Baby impressed with food, not the chef

We had a wonderful dinner last night at the Japanese steak house. (I don't remember the name of the restaurant) Lola chowed down on soup (even ate the mushrooms, gross) rice and sesame chicken. She was more interested in shoveling in as much rice as she could then she was at the awesome chef cooking right in front of her.
After dinner we went shopping. I wanted to check out Pottery Barn Kids where Lola's bedding came from. I was looking for accessories for her room. I found plenty. Honestly I kept it pretty cool in there. We don't have a PBK by us and it's so much better being in the store vs. ordering on line. It's also easier to spend more money at the store... I wasn't really looking forward to going home tomorrow but now I can't wait to get into Lola's room and hang her mobile!

More photos here.




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one video & a bunch of photos

Misc. photos posted here.



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hamster girl

We're pretty sure Celia is part rodent as she prefers to store food in her mouth to either eat it later or spit it out when we least expect it. About 20 minutes after lunch yesterday I noticed that her cheeks looked full. I said "Celia what do you have in your mouth?" She opened her mouth and it was clear she had chewed up carrots in there. I told her mother who replied "yeah, she does that all the time!"
This morning she was storing her waffles. I asked her to show me what she had and at that point I captured this image....




I hope this is one habit Lola doesn't pick up on.

virtual tour part II

The downstairs bath


The dining room


The den


The master bedroom (beautiful bedding!!!)




The master bath

virtual tour

I'm posting a virtual tour mainly for Peggy and Chuck since they haven't been here yet. Anyone else feel free to watch but if you do you are going to be subjected to my narration.
I've managed to screw up my cameras color. Actually it was probably Lola when she was playing with it, the settings are all screwed up so the color is awful. I'm also having trouble posting all of the videos so I will post a few photos of the master bedroom, den & dining room on another post.

Bruce and Esther having crazy fun!!!

Esther and Bruce are having so much fun together, they are totally BDF's! Esther has already established her dominance with Bruce so he is now submissive to her. Much like my relationship with my husband.
I've posted 2 videos because I couldn't decide which was cuter.
Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for Lola in the background playing Crazy Climber.

The Lane Estate

We arrived at Julie and Ed's sweet new pad around 1am. The drive got stressful around 11:00pm when we drove through a pretty hard rainfall and Lola was refusing much needed sleep. It was around that time that Aaron unfortunately iced a possum, poor little guy (the possum not Aaron).
It's so good to be here and finally see their new house. It was finished in late April and they moved in in May. It's beautiful!!!
After a few hours of sleep we were greeted this morning by Darth Vader. He is quite the host!
We're having lunch now so more to follow later. Pam & Peg I know you will be stalking the blog for updates so I will do my best to post often.

Do the Amish fry food?

Lola and I had dinner with my friend from high school Jenny and her son Vince on Monday. We met at some Amish place. It turned out to be an old person restaurant but was awesome! The food wasn't awesome but the atmosphere was! The place is huge indoors and out and packed with all kinds of Amish treats. You know, wood stuff and cheese. And who doesn't love sitting on a rocking chair and eating cheese?

After dinner we went outside to the playground where the kids ignored the awesome play equipment and found the rocks! Rocks are so much cooler then swings and slides. Lola and Vince had so much fun playing together!

We didn't eat by candle light so I'm wondering how Amish this place really is? There was electricity and fried food. Do the Amish fry stuff?

Anyway, we're going back again soon and next time our husbands will be going because I know how much Aaron will appreciate old people food and an Amish buggy.
Click here for more photos of our visit with Vince!

Fun at Rupert's party!

Lola and Rowan attended Rupert's third birthday party today at a freakin awesome park with the greatest play equipment ever! This park was extra awesome because it had a mini water park for Lola to get soaked. I bet those jeans felt great all wet. ick.
Photos from the event can be seen here and a super cute video of Lola & Rowan saying bye bye can be seen below.

Lola babysits Sam

We had Sam over for a couple of hours on Saturday night while his Mommy & Daddy went on a date. He was happy most of the time but did get a little bit fussy about 10 minutes before his parents picked him up. He's got quite a set of lungs and definitely cries louder than Lola ever did. I'm pretty sure he was simply reminding me that he was still over for a visit. Lola seemed ok with me holding Sam. She had her Daddy to take care of her while I took care of Sam. There is no way I could have done it if Aaron wasn't here. These kids are demanding.

Earlier in the day we went over to Max's house for a dip in the pool, it was SO NICE!!!
I've posted some photos from our day on Picasa. Check them out.


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We finally got rain!

rain & hail & thunder! Lola thought it was awesome!

Kissing Brobee

Lola has been really busy this week collecting the Yo Gabba Gabba toys. She currently has Brobee, Toodee and Plex. When we got home from school & work yesterday she made a B-Line straight for Brobee & Plex giving Brobee big kisses! She doesn't know it yet but gigi picked up Muno & Foofa for her so the set is complete. Now we're working on collecting the train.

Working together making a train, working together, team work team work!

Jeff will you please make us a CD too?

hide & go seek no gum

Lola and I were involved in a pretty intense game of hide & go seek yesterday and as you can see she found suitable hiding spot under the antique kitchen table. She was looking extremely cute in her monkey jammies so of course I had to snap a photo. After viewing this super cute photo I was SO thankful I had scraped all the gum from underneath last week. phew!

Welcome Loretta & Mo

Here we are officially welcoming Loretta & Mo to the family by posting their photo on the blog! They seem to be happy little fish and like their aquarium. Ian picked out the cool stones & awesome fake plants. It's a colorful world for our new little buddies. Lola loves them and is so excited to wave good morning to them, she even blows them kisses regularly. Mo was originally a trio but unfortunately Larry & Curly didn't make it through the first night home. You see, they were carnie fish so they had a rough start at life. We got them at the Lion's Club festival this past weekend. I won Larry & Curly and Angela won Mo (I like to call him the survivor). I took Ian out to the Pet Store the next day and it was there we bought Loretta, our replacement fish. Loretta is no carnie fish as she cost us a whole dollar and 99 cents!
We had a nice time at the festival saving goldfish & eating festival food that smells great from a mile away. I'm going to send a letter to Yankee requesting that they make a festival scented candle (not one that smells like those smoky WT carnies silly.... a candle that smells like corn dogs and funnel cakes)


Above: Lola and Rowan relaxing and letting their tummies settle after attending the festival. You would think these chairs were made especially for them. Oh yeah, they were! Thank you Grumpa, as you can see the kids do enjoy them! Rowan especially looks to be kicking back high class style.

family hike

Sunday was a beautiful day! We went for a family hike at the MetroPark. Lola did some hiking but preferred to have her Daddy to carry her around. She waved at every hiker, jogger, walking family and dogs that passed by. Everyone waved back. She is a social little girl and I have a feeling that when she can talk she will say hi to everyone. Unfortunately I forgot the camera and was totally ticked at myself since we had SO MANY wonderful photo opportunities. arugh!

Since I don't have photos of the hike to share I will share this video of Lola. Here she is putting on her best Oscar worthy performance. This kid can act better than Meryl Streep as Lindy Chamberlain when the dingo ate her baby!

As you can tell she has a terrible sneeze. Poor baby.

probably the cutest shoes ever!

While out on date night we couldn't resist picking up these shoes for Lola. I was so excited about these shoes I sent a photo of them to Angela who quickly pointed out that they must be Marc Jacobs knockoffs! How fun! Lola looks totally cute & fashionable in what will now be known as the cutest shoes ever! (at least until the next pair)

Bye Bye gigi - see you soon!

Lola got up extra early to take her gigi to the airport so that she can go back to sunny Florida. We're sad to see gigi go back but it's ok because we get to see her in two more weeks again, yay!
Lola looked especailly cute in her little green shoes and watermelon shirt. Her Daddy picked out this shirt & shoes while we were out on our date night the other evening. Our date night was spent shopping for Lola, oh and dinner at McCormick & Schmicks. Thanks gigi for babysitting and taking such good care of Lola these past couple of weeks, she misses you already.
Lola gives gigi proper good-bye kisses.

Lola loves talking care bears

Lola got to visit her Aunt Kathy who happens to have super fun toys for her granddaughters Anna & Kate. Unfortunately Lola didn't get to see Anna & Kate this time but she did get to play with all of their fun toys! She especially loved singing songs with this care bear!
Click here for some more photos from our trip to Illinois.

second generation twin cousins excel in being super freakin cute!

Lola and her twin cousin Celia got to spend a lot of quality cousin time this past week! The girls have so much fun together!!! Here are a few more pictures from their photo shoot at Grandma's house. The last photo includes the first generation of twin cousins.
Enjoy!

Clone Troopers Invade Home

"A weapon they are. Obey orders without question for good or ill. For now they fight for us. Who is to say what the future holds?" -Yoda

We had a bit of a scare last weekend when we were invaded by clone troopers. They took over the house, ran around like lunatics and were super loud. Thank goodness for Lola, my sweet little girl to the rescue! She's not afraid of dumb clone troopers!

The Rabe family blows through town!

Jim, Maureen & the girls were in town for a short visit last weekend. It was so much fun having them over!!! Click here for photos from their visit.

Mujadarra is f-ing AWESOME!!!

While visiting Toledo we met my BFF Amy & Mrs. L for lunch at the greatest restaurant EVER, Tiger Bakery!!!
Lola got her usual... mujadarra (a lentils and rice side dish). After lunch she took it upon herself to walk behind the counter and personally thank the nice Middle Eastern woman for the greatest food on the planet!!!!
For real, it is the best. I want to live there.

Lola wins!

Lola totally wastes Olivia in a serious game of air hockey!
Lola got to spend an afternoon with Sarah & Olivia when we visited Toledo a couple weekends ago. Aaron and I had things to do so the girls were nice enough to babysit her! Sarah, who I understand HATES poopy diapers, got to change 2 of them that afternoon. Good job Sarah and you didn't even faint!

Below Lola demonstrates how to properly attach a hair clip.


Lola had so much fun!! Thank you Sarah & Olivia for helping out!!!
We love you!!!
xoxo

Thank you Rowan for introducing Lola to the greatest show ever!

Lola would like to thank her good friend Rowan for introducing her to Yo Gabba Gabba, pretty much the greatest kid show ever!!! There is nothing odd or bizarre about this show, it's straight up fun for everyone! We all, including gigi, find the tunes catchy. Come on gigi, admit it, you'll be taping this show when you go back to heavens waiting room (aka Florida).

Rowan came over for a visit on Tuesday. The kids had fun pushing each other around in our free (if you spend 100 bucks at Babies R Us) umbrella stroller. Lola tends to get a little impatient while pushing Rowan. He just sits back wondering what is going on with this crazy ride. He is very polite and doesn't holler at his driver.
See below....


Unlike Lola, Rowan keeps his cool when it's his turn to drive. He's a good driver and can get himself and his passenger out of any corner. Unfortunately for Rowan he has a bossy passenger who is demanding he get her out of the kitchen and back in front of the tv so they can watch Yo Gabba Gabba.


Check out a post about King Rowan and Queen Lola at The Daily Squink.


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Aunt Jemima head gear not so Jemima-y

In a tribute to everything pancakes & syrup I put Lola into this dress with matching Aunt Jemima head gear. The goal of making my daughter look like the syrup Queen failed as she looked so freakin baby girly cute in the head gear and dress. Not that Aunt Jemima wasn't cute or sweet but she wasn't Lola cute although she may have Lola beat in the sweet department. Not that Lola isn't sweet but that whole syrup thing... I'm going to stop now.

Happy Birthday GiGi!

Lola had a busy weekend celebrating her Gigi's birthday! Her cousins Emma and Grace were also in town visiting. Grace and Emma had the important job of decorating the birthday cake. It turned out fabulious! Gigi was so happy! Next weekend we celebrate Gigi & Mimi's birthdays together with Ethan & Celia. Should be crazy fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! We love you and we thank you for EVERYTHING you do for us!!!!
You are the best!!!

Love,
Emilee, Aaron, Ian & Lola
Bruce & Runner too!