Brace Yourself!

You are about to get some

SOLID FOOD!

Here is Ashley with her first taste of peaches!!!








MMMM--MMMM--GOOD!

Return of the "Creepy Clown"...

...otherwise known as GYMBO!

Despite the fact that my dear friend, Paula, finds this clown disturbing and creepy, BOTH of my daughters think he is 100% awesome!

I do not know why.
I do not question why.
But, I suspect that the good folks at Gymboree did a LOT of focus-group testing on this little guy in order to eliminate the need to wonder why!

The fact is, babies LOVE Gymbo...and happy babies = $$




Here is Ashley's reaction to Gymbo a few days ago...











And Elizabeth's reaction to Gymbo when she was about the same age...

Deja vu??

Big Girl Panties

Many of you have followed the Potty Training Bootcamp Updates on Facebook (and I sent copies to the grandparents!)...but, I just thought that I ought to post here for the record that
Elizabeth is now officially a BIG GIRL!

Here she is wearing her first pair of "Mo" panties and throwing away her diapers!

This was ten days ago. She is now officially diaper-free (except at night and sometimes for naps we put her in pull-ups!) But, as any toddler will be quick to inform you--those are NOT diapers!!

Strawberry Girls

Grandma & Grandpa gave Elizabeth and Ashley these adorable matching footed pajamas!

So, when Elizabeth suggested that "both sisters can wear strawberry jammies" for the night, we couldn't resist staging our own mini-photo shoot!

"Trust...Is the Basis of Any Relationship!"*

And, as most girls know, if you can't trust your hairdresser, who can you trust?!?! ;-)

Mom has been cutting Elizabeth's bangs for a while now,

but today marked a grand event:
Elizabeth's first professional haircut!

We still haven't cut any of the rest of her hair (just a bang trim)...so it lasted all of about 4 minutes! But still...Elizabeth was awesome!—No tears and no fear (although the expression on her face might suggest otherwise!) She just climbed up into the chair, sat still like a pro, and let the "nice lady" go to work! The hairdresser just raved about what a brave and good girl she was...and, clearly, the highlight of the event for E is that she was rewarded with a SUCKER!

P.S. *Prize goes to the person who can name the movie in which the above quote appears! (Hint: It's a John Hughes film!)

Evidence of Sisterly Affection

I promised that, as soon as it emerged, I would try to capture any evidence of sisterly affection on camera! Well...although the camera wasn't rolling when the interaction first began, we did one better and caught some of it on video!
Enjoy!

Toppling Tot...

Kinda like a Weeble-Wobble...except it does fall down!

Delightful Discovery!

This past week, Ashley found her feet!

Mommy & Daddy are happy that she has discovered a toy she can't drop!

Ashley's Nursery!

She is almost six months old, and finally Ashley's nursery is complete!



Seems like everyone had a hand in making her room a precious place to sleep!

Heirloom crib from Pop-Pop, (handed down most recently from Big Sister), and handmade toy & book shelf from Grandpa...Clothes hamper from "Grandma Nancy"...
and painted ASHLEY wall letters from Grams!

It all adds up to an adorable room for a sweet little girl!

Bundles of Babies!

Please don't ask me how we keep popping out babies at the same time!
But...here we are again! Hooray!

This is Lindsay, Beckett, and new baby Wil with Elizabeth, Ashley, and me
--hanging out at the J's!

(BTW...I know what you're thinking, Mom..."Ew...what's going on with that piece of hair across your forehead?!" Answer: I have NO idea! Ick!) But, as distracting as it is...this post is not about that! Let's all refocus please...it is about babies! A LOT of them! haha!

Catching Up

Our trip to L.A. was somewhat ill-timed in that we arrived when "Grandma Nancy" was visiting her newborn biological (as opposed to honorary) granddaughter in Hawaii! But, as soon as she returned to town, we tried to make up for some lost time!

Here are a few pics of her with the girls...


























And we were so happy to see Sharon as well...

And Debbie, too!

On Wednesday, Dick even took us all out for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory--still the standard by which to measure all crab cakes! DELICIOUS!

Breakfast of Champions

Dear Readers:
This is going to come off as a shameless promotional plug...but I assure you that we have zero financial or marketing ties to this restaurant. It simply boasts the most extensive breakfast menu with the BEST food that we have had in LA...and, if possible, you must experience it for yourself! How we wish we had discovered it sooner...but then again, it would probably have been our downfall--as I can't imagine knowing about this place and still managing to weigh in at anything less than 600 pounds! :-)

That said, here we are at CiCi's Cafe in Tarzana, where we met up with our good friends, Dina and Phil, for breakfast/brunch on July 6. (If I had thought to take pictures of our food, I would have! It was phenomenal!)



Ashley was in a very cheerful, smiley mood this morning!













And, at that time, Elizabeth was displaying some rarely-seen sisterly affection...



We were very happy to introduce Ashley to Phil (aka-the Baby Whisperer)...














and Dina, who had just announced that she is expecting their first baby!

OH HAPPY, HAPPY DAY!!!

Beach Bums

I realize it's been a while since my last post...but it is time I continue posting pics from our whirlwind vacation! We left off on Sunday, July 5 with a visit to Kabuki!--E's first experience with Japanese food! Yum!

Earlier that day, we made a trip to the beach for an afternoon (okay, it was morning) in the sun!

We set up camp...

Found a shady spot for Ashley...


















Played in the sand...

And splashed in the waves!

(Okay...just kidding about the wave-splashing part...but, we thought about it...)



And just lounged around, enjoying the sunny, breezy weather...
Good times...good times...