little girls, little girls.

they were all over on saturday.

little girls everywhere.

ada's 5th birthday party was a wonderful success.

worth every bit of sweat that went into it.

a completely homemade birthday party fit for my little girl.

and it did not disappoint.

honestly, i was worried.

she had been to some pretty extravagant parties.

sidewalk chalk mud, a makeshift water slide, a homemade pinata filled with glitter, a fushia cake, a flower garland craft...

we did it all.

they had a blast!

i needed a nap.

and now, my little ada, my biggest piece of work, is ALMOST five.

but not quite yet.

we will wait until july 6th.

waiting patiently with nande for her guests to arrive.

hanna even had baby friends. dreamy lukie,

and her new boyfriend, dylan.

waterslide time!

craft time.

pinata!

awaiting the cake!

pink!

presents!

but none for li. poor boy.

the after party. the girls and their daddy.

milestones?

i am not sure that eating "real" food is a milestone but for miss hanna it is! after a few attempts at cereal that resulted in massive meltdowns, i decided to switch to more yummy foods like bananas and squash. can you say love? she devoured it with a smile on her face. don't you wish you looked this cute covered in squash?

and speaking of milestones, my ada is having her birthday party this weekend. a REAL birthday bash in our backyard. girls only except for elias. flower garlands will be made, a waterslide will be attempted, and i will have 11 little fairies dancing around my yard. wish me luck!
my almost 5 year old, frankenstein smile and all! i couldn't love her more!

sh*t happens...

really, it does.

today, my darling baby dribbled poo into our "club's" swimming pool.

two drips to be exact.

she was not swimming. nor was i.

but she was close enough to the water that when massive diarrhea exploded from her bottom into her rubber lined swim diaper (thanks omnicef!), there was no way to contain it. i caught it with my hand. until it seeped through my fingers and dripped into the pool.

catastrophe.

seriously.

i ran to the manager to tell her what happened.

i was SO embarrassed.

she was SO angry.

she yelled at me.

i wanted to yell back, but i didn't.

instead i sank into the bathroom and cleaned up my baby, then invited all the disappointed parents to a backyard playdate at my house to ensure that i hadn't ruined everyone's day.

only mine.

this afternoon, the pool manager sent out a not-so-friendly reminder that all infants and toddlers must wear swim diapers and rubber pants even if they are just near the pool and not in it.

really?

nothing could have contained the diarrhea that came out of my 14 pound wonder.

sometimes people just have to accept that

sh*t happens.

the end.

the beach.

a few shots from the beach this weekend. the kids had such a blast, they never even needed to talk to me. who needs a babysitter when you have the ocean! seriously, they played for about four hours straight without even asking for a drink each day! bliss.

another thing to cross off our bucket list! (what a great thing to do by the way! we never find ourselves guessing about what we should do, we have a whole list to complete by the end of the summer. just check out the chalkboard behind hanna!)

random thoughts.

- i just read an article on motherlode about good parents yielding unhappy children. i am at the brink of being an "overparent". i am fully aware. please stop me from becoming one. really. i don't want to be, but if i leave my children alone, they just follow me around! if i ignore them, they beg me to pay attention to them! if mean kids are mean to them, they beg me to help them! i think formula and day care are really the best options, how about you?

- my oldest daughter's best friend is a hairbrush. she brushes her hair all day long. she wants to shower and put conditioner in her hair if she notices the slightest tangle. yesterday she told me the when her hair "reaches the ground, she should probably get it trimmed half and inch so she doesn't get tangles from stepping on it." she is four. good lord!

- my son's new best friend is "mimi". i can't see her. neither can you, probably. she is a girl and she is in africa. (coincidentally, so is his favorite babysitter.) fortunately, "mimi" can still play trucks and restaurant with elias every day in our playroom. should i be concerned?

- today i ripped my big toenail off. it was a trauma toenail anyways. have i ever told you what i did to my big toe one winter day in boston? i'll make it short and sweet. upon returning from a trip to bermuda, our driveway had about a foot of solid ice on it. i had a quite brilliant idea to boil water in our condo, pour it on the driveway, and then chop at it with a shovel. i ended up kicking the shovel into the curb and ruining my big toe for almost two years. it was a broken mess. poor guy has never been the same. reza finds the whole story very entertaining. i, however, do not.

- i was cleaning today and thinking about our poor mr. dagger, aka the shedding machine. i love him (kind of), but upon having kids i started to not like him very much. i mean, when you watch your kids eat cereal off the floor that is covered with dog hair, or find black stray hairs in your five month old's fat creases, it makes you start to gag a little.

ok- to bed i go. wish us luck on our beach excursion tomorrow. miss hanna does NOT like the car, but let's hope she LOVES the ocean!

a busy week.

summer has been full so far. swim team, camp, playdates, birthday parties and good company.

my little gladiator.

who can resist this kid?

sneaking a smooch.

flying a rocket.

playing with turtles.

the waterslide from h-e-double l. my kids bottoms are both bruised but they refused to admit it hurt.

fun.

blast off.

the beautiful family. my sister, her hubbie and precious lukie.

cousins.

nande's 62nd birthday with all her grandchildren.

the sitter.

bedtime stories with uncle kevin.

kisses.

and finally, caught on the iphone.
our very successful lemonade stand.

and, the gooch.

what could be finer.