More Pictures...

Sprinkler Fun

Nick finally finished laying the sod in the front yard... It's been a very slow process, between the digging, the tilling, the broken digging/tilling tools, the chatting to neighbors, the 2 week rain delay... and of course the lack of available sod ANYWHERE in the state!

All obstacles aside, the lawn is finished and it is looking good (apart from a few bad patches).

With a new lawn comes lots of watering, and as the temp. outside was sweltering hot we let the monkeys enjoy a little "splish splash" (as Annabelle would say)...

Which was fun for the moment but, the problem we have now is that whenever any of our neighbor's water their lawns Annabelle wants to run through the sprinklers... which is extremely annoying when you live at the tip of a cult de sac and have a clear view of EVERY lawn!!

Adventures At Small Park

Yesterday we took a walk over to "small park", as Annabelle likes to call it. Small park = close park, so I was happy when she asked to go there as opposed to "big park", which is a bit further away = longer walk for me. Normally I don't mind the extra mile stroll, but it was getting close to supper time for the small people... and I was tired... but did manage to muster up enough energy to take a few pics!

On a completely different note... The battle is over and Annabelle has finally conformed to drinking milk from a sippy cup (without tears)!! All bottles have been removed from the premises.

Flashback-May 21, 2005

Annabelle attempts to give Jack a "hug".

Bye, Bye, Bubba: The Battle Continues

Well, it's day 3 of the sans bottle mission and we have had our good days and our bad. Guess what kind of day this was? Right about now I am kicking myself for letting it get this far, and wishing I had rid her of the bottle a year ago. For some reason I convinced myself that it would be impossible for her to give it up while Jack still had one, maybe it would have, we'll never know. Somewhere along the line her bed time bottle of milk became a comfort item for her and I'm trying to take that away... evil Mommy!

Poor little Annabelle. You would have thought I offered her a poison apple rather than a sippy cup. A sippy cup, with milk? Get it straight Mommy, sippy cups are for water and juice, milk goes in a BUBBA!!! ... Sorry Annabelle, not anymore.

Meanwhile... in a quiet room not so far away, "Baby" happily drinks his milk from a sippy cup.

Happy Mother's Day!

Or, as Annabelle would say... Happy Mommy Day!

What kind of Mommy would I be if I didn't pose for a picture with the Monkeys on Mother's Day? (Probably a smart one). Nevertheless, here we are (rain soaked), after having braved the storm to go out to lunch with Nana and Papa.

A Conversation Between Two Grapes

Just one of the conversations I overheard this evening at dinner time...

Grape #1: "Hello."
Grape #2: "Hello, pleased to meet you."
Grape #1: "Want to go to a tea party?"
Grape #2: "Yeah, I want to go to a tea party."
Grape #1: "Oh, ok, want to go with Scoop and Benny*?"
Grape #2: "Yes, Scoop and Benny."
Grape #2: "and Baby too."
***insert Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrooom noise***
Grape #2: Oh! What happened?"
Grape #1: "I running around too hard!"
***insert crashing sounds***
At this point in the conversation I believe Annabelle (aka the puppeteer) has taken over, as the next thing I hear is: "I'm sorry, bye" and then see Annabelle lift the grapes, give them a little nod, as if to say "it's ok, it'll be quick and painless", and then proceed to eat Grape#1 and Grape #2!

*Scoop and Benny are toy trucks from Bob the Builder.

Cheers, Daddy!

We went to a waaaay too crowded street fair today... the kind where you wish you had packed a sharp object in the diaper bag to use on the people who pretend that you are invisible kind of crowded. Naturally, afterwards, we needed a few drinks to unwind so we stopped on the way home for a bite to eat and, well, a few drinks...
Annabelle and Nick had too much to drink and got a little too rowdy.
(that apple juice, does it every time).
The waiter came over and had to plug them up with bread.
Meanwhile... Mr. Jack had a good snooze.
But woke just in time to have a quick snack and a few laughs.

Future Artist?

What I like about this photo is the look of concentration on Annabelle's face. That, and the fact that she has absolutely no idea what the small hand on the left is about to do.