Christmas Wrap Up

"This was the longest day of my life" said Mommy, as the girls finally went to bed at 9:40 last night. It certainly was a long fun filled day. Santa was very good to the girls bringing them toys, crafts, clothes, etc. Many pictures below of the fun filled day. Kim and I had a great time watching the girls play and get excited as each gift was opened.

Olivia was disappointed when Santa was not here when she woke up. On Christmas Eve she would not go to sleep. She was so excited cause she "heard Santa's sleigh bells, cause the reindeer wear collars like Ramessess and they have bells on them". She also saw Santa "over at Kendal's house and he is coming here next". Even when I told her Santa could not come until she was asleep she still would not give in. Then, after falling asleep, she woke up about 1:30 AM with a 102 degree fever. Kim stayed with her through the night. She was in good spirits the next morning and did not let a temperature slow her down from opening the presents.

Sophia was a little confused but got into it when she saw the car slide toy that Pop-pop sent (see picture). Sophia had a ball on her new bike that mom-mom sent and after a while the kitchen became a race track for Olivia and Sophia.

Gracie happily watched all the craziness from her new car and giggled at the girls as they played.

Falling Down on the Blog

Sorry gang, but its been a busy few weeks and I just have not found time to sit down and blog. So here is a big update on the gang.

Gracie Mae
Gracie is a ball of energy these days. Gracie is interacting with her sisters a lot, watching everything they do. And of course, Olivia and Sophia like performing for her. Gracie gets so much attention when she is out, people telling us how beautiful she is. She gives them nothing in return but a straight lip look of "I don't know you so get away or I will scream". Gracie has started eating some new foods like biter biscuits and little pieces of french toast. She certainly is getting a taste for more things.

Sophia
Sophia is officially a big girl now that we have ditched the crib and she is in a bed. She really enjoys the bed and of course, enjoys the sneaking out of her room after bedtime. Sophia and Olivia are really playing more together and having fun chasing each other back to bed "after hours". Sophia is our dare devil who will climb, flip, jump, etc. off and on to anything in her path. She also is becoming quite the little dancer. Check out the video

Olivia
The fully potty trained one, Olivia, has taken the princess thing to a new level. She now announces that she has to go potty and expects that someone (read daddy) go to the potty with her, put her on the potty, wipe her butt, and flush. She can do it all herself, but chooses to wield her power. Its all about the presents now for Olivia as its Christmas Eve and all the packages are under the tree. And according to her, they are all for Olivia. Gonna be a fun day tomorrow.

Its beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

We got an early jump on Christmas today. Kim got out all the decorations and Olivia helped getting them out all through the house. I went to get a Christmas tree while the girls took a nap. When they got up, the tree trimming began. Below are some of the pictures. What they do not show is the "Griswold" like craziness of the tree falling when Sophia pulled on it, Kim catching it, Greg under the tree trying to get it back up and Judy trying to hold it in place. We saved it and the tree turned out pretty nice. Check it out.

Happy Black Friday

It's 6:30am and I am waiting for the girls to get up and go shopping. They already missed the 5am early bird deals! Anyway, I wanted to share some more pictures from the last few days and from Thanksgiving. I hope everyone had a nice day and enjoys turkey sandwiches for the next week!

We had a nice dinner, prepared by the nice folks at Andronico's (for a small fee of course). Kim, Judy and I made appetizers and desserts. Nanny, Gillian and Cheryl arrived at 3 and of course Olivia was wired from the get go. We chatted a while and had apps and some wine while Olivia talked everyone's ear off. Sophia watched Telly Tubbies and Gracie was just her cute self. Dinner was good except for the green beans, they were terrible. Ram has a nice dinner too as he made off with Sophia's peanut butter sandwich, a dinner roll and a few pieces of turkey someone (read Daddy) slipped him from the table. Grandmom's Ricotta pie was a hit with the "I-talians" but not the native Californians. They just don't know whats good. Nanny was taking a piece over to a friends house whose father was visiting from Italy. We will see what he had to say.

Mom mom comes to California

Judes got her last night and of course Olivia had to wait up for her. Olivia talked her ear off and did not go to bed until 10:00. Gracie got up around 6:45 and entertained Judes with her giggles and smiles. When Olivia got up it was more crazy talking and crafts. Judes, Kim and Olivia went shopping then came home to get Sophia, Gracie and me for lunch. We went to see the duckies over in BlackHawk. I came home with the girls and put them all down for a nap while Kim and Judes went shopping. We had fun the rest of the day watching videos of the girls, dancing, laughing and playing. See some fun pictures below.

Potty Princess

Kim and I would like to announce that we have now cut our monthly diaper expenses by $150.00. Olivia is on her way to being fully potty trained. She made it through a whole day without an accident in her panties. And to celebrate we did some crafts after the other princesses went to bed. Check out these goobers!

Earlier in the day I was trying to get all the girls together for a picture and it got a little a crazy. Olivia spent most of the day telling us that she thought she had to go potty, then us running to the potty with her. Sophia and Gracie took turns sitting with us in the bathrooms while we read books and stuff to pass time while we waited for some action. Olivia and Daddy also used thumb wrestling to pass the time. Olivia has gotten quite good! Good at CHEATING. She grabs daddy's thumb with her free hand and wins every time.

The Lion, The Splinter and The Mouse

So who remembers the proverb about the lion who gets a splinter and the mouse who gets it out then becomes his best friend. Well, replace the Olivia as the lion, daddy as the mouse and that is basically what happened the other day. Olivia came in the other day and was crying about an "owwee" she had on her finger, but every time we got close enough to take a look, she would run away crying, screaming "it hurts to touch it so get away" After about 10 minutes of coaxing, I got close enough to see that Olivia has a splinter from the rose bushes out front in her finger. It was a big one and it was sticking out a little so of course it hurt to touch it. Olivia would not let us tough it, so through the crying and screaming, I had to tell her the story of the Lion, the Mouse and the Splinter. She finally got up the courage to let me look at it close up, then with one quick motion I pulled it out. The pain was immediately gone and I had a best friend for the night. Then came the funny part... The rest of the night when Olivia wanted something more than what she was allowed to have she would say something like this in her best whimper/whine "I need another snack cause I had a splinter in my finger, or I need another story cause I had a splinter".... I have obviously established myself as a push over if she thinks that one will fly. But as you all know I am and it did. =)

MOM IS HOME, YEAH!!

Good thing Daddy was wearing me out!

Mr. Mom Day 1

They are all asleep, and no one, even me suffered any severe injuries. Can you believe it?

We started the day by going to breakfast at the local waffle house, and surprisingly, it all went pretty smooth. Some guy came over and told me I am his hero! He and his wife are due in March and he recently took care of his nephews and did not last 3 hours. Funny, he did not see the blow up Olivia and I had trying to get out of the house =).

We got back to the house after breakfast an everyone played independently, which made things go very well. Lunch was served promptly at 11:30 and it was off to nappy time.....or so I thought.

Nappy time went like this.... Olivia plying in her bed. No big deal she usually does then falls asleep. But then, just after getting Gracie to sleep I hear.. "Daddy, Phia is out of her bed and running around!" hmmm, you know what that means. Sophia was crib climbing again. I ran up to find her in the loft trying to turn on the Telly Tubbies video. I put her back in her crib and she played for 2 hours. On top of that Olivia never went to sleep either. So.....

I packed them all up in the car around 3 and went to Target. Shopped a little, got some funny looks (a Dad with an infant in a Bjorn and two toddlers in a stroller and no supervision will get you a lot of stares). We headed over to Borders Books so I could get a CD and yes, more looks. On the ride home we called in a pizza to my pizza guy Rahim, (yes Rahim is my pizza guy! It's California, give me a break). We jammed to my new Bunnymen CD on the ride over and Rahim brought the pizza out to the car. This always makes Olivia ask 100 questions about why someone would give me a pizza while I am driving.

The rest of the night went smooth and they all went down a little early due to the non-napping that went on this afternoon. So, not so bad for day one. Let's see what tomorrow holds. I even had a chance tonight to finish a second video book. Check it out on Princess TV.

What's on the Bathroom Floor???

I awoke this morning to Olivia standing next to the bed explaining that "Sophia is sleeping on the bathroom floor" YES, SOPHIA on the bathroom floor. Huh??? So I jumped out of bed to see what was going on and yep, Olivia was right, Sophia WAS asleep on the bathroom floor. So the saga of the "crib climber" continues.

Sophia was asleep, butt in the air on the bathroom floor with all of her blankies and stuff dolls that she normally sleeps with from her crib. How she got out with all those things I have no idea. My only thought is that she planned to get out, threw everything out first, then went over the wall. Gathered it all up and found a new place to sleep. Funny thing is, her bedroom light was on, her little "Sophia" chair was out in the hall, and her big stuffed unicorn seat was moved across the room. I can not understand why Kim and I did not hear any of this over the monitor and why Ram who usually pops up at any little sound, did not flinch all night. What a mystery. I guess with Kim gone this weekend, I will have to camp out to see what crazy late night antics Sophia has planned. More to come on the "Crazy Climber"

Trick or Treat

Sleeping Beauty, A Cowgirl and a tutu little one were raring to go this halloween.

Olivia was amazed that people would give her candy although she very much enjoyed giving out the candy as well. One for you and one for me is how she distributed the candy to the tricker treaters. Olivia, Daddy the clown, and Phyllis (Nanny) went to the harvest festival at Nannys church to play games and see all of the fun costumes. Olivia enjoyed basketball, diving for duckies, jumping in the bouncy and much more. It is a very nice event for children. Olivias favorite part of the evening = Shrek and Fiona - take a look

The Climber

Well Sophia is truly a climber and we are thinking that rather than Reading class, she should be in tumbling class. She will now crawl out of her crib whenever she is not truly tired. You find her running past you with the biggest smile ever on her face. She is usually running to the TV in the loft which she has mastered how to turn on and play her favorite video "Teletubbies" or as Olivia says "Tubatubbies". Olivia has also informed us that Tubatubbies is for babies not big girls like her, although you will catch her watching it periodically with her sisters.


Rough night
When I went to get Sophia this morning - she has a black eye and huge scratches above her nose on her forehead. What on earth happened? We do not know, but she did not have these marks when she went to bed and she didn't climb out last night, atleast not successfully. So much for any holiday pictures this weekend and we probably won't have to do too much for her halloween makeup - haha. Stay tuned for tomorrows Halloween update.

Read Along with Olivia

Olivia gets to read books every night before going to bed. We recently got two new books at the reading class we go to on Tuesdays. Watch Princess TV and read along with Olivia and Daddy as they read "Where is the Green Sheep?". Go ahead, its fun!

Stranger Danger!

Yesterday we all took a nice walk with Ramesses. Olivia and Sophia were in the wagon, Mommy was pulling and I had Gracie in the Bjorn. It started to get dark and a little windy so we headed toward home. We ran into the girl down the street and her twin daughters who were born 3 days after Gracie. She had one in a Bjorn and her mom had the other one in a Bjorn. After a few minutes of staring them down, Gracie got a boo-boo lip and started crying. And there it was...her first bout of STRANGER DANGER.

Today I took Gracie into the doctors to see about her stuffy nose. Just a cold, but guess who came with us... STRANGER DANGER. When the doctor was looking her over Gracie got real serious. Then when doc took out the little light to look down her throat the boo-boo lip appeared and the crying began. Its so cute, but you feel so bad for her. Oh well, I guess she will get over it soon enough. For now, if you come to visit, get ready cause she is not liking anyone but her Mommy, Daddy and big sisters!

Daddy is Home

I just got back from a 5 day trip back East to work and look at homes. Boy did I miss all the girls. I know I was only gone 5 days but they all seemed to grow and change a little

Kim - Got her hair done
Olivia - Seems to have gone from 3 to 12
Sophia - Sweeter than last week (if that's even possible)
Gracie - Looks like she put on a pound and is rolling over big time.

Gracie and Kim came in just after I arrived home from the airport and Gracie was all smiles and giggles for me. Kim was too! Gracie really does look bigger to me. She is rolling over like crazy and gets herself all worked up when she is on her belly and can not get back over.

Kim and I went to pick the girls up at Nanny's after I finished up some work calls and I got a 5 minute hug from Sophia. It was sooooo cute. Makes you forget everything else in the world when one of the girls is giving you a hug. Tonight I will attempt to get Olivia under control as she was giving Kim a hard time the last few days. Olivia knew Kim was out numbered and was taking advantage.

Dress up Time

Olivia had fun dressing up with stuff from her dress up trunk.

New things everyday

Rolling

Gracie Mae is rolling over. She goes from back to belly then screams for mommy and daddy to flip her back over. Its pretty cute because she is learning to make new noises almost daily. In fact she is sitting here screaching in a new tone and having a ball hearing herself.

Talking

Sophia is starting to say more words now each day. Yesterday Kim and I were outside with Sophia and she kept running up the front steps and when she would get to the top she would turn around, wave and say "Bye-Bye". It was adorable. She is saying ball, cow, nose and apple.

Teeth Cleaning

Olivia went to the dentist today for the first time with Kim. She went with the hygentist and let her clean her teeth but after watching mommy have her teeth cleen she would not get back in the chair to let the dentist count her teeth. They took this poloroid to capture the moment for the scrap book.

Some Blog from Kim

Unemployed
I am officially unemployed which was a hard decision to make but looks like it will be better for everyone right now and we can just focus on getting things together to move back east. I hope to do some work part time back in PA.

Name Change
My name is officially Kimberly Groff Simons. Yes after seven years, I have spent two weeks trying to change it. What a pain and I am sure I will run into problems sometime soon with proving who I am but out of a household of six (including Ramesses Simons), I was the only one with a different name.

Sophia Bobia
Sophia has had us a bit worried lately because she seems to be in her own world and doesn't say too many words. We talked to the doctor, he thinks she is fine but gave us a referral to have her hearing checked at Oakland. Of course once we began to really panic and focus on her, she said ball, nose, ba ba, bye bye and of course waved while saying it, touched greg's nose when she said nose so who knows, the doctor said when you have a sibling like Olivia who talks nonstop and people around you that know what your saying and need even when you don't say anything, you tend not to talk. You really don't need too.

Storytime
I am taking Sophia to a storytime class once a week on Fridays and Olivia on Tuesdays. Sophia's class is for under twos so I could even take Gracie but I really want to try to spend some time with Sophia alone. Of course Greg goes too - the only dad there but she loves him being there. We have had the class once and it is a riot because the entire class is boys except for Sophia and they all have an attention span of about three minutes - the class is for thirty minutes. We sang songs and a woman reads them stories. Olivias first class is this week. She will love it because all she wants to do is read stories and talk about them.

Nanny
Phyllis watches Gracie here and there right now like during the story times, she and Cheryl really love Gracie, they held her when she weighed 4lbs and now they can make her giggle out loud. It is truly amazing. It is great to have them.

November
November is premature baby month. Greg and I will be sending many family members information and wristbands ( I know everyone has one for something) but it is a really good cause close to our hearts. Check out the march of dimes website to read stories very similar to ours. It is truly unbelievable how many babies are born premature every year and how well so many of them do like Gracie.

More Bathtime Fun

I know, how many more bath picturec can you take!? Well, I had to show you Gracie's first bath with her big sisters. After Sophia jumped in the tub with all her clothes on, Gracie did not have a choice but to share the bath tub. So Olivia got in and the craziness began. Gracie just watched as Olivia and Sophia splashed around. Gracie seemed a little annoyed everytime water splashed her face, but overall seemed to enjoy the company. After bath Kim wrapped Gracie up in her new bunny blanket and that made Gracie really calm. Getting out of the bath did not have the same effect on her sisters.

Gracie Mae's 6 Mos. Checkup

Gracie went for her 6 month check up today and our pediatrician was so happy with her progress. Gracie weighed in at 14 lbs 13 ozs and 29 inches long. She is in the 25th percentile for weight and height and 45th percentile for head size. These are about the same numbers Olivia was but Olivia was not preemie! Gracie is meeting the developmental milestones for 5 months and some 6 month milestones. The doctor really thinks she is catching up fast. She look and sounds so healthy. She likes to hear herself talk and will squeal in her crib as she reaches for the monkeys on her mobile. We are going to start her on solids now. Soon she will be joining in on the Sunday pasta nights. Hope to get you some video of Gracie chatting up the monkeys soon.

A Big Fat Update

Hey gang! I know its been a few weeks since an update on the princesses, and I apologize for that. Lets start with Grace Mae.

Gracie Mae is getting BIG! Gracie will be 6 months old on the 10th and she is now a little over 14 pounds. Gracie is doing great holding her head up and really interacting with everyone. Olivia can help but be in her face all day long. Gracie really likes when you sign to her. She is all smiles. Kim and I set up Olivia's old crib for Gracie as she has out grown her circle baby crib. Gracie sleeps through the night now most nights depending on when she falls asleep. If she goes down too early she may get up for a midnight snack, but that's not too bad. Like her sisters, she's a sleeper.




Gracie does really well in the Bjorn now too facing forward she gets to see all the action. Kim took her to COSTCO the other day and all the action wore Gracie out. She slept for hours afterwards.


Sophia is developing quite a personality these days. She is on the cusp of talking and communicates a lot with her hands and her baby blues. If you tell her "NO" she gives you such a look, you wish you hadn't. We broke into the park down the street last week (its not officially open yet) and Sophia got right into the big kids stuff. She is a daredevil on the jungle gym and slides. You never know what way she is going to come shooting out of the covered slides. Half of the time she comes flying out upside down. Either way though she comes flying out with a big smile and a giggle. Sophia has a few words that she uses like shooz, fish, more, ball and some random babbles that only Kim and I can decipher. I guess there's not a lot of incentive to talk when you have "Chatty Cathy" for a big sister.


Olivia had her third birthday last week, but I think she qualifies to be a 10 year old. We had a party here at the house with all the kids from Nanny's. There are a lot of pictures below of the party fun. Olivia got a really cute vanity from Mom-Mom that talked to her. It has all the stuff a little princess needs to get ready for the day.

Kim got a princess ice cream cake from ColdStones that was a big hit.

The biggest hit of the day was the Disney Princess bouncer that Kim got for the kids to play in. Olivia went to the doctor for her 3 year check up the other day and impressed the doctor with her conversation to the point the doctor said she has the language skills of a 4 year old. He asked her if an elephant was big than a mouse was??? and she said "little". And if fire is hot, then ice is??? and she said "Cold". I then asked if she was ready to take the SATs? She weighs 27 lbs. and is 35 inches tall.

Today we took the girls to a pumpkin patch and Kim dressed them in some really cute Halloween outfits.



Phia enjoyed the hay stack maze and got some help from big sis to find the way out. Olivia and Sophia went into a petting zoo and Olivia got to ride a pony. We got a bunch of pumpkins for carving and decorating the house for Halloween.