It's a Miracle!

The stars aligned, the sun broke through the clouds, and the Disney Princesses saved the day!

I suppose you all are wondering what I'm going on about. Well, we took the girls into JCPenny's this morning for pictures. Now, you've all seen how cute Lily can be for the pictures I take of her. She smiles so big. It doesn't take much for me to get her to do that. So you would think get her in a dress, tell her what a pretty girl she is and she would be all smiles for the Penny's lady. Well, of course not. She didn't want to smile for anything and she even started to sort of baby yell at us. And get Ella to sit in there with her. That was definitely going to take a miracle. We just pushed Ella into the front of the picture area and she started wailing. So I thought, Well this isn't going to happen.

So I had some Princess figures that I was saving for sometime when I needed them. I thought I might give Ella one each time she wanted to use the toilet as a potty training reward. But that's not happening anytime soon. So I whipped out Ariel, Belle, and Jasmine and all of sudden sitting on the little photo table didn't seem like such a bad thing. We got a picture of the girls together where no one is crying. No one is really smiling either, but you gotta take what you can get. And then Ella didn't want to get down after that, so we have a picture of just Ella too! So look out family! You're going to get tons of pictures very soon!

In other news, the girls and I survived last week without Andrew, just barely. I was very sick with either food poisoning or a terrible stomach bug on Tuesday night before he was supposed to leave and he had to push his flight back. But he was able to still go. The girls took it easy on me on Wednesday. On Thursday we had a quiet outing to the movie theater to see the new Disney movie, The Wild. It was cute, but quite similar to Madgascar. The rest of the weekend, we hung out at a couple different parks. Oh, and there was a parade in Burbank so we went to that. Ella was the cutest thing ever, sitting on the side of the curb, getting all excited about everything as it went by. I can't wait to take her to a parade again!

Andrew had a ton of fun hanging out with his college buddies. His golf score went down after the first day which he deemed was a "practice round". And he made it back in one piece after a 2 hour delay at the airport. We'll get some pictures posted soon.

We have a pretty big weekend planned ahead. Lily and I are doing WalkAmerica with some other families from our playgroup. All together our group has raised about $800 for the March of Dimes. I think that's pretty good. And thank you once again to those of you who contributed to the effort! On Sunday, my friend, Renee and I are throwing a family baby shower for our other friend Jenn (Ella's babysitter) who is due with her third child at the end of May. It's been fun to plan it, and it'll be fun to hang out with everyone on Sunday.

I do have to throw one more thing out there. A very big thank you to our friend Allison Campbell who was amazing and made a beautiful little sweater for Lily to wear in her pictures today. A week ago, I found the cutest dress at Old Navy, but it was really summery (just had little straps) and I couldn't find a little sweater to go with it. So I asked the Goddess of Knitting if she thought she could whip something up and get it mailed to me by the end of the week. And she did it! And it looks so cute in the pictures. SO thank you, thank you, thank you Allison!

Okay, I think that's all for this week's installment! Have a good one everyone!

Behind on the times...

So I have neglected the blog lately. It seems I can only focus on one hobby at a time with two kids. I do enough multi-tasking wtih them and the house, I can't seem to multi-task with my other interests. So instead of blogging or reading lately, I've been knitting.

Happy belated Easter and Passover to everyone or just Happy Spring if you don't celebrate either of those. The Easter Bunny visited our house on Saturday night and Ella woke up to find eggs hidden around the house and a basket of fun toys. She was so cute finding the eggs, she would shake each one to make sure there was something inside and then open it to see what it was. They were filled with fruit snacks, jelly beans, and pez. She also received the Chicken Little DVD and Disney figures. The Easter Bunny thought that was somewhat appropriate to Easter. ;-) So thankfully, we enjoyed watching that movie instead of Nemo 15 times yesterday. Lily also received some fun things in her basket. They both got fuzzy bunny ears to wear and in my dream world I would have loved to get a picture of both of them together with their ears in their Easter dresses. But alas, my dream did not come true. I did get the most adorable picture of Lily with her ears on though.

We had another baby milestone last week. I always sit Lily outside the tub on the floor to watch Ella take a bath. I went into the sink area of our bathroom to get Ella's soap and when I turned around Miss Lily was standing up holding onto the bathtub! I thought that couldn't have just happened! Ella must have pulled her up or something. So I sat her back down and watched her and lo and behold she did it again! At six months! That's like an 8 or 9 month trait! I looked it up and Ella was 9 months old when she first pulled herself up. I told Andrew that I think we have to watch out. Lily is going to be even more of a climber than Ella was. She already can turn around and get herself out of the bouncy seat and then she promptly tries to get back in. Lily had her 6 month check up last Tuesday. She is 17lbs, 12 oz. and 29 1/2 inches long! Ella was 17lbs, 6oz, and 27 3/4 inches at her 6 month checkup.

Ella is pretty much the same as she has been. We are really trying to encourage her to talk more by not responding to her grunting as much. We've had a few more tantrums but I think she is trying to use her words more now.

Two weekends ago, Tom and Pat came out for a visit. We went to Griffith Park together and they enjoyed seeing Ella run around. They were so nice and watched the girls for two nights while Andrew and I went down to the Four Seasons Aviara in Carlsbad (just north of San Diego). We received a gift certificate to this place and lived it up for a couple days. Andrew played golf, I visited the spa and had a massage and facial. It was so great! The girls weren't far from our minds though. We went shopping and bought Ella a fun new pair of shoes and a new carseat for her so Lily could move out of the infant carrier. She's been too big for it for quite a while now. I think the grandparents had a great time with the girls! Andrew also enjoyed being able to watch the last round of the Masters with his dad. We were all happy to see Phil Mickelson (my Philly boy--he's my favorite golfer) win!

Andrew is preparing for his annual Knox Alumni Carnival of Golf extravaganza which begins this Wednesday in Houston. He'll be gone until Sunday night so it'll be just me and the girls until then.

Update: Oh yeah, I meant to add this when I was first typing this post. My cousin, Michael called us on Easter also. He is in the army and serving in Iraq right now. So it was a great surprise when he called us to wish us a Happy Easter from there! He has been there five months already and seems to be doing pretty well. The earliest he will be home is August so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers for a safe return home and hopefully it will be as soon as August.

Bound for Nascar

Is this not the absolute cutest thing you've ever seen?!! If I am going to go grocery shopping with both girls, I have to go to the Burbank Ralphs so I can use the race car cart!

Picture 1: Riding in the race car cart




Picture 2: An action shot




Picture 3: Just looking adorable!

Photo Update

I have added new pictures to the March album from around the house and playdates. And I added a new album of pictures from this past weekend.

Enjoy!

Little Girls have fun too!

I just have to write and say how great Andrew is! I have friends whose husbands are not nearly as involved with their children as they should be. And I have absolutely no complaints about Andrew. He is so wonderful. He watched the girls all day Friday and Saturday and most of Sunday. While Ella was at the babysitter on Friday, he was able to get some work done and have a little bonding time with Lily. And then on Saturday, he and the girls made a day of it! They went to the Burbank mall and played at the new playarea there. Th Easter Bunny is on the same level and Ella has been sort of interested in the set up they have there. Finally on Saturday, the Easter Bunny was actually there when they were. So both Ella & Lily sat on the bunny's lap and had their picture taken. Both of them look slightly weirded out in the picture, but neither of them are screaming which is a big improvement over the last time Ella saw Santa. ;-) Ella didn't want to seat there long enough for a picture with Lily so they both got individual pictures.

Then as if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Andrew took them to see Ice Age 2. Ella got her own seat and icee and watched a good portion of the movie. Lily slept for most of it. So overall it was a good moviegoing experience.

I knew they were having a ton of fun together because when I stopped home before dinner on Saturday, Ella just waved and said, "Bye. See you." when I was leaving. Like "I'm spending time with Dad, have fun Mom, see ya later." It was very cute.

Then they all joined us for our walk to Kenneth Village on Sunday. We all recuperated and took naps yesterday afternoon. We will have to rest up this week because we have another fun weekend planned in a few days. Andrew's parents are coming for a visit and are going to help us out by watching Ella & Lily for a couple days while Andrew and I have a little vacation down at the Four Seasons in San Diego. Can't wait!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!: Part 2

Saturday was just as packed as Friday. We woke up and went to nail appointments at a fun place I found recently. Everyone enjoyed being pampered for a little bit. We went to Starbucks afterwards for a light breakfast. Let me paint a picture for you. The five of us are sitting around two little tables, chatting about nail polish colors, etc. Holly decides she needs one more splenda for her venti sized latte. (Okay, this part is in slow motion ala movie director John Woo) I get up, turn slightly and step to the side around Erin J. My arm of course follows my body and well the venti goes flying. And gets my jeans sopping wet, as well as Erin J.'s. I just missed getting an innocent bystander as well. Nice huh?

So we take an impromptu break at our condo while Erin J's jeans dry in the dryer. After all that, we get in the car and drive through Hollywood so they can see the Hollywood sign and Grauman's Chinese Theatre (all from the car). We then drive through the city to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. We of course valet the car, it is Beverly Hills after all. And then walk around. Claire tried on wedding rings at Cartier. We then have lunch at a great little place called The Farm recommended to us by the ring saleslady. The food was really good. I may have to eat there again. We walked around some more and then found ourselves back in the car. We drove through a few neighborhoods there to see how the other half lives and then made our way back to Glendale on Sunset Blvd, passing the Viper Room. (Please visit my picture link for a "nice" moving shot of it).

We rested up a little bit, we are after all not quite as young as we used to be. Then we went to dinner at Maurizio's here in Glendale. We almost got into a brawl with some rather large and ambiguous ladies sitting next to us because of Claire's big mouth. But we successfully held Claire back and moved on to other fun activities for the night. We again tried the cab companies in LA. But they again suck and wanted to charge us for two cabs for the five of us. I don't think so. So we decided to drive (me being the designated driver again). We went to the Westwood Brewing Company to see Allison's brother's band play. Westwood is near to UCLA who was playing in a final four game that night. We made it to the bar not long after the game had ended and there was a news crew set up. So we were UCLA fans for a brief time. We yelled our allegiance along with all the people in yellow and blue. UCLA-UCLA-UCLA! Then we promptly went upstairs where the band was. We all enjoyed listening to FIVE A.M.. and Zach even serenaded Claire with the song "Let's Get it On" in honor of Claire's ending bachelorettehood. (Allison had called after a few drinks the night before and requested Zach to do this.) We also listened to another bay area band called Eugene. Then went home and collapsed.

Sunday morning, we all had one last hurrah and walked up to Kenneth Village for breakfast. When we got back, the girls all started their travels back home. It was such a fun weekend that we have decided to do this once a year. We're not sure where next year will be or who is going to organize it. But I hope it happens because it was so great to get away and have some girl fun! I hope to post pictures later today...

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!: Part 1

So for a few years now, every time I see a select few of my high school friends, we always say "We should all get together sometime and hang out for a weekend." Well, last November, I got tired of just saying it and I set out to actually organize the event. So the First Annual Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Weekend just ended a few hours ago. (Okay, I just made up this name on the spot about one second ago. The Girls may chide me for this....I can just hear it now)

Claire Daly (soon to be Mrs. Rathburn), Allison Hammer, Erin (Ryan) Friedline, and Erin (Erb) Jensen traveled to Los Angeles to come visit me. I organized the trip so I made everyone come here. ;-) Everyone arrived Thursday evening. The fun commenced at Don Cuco's Mexican restaurant. I had professed my love for their margaritas and the Girls could not resist. Of course, in my haste to actually put stuff into a purse instead of the diaper bag, I grabbed my Barnes and Noble reader membership card instead of my ID. Can you believe the waiter and the manager would not serve me a drink?! I decided to take that as a compliment, and then proceeded to sip from Erin and Erin's margaritas. I was worried I was going to be the only camera happy person there. But when Claire and Erin F. pulled out their cameras before me, I knew I'd be fine.

On Friday morning, Andrew (who was super wonderful and took the day off from work to watch Ella & Lily so I could galavant around town) made all of us breakfast. Then we visited the Getty Museum. I have been looking forward to seeing this museum the entire time we have lived here. Don't ask me why I haven't been before. But I do believe I will go back! It has fantastic views of Los Angeles and the buidling itself is interesting to look at as well as its artwork and gardens.

From the Getty, we traveled to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. We were on the hunt for a good sushi restaurant. Yes, for those of you who know me well, I had my first sushi experience. Although, not really. I don't eat fish. So I had kappa maki (cucumber rolls) and some veggie tempura. But I was assured by the rest of the group that the sushi was tasty. We then walked around the Promenade and shopped a little bit. I was hoping there would be some fun/weird street performers. In the past, we've seen a guy dressed as Yoda dancing. But there were only a couple guitar playing singers. We had one actor sighting. I'm not even going to say "celebrity", because I have a feeling most of the blog's readers will not have a clue who is he is. But we saw Justin Long, probably most known for his appearances as Warren Cheswick on the tv show Ed and he was in the movie Dodgeball. Here is his entry in the Internet Movie Database

From the Promenade, we walked along Ocean Avenue to Santa Monica Pier. Then back to the car to drive to dinner. We ate at one of my favorite restaurants in LA, Taverna Tony's in Malibu. Love the food there! As you will read on, the majority of our activities centered around eating wonderful food!

After dinner, we traveled back to Glendale, where Claire promptly took a nap. Little did she know we had some fun Bachelorette activities planned for her. :-). She wasn't too happy about being awakened. She actually thought she was going to sleep the rest of the night. We played a few games and then headed out to Universal Citywalk. We had planned to go to several places there, but ended up getting there too late (the cabs suck here in Los Angeles! We waited forever and then ended up driving anyway). We ended up at B.B. King's and listened to a fun R & B band. Had a few drinks and called it a night. I will refrain from posting any Bachelorette pictures as this is a family friendly site.

More in a little bit....

Catching Up

I was so busy last week I didn't get the blog updated and I have a ton to write about, so there will most likely be multiple posts today. I'll start with last weekend. We met up with our friends, Kate and Pete, and their son, Liam at one of our favorite parks. We hadn't seen them for quite a while so it was fun to catch up with them. Liam is such a cutie pie. See picture for evidence.


Baby Milestone Alert!: While we were the park, Lily wanted to naw on my finger. When she did, I realized she was cutting her bottom teeth! We had no idea she was teething already. Ella drooled FOREVER before she started getting her teeth at 8 months. And then she was very cranky and irritable. Miss Lily, on the other hand, has been her normal self which is happy and smiley most of the time. I was thinking the teething was part of the reason she doesn't sleep well at night. But we've given her motrin before bedtime and it doesn't seem to make a difference. We had one night this past week where she did sleep through the night. Woo HOO! But the next night, she woke up three times again. BOO! So really that was a fluke! Still not crawling yet, but has that rocking on all fours down pat. Poor little girl, she's trying so hard to crawl and gets frustrated that she can't quite figure it out, but for me, that's fine for now! I also think we may have another fish lover on our hands. Just like Ella, she is mesmerized when fish are on the screen. And she has taken to creating a fish mouth and making bloop noises when she sees a fish on the screen!

Ella is growing up more and more every day. She is becoming slightly more interested in potty training, which is nice, because I really am getting tired of changing a billion diapers a day. Her latest thing is that she likes to talk to Andrew on my cell phone when he's on his way home from work. They sing Little Einsteins together, she says, "Hi, how are you?". And when they hang up she says, "Bye. See you." She can even multi-task already: reading and talking on the phone.

In other news, I believe I broke a toe last week. Clumsy me, walked into the molding as I was going into the kitchen. It's mostly feeling better now, but I still can't wear my tennis shoes. The day after I broke it, I got to go to my friend Renee's house for a Body Shop pamper party. I was a little worried about it, but all the fun lotions and scrubs made my feet feel so good!

Andrew is working on a big project for Toyota right now. They are doing three ten-second spots for the new Toyota Yaris. They also did work for the NCAA tournament again this year. Hornet did all the transitions you see, as well as the logos.

UPDATE: I forgot to include the date in the previous post. WalkAmerica is on Saturday, April 29th. So you still have time to donate if you would like to.