Oh the Bliss!

The sweet Gomez fam invited us to join them at the Sea-Life Aquarium down at Legoland today and it was fuuuuuun! (Thanks for the free and discounted passes guys! We had a great time!) Ben LOVES aquariums and couldn't wait to get to the next great thing. What usually takes Lisa and her kids two hours to get through we were about done in 45. We went through parts of it twice, taking our time the second time. I loved being out and about with my little trio and my dear friends. Sadly, I have no picture of all of us together, but I do on my brain's camera! :-) Addison is ready to go! My three bambinos: Ooo I love this picture! This was the highlight for my kids, they loved being able to touch things: Tman was finally allowed out of his chariot, though he didn't make a peep while he was in it, bless his heart. Addison was protecting Troy and showing him the big fishies.

Dear Tea, I'm so sorry I've been avoiding you. It's not you, you're wonderful really. You've always been there for me in the mornings, and even in the evenings in the colder months. We've been through a lot together, parties, facials, etc. I don't take that for granted, we'll always have those memories. But I can't keep dangling you from a string forever. I've found something else. Something darker, stronger, something that wakes me up inside and can be mixed with chocolate (and alcohol if need be). I never thought it would come to this, but alas, it has. If it's any consolation, your cousin Chai is still the champion of my taste buds, but, overall, you're just not enough for me anymore. I'm sure we will enjoy each other's company again from time to time, but until then... Goodbye Tea. And HELLO COFFEE!

9 months. NINE months. Nine MONTHS. NINE MONTHS!! I can't believe it. He's almost ONE people. Kinda hurts my heart to think about it. Troy is a joy, a sheer delight. He is a people's baby, easily going to just about anybody and making them feel like they're holding a Care Bear or some other lovely, smooshy thing. He's mellow but active, calm but curious, he's easy to sooth and fun to play with. And, as of last night (thank you David) he's quite the little dancer too. His smile continues to melt me and all who he graces with it. He is sleeping through the night more and more and he is sleeping well during the day too. He crawls like a champ. pulls up and cruises around on things. Still puts everything in his mouth, his favorite thing being his paci. One of my favorite new(ish) developments is his absolute gravitational pull toward his daddy. As soon as he hears Mark's voice Troy is crawling to wherever Mark is. For many months Troy just wanted me, only me...

(This blog, in general and unintentionally, has a target audience of moms, sorry if you're sick of mom/kid stuff, but such is my stage of life...) Nearly every time I take my children anywhere that requires the use of a shopping cart I am forced at the end of my trip to make a choice: Abandon my three children and return the shopping cart to the designated corral, or leave my cart by my car insuring the safety of my children but feeling like a inconsiderate slacker who doesn't return shopping carts properly. I know, I know, this is so lame that I even think about such tiny little details in my life! Here's why I do... I'm daily trying to teach my kids, If you take something out, put it away. If you borrow something, give it back. If you made a mess clean it up. If you can help make someone's job easier by say, throwing your trash away, carrying your tray to the tray place, PUTTING YOUR SHOPPING CART IN THE SHOPPING CART STATION, then do it. So everyday in the parkin...

Troy is full swing into "solid foods" which means I'm back to making baby food all the time, which I really enjoy doing so I've been looking forward to this stage. Every time I'm making a batch of something I think about little tips I'd like to share with people and how it would be fun to teach a class on the subject. A blog can be a classroom, can it not? So here you go, Baby Food Tip #1: Today I was giving Troy some chopped up mango and the poor boy just could not get it from the tray to his mouth without it slipping out and falling back to the tray, as do banana, kiwi, peeled grapes and every other slimy food out there. No fun. Here's the tip: sprinkle and toss a fair share of ground almonds (crushed Joe's O's work well too) on top of the food and voilà! Easy to pick up food with those pincher fingers and it adds a bit of a nutritional bonus too! Oh, I should mention it wasn't my idea. I'm not that brilliantly cool. I read it in the bes...

The day after we got back from IN Mark took Ben on an overnight camping trip. I was a little jealous because I love watching my kids experience their "firsts". I made Mark pinky-swear that he'd take lots of pictures and do his best to remember every little detail. When they came home I bombarded him with questions. "How did it go? Did he like it? Did he like the beach? Did he complain about the sand? What was the weather like? Was he cold? Did he wear his jacket? What time did he go to bed? What did he sleep in? Did he eat well? Was he scared? What time did he wake up? Was he polite? Did he play well with Chance? Was he sad to leave? Did he help clean up? Did he miss me? Did he mention my name and how he felt only half complete because I was not there?" and so on. It was a bit much for Mark, so I think next time there's a big first I will be there. Mark DID do a great job of taking pictures and video. And really, they had a GREAT time and didn't miss me ...

We have Dicks in California! So glad to hear they're on the rise.

This was the first year I celebrated Mother's Day as a mother of three, so that was full of fun and slobber. We were so lucky to have some of our favorite moms over yesterday. It wasn't much work at all for me because everyone brought something, and I LOVED having everyone here together. Being all together, though, made me think of the moms we love that weren't with us; Carrie's mom in Sudan, Amy in NC, Pam in London, my dad's mom in KY and my mom's mom in heaven. There's always a bit of sadness for my mom on Mother's Day because it's been so many years since she's been able to physically be with her mom. And while she lovingly pours her mother's day blessings onto me and all the other moms she knows, I'm sure her heart aches all the more on a day that's specifically designed to remember and celebrate. I'm sorry I didn't say anything yesterday, mom, but I was thinking about her too. I was also thinking about my friends who cel...

Tonight the kids and I had the privilege of joining our sweet family friends, the Tarka's, for dinner. It was Taco Tuesday night at Taco Mesa (and $1 ice cream scoop night at Baskin Robins, conveniently located next door) so we thought it'd be a great idea to meet up there. Mark wasn't able to join us, so it was just me and the three, plus Mr. & Mrs.T with their three. And they treated, woo hoo! Shae and I were talking it up, or trying to at least, and at one point she asked me, quite earnestly, "so, do you ever feel overwhelmed?" For a millisecond I was super stoked because I thought if she has to ask then I'm doing a great job of hiding my overwhelmedness. Go me! Aaaaaaaand turn on the neon "Pride Cometh Before the Fall" sign above my head right about NOW. The rest of the evening consisted of me trying to coax Addison to eat so she could have an ice cream afterward, taking (plastic) knives away from Ben, saving Troy's life due to a faulty h...

Here are a few pictures from our fantastic trip. I'm still digesting the greatness of it all, so I'll write more later, but I want to get some pics out there. The awesomeness that is our kids: Oh the stories I could tell! Sweet, sweet friends. How we love you so. Troy pretty much looked like this the entire trip. And Addison pretty much looked like this... More to come friends!