Grandparents galore!

We were all lucky enough to have Grandma Loretta in town for an entire week! Both girls loved spending time with Grandma, who sang them songs (much better than Mommy can do!), gave them lots of hugs and fed them/all of us lots of sweets! Here's Grandma with the girls and Mark in his classroom one day for lunch. Evie had french fries hidden in all the desks! Surprise, second graders!!

Loretta also witnessed Evie's silly toddler quirks, including her new love for this tacky $1-aisle hat, her refusal to take off her bib after eating and her love for Noggin on TV. THANK YOU for the visit Grandma!!




The girls also spent some time with Yiayia and Papou at the lake, where Evie steered the boat and went swimming - no fear at all! Nora snoozed most of the day, and everyone had a great time!
One word. CHEEKS! Need I say more?!!

Finally, we wanted to share this picture of Evie "baking" brownies with Mommy. Of course, we made BOX brownies - come on, you know me better than that! - and licked the batter until guilt set in. A perfect way to spend the afternoon!

Fun with friends

Both our girls had playdates recently. Check out future soulmates Nora and Reece (could Ash and I really be in-laws?!) and best friends since birth (or before then - thank you, prenatal yoga!) Evie and Ellie. Great week!

It was actually my first flying solo with both girls and working - two freelance projects in fact! And, drum roll please, we survived!! More than that, we had a wonderful week. Maybe a fluk, but whatever, I'm going with it!

Also, Miss Nora had one of the first of many "first" - she rolled over from her tummy to her back and both Evie and I were there to witness it and cheer. Yah, as Evie says repeatedly throughout the day. Other words our first-born is babbling all day long - Mommy, of course, Daddy, NORA (this one is too precious!), yes, no, night-night, bye-bye, hi, Ralph, nose, eyes, ears, ugh-oh, whoa, ball, bag (this one is a new one as she's taken to carrying around a little purse) and book. I think that's it!

New play things ...

Evie now has two new things to play with - her new playhouse and her new sister!! Both bring hours of entertainment every day!! Which is great, since the poor thing is suffering from that hand, foot, mouth virus and the terrible tantrums of a toddler. Ick to both! Nora, on the other hand, is as sweet as ever ... and healthy too! We had her 1 month check-up, and she's 9 lbs., 11 oz., and 22 inches long - so a pound and 2 inches bigger! Perfect!

1 Month

Miss Nora is already 1 month old! Isn't she adorable? Still super sweet and snuggly, and now smiling! She smiled for the first time at us - OK, Mark - yesterday. So cute.

Speaking of smiles, check out this ooey-gooey one of Evie's from Natalie's 2nd birthday party yesterday. Evie enjoyed a cupcake and Ladybug punch, which made for a mess of a meltdown at the end of the party and a long day for Mommy and Daddy - thank goodness for the margaritas Kristine and JR!

Our night ended with Melina and Matthew's engagement party at Lew's - where they first met. Thanks to Lynn and Chris!! I hosted while Mark watched the girls - thank you Marky -and everyone had a great time, including the happy couple! Congrats again!