March- The Lowdown...

Since we are already half way through March I can't even keep up with all that has gone on so here is a glimpse of the month in pictures:

We went to visit Uncle Phil and Aunt Barbara's house where the girls got to ride on the tractor and the car.

Here they are holding Gavin. He wasn't so sure that he wanted to be held but after 5 minutes Aunt Barbara couldn't put him down.

The look of love.

Here's Ava with her cousin Ava...

My monkeys climbing the tree.

While Ava was meeting the other Ava, Olivia was playing with the other Olivia. Yip we have two of both.

Here's Gavin getting to know his cousins...

The gang figuring out who gets to ride what next.

Gavin enjoys the tub as much as his sisters do.

My naked baby getting all lathered up by his daddy.

And this is the end result. My little man is such a cutiepie.

And here he is in his first tie. Ready to go to work with daddy.

Apparently he doesn't like the idea of working too much. I'm right there with you bud!

A boy and his dog. What a trusty companion. Someone who will sit by him, lick his face when mom didn't clean it good enough, and someone who slowly backs away when she smells something foul.

And here's Gavin's first lady friend. A nurse nonetheless.

Come here baby.... you look so lovely today.

Ha! Fooled you- she's just a doll.

We took a trip to the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley. Ava loved climbing on the whale.

As well did Olivia. The whale alone was worth the drive.

Even Gavin got up on it and rode the whale.

Here Gavin tried to poke the whale's eye out. The attempt was unsuccessful but it didn't deter him from trying at least a few more times.

Grammie and Papa happened to be at our house that weekend so they came with us. They had a great time.

Papa loved to squeeze his ladies.

Grammie and Papa and all the grand kids sitting by the fountain waiting for the place to open.

Me and my parents with our little Gavinator.

And here's the best part about the Lawrence Hall... the petting room.

Salamander was squished just a tad by Olivia who I don't really believe thought it was real and breathing. Oops.

The adventurous one HAD to pet the snake.

Liv taking flight!

Ava on the left, Liv on the right.

Ava flying with her wings on upside down.

This was the night Dave had went to Orange County for a trial. He brought with him Captain Underpants to read on SKYPE to the girls before they went to bed. He's awesome. Yes I know.

Because Gavin's cool... he wears RUN DMC.

And this month guess who is starting to crawl... 7 months old... means he could be walking by 9 months like Liv. AHHHH!

Awe. My sweet angel.

All of my sweet little angels.

Tattooed like his momma.

Dressed up just for kicks. So far that's March!

Just Plain Crazy

Look at this cute kid. She's having crazy hair day at school. I love my Olivia. She is just the cutest, coolest, kid ever.
I think I needed just a little more crazy to add to this weekend.

It started Saturday when my cousin Nicole passed away. She was 37 years old with 4 kids. The 2 older kids are going to be stuck living with their alcoholic grandfather probably until he drinks himself into a coma and the other two kids are now going to be living with Nicole's sister Natalie. Natalie's married and she and her husband can't bear children, they live in a small one bedroom apartment, she is epileptic and has just been allowed to work for the last few months since her seizures are under control. Natalie is 35 years old.

I can't imagine becoming a parent to a 10 and 12 year old literally over night without any help from anyone. Her mom died from breast cancer and her only sibling is now gone. It breaks my heart that she can't even grieve because she has to get a casket, plan a funeral, parent the kids and figure out where and how to get them to school. It's overwhelming and my heart goes out to her.

A few hours after hearing of Nicole's passing, Dave returns from the Redbox with Life As We Know It. Can you sense the irony here? This movie is about a couple with a kid who gets killed in a car wreck and they leave the baby to their best friends who hate each other but have to raise this baby and it changes their whole world. Not good timing on the movie front but I have to give Dave points for trying.

After the movie Dave goes outside and brings in the mail and guess what? Chase is trying to increase our mortgage. We are on a 30 year fixed mortgage and there's a whole back story that I can't even get into but good grief can this paper come at a worse time? And of course it's a Saturday at 5pm so we can't call and straighten things out. All we can do is stew and fume for 2 days.

Today everything did get resolved thankfully and our mortgage is what it was before but for 2 days I just wanted to walk away from this house and let those jerks have it. So that's enough about my pity party. I've moved on and gone forward and now I've decided to paint my bedroom. Ava and I picked up the paint and as soon as crazy hair comes home we will start. It is a new day after all.

Thanksgiving Week

How to begin this very long post... Dave's brother, sister-in-law, and their two kids came for Thanksgiving. Along with them they brought a Cajun Turduckhen (a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken and between all the layers was sausage stuffing). Sounds crazy right? Oh but tastes so good. So here's the first morning Wii session before we headed to Union city to do the IFLY. Everyone took their turn. (Michael is wearing yellow, Jacob is wearing white)

Here we have arrived at the IFLY and everyone's waiting for their meeting to begin. I was getting as sick as a dog by this point. Olivia still had her cough/sneezing/ sinus infection and was on day 8 of her antibiotics. Ava was hacking like a smoker and sneezing all over herself. I was wiping my nose every two seconds and getting very light headed, not to mention my watery eyes. So you ask why did I even go... Well someone had to take the pictures.

Here's the gang getting in their flight suits.

Here's Dave and his baby ready to fly.

Scott, Lisha, and Dave prepare for flight.

The kids. Ava still thinks she's involved at this point.

And they are off and in the tunnel.

Look at my man in goggles. Hot stuff!

Here's Michael flying high.

This is Olivia flying away!

And this is Thanksgiving morning or as I like to call it...moments before my death. At this point I could still sit upright. Scott's tickling the kids.

They ganged up on him.

After several hours we dressed the kids. I'm not really sure why. We weren't going anywhere but it was Thanksgiving. I was so sick by this point our relatives and Dave had to cook their own Thanksgiving.

The turduckhen... Umm turkey good. Umm duck good. Umm Chicken good. Suasage stuffing good. Put them all together and we give Thanks!

Here's the kids table.

Friday we went bowling. I was feeling a little better. All the medication I had taken the day before was still in me and I could breathe a bit. Liv was still spraying everyone with her sneezes and Ava- well she coughed and gagged at the same time. Real Fun. But we managed to make it through bowling and had a good time. It was at this time that I just began apologizing for our sickness to the relatives. If they make it through this next week without becoming violently ill, it would be a miracle. Oh and P.S. Olivia can throw her own ball thank you. As she told me, "Mommy, you go sit down over there please."

Here's Michael and Ava bowling.

The boys and their balls (pun intended).

Lisha and Ava saying hi.

Cousin love.

And since the boys had never had a black jack taco from TB we picked up a few on the way back from bowling. They were stoked and the girls even ate a taco too. (They would have never eaten them if it weren't for their cousins. I've tried tacos before. It's always a no go.)

During Ava's nap the kids helped build a gingerbread house.

And when Ava woke up, they ate it.

The next morning Dave's family flew home, we went to a birthday party at Pump it Up, and then we rested the rest of the weekend. The girls are better now. They still have the deep cough, but the sneezing is gone and they look better. I feel better too but now the mucus has decided to unleash itself so I'm full of wonderful phlegm.

Olivia went to her first day of school wearing her glasses today. None of the kids even noticed. Thank God for some miracles.