Doggy Style Ice Cream Sandwich

We went over to the Moores' for dinner the other night for Jimmy's send-off to Santa Clara. We stuck Charlie in his highchair and gave Ellie an ice cream sandwich to eat on the floor beside my seat in the hopes that it might keep her quiet just long enough for me to gobble up my dinner. About 30 seconds into her delicious treat, she started whining and screeching about her dirty hands. My solution of a napkin to wipe up with was totally insufficient. So, Ellie came up with her own solution: lay down on the floor and lap it up with her tongue like a dog. At least her hands were clean!! Dinner went off without a hitch after that.

Huntington Children's Garden

My dearest friend at home, Natalie, and I took our little ones to Huntington Gardens to visit their relatively new children's garden. Wow! What a stuningly gorgeous spot...and so much fun for the kids, too. There were water pots with water spitters, music makers with rocks, magnet dust, water falls, a mini-stream, a mist room, and a tunnel/cave to crawl through. It was perfect. The kids had a ball! And you should have seen how FILTHY Charlie was by the end of it...muddy, muddy bottom half from rolling around in the muddy puddles. Oh, and do you like his new "gorilla crawl?"...he's figured out how to hang onto his favorite mode of locomotion without tearing up his knees. And what about Ellie's 4T suit that I bought her at Target?...it'll probably fit her in about 3 years! Oh well, she thinks she looks mighty fine in it.

A Tea Party for One

I swear, sometimes our visits home to Pasadena end up being full of darling little Norman Rockwell moments like this one. I came back to my parents' house after getting my hair done last Saturday to find Ellie and my mom hanging out in the front yard together. My mom was up on the front porch reading magazines and doing a crossword puzzle, while Ellie was sitting on a blanket on the front lawn having her own little tea party with her new tea set. She's getting to be so big and independent these days. I love that we can let her play on her own outside now...she's even allowed to go unsupervised upstairs and downstairs to and from her room to "read" as she pleases. Visits to my parents' are so much more enjoyable now that I only have to watch one child like a hawk around all of Mahgie's pretty knick-knacks. That Charlie is one heck of a tornado in my mom's house, though (he more than makes up for Ellie's good behavior)!

Good 'Ol Grampy

The kids have always loved Grampy, but there was just something really special about their last visit with him that was extra special. The three of them did some serious bonding.

Every single one of these pictures captures a moment where I just walked into the den to find the kids having a special moment with Dad. One day, Ellie refused her nap (which seems to be an almost every day occurrence now...ugh!), so she passed out in the stroller on our late afternoon walk up to Lake Ave. for coffee. I brought her home and plopped her in the living room to play with her toys, only to walk in 15 minutes later to find her as fast asleep as she's ever been in her whole life in her Grampy's lap. They were just rocking back and forth together when I found them. We couldn't even wake her up from that slumber for a trip outside to the ice cream truck passing by! Talk about a good sleep. I also came in another day to find Ellie following Grampy, doing her version of each of his yoga stretches right by his side. Too cute. That incident quickly turned into a wrestle-fest as soon as Charlie waddled into the room and joined in on the action.

Love you, Dad.

Mahgie Lost Her Cleaning Lady...

My mom lost her housekeeper a few months back....thank goodness Charlie came to town to pick up the slack! The kid LOVES brooms, mops, pool skimmers...anything with a stick he can push back and forth for endless hours. So, on our last visit to Pasadena, we decided to put him to work. Grampy cut the Swiffer down to size, and off he went!

Late Night at the Ballpark

I'm sure I've mentioned a time or two before that my kids are absolutely not on "baseball schedule." Only once this summer have I let them stay for an entire game; we're usually out of there by the 4th inning, with babies in bed by the 6th inning or so. A couple of my girlfriends convinced me to stay for a full game a couple of weeks ago, and it was so worth the horribly cranky kids the next day. We had a ball! Ellie got her first ice cream cone...what a mess! And best of all, the kids and all of their little friends got to go down on the field after the game to run wild. Charlie had just started walking; it was darling to watch him wobble and toddle all over that field. Ellie darted all over the place, mostly just sprinting in one big circle the entire time...she took spill after spill, but just kept right on going. She was a WRECK the next day; I swear Joe and I paid for it for the next three days with her, really!

That night, too, Joe had no idea that we'd stayed for the entire game; he'd assumed we were long gone when he finally came out of the clubhouse. We waited for him in the players' parking lot to say a quick hello before all heading home, but he never came up to the lot, as the field hands were putting on a taco dinner for the players back behind center field. We saw him walking away, so I yelled out his name to get his attention. My friend, Sissy, and her three girls chimed in calling his name, too. All of our yelling freaked Ellie out, and she immediately yelled out in tears, "I need Gold Car!" We have a gold Tahoe, which she calls "Gold Car," and I guess she was so startled that she just wanted to get in the car and hide in safety. We calmed her down, got Joe's attention, and enjoyed a quick hello before heading home. Apparently, the moment really stuck with Ellie, though, because now at random times throughout the day she'll yell out, "Joe Borchard...Joe Borchard!!!" as loud as she possibly can. Now I'm the one getting startled...guess it's payback.

Once an Accessory Whore, Always an Accessory Whore!

Look at how I found my daughter on two separate days. She doesn't just like accessories, she LOVES them. And more of them she can wear all at once, the better! Too bad she can't get all of those shoes on at the same time...at least she can line them all up, stare at them, admire them, and try them each on one at a time. Imelda Marcos in training!

Fresno Farmers' Market

Every Friday evening in the summers here in Fresno, there is the most darling Farmers' Market in my gym parking lot. There's live music, great food, tons of kids, and best of all....free face painting and balloon animals. We went two Fridays ago with my friend Sissy Wood and her three girls. Ellie followed "The Big Girls" around like a lost puppy dog the entire evening. I enjoyed some lovely adult conversation with Sissy, while Charlie just took in the sights and sweated like a BEAST! That kid is a space heater!...just look at those pink cheeks in this picture. Fresno heat makes the poor guy miserable...though you can't tell by the giant grin behind his paci.

Ellie kept a purple smear on her cheek (the pathetic remnants of her butterfly) for about three days after the big event. I finally forced her to rub it off once it started looking like I'd socked her in the cheek.

In Touch with his Fairy Side

Just trying on some of his sissy's goodies. My angel=)

Ellie's 1st Laptop

Great Grandma and Great "Popeye" Sones sent Ellie the coolest gift EVER....her very own laptop! Amazingly, she knew how to work the thing immediately. The only problem with the darn thing is that it's educational (which Ellie LOVES), but it's also kind of mean to her when she makes a mistake (Ellie HATES making mistakes). You should see the fits this toy induces!! She only lasts about ten minutes with it a day before her brain get so tired from all of the work with letters and numbers that she starts making mistakes and getting reprimanded by the harsh British voice coming out of it. At that point, I have to jump in quick to remove the device before it gets forcefully chucked across the room by a sassy, seriously stressed-out redhead!

Charlie's 1st Burger

Another big milestone in Charlie Borchard's life: his first taste of a fast-food burger! Joe has been taking the kids sometimes in the mornings to go on "Adventure Daddy." He takes them to Home Depot, Target, etc, while I stay home to study...it's been wonderful for me. The kids have LOVED the extra special alone time with their Daddy, too. You should see how attached Charlie is to him now!

One morning a couple of weeks ago, Joe took just Charlie for an excursion to run some errand, and they stopped to pick up some lunch for Joe on their way home. Joe decided to give Charlie the last couple of bites of his burger to munch on during the drive home...I think it was a last ditch effort to shut off the whining (C is a whining champ). Anyway, the kid LOVED it! Just look at that smile!...such a carnivore.

Dress Update

Just a quick note before I move onto my next blog posts: You will not see anymore pictures of Ellie in the Sleeping Beauty gown anytime soon. I am a TERRIBLE mommy, and you may report me to Child Protective Services if you feel the need; I hid the gown from her. It just, without explanation, disappeared to a very high shelf in her closet. She asks about it occasionally, but I just lie and inform her that I'm just as perplexed as she is by its disappearance. I'm awful! She just wouldn't take it off, though! It's 110 degrees here in Fresno every day...long-sleeved polyester dresses are just not appropriate...no matter how sparkly and beautiful they might be.