Please, Gramma stay forever!

My mom arrived almost two weeks ago to help Cody with the kids while I spent a weekend away in NYC. (I will blog that later once I get all the pictures.) I really appreciate her willingness and availability to help. The kids always enjoy having anyone visit and especially one of their fabulous grandmothers. Here's mom taking some blurry shots of the girls. It is no easy task to get these two to sit still.

Gramma took lots of shots of Hazel while I was gone. Such a bright eyed cutie. But don't let this innocent look fool you. Hazel it turns out has a stubborn streak. This little lady REFUSED to take a bottle the whole three and half days I was gone, despite all the pumped milk I had stockpiled for her. And despite the five different kinds of bottles Cody kept buying and trying in a desperate attempt to feed his daughter. So eventually, my mom and Cody shoveled bowl after bowl of baby cereal and food into her and used a medicine dropper to get milk in. Needless to say she gained about two pounds since her last check up. The nurse at the pediatrician's office suggested I not go anywhere again till she's weened. Ya think?!

The first bar-b-que of the season.

Proof of the food shoveling.

I got a text from Cody while I was standing in line for something in the city, it read, "Just finished make overs with Pepper. We're VERY fancy." It is hard to tell in this photo but he has some makeup on his cheeks and lips.

I guess it easier to see the make up with no stubble on your face.

Such a character this one!

Morgan proudly displaying the clown he made for his school carnival.

Discovering rainbows on feet is always exciting.

Honestly, how could anyone leave this face? I swear I won't do it again...at least for a while...heehee.

Mom and I are in full party planning mode for Pepper's birthday this Saturday. Here's Pepper sporting an array of goodies from the consignment store.

Last Saturday, Cody got some free tickets from work to a Cleveland Indians game. We decided to make a family affair of it. The kids were super excited and actually did pretty well despite a missed nap and lack of seats for everyone (some of our tickets were in a different section so we all squeezed in behind first base.)

They were all smiles as long as we kept feeding them.

Hazel happily sat with Gramma, ate some baby food and then fell asleep. Pretty much sums up the character of this little one. Now, if she would just stop thrashing about in bed and feeding twice a night we would be in perfect bliss. I'm thinking it is about time she gets her own room...maybe.

Cody, the kids and Slider.

The weather has turned a little yucky the last little bit but on Tuesday we had a bit of sunshine that warmed things up. This week is Morgan's spring break so we have a lot of time to spend together with Gramma. Unfortunately, we've been spending most of it running errands (we did a major shopping trip to Ikea last Friday) and organizing the house but we did manage to have a little picnic on the front yard while Hazel took a nap inside.

Always good to be outside, especially since I have been painting in the playroom so it has been off limits since Saturday.

Hoodie pals.

After our picnic, when Hazel woke up, we realized all the girls were wearing a different shade of purple. This was totally not planned but funny so we asked Morgan to take our picture. I had to add this one because the girls just look so goofy.

That's better.

Much better.