The Godfather Post

My mom took these pictures and said they reminded her of that scene from the Godfather. You know the one I'm talking about. Vito Corleone gives the 3 year old kid the pesticide sprayer full of DDT or some other carcinogen of the sort. The kid runs off to spray the fruit trees in the garden. Then the Godfather has a heart attack while eating said fruit.

This Lil Piggy

I've been lovin Kira's pigtails lately so I thought I would try some out on Baby O. We still have a ways to go but I think she can still pull it off.

Where's Waldo - Goodwill Style

As I mentioned previously, we get a lot of hand-me-down clothes from the Roberts family. Last week we received the latest sizes (both for Niko and Olive) and I decided I needed to get everything organized before my trip to Vegas. I mean, it would be so simple if I could just follow the ages labeled on the clothes...but of course Nikos still fits into the shorts for 12-18 months (and some 6-12!) for his waist size, but then the pants in these sizes are too short. Ah, fun stuff.

In order to help justify why it took me so long to get everything put away I took these pictures to show Taki.

Tell me my house doesn't look like a Goodwill dropoff here?!

Nikos plays Where's Nikos in the kids' bedroom.

Tennis Balls and Beach Balls

A few weeks ago we gathered at my parents' house for my Dad's birthday.

Mel's creative tennis cupcakes (didn't take a picture of my contribution of peach mojitos...)

Mel and I take advantage of the fact that the littlest cousins (minus Olive) still (occasionally) listen to us when we give orders, and arrange a photo shoot.

For Nikos' birthday, Brooke gave him a fun beach ball that acts as a huge sprinkler. We brought it out to Antioch to try it out.

By looking at the box and realizing the purpose of the giant beach ball, Mason and Maile refused to stand next to it when we turned it on. Being the mean mommy that I am, and taking advantage of Nikos being oblivious, I had him hold the ball while Vernie hit the water.

Which, of course, resulted in this as a preferred distance from the ball.

Mason and Maile get a little brave...

In order to get Nikos back into the action I had to take matters into my own hands. Serves me right.

Did I mention it was not the usual Antioch 100 degree summer temps, but maybe around 70?

And finally, Mason gets Nikos to try it again.

Mason is a big subject in our house right now. Most of Niko's clothes are hand-me-downs from Mason so now when I dress him he only wants to wear "Mason's shoes" or "Mason's shirt." Cute.

And somehow I ended up with no pictures of the Birthday Boy. Boo Heather. I know Mel took some so you will have to pop over to her blog to see if she posted them yet.

Vote for Tyke's Photo in Photo Contest

So we entered Taki's Aruba Chairs pic in a photo contest on our photographer's website and it got selected as on of the Top 5. Wahoo! Vote for it and we can win a fab prize - click here and then scroll to the bottom and click on "X people are LOVIN this post." Taki's photo is #2.

Kira Comparison - Month Three

Here's the three month comparison post with Kira. Hard to tell if they are around the same size but Olive is still winning in the hair category.

And I had to include this one for U. Ray and Krassy - don't you love her roosta'?

Fearless Flyer

Saturday afternoon the Cecchins stopped by for a visit and we walked down to Aquatic Park so the kids could burn off some energy.

Nikos and Marco had a blast going down the big slide. Here are a few cute shots Sarah captured.

Notice that she missed the shot of me diving halfway down the slide (not an exaggeration) to prevent Marco from getting a concussion when he seriously just started walking down the TALL slide. The kid has no fear.

We rounded out the park visit with some time on the swings.

After the park we enjoyed a fab dinner alfresco at Picante. Delicioso!

T-Ball Games and Broken Gloves

Saturday morning I loaded the kids into the car and we made the drive out to Brentwood to watch Mason's t-ball game.

It was really cute to watch a bunch of three year olds attempt to field the balls coming their way. It was a little bit of a free-for-all but it seemed like they were all having a great time.

Nikos and Kira watching the action.

Mason waiting for the coach to t up the ball.

As soon as the game was over and Mason tossed his glove on the ground (so he could join the team high fives) a little glove thief pounced on it.

Said thief was a little bit confused with the left handed glove, and attempted throwing the ball with his gloved right hand. (See attempt below.)

(He later told me the glove was "bwoken." Of course, when we read his Killer Whale book he also tells me that the whale is broken. I think that he thinks the white part of the whale is the "broken" part.)

After tossing the ball around Nikos and Maile ran the bases (she is the blond blur at the top of the picture.)
And for those that come to the SI Alumni Game, tell me that is not the exact same form that Taki has while he is "running" the bases. I tried to dig up a picture for comparison and couldn't find one. Must be because he is too quick for my camera.

Calmness to Chaos in Three Hours Flat

Last Friday Gina and Jack drove down from Sacramento to join Nikos, Sarah, Marco and I at Habitot. While it isn't the ideal place for adults to catch up and visit (with our kids separating and bouncing back and forth between all of the activities) the kids did have a blast.

Nikos works diligently on a new masterpiece while Jack and Marco explore different parts of the museum.
The grocery store and diner (not sure if this has ever been featured on the blog since food-phobic Nikos doesn't spend so much time in there.)

Still painting...
Jack tows Marco around with the John Deere from the farm display.

Nikos wraps up his painting.

After the kids were played out we scooped them up and walked over to Jupiter where we enjoyed a delightful lunch on the patio. While lunch was a little too chaotic to capture a picture of all of us together, I did get this one of Sarah occupying Jack and Marco while we paid for the check.

Apparently I was occupying No-Nap-Nikos by teaching him how to throw plates - well, one plate anyway. Have no fear, it was empty and didn't break and everyone out on the patio was already well aware that we were all out there, so it didn't cause too much commotion.

Three Months - And Already Forced to Share the Spotlight

Thursday the 11th was Olive's three month birthday. Here's the only shot I got with Olive and Opa Taki Bear, since afterwards Nikos snuck into the shot. (He must have got this idea from Camryn Spriggs!)

Not a great shot, but check out Olive. Hee hee, look on her face cracks me up.

I think they thought that I had turned off the camera for this one - because I obviously caught a photo of their secret handshake.

Take That HGTV

Yesterday I bravely decided to embark on a home improvement project again. Those of you that are loyal readers may remember the last time that I tried this ended with a drill bit broken off into the wall. Whoops. To be fair I did then try to hammer the drill bit into the wall and just use that to hold up the picture frame, but that didn't work out so well.

Despite the fact that the IDIOTS - Hangman Products - that made the wall mounting bracket printed their name and logo upside down - as in, when you hang the mounting bracket the correct way all of their information is upside down. What? Yeah, I know. I only realized this after I hung it - with the company name printed right side up (and therefore legible) and tried to affix the shelf. No go. Argh. Did I mention I also dropped two of those tiny bubble levels behind the couch? This is why people hire people to do this sh*t.

Please enjoy some pictures of my successful project. And no I will not tell you how long it took me. It is the final outcome that matters.

Now I just need to replace that obnoxious speaker with a teeny Bose one.

Solo Roadtrip

On Friday I loaded the kids into the car for our first solo road trip. One of my good friends from high school, Jennie Slinger, lives in Newhall, CA - just past the Grapevine. Jennie has a son that is about two months older than Nikos and she is due with twins later this summer. Since I had some time off on my hands I decided to drive down for a visit before the twins arrive.

The car ride itself wasn't too horrible. The kids took turns sleeping and I had to stop a few times to feed/pacify them but we still made the trip in about six hours.

Here are some fun shots from our weekend.

Bubble Machine!

Bath time

Playing with new toys we picked up at a garage sale.

In case you thought I left her at home...

Nikos and Zach had fun playing baseball in the backyard and Nikos took a small spill on the cement while running the bases. Here he shows off his bruises.

Zach and Nikos test out the double stroller before the twins arrive. To make things more legit we made them wear little twinsy hats. Astute blog readers will note Nikos grubbin on a cracker from the fan favorite Starbucks Fruit and Cheese plate.

Climbing trees at the park.

Despite the fact that for some bizarre reason Nikos woke up at some ridiculous time in the morning (and acted like we were waterboarding him during naptime) the weekend was fabulous. It was so fun to catch up with Jennie and great to see our kids playing together. Can't wait to meet the next two little Press kids!

The drive home Sunday was a little more brutal, I had to pullover multiple times to get Olive her pacifier and Nikos puked up his entire lunch when we were about 20 minutes from our house - poor kid! Of course, we still made it in under 7 hours so I can't complain too much.