Road trip to Nebraska

Yes, we are in Nebraska. Why? Because we have friends here and we had the opportunity to visit them...

8 1/2 hour drive (normally 6 1/2) there due to potty breaks, a wonderful dinner made by Stacey and William, the toy dinosaur that fascinated (and frightened) Sofia, Samantha and Angelica enjoying their reunion. We stayed in William's hotel, which is beautiful. Today I took the girls swimming, which was hilarious... the ring suit will put anyone into a great mood because it is that funny. That was followed by a yummy breakfast with our friends, a walk through the Lincoln farmer's market and a trek to the zoo in Omaha. The zoo was an experience to say the least, but we all made the best of it. We all went to dinner, followed by swimming in the hotel pool (it was freezing yet fun). It was late and Angelica scared herself, so it was time to go. It took us another hour and a half to get the girls down, but they did go down eventually.


Best Friends...

Tomorrow it's off to take Aunt Merrian for brunch and drive home. It has been so nice to see our friends... we miss them very much and are happy we came to visit!

Last night

Last night turned out to be a comedy of errors that began before 2am. It began with Sofie's crying waking Sam up. As I rose to get Sofie, Sam came in and said, "Mom, Sofie needs you." Sam then asked to sleep with Daddy and I. (That doesn't happen often and I realize that these days will be over before I'm ready, so I was inclined to say yes.) Since Sofie doesn't easily return to her crib at night, it was the entire family in our bed for about one hour until I gave up on the girls settling down. I did not want the girls to keep Daddy up because he deserves a good night's sleep occasionally! It was nearly 3am when we headed to the basement for another attempt at rest. We tried many variations before finally crashing after 4am. All of us on the couch, Sam on the mats, Sofie in the chair, Sam in the chair with other requests for light and a drink thrown in. Sofie also enjoyed a bit of playtime which I quickly stopped when I thought we finally had the sleeping positions worked out.

It was hilarious... I felt as if I was living a sitcom episode hearing laughs from the live studio audience. That may have come from too much sleep deprivation this week though. I didn't lose patience with them and for that I am grateful. I don't think I would be if nights like that were a regular thing, but it was funny even in the moment!

Nana

Our girls are very fortunate to have wonderful grandparents who are actively involved in their lives. Nana, Papa and Grammy all offer unique views of life and we are all beneficiaries of those views.

Nana has her own special relationship with her granddaughters. They love to cook at Nana's house. She sits on the floor with them, plays their games and reads to them. Nana is wonderful to shop with as she's already helped Sam and I with fashion choices.

If every person in the world had a Nana like my girls do, I think the world would be much happier. Sam and Sofie (and I) are certainly happy! To demonstrate, a video is provided as proof.

We love you Nana!

Full week

After the long weekend, it was hard to leave the girls and head back to work. I enjoy them so much. This week it has been difficult to leave them and I miss my kids!

This morning I was (as Sam put it), being pokey. I wasn't carpooling so I relaxed my routine and hung out with my family. I ended up dropping the girls off on my way into the office and sincerely cherished the experience. I miss doing that every day...

Tonight Daddy had a haircut so the girls and I took Fonz to the nearby dog park. I've recently gotten brave enough to take him off the leash and let him go. Sam has joined me a couple of times (she did not enjoy getting wet), but I had never taken Sofie. Fonzie took off and the girl's pace was not going to keep up with him. When we got to the far side, Fonzie had already moved on to the front side and we finally got Fonz on our next lap. After that, we resumed our routine of park play. We followed that with some family cuddling time and an episode of "Dragon Tales" before bed.

No, they are not fighting... this is the best picture I've got at the moment and it showcases the cute (and cheesy) matching dresses!

It was a good day!

Fonzie turns 11

July 3rd is Fonzie's birthday and he just turned 11 years old! He's a good dog and great with the kids. We celebrated Fonzie's birthday by taking him to the dog park and let him run. Sam joined me and enjoyed the walk. She especially liked it when he went in the lake. It was time to go when Fonz started repeatedly dominating (a.k.a. mounting) another dog. We all gave him lots of treats and love. He struggles with the noises of fireworks, but I think he still had a good day. Fonz is a part of our family and we're grateful to have him!

Good day and personal shopping

Last Sunday was a good day... Nana and Samantha joined me for a shopping excursion, then we went to "Elementary Park" (it's an elementary school) followed by a family dinner with Nana, Papa and Grammy.

Sam was exhausted by her adventure at the store with Nana. This was demonstrated by Nana's telling of Sam in the fitting room (politely) asking the sales lady to get a bigger size and clearly relishing the time to embrace her inner diva. Grammy says that Sam's shopping style will be her revenge on my diva shopping style that she endured from me. Ah, the circle of life.

The kids did not want their grandparents to leave and to curb their meltdowns, we all went downstairs to watch TV and snuggle for a bit. It was the first chance I had to sit still all day and what a great 30 minutes it was! We don't watch a lot of TV at our house (at least while the kids are awake), but once in a while it's nice to cuddle up on the couch. It was relaxing and we were together. Who can complain about that?

This is a short video I took of the girls to show the joys of laughter...

Papa

Samantha and Sofia adore their Papa. From his first day as a grandparent tearing through the hospital to see a newly born Sam to his glee at taking them out, he is the girl's hero. If he's upset with them, their world is ending and when he's proud of them (usually so proud he has a ear-to-ear grin), their world is perfect.

We are all blessed to have you Papa! Who could ask for anything more?

Here is shot from a recent park outing... go Papa!