Worst Parents In the World Award Goes To...US!

Ok, I really didn't want to put this up because we are still feeling major guilt over this. Poor Grey got his first burn on the Friday night after Thanksgiving. Adam decided to do a small fireworks display in his backyard ( little fountains, poppers, snakes, other little ground fireworks). It was the first time Grey got to see fireworks since he is usually in bed by 7 and it doesn't get dark until much later when you typically get to see fireworks. They brought out the sparklers and the bigger kids were playing with them. We were handed one and we talked to Grey about how it was hot and not to touch and we held his hands down so he would not even be tempted to touch them. He was loving it! They passed out the second round of sparklers and Zippy went to hand one off while still holding Grey and Grey reached up and grabbed the sparkler part.

Poor guy, he was sobbing but would stop when we would run water over it and when we were putting some stuff on it but anytime anyone looked at him or asked him about it, he would start crying again. Grey and I headed off to bed to read books and I thought it would be a long night because burns HURT...but typical Grey, within 5 minutes of reading, was laughing and goofing around with me. We finished our books, I put him in his pack'n'play and he slept all night long.  He is fascinated with it now and it doesn't seem to bother him and he loves it when we put gauze and tape over it. He walks around so proud.

Needless to say, we get the bad bad parents of the year award for this one...

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We had another great Thanksgiving in Los Angeles visiting the Deierlings. Grey had the time of his life-they have 3 kids, 2 older and one a few months younger, and he had a blast playing with all of them. We went to the beach, the park, played with their dog, played with all the fun toys they had, and got to see lots of Zippy's college buddies. Zippy helped Adam decorate the outside of the house again, unfortunately, I don't have pictures but they go all out for Christmas :) I was absolutely terrible with my camera this time and only have a few pictures.

Thanksgiving Day at Nama's House (Adam's parents)

Kids table at Nama's house

After Thanksgiving Dinner Activities:

Sand Castles

Dune Climbing

Yoga (I love how Grey is eating his cracker, sitting on the rug watching and Santa in the background)

Saturday Thanksgiving at Lisa's parents:

Kids' Table

 Zippy and Adam having a romantic moment

Grey was in even with all the bikes and scooters!

Just like Dad...

Shooting Hoops

Hanging out with his future wife, Mackenzie (she is 4 months younger)

Thanks again, Adam and Lisa and kids, for such a wonderful time. Every time we are down to visit, we wish we could just move! We miss them already!!

Baby Zj at 28 Weeks

We went in this morning for a follow up ultrasound and got to see our little ZJ again! I am 28 weeks 1 day today and ZJ is measuring 30 weeks. Guess ZJ is trying to compete with Grey on who is going to be a bigger baby!

ZJ did not want to cooperate for pictures either. He/She was really high, almost under my ribs with feet and hands down so there were lots of shadows on the photos. This is the best one we got. We are in the last third of the pregnancy, I really cannot believe how fast the time has gone!

Tahoe-November 2010

Another great weekend in Tahoe! The big boys (aka dads) were all out playing for their annual pumpkin hunt weekend so the girls decided to take the babies to Tahoe for a nice “relaxing” weekend. Of course with 4 kids that are 2 years and under, it is never relaxing…but it is always fun and quite the adventure!

We were surprised when we pulled up the condo on Thursday to see snow on the ground. The boys headed straight for it and it took a lot of tears and bribery to get them to come in. They loved knocking down the icicles on the outside of the condo, throwing snow, making foot prints, finding sticks, and just running around like crazy boys! They could have stayed out there all day, every day and didn't even care if it was dark.

Friday morning, Ali and Jared came up as well as Priscilla and Sophia. The kids played great together and for the most part let the mommy’s hang out and chat. We made it back to the Discovery Museum in Truckee where Grey had a lot of fun participating in the art projects: creating finger painted turkeys, water painting lanterns and leaves, and his favorite activity, playing with a pumpkin. He kept asking if he could paint the pumpkin and even tried to paint me at one point! Grey had lots of fun playing with the train table, too, this time.  Unfortunately, the ski season starts next weekend so everything was really quiet as the resort was "closed" until then.  We had to drive up the Northstar village for a drink (a sparkling water for me) at the Chocolate Bar, our favorite hang out. Even the Chocolate Bar was only serving drinks and no food. Luckily, we were the only one's there so it didn't feel too weird to bring 4 strollers into the bar with us! 

It was such a fun time and the kids played so well together...other than Grey trying to knock over anything that Andrew was building with his blocks. Grey and Andrew even shared a room this time and slept pretty well. We woke up to both of them jumping in the pack'n'plays but luckily it was after 6:30 am! That is amazing for Tahoe considering one of them is usually awake around 5 :)

 Cuddling with Ali!

 Enjoying the Chocolate Bar

 yummy lemons!

 Grey loves tackling Andrew

 Sophia REALLY liked Michelle's lasagna!

 painting lanterns

 Grey loves pumpkins

 The best train table ever

 Grey and I visited the fire station when everyone else went to town. Grey liked the fire truck but was more excited about the front loader they used to remove snow :)

 Sticks and Snow-could anything else be more fun??

Thanks, Andrew (and Michelle and every one else!), for another fun filled adventure weekend!

Mommy Moment

There are moments in your life that let you know that you are a mom. One of those moments happened Sunday for us at Costco. Grey started getting a runny nose on Saturday afternoon but seemed fine other than that-we just thought it was because we were hanging out at a house with a cat. Well, he started coughing later that night and didn't sleep well (probably didn't help with the time change!). The next morning, he was still stuffed up, lots of congestion, but was his normal self.

After his nap on Sunday, we headed to Costco with Zippy. We wandered the Christmas aisles, daydreaming of what Santa might bring us and thinking about reindeer and Christmas trees. We finished our shopping after snacking our way through Costco. We were standing in the massive check out line...probably the longest I had seen in a long time there...when Grey proceeded to gag. Well, the gagging quickly turned into vomiting so what is a mom to do? Hold out both hands and catch!

Luckily we were at Costco and they have strategically placed trash cans all around us so as I go to unload my catch, Zippy takes my place and we alternate until he finally stops. The people around us were nice enough to get us paper towels but paper towels really did not do much! Grey and I headed, covered in vomit to the car and waited for Zippy to check out....

Moments like these make me realize I am definitely a mom. Who else would catch your vomit and cuddle with you in the middle of Costco while both covered in vomit?

Mornings with Grey

While I was getting ready for work this morning, I overheard this conversation in the other room. Zippy and Grey were looking at a picture book that had lots of different foods in it.

Zippy: "Grey, what is your favorite food? Cheese?"
Grey: "Noooo...."
Zippy: "steak?"
Grey (laughing): "Nooo...."
Zippy: "Mac'n'cheese?"
Grey(laughing even harder): "Nooo....."
Zippy: "Do you have a favorite food then?"
Grey: "Yeah, basketball!!!"

Galloway Wedding

Zippy and I escaped last week for a couple of days to help celebrate Daryn and Bryanna's wedding in the foothills of the Sierra. The private lodge where we stayed was amazing and had a full bar, game room, and rooms for all of the wedding party as well as being the site of the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception. Zippy was in the wedding and we were able to catch  up with alot of friends that we hadn't seen in awhile. The adventure started with an 80s prome themed rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Everyone went all out and it was alot of fun! I just wish I could have stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning but this pregnant momma was asleep by 11 (latest I had stayed up in who knows how long!!) Everyone else started showing up the next day for the wedding day and it was just amazing to get to spend time with the family. The bride and groom were both beautiful, amazingly happy, and the wedding was amazing.  I am so glad we were able to be a part of it all!  Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Galloway!!

Rehearsal Dinner Mahem! Daryn the groom at the left...

 Ray scaring Tate

 Tate wearing Zippy's mullet

Jerry and Kim were the officiants for the wedding-did an AMAZING job!

Zippy and Me-the only recent picture I have of the two of us :)

What do you say?

This was us prepping Grey for trick or treating on the way to Andrew's house! I love the way he says trick or treat :)

Trick-Or-Treat!

We started our trick or treating out early with the neighbors before heading down to the Wing house for a creepy crawly Halloween Party!

Grey the farmer loves our neighbors' huge spider in their front yard and the talking witch

Practicing at the neighbors

Playing in the graveyard with Adria

Michelle hosted another wonderful party. We made lots of good creepy food!! We had a creepy crawly finger food dinner before hitting the streets...

marinated eyeballs

spider tacos

watch out, the dip will grab you!!

witch fingers and spiders

mummy dogs

The trick or treat crew: Trevor the goat, Grey and Andrew the farmers, and Sofia the pig

I was very impressed with the farmers. They quickly picked up trick or treating like they were old pros. Knock, knock...trick or treat...thank you...and run back to the wagon to hit the next house! The only thing is that I couldn't get both of them to look at the camera at the same time!

"Andrew-where are you? Let's go!"

What a fun night...we are really looking forward to next  year...100 houses or bust!

Thanks again to the Wings for hosting such a fun time like always!!!