Filles de Fleurs

We had visitors from the outside world over the weekend ("outside world" meaning the non-suburban world of no kids). Chris' cousin Matt and his fiancee Andrea came up for a visit bringing news of upcoming events and adult conversation. We took them apple picking.

It was the very last apple picking weekend of the season and they only had Pink Ladies left.
Luckily Pink Ladies are my personal favorites.

Matt (aka "The Big Guy") was exceptional at reaching the high up apples.

Some of us thought they were delicious right off the vine.

Zoe is our shy little bunny, but she really took a shine to Matt this weekend. She held his hand and snuggled with him and it is very rare when a Zoe attaches herself to you.
(Don't be jealous Uncle Stu!)

Andrea got some practice holding a tremendously large baby.

Awwww. They are so in love.

The Dude apparently thought persimmons made great baseballs

or were good for whacking The Big Guy on the head.

My pretty pensive girl on the hayride back to the farm.

Once we were back at the farm we could not drag the kids away from the corn pit.

Even with a promise of a petting zoo on the way out.

All that fresh air and fun made the kids exhausted so we gave them an early dinner and got them to bed by 7:45, leaving the grown ups to have a leisurely late dinner with wine and candles.

The reason for the trip was so Matt and Andrea could ask the girls to be flower girls at their wedding next August!!! They happily agreed, of course! With Stephanie's wedding next October, they're going to be doing double Filles de Fleurs duty next year.

And Athena is already practicing.

The Duck Park

The handful of parks we frequent have overly descriptive pseudonyms..."The Park with the River that we went to with Mariana and Mimi," "The Park by the Church with the Teenagers," "The Water Park with the Big Rocketship" or "The Park in the Neighborhood by the Bounce House with the Big Slide and the Picnic Tables."

Then there's "The Duck Park." Usually on Tuesday mornings, when Zoe and Jack are home but Athena's in school, we like to go to "The Duck Park." It's Zoe's absolute favorite.

Before we go, we dig out whatever is looking old in our bread basket (mmm really dry pita bread), stuff it into a plastic bag and away we go. Other than the vague smell of bird poop, it's a very desirable park - an appropriately Jack-sized climbing structure shaded under a big tree, a set of two swings, seesaw, tennis courts and ducks, or geese, rather - nicely enclosed in a bird sanctuary behind a chain link fence.

And if anyone knows me...they know I prefer my geese behind a chain link fence (shiver).

Zoe believes the sqwaking geese are saying "Give me more! Give me more! Give me more, Zoe!"
(I like that they call her by name)

After all the breaded goodies are gone, the Dude likes to run with the geese.

They'll chase us all along the length of the fence, back and forth.
(Stupid geese)

The Dude just wants to run. These days he's either strapped in his stroller or running off with me in chase. At "The Duck Park" he can be enclosed in the tennis courts and run and run 'til his hearts content.

Also, the Duck Park just so happens to be about .04 miles from a drive thru Starbucks!*

(*Quick side story...when I ordered my usual "VentiIcedCoffeeSweetenedWithClassicandandWithTwoPercentandLightIce, puhleez"
Zoe was surprised when I only picked up a coffee from the window.
"But you said so many things, Mommy!")

A Palm Springs Surprise

Grandma Andree has been planning this for months - a surprise celebration for Grandaddio's 60th birthday with family and friends from all over. There was no way we would all be able to pull this off, we thought. He'll see right through it, he'll know something is up. Won't he?

The plan for us was that we would drive up the night before and stay at Baba's house until it was time for the party. I told the girls we would be going to Grandaddio's birthday party but staying with Baba and Nana. "That doesn't make any sense at all" Zoe told me.

It came in very handy to have two sets of grandparents in the same town this weekend. We spent a great day swimming and relaxing by the pool at Casa LaQuinta, took naps and then got the little kids all cleaned up for the big party.

Of course, I had to take some pre-party pictures.

The Dude was looking particularly adorable.

My four loves.

Grandaddio had no idea we were in town and was under the impression that he was simply going to Andree's daughter's Michelle's house for dinner. There were so many cars parked in Michelle's cul de sac, that we couldn't hide inside, so we poured onto the street to wait for his car to round the corner.

It was a big beautiful sky evening and the light was just lovely.

We were a little overanxious and had to wait longer than we expected for him to arrive.

We kept busy taking pictures of the visiting family.
Katie flew in all the way from Colorado and Terri from Chicago.


Mimi and Athena let me take a bazillion pictures of them.
Seriously, the light was incredible.

The Dude couldn't hang and crashed out on his Daddy.

Grandaddio's car rounded the corner to cheers. Grandma Andree said he kept saying "What the heck is this?" and she just laughed and laughed.

Uncle Jim gave him a beer through the car window and took his keys to park it for him.


The little girls ran to him and immediately clung to his legs.

He greeted his throngs of well wishers.

And got a little extra teasing from his sisters and brothers.

All the preparation, organization and deception was worth it...

for this moment, when he hugged Katie...

and we saw tears pierce the corners of the eyes of our usually stoic Grandaddio as he was overcome for a split second from all the outpouring of love.

That moment was followed by many other special moments with longtime friends and his brothers and sisters and extended family members and a classic picture of himself and all his goodlookin' offspring.

Michelle and Grandma Andree threw a truly fantastic party! You guys pulled it off perfectly - he was genuinely surprised!

We love you so much Grandaddio!

Gymnasts

The little girls love their gymnastics classes. Every day after school they ask me if they are going to gymnastics. "No, only on Mondays!" I answer - they would go everyday if they could.

On Monday afternoon I rush the girls out of the playground after school, take them home quickly to feed, change and wash them up a bit. I pull their hair into tight pony tails on the top of their heads and add lots of barrettes to keep them in place* (like the Olympic gymnasts do). We dig out their leotards from the clean but not quite folded or put away pile and off we go with the Dude in tow.

Their classes are held in a huge open gym with apparatus everywhere and a pit of foam cubes. Several gymnastics, Taek Won Do and cheer leading classes are going on at the same time in different areas. There is a wall of windows and glass doors where parents can watch and a long hallway of castaway gym equipment with benches and other doors. It is a world of "No" for the Dude.

When class starts, the girls go bouncing away, waving happily at us when they see us through the windows. The Dude only wants to bang on the windows and open the door and run out to where they are. Luckily, there are a couple of other brothers with sisters in gym classes wandering the hallway, some have matchbox cars or other interesting toys. Without that distraction, he is bored to tears.

I suppose I could drop them off and go run an errand or something, as many other parents do. But they are just so darn cute, I love watching them! Maybe the novelty will wear off one day.

(* lasts about ten minutes)

Halloween Weekend

This epic Halloween weekend started with a costume birthday party at Chuck E's.

Most memorable moment were the girls dancing the robot on the Chuck E Cheese stage.

Then the "GAGS" festival at our church.
Most memorable moment was certainly the Dude learning about this 'being cute for candy' business.
(And the fact that he insisted on wearing his Giants hat over his shark costume)

The next day was the big event, trick o' treating.

We pumped up the volume on hair and makeup.

And tried to get that classic Halloween shot on the front stoop.

And then my Spider Witch, my Land Shark and my Punk Rock Butterfly were off like a shot.

Most memorable moments were the little Dude trying to keep up with his sisters, running as fast as he can with his padded Land Shark butt wiggling - unbelievable cuteness!