Over the river and through the woods...

This past weekend the kids and I went to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Silverstein, and Aunt Emily. It was a nice change of pace, and we had a great time visiting. Barry couldn't make it because of work.

We went swimming in the pool. Here's the kids in their floats.

Grandma has the cookie hook up at Publix!

Trying to stay in the shade while we decorated their driveway for them.

"CHEESE"

Gregory seemed to sit in more chalk than he did coloring with it.

How many of those can she hold at once?!?

At Emily's Grandparent's having cake and ice cream for Jody's Birthday.

A very sleepy Dahlia looking up from snuggling with Grandpa.

Even breakfast comes with dessert when you're on vacation.

Dahlia hammed it up all weekend for everyone. Here she is singing for Grandpa.

Thanks for having us Russ and Jody. And thanks Emily for being such a big help with the kids. Can't wait to come back and see you all soon.

Week in review.

Well these are to put any one's mind at ease who was worried about the state of toys in my kid's room (mostly just me but I felt the need to document it). It stayed clean for about two days with the promise of a visit from Grandma and Emily held over their little toy throwing heads.

It's not quite this pretty right now. But the basic system is still in place and will hopefully not take long to tidy up any more.

This is Dahlia's princess crown. It was in her goodie bag from the kids party at Dee's house which we forgot there and got from her when they came to visit. Dahlia's been wearing it ever since! She tenderly rests it next to her bed at nap and bed time only to happily shove it back on the second she wakes up. We've been out in public a lot with it too. Mostly just to the grocery store or to see daddy at work. She has now started to proclaim that it is her special magic crown and with it she gives magic kisses.

In other news I've been fighting the battle of stir-crazy-stay-at-home-never-do-my-hair-I have-no-life sickness, by finding things to do on Meetup.com. So far I've found a knitting group that sort of fizzled out and I can't make it to any more because of Barry's crazy schedule and a couple of playgroups. The first one I tried was having a meet up at a community pool. When I got there (after getting really lost) I found a Summer Camp had over run the place for the day and the pool was closed to the public. So the kids and I played on the playground for about an hour until the tweens started trickling over there too.

Dahlia riding a purple dinosaur.


Gregory demonstrating the proper slide dismount I taught him.

I wasn't too worried about falling because the ground was covered in bouncy rubber. Like the floor at Lego Land in Downtown Disney.

A rare shot of Dahlia sliding down the slide. After her first sticky attempt in a dress it was all climbing up.

If you look in the back you'll see an teenager being a bad influence on my children.

THOSE AREN'T FOR STANDING ON YOUNG LADY.

Oh dear I'm so old.

Monday I had my first Dr's visit. (YEAH!!!!! finally I know) I'm on temporary health care but it should switch to permanent in a week or so. I got blood drawn and it's being tested for every STD known to man. weeee. as well as a few prenatal screenings I'm sure. In two weeks I go back for an ultra sound and another check up. I will not be finding out the sex of the baby, but if you want to know if I have gonorrhea, just ask.

Jody and Emily watched the kids all day for me while I patiently knitted in the waiting room. Thank you so much. I can't imagine if I had had them with me. Barry and I drove to pick them up when he got out of work and we ended up staying for dinner and all went out for ice cream (sorry no pictures I was slacking). It was a very nice unexpected visit.

This morning Dahlia came in our room around 5ish. Barry had already left and I was on the computer. She had peed through her jammies poor thing. So I changed her and gave her one of my T shirts to wear. It was so cute I had to take a picture. You can also see just how short her hair is now.

Earlier I was on the computer in the other room and noticed how eerily quiet it was so I went to check on the kids and this is what I found. Dahlia just looked up at me and whispered "I'm watching Barney". I guess the excitment of it all was too much for little Greggy.

So that's what we've been up to this week, more or less. I have been knitting up a storm but since it's all gifts for people online photos will have to wait. Also I did go to another Meet Up with a different play group on Sunday. It was a BarBQ at one of the women's houses. I brought deviled eggs and snicker doodles. It was fun, the kids had a blast and I think I'm going to keep getting together with them.

A reason to celebrate.

I was just getting home from the super market with the kids on the 4th and saw that Barry was home early from work(yeah), and on the phone with his Dad, who we haven't seen in a while(yeah x 2). So I tossed the milk in the fridge and we rushed off to Cleremont for a cookout and some fireworks.

Dahlia's was jumping up and down she was so excited by the bright lights and noises. A few of the surrounding neighbors were getting into their larger ones, so we could see them over the houses. It was quite the show.

Sitting a safe distance back with Emily. The kids were both so happy to see her. Gregory kept running up and giving her hugs. (He was not very happy about the big fuzz ball of a dog Rocko. I don't think I've ever heard him shriek like that.)

But he certainly was getting a kick out of the festivities. It was hard holding him back from investigating.

All in all it was a great time. I'm glad the kids got to see some fireworks for the holiday. I'm even more glad that we went to see the in laws. It had been too long. We won't be waiting so long this time.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July.

I know they're pretty but you shouldn't run straight at the fireworks.

Bikes, and Uncle Andy's Birthday.

Yesterday the kids and I took their respective wheely toys out to go get the mail. It was kind of a long trip if your scooting the whole way, so they were pretty worn out. Dahlia was trying her pedals but getting easily frustrated. I'm not rushing her.


We came across a little girl Dahlia's age. She was very interested in all the buttons on Gregory's car. And he was just sitting on it thinking he was quite the ladies man. It was very funny.



I used the promise of ice cream sandwiches to rally the troops during the home stretch. Surprisingly after all this fresh air (read boiling lung gas) and exercise they still didn't nap. They were too excited to see Aunt Dee and Andy and the kids.


They were staying in the area and dropped by for a visit. They also jumped the battery in the van. YEAH!!! Thanks guys!
They let us join them for Andy's Birthday dinner at a Chinese place in the Mall at Millenia.


Here we are trying to keep all our ducks in a row. It's mentally exhausting trying to keep tabs on all these little people, but it's totally worth getting together! The kids all had a blast playing with the toy explosion that is our apartment. I must say though that Matthew seemed very distressed that all the toys weren't neatly grouped together with those they went with. Me and you both buddy! I long for furniture and toy organization beyond diaper boxes.



The food was great! Despite me poisoning my husband with some sweet chili. (I didn't think it had orange in it. SORRY TEAM) My favorite had to be the little dessert "shots". The kids and Barry got Smores and I had Tiramisu.

Who needs cute spoons when you can eat the whole thing with your fingers? Dahlia spent most of the night singing and entertaining Andy, so I'm sure he had a very Happy Birthday. We had a great time as always.

My homework is to get a video of Dahlia singing. I also would love to get her "reading" one of her books. So I'm on it. Give me a few days.

Never Never Land will have to wait.

I gave the kids haircuts last night after their bath. Dahlia's came out a little shorter than I wanted but I forgot that curly hair shrinks when it dries. Oh well I can still put it up for her and it'll grow back fast. Plus she has some cute headbands I might start letting her wear now.

The hair close to her neck was always shorter. I didn't cut that very much. I'd say I took about 3 inches off the top layer. Whatever she's cute no matter what. Barry still hasn't seen it yet.

Gregory was not very interested in sitting still so his is a little choppy in places but he still has enough curl to hide any oopses.

I think he looks very dapper and much less like Peter Pan now. And there are still some curls in the back, so I hope Barry won't be too upset. He was very against the idea of hair cuts every time I brought it up.