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