So here is the piece Nicole did of So Inviting. It is not all bad, not nearly as embarassing as I had imagined....I think... There are a couple great shots of Max and Law, not as many of the girls as Nicole would have liked, she says. But they were still really excited to see themselves on the news, even if it was only for a second. (Gotta love TiVo!) All in all I give it an overall thumbs up. I was way nervous I wrecked it for Megan, but I think even she is happy with the outcome!

Holy Frioles!

Holy Beans! So Squish has recently made the "I'm no baby" move from her highchair to the big kids table. She is pretty proud of herself. Dad thinks this means she can eat whatever the big kids are eating, in the same fashion. Cereal in a bowl with milk, rice from a plate with a fork, or, as in this lovely example, refried BEANS. I whole heartedly loathe refried beans. They are a Dad exclusive treat in our house. I would rather clean up poo than beans. That being said, think Daddio learned a valuable lesson here????

We Love Giada!

The girls and their blended frappechinos (sp)!
So, on Saturday morning my sister and I and our ladies in training went to wait in a line of something like 1500 people to get Giada de Laurentiis' signature in her newest book, Giada at Home. We, being the bright minded individuals that we are, decided we had probably better get there early and bring some chairs. So we did. We arrived somewhere around 8:15 and were only a handful of people back in the line. We set-up our chairs, we retreived some Starbucks and proceeded to wait and things were great! Until about 11:50.....
When things started to sour. The frappechinos had worn off and the wait was beginning to be to much to bear. But wait....

Giada actually pulls up right in front of us, jumps out, waves to the crowd and disappears inside to ready her autographing hand. Oh, happy day! The impending meltdown averted! The pulling up in front of us could not have been more scripted by the way. All morning we had been talking about how Giada would get to the store...Emi thought perhaps by a jet or helicopter and Zoe thought perhaps a beautiful car....

We had a great day! The girls (mom's included) got to meet GIADA! Who, for the record, is beautiful and nice! My new favorite celeb. She took the time to talk to the girls and ask them what their favorite thing to make is. She even flipped through Zoe's book and showed them the chapter for kids and the cupcakes of course because that was what they said their favorite was. Very exciting! Thanks Megan!

The Tortoise and the Tomato Cage

Poor Jeeps...What Happened??? I dunno would be the most likely tortoise response. Whatever it was it didn't seem to be impeding his progress feasting through the newly sprouted winter lawn. Have to admit, I called for back-up on this one though. Travis didn't answer his phone, the neighbors didn't answer their door...Brian Mings saved the day! Tortoise Rescue LTD! Wire cutters in hand we sloshed our way through all the manure and Brain cut poor, small minded, Jeeps to freedom. All's well that ends well!

Giddy Up'

Horses and children, I often think, have a lot of the good sense there is in the world. ~Josephine Demott Robinson

Today, Emily rode her first horse. Trinity and her mom invited us to come and ride on their horse Mydnyght. Shock of all shocks, Emily was actually really into it. Normally, on any other day, she is my scardy cat, but not today! She had a blast. I'm pretty proud of her for swallowing her fear and getting up there. Mydnyght is a big horse. Billy on the other hand had a "tummy ache" and was "hungry" and wanted to just go home. He was a little entertained by the idea of playing in the dirt in the arena (of course) and for almost a second he seemed impressed by the pot bellied pig. All in all though, he has offically declared himself a homebody. You can clearly tell just how much fun he had by the American Gothic photo I snapped below!

Vacations....

The lobby as you come off the bus...

A patio near the pool

The problem with vacations is....(drum roll please.) You always end up needing another one. I know sounds like old news, right? It is so true though, just a few days to recoup on the couch at home. I think this last trip to paradise has put Travis and I both over the travel threshold. Too far, too foriegn, too many bathing suits (which at this very moment are still downstairs steaming in my suitcase. I just can't seem to muster the energy to unzip it), too... just not home. We had an amazing trip, for the record, but I am pretty sure he agrees when I say "it's sooo good to be HOME."

Very small portions of The Pool...

This trip is totally and completely unrelated to the milestones my children might achieve in their little big lives, unless you are counting the emotional trauma of putting them to bed one night just like any other only to let them awake a day later with no parental figures in this hemisphere. Wait, maybe that's more like a dream come true! A week with Grandma catering to their every whim..... Perhaps the emotional trauma starts when we return, just as they are thinking it's free sailing from here....hmmm. Squish did look at Travis and I like she was pretty sure we had kidnapped her for the first 24 hours we were home....

Anyhow here are a few pictures to remember the one and probably only trip we will have to the beautiful pink shores of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The resort was beyond beautiful and tropical. The weather was more than prefect and the company wasn't that bad either!

The view from the (very european) bathroom looking out to the patio.

Looking back into the room (notice the heart & flowers)! HA!
And then there is always this picture, can we please go home now??

The pospect of going home is almost to much to bear ; )

A Family Affair

I just love these pictures of the kids. We were up insanely early, the kind of early, for me anyway, when you're on autopilot and just going through the motions because intelligent thought has not bothered to drag itself out of bed yet. You know that kind of early, right? Anyhow, I just grabbed some clothes for the kids and because you are on autopilot and those always seem to be the days when the entire family is in coordinating colors. I am incapable of multitasking before 6am. So, back to these adorable kids. We were off to my

sister's for an early morning adventure. Channel 12 news was going to be filming a piece on SAHM's and small businesses they have on the side I guess... We will see for sure when the clip airs I suppose. Because it was a piece about being a stay at home mom they requested that the kids be a part of the taping and because I am friends with the girl doing the piece and Megan is my sister in all...Seeing the connection yet? Me either really, but she wanted us to go, so we did. I arrived at Megan's and proceeded to change my kiddos out of their sleepy jammies and into their color coordinated outfits. Intelligent thought just now starting to come around. I notice that Megan's kiddos are all also not just in coordinating outfits themselves, but with my kids too. A coincidence she can't even take credit for because Mike dressed the kids this particular morning. We don't even need to mention that Megan and I also were in coordinating outfits. (Later we learned that was not as coincidental as we had thought. Apparently jeans and a black top is the standard issue mom on TV outfit according to Nicole's camera man.) It seemed a great opportunity to get a couple pictures of the cousins in the matching outfits with the new shiny camera of course. So there they are in all their glory. Emily James, Zoe Kate, Abigail Browning, Law Michael, Max William and William Walker.

She's Grown Knee Caps!!

Abigail is finally walking! Wouldn't you know it, Travis and I leave town for nearly less than 24 hours and we come home only to find that Papa has taught Abi (the most resistant of walkers) to get up and go. Looking back I do believe he is responsible for more than one of his darling little grandchildren's first steps....hmmm Well, I guess it is finally here. Not quite sure how I feel about it though. The idea that all of my kids, all of the kids in general, both sides of the family, have no more babies. No one is nursing, colicy, wrinkley, bald, crawling...Oh, the thought that Squish might not even be squishy for much longer. Walking is almost the last of the baby milestones....SIGH. That's it someone has to have another! Who will be the taker?

Here are a couple very "rough" shots of my powerwalker.

Abigail (Squishy) Browning Deatsch

1 year - 2 months - 2 weeks - 1 day

**WALKING**

Crawling

Can go up & down the stairs

Eats everything but tomatoes and oranges

Loves dogs

Naps twice a day

Has 16 teeth (with a couple more not far off)

Chatters, but doesn't talk