Queen Califia's Magical Circle

When we came to this magical place designed by Niki de Saint Phalle, I was so breathless by it's amazing beauty- I had no words. Violet described it best when she said "I feel like I fell down the rabbit hole and ended up in Wonderland." I could'nt have said it better.

Halloween!!!!!

We had the BEST Halloween this year! It is my most favorite holiday. We spent it with our best CA friends and got SO much candy. I am trying kinda hard to not eat it all.

Law Student

Fiona

Hermione Granger

Blue Power Ranger

Monkey

It's "Punkin" time Y'all!

I have always hated when people pronounce pumpkin like "punkin" I think the thing that did it for me was my 3rd grade teacher who said it that way. She also referred to crayons as "crans." I associate these two words with general yucky-ness because she emabarrassed the hell out of me when I returned to school after being sick a few days. She showed her genuine concern by asking me if front of the whole class, "Gillian, how is your diarrhea?" Ew. It has sinced turned into another cute Ollie word and I love it said like that now. Kids are so awesome-so theraputic, yes?!

We had fun today playing dress up with Penny. I love having little people to play with, especially since she's the best sport and lets me change her 50 times. So here's her "Halloweenie Punkin" (Ollie speak) fashion show. What's your favorite? (Mom and Emily, since you are the only two that comment? ) ;)




The old battle of Good VS. Evil.............

Mom I am pretty sure I already know your choice. :)

Sweet little mini-Dorothy

Love this little kitty butt!

Repurposed kitty ears/tail

Ollie-Peak (speak)

There are many things I love about Ollie. I love the fact that he never lets anything ruin his day. Nothing. Not time outs. Nothing. One of my favorite things about him though is his speech. I told myself that I would write them down even though it would be hard to forget now that we ALL speak Ollie speak (even Violet who never mispronounced a word in her life. Oh wait-there was one. She said "Chafter" instead of "Chapter")







Anyway, my faves are as follows:



"Pooky"-Spooky
"Cary"-Scary
"Pider"-Spider (best when used with spooky, "Mommy, there is a Pooky Pider in my room!"
"Tick"-stick
"Brussel Prouts"
"Keleton"-skeleton
"No"-snow
"Fire Mud"-fire wood
"Muddy"-woody (the cowboy ;) )
"Pinano"-Piano (used when speaking of his recurring bad dream of the tiny "keleton playing the pinano fast!" )
"Baloo"-blue (as in his favorite color)






* Some side notes
-I finally started reading The Help. Usually I am always the last to read the good uns. I am loving it so far.
-I am pretty sure I either have celiac disease (which I have found is hereditary, Thanks Nanny!) a dairy allergy or goodness knows what else. Lame. Oh well, could be TONS worse.
-Penny's top four teeth FINALLY popped out
-I don't know who's more excited to see "Puss In Boots" me or Violet!

Homesick-ey

Lately I have been missing my Colorado trees. Like in a major way. Other things I have been missing:

1. My brother's shows

2. My Mama Mafia

3. (Mom, I'll make more shout outs when you start to read my blog) ;)

4. My favorite Whole Foods.

5. The "crisp" fall air

6. Scarves and bundling up so my pink-cheeked babies can play in the park

7. SNOW! (I can't believe I am admitting it!)

8. Pueblo Mexican Food

9. the good thrift stores

10. cheaper gas and food

Ok now Gillian, here's the time to insert things I am grateful for so I don't sound like a spoiled little shit:

1. The Amazing opportunity to come to law school here

2. The great elementary school Violet is attending

3. The beautiful sunshine that shines almost every day

4. The ocean is only 20-30 minutes away

5. The fact that I get to be at home with my babies

6. Travis' internship

7. Nice neighbors

8. Sweet friends here

9. a nice preschool for my Ollie

10. We are HALF WAY done with Law School!!!!

How is she getting so big?

"Darth Bader at Yego yand" Ollie speak

I am pouting on my birthday. Know why? Cuz I look like my daddy in a dress.

He was super sad to leave us. Can you tell?

Please don't give up on me!

Ok ok. I know. I am lame. If any of my friends are still interested in my blog, this one's for you (Lindsay). I am trying to hit on some key points since I last posted (like, a year ago)

1. Ollie started preschool. He loves it and his teachers love him despite the fact that "sometimes he has a hard time staying on task" -shocking I know. He is probably got the most infectious smile in the world, even when I am SUPER pissed.

2. Violet is also loving school and doing so well. She has been named citizen of the month again (it's all in the parenting-if anyone needs advice, please feel free to ask ;) ) She is reading chapter books now! CHAPTER BOOKS! She is still really into animals and also has fallen in love (obsessed with) drawing. On everything! Her drawings are so funny-especially the ones about poop which I am embarassed to admit that I laugh equally as hard at.

3. Penny is so sweet. She is tiny but mighty! She is still a whopping 15 lbs. (yes for a 13 month old) and is crawling all over the place. She is feisty just like Violet was and it makes me giggle. She doesn't let anything get in her way, especially her brother who sometimes "accidently" pushes her over. She smacks right back (not that I am condoning this behavior, but it does make me feel good that she takes no guff). I love this little peanut.

4. Travis is working so hard with school and his internship and I cannot believe that in December we will be officially "half way done" with school! Woah! I am so proud of him for everything he does!

5. I am gonna be 30 in December. How the hell did that happen?

6. Our fish is still alive even though she only has one eye and has made a few suicide attempts.

That's a pretty good catch up I think.......hopefully not another year until I do it again! ;)

Sickness is a Beach

I have to admit that I spend a lot of time thinking about blogging. My excuse this week was that my sweet baby was sick. Very sick actually. (Funny that the last post was about the other one being sick) I guess that's what happens when you live in close quarters with a bunch of teeny petri dishes.

Sleep training was sort of, kind of successful meaning that I had SINCERE intentions of doing it. So much so in fact that THE night I was going to do it, she got sick. So the "training" went out the window. Needless to say I keep waking up with one of my "ladies" exposed and a very full baby next to me in bed. Man this little one has me eating from her hand. Mr law man is pretty convinced she knows what she's doing and I am pretty convinced he's right.

On a lighter, non sick note, we had a beautiful Saturday a couple weeks back and were actually able to go the beach in February! I still cannot believe that we live somewhere that I can do that. Baby P could've given or taken the beach because the only place she's happy is connected to me and I had the nerve to put her down when I had to help Ollie get the lump of sand out of his eye. I believe she thinks he's quite rude for that. Ollie LOVES the beach but would never get in the water. Ever. VV really loves it and gets in no matter how cold it is. She's so awesome.

Poor Poor Ollie.......

Today Ollie is sick. He puked in the Halloween "Punkin" from last years trick-or-treating. This was one of those curdled milk pukes and the worst part-his darling pumpkin was filled with all his favorite "McQueen Cars"-he was more upset that there was puke on the cars than the fact that he atually vomited at all. He then got awful chills and put himself to bed for a couple hours. Poor poor baby. I hate so much when my kids get sick-I feel so helpless. Looks like today is gonna be a jammy day for us all.

I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAACKKKKK!

So the last blog I had went and got cancelled. Turns out when you're not registered in school, you can't have a school email address. BAAAA-SCUSE me! So here is the new and 2nd attempt at a new/old blog. Who thinks I can keep this up???