A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

Below is a recent video of Miss Mia playing with "wa-wa" at the Elephant Park down in Sausalito! Enjoy & Happy Sunday!

For My Mom!

As most of you know, my mother has been battling cancer since October 2007. Needless to say, she has been through a lot over the past two years - two major surgeries, continuous cycles of various chemotherapy treatments, scans, drugs, more scans, more chemo, blood transfusions and the list goes on and on. Through it all, she has been a pillar of strength and I know deep in my heart that she will eventually beat this cancer - she is just that kind of woman - one with incredible strength. Today, we got good news from the doctor that over the past couple of months her cancer seems to have stabilized (meaning, it has not really grown or spread any further). This is really good news! We are hoping this means that if she continues on this chemo regimen she is on the tumors will not only stabilize, but hopefully shrink! Please continue to keep her in your prayers as she continues to battle this nasty cancer! And thank you to all of you who have been such great supporters and friends through these crazy times! Love you all!

Farmers Market Fun!

Today Mia and I met our friends Mimi and Charlie at the Farmers Market ... we always have a great time with them and today was no exception. For those of you who don't know, Charlie and Mia were born on the exact same day, about six hours apart, were delivered by the same doctor and weighed the same amount. Pretty cool! Anyhow, back to the Farmers Market - we bought delicious organic strawberries, some pluots, peaches and the most amazing heirloom tomatoes which we had in a tomato salad tonight. YUM! After we did our shopping, we took the babes for a pony ride and to the petting zoo which consisted of chickens (yuck - I am not a big fan of feathered friends). Aside from the pony ride, I think the kids' favorite part of the outing were the watermelon Popsicles ... check out the pictures below!

Mia had a little lamb ...

Last night I made lamb, cous-cous and green beans for dinner ... Mia, who can be a VERY picky eater had one of her favorites - fish sticks, blueberries and Edamame Beans. She was sitting in her high chair at the table with us and kept pointing to our plates saying "DAT, DAT" which obviously means she wants something. So - first I gave her some cous-cous which she tried and ate a little bit of, but then she continued with her "DAT, DAT" so I handed her a green bean - did not even try it! That only left the lamb on my plate, so I handed her a piece and she DEVOURED it! I could not believe it. She was gnawing on the bone she was so crazy about it!! I even have a picture to prove it! She was such a good eater yesterday ... I am so proud of her sophisticated palate ;-) and am hoping that this means she is going through a growth spurt so that she might actually be on the charts next week when we go in for her 15-month check-up!!

Hope you all have a fabulous day! More later ...

Tuesday Night Traditions!

Tuesday night dinners with the Elkington Grandparents (as in Mae's great-grandparents) have become somewhat of a tradition. Every week we try out a new restaurant and Grandma Shirley, Grandpa Ken, my in-laws (Anne & Chris), my sis-in-law (nay-nay) and Ra-Ra as well as Daniel and I meet somewhere new and have a great meal together. I am so lucky that I have my parents close by, as I can drop Miss M off at their house before dinner and pick her up on the way home ... I never realized what a blessing a peaceful meal was until I had a child that could walk! WOW does it make a difference not having her there (especially now that she is walking, running and into NON-stop trouble). And, it gives Mae the opportunity to hang out with "MOMA and BOBA", which is what she calls my parents. She is crazy about them right now and my mom said that each week we drop her off she asks for dada and I less and less ... how fun!


Below are some pictures of our Tuesday night dinners from the past couple weeks - enjoy!

Happy Memorial Day!

Firstly, I would like to start by thanking all those who have served our country in the past, as well as those who are currently serving our country in order for us to have our freedom. Without their bravery and selflessness, we would not be here today. THANK YOU!!!!

Today we had some of our friends over for what was supposed to be an outdoor Memorial Day BBQ - well, the weather did not exactly cooperate so we moved the party indoors. That's right - five babies, eight adults and a dog inside our teeny tiny place for dinner! It actually was not as crowded and crazy as I thought it would be and the food all turned out really well! We had pulled pork sandwiches and three different types of salads, lots of beer and wine and my friend Mimi made the most amazing carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting ... I was hoping to take a picture of one to show you, but they were all gone before I could get to it (even the two she left us, which were devoured by my Nay-Nay and Ra-Ra which for those of you who do not know are my sister-in-law and her boyfriend). I did however manage to get a picture of the kids looking out the window at Tucker who was waiting for them to drop food out for him - enjoy!

Spring Cleaning!

Though I feel that I do a good job keeping our house clean, my husband has a completely different (almost abnormal) assessment of the situation. When he stresses, he goes on super-freakish cleaning escapades and reorganizes drawers, cupboards, closets, etc. When he gets like this, I just stay out of his way and let him do his thing. Just between you and me, I think he secretly wishes that would be the way I vent my stress ... no such luck honey!


Luckily, I think our little princess follows in her daddy's footsteps when it comes to cleaning and organization - I often find her wiping the floor with Kleenex, wiping the smudges off of our stainless steel appliances (especially the dishwasher wish tends to get an abnormal amount of hand prints on it!?) and walking around the house with her very own broom or "HER" vacuum - please see below video for proof:

Anyhow, signing off for now - hope you all had a relaxing, enjoyable Sunday! Off to my parents house for Sunday night dinner with the fam! YUMMMMM!

Booked Berchtesgaden!

I booked a farmhouse! For one out of the four weeks we are in Germany, we will be staying at a farmhouse in the middle of the German Alps in a small town called Berchtesgaden! I am sooo excited! The place we booked does not even take credit cards, nor do they send any kind of formal confirmation - the woman just emailed me back and said that the small apartment is reserved and they look forward to seeing us. I hope it all works out!! This will be my fourth time in Berchtesgaden - I have never been disappointed thus far and I don't expect it to be any different this time.

My husband is particularly excited about visiting the Eagles Nest (aka Kehlsteinhaus) which was the official 50th Birthday present to Adolf Hitler and served as a vacation home and place for him to entertain visiting dignitaries. Needless to say, my husband is FASCINATED by all things WWII. I'm just excited about the great hikes, scenery and of course the phenomenal food and BEER! Below are some pictures of where we will be:

Signing off for now ... got to go to Little Gym with Miss M! Happy Saturday to all!

Moving ....... AGAIN!

For those of you who don't already know, we have been living in Sausalito since last July in this wonderfully cute duplex with amazing views of San Francisco, Alcatraz and the Bay. We moved here so that we could finish the remodel on our house in San Anselmo in the hopes that we would sell it - FAST! Unfortunately, because of the tough times it has not sold and we may be forced to move back into it until the market conditions improve.


Personally, I don't mind moving back up there (love that house and love San Anselmo) BUT I really don't want to have to move AGAIN and I will be sad to leave our place in Sausalito because of its great views, location and the fact that we have a built-in baby-sitter living downstairs (LOVE YOU JESS!) ... seriously though, I think that is the part I will miss the most. I have loved living in the duplex with my sister-in-law not only because its been great with Miss M, but also because we love seeing her every day and catching up on life! Here is a picture of Mae and her "Nina" (which she pronounces more like "NAYNAY") from the Mothers Day picnic we went on in Sonoma.





I will keep you all posted on the housing situation ... keep your fingers crossed that someone ends up writing a great offer this week :-)

Off to Deutschland!

I am so excited - we have booked a trip to Germany for 1 whole month!!! YAY! I never thought I would be able to convince my wonderfully frugal husband to go on a trip considering we are currently paying both a mortgage and rent AND neither of us are gainfully employed at the moment, but we found tickets for dirt cheap so we took the opportunity! Plus, the only reason we can actually go for a month is because neither of us is working. So, we are off to Deutschland for the month of June!



Part of the reason I started this blog was so that I could keep our family updated on our travels while we are away without having to clutter up their inboxes with emails and pics! I figure that with a blog people can check in whenever they want and I won't bore them (hopefully!)

So, stay tuned for our plans and updates on this adventure - I am already DREADING the looooong flight with my overly active daughter :-0

Welcome to the World of Blogging!

SO ... I have been inspired! Thanks to so many of my friends who have entered the blogging world, I have decided to start my own. Not that I have anything fascinating to share, but I have noticed that I get sucked into the blogs of people I don't even know and love reading about their daily adventures regardless of whether they are exciting or not. So, why not write about mine?

Stay tuned for more ... I need to figure all this out before I start posting!