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!