trip a guy up!

Cool Baby/Cool Daddy

Sweet Baby Ben learning the finer points of Xbox 360 with his dada.

Big Sister-in-Training

Besides the fact that she is beyond enamoured by babies, Emily exhibits many qualities that tell me she will be an excellent big sister. Here she is feeding Hazel(who's a mere 3 months younger than her!) lunch. She saw me hand over Hazel's bowl of mac and cheese and said, "Emmie feed Baby Hazel, mama. Need fork". I gave her the fork and she went to work! Hazel thought it was funny, too=) Another thing Emmie does that kills me is that she ALWAYS wants me to give her a diaper for her "baby". The baby in mention could be anything from a Little People figure to a stuffed cat to an actual baby doll. She'll lay the "baby" down, lift it's legs and say, "Ohhh, yucky! Baby has poopy!" or "No poops, just peeps!" if the "baby only has a wet diaper. When she's not practicing to be the best big sister in the world, she's pretending to be Baby Emmie. Baby Emmie likes to crawl on the floor, roll around, or have you cradle her in your arms while she closes her eyes and pretends to cry. Something tells me Baby Emmie will be showing up A LOT once Baby Callie makes it onto the scene;)




Emmie: "Here-go, Hazel. Bite?"

Look at the tongue=) She's showing Baby Hazel how to open up.

Ben took this picture of Hazel! Not bad!

Pool Party!

We attended a super-fun pool party to celebrate the end of the school-year for Ben and his friends at preschool. Ben has always been a water-baby. He loves to be in the water, and loves to go swimming! We've been swimming at the Y a few times this summer so he couldn't wait to go to this pool-party. The best part about it was the HUGE shallow end! It was only 2.5 ft deep so Ben could stand easily and walk around without me holding him. He really wants to be able to swim on his own, so this was beyond cool for him=) It worked out really well for Emily, since she is NOT a water-baby and pretty much clings to me the entire time. She likes swimming at the Y well enough because they let you wear life-jackets. She'll even jump into the pool on her own at the Y, but at this pool, she was very clingy and emotional. She didn't want to miss out on the fun, even though it was clear she wasn't having any! Eventually, I convinced her to go home with Mimi to see her new kittens and have a snack. Once they left, Ben and I had a blast swimming together. Dan showed up for the cook-out at the end and we enjoyed burgers with our friends from school. Swimming AND cheeseburgers? Now THAT'S what Ben calls a party!


The look on my face pretty much sums up how I felt about getting my picture taken;)

The look on Ben's face sums up how much he loves swimming!

"Walk SLOWLY, Ben!". Oops! Caught in the act of running by the pool!

Emily, the world's grumpiest mermaid

Ruby Turns Three!

The Lovely Miss Ruby celebrated her 3rd birthday last Friday and we got the pleasure of attending her party=) We dined on delicious pizza(Ben even ate some, proclaiming it "Yummy pizza!"), a fabulous ice cream cake from Trader Joe's and enjoyed some late-evening jumping on the trampoline(they did; not me. There's no way in hell I could even climb up on it, let alone bounce while this pregnant!). The Birthday Girl seemed to enjoy her party, especially all the Dora gifts. We gifted her with a Dora soccer set, complete with goal, ball and shin guards, as well as a Barbie=) Ruby's mama, auntie and I used to play Barbies together when we were little girls, so I couldn't resist! Here are my favorite snaps from the evening!


Emily, blowing bubbles. She L-O-V-E-S to blow bubbles. She's really good at it, too!

This picture sums the party up perfectly. Pure joy.

My little kangaroo bouncing himself silly

Ruby and her Auntie She-she(Sheila) representin' the Big Three