Ballerina.

Ellie and her classmates in their little leotards and their little ballet slippers will never killing me dead. They are so tiny and so sweet in their get ups, and I'm so glad that she's learned to like ballet. I only hope that we can find a class we like as much when she isn't going to her Montessori school in the fall.

Adam Says.

The "fun" thing about having a second child is knowing more of what you're in for, and when your kid hits the terrible twos, thinking "oh right, this happened last time, and I hated it then too" versus wondering if your formerly mild manner child had been taken over by banshees. The bad news is that I realize he's going to be a pretty big jerk until he turns four, because three is worse than two.

But it's also funny how the same and different kids are. Adam is nowhere as whiny as Ellie was, but man, is he naughty. He is defiant and naughty in a way that she never was - twice in the past two days he has taken off running the other way when I've asked him to come to me in public. He also enjoys completely ignoring me, like his ears are stuffed with cotton. Ellie generally responded to being hollered at, and time outs worked. Adam just does not care - he does what he wants with a smile on his face, pushing boundaries all the while.

This was his response yesterday when I asked him to come hop in the car. There is also a lot of screaming about how he wants to "cwimb up big boy!" into the car, but he also enjoys climbing in, trying to crawl into the front seat, and then flailing like he's being electrocuted when I'm attempting to strap him down.

It is however, sort of funny when he does whine, because he has more than once answered "NOW!" when I ask him what the magic word is, and when he really wants something, he will definitely tell you "Fwozen songs WIGHT NOW!" The flip side is that he's incredibly sweet about saying thank you, and also will say he's sorry very quickly, whereas Ellie to this day would rather have her toenails torn out than apologize.

My other favorite thing is that back when Adam was nursing, he called milk "newt." This applied to both breast milk and milk from a cup. Everything was newt. And then when we stopped nursing (you know, back when "newt" was broken and all gone) he started calling it milk. Smart boy! However, he insists on calling water "ma." He can say water. If you ask him to say water, he says it perfectly. And the other day I said "Adam, it's called water," and he goes "I say ma!" Well, okay then.

Independence Day.

I know you're all going to be shocked, but our Fourth was just as busy as most weekends are around here! Busy, but also freeing, as St. Gigi took the kids most of the day on the 4th so that Tim and I could get things set up for our party, and so that the kids could get good naps in a quiet house.

They started their day by going to check out the new kids area at the YMCA. Turns out, they have a splash pad. Gigi didn't know that going in, so didn't have suits. Good thing my kids don't care! Well, Adam cared that he was getting wet, but once he had a rash guard over his clothes, he was fine with it.

Then they went home and swam, lunched and snoozed, and came back with Auntie Sara for our annual cookout with Tim's coworkers. We had about a dozen people here, and it was a great night. We are so lucky to have such a good group of friends and cohorts.

Ellie made a big stink about not wanting to use the sparklers, and was 100% whiny about it, but Adam thought they were pretty great.

Ellie didn't get to bed until 11pm! So yesterday we spent the morning pretty much lazing around and waiting for nap time, and then spent the evening with Sara Jo and Todd and Whitney, who just moved into their new house, And by just moved in, I mean we helped move some furniture and unpack some boxes and build the beds. Then ended the evening letting the kids watch a movie while the parents had a couple of drinks and some take out sushi. It's a pretty good life. I went to bed last night feeling very glad for our great network of friends who feel like family.

Holiday Weekend!

Tim and the kids went over to swim in Mimi and Poppy's community pool this morning, so I did what any Real Housewife of Orange County would do and spent two hours mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges and cleaning the patio so that we'll be ready to have our Fourth of July party tomorrow. I have decided that if I had a tree trimming business, it would be called "T-Rex Arms Tree Trimming" and the logo would be me, standing on a chair with the extended clippers, still wishing I had another three inches so that I could cut the branch that I really wanted to get. Hire me! I do a mostly crap job!

We've had a pretty quiet week this week. The weather hasn't allowed for tons of pool time at Gigi and Grizz's, sadly. The other day our big fun was going outside to do some finger painting in our undies (I wore a dress)

They finished their projects by mashing all of the colors around, and then we went out front to water the plants and clean their hands. Fun for everyone!

Yesterday Jolie and the girls came up for the morning and lunch, which was a blast. Ellie, Nina and Thalia are less than a year apart, and as they get older, they play together really well without adult supervision. Which is basically the dream of all parents - go play by yourselves! Adam is pushing out his last two molars, so was a nightmare, but the girls were great! Ellie was so excited that they arrived wearing Disney Princess dresses, and immediately she changed into her Elsa dress. They ended the party though, all changing into various Elsa dresses. We have:

John Glen, Summer Elsa (Nina), Coronation Day Elsa (Elles) and Winter Elsa (Thalia.) And then the play date ended with four tired, hungry kids sobbing about various and sundry reasons. That's how you know they had a good time!

Little Butterfly.

Oh our Adam. Lest you think I am joking about how much this kid loves butterflies, I give you the following:

Some little boys know everything about trucks. Some know everything about dinosaurs. Adam loves him some butterflies. And buzzy bees and other bugs too.

It was a weekend of wedding stuff for me and mom and Sara. We all went to a bridal shower on Saturday afternoon for one of our neighbor friends, and then after dinner, went up to an ice skating rink in Lakewood for Judy's wedding reception/post elopement party. And it was a blast! Sara and mom did great, especially Sara, after not being on skates since we moved to California almost two decades ago. She only fell a couple of times, but we all had fun using the little seals that they provided for new skaters.

Blurry because I was pushing mom SO FAST!

And lastly, we found our Griffin friend Hobson on our walk yesterday. One of our fave dogs.

Binny Pigs!

Library story hour is on hiatus, but no worries, the binny pigs are always available on demand.

Especially if you are queen of the piggies!

Always a fun Tuesday with Mimi activity, with bonus trip to Rubys, and Adam coming home with almost a dozen kernels of corn stuck in his diaper and jeans after a long time spent rolling around in the corn box.

The kids continue to be absolute swimmy fishes in Gigi and Grizz's pool. This week we got out pool noodles and also inner tubes and basketballs. Ellie wanted to sit in a tube to shot hoops, and I told her that I'd hold the inner tube so that she could sit back into it... but her butt's too small and she immediately went straight through. It was pretty hilarious, poor thing. Grizz is never happier than when the kids are enjoying the water. And I like to think that his Grandpa Boo, the one and only Elmer George Washington Thiel, would love to hear that when Adam gets out of the car, he immediately says that he is going to run inside and "boo Grizz!"

Busiest Weekend.

Uff! Even for us, who tend to pile up the fun on weekends, this weekend was a doozy. The kids had their make up swim lesson on Saturday morning from 9-9:30, then a break, and then their regular lesson from 10-10:30. No one else showed up for the make up, so both kids got private lessons! Then they refused to leave the pool during break and hung through the second swim lesson.

After ninety minutes of swimming, they came home to a house full of people, as I'd offered to host a bunch of my old coworkers from the Petersen Automotive Museum for lunch. It was a trip - we haven't all been together since 2008, and back them we were a bunch of dumb, young married couples. Now everyone has kids. Marylene and Mike, who were secretly dating at the time, are MARRIED and have a baby of their own! It was so crazy and so fun. There were a couple of big girls for Ellie to play with (lots of fun dress up in her room) and a couple of toddler aged boys for Adam to go in the wading pool with, and the adults enjoyed eating and day drinking. It was much like old times, except there were a ton of kids and no one threw up. The youngest friend was three month old Cyrus, and Ellie offered to his mom that when she grows up, she can take care of baby Cyrus, if Christy wants to drop him off at Gigi and Grizz's house (which is where Ellie intends to live while she's working at her art store.)

The kids until in until 2, and then we all took naps. When they woke up, it was off to the fairgrounds for Tim's company picnic. They always do a really nice job of providing entertainment for all ages. The only bummer was that the kids had to wait in line for the bouncy castle and it immediately collapsed on them. Thankfully, everyone was fine and they were able to get it re-inflated, and thankfully for us, Ellie recovered from that disappointment by going to look at all of the animals on the farm. She had a great evening - loved the bumper cars, ate some corn, and got a fancy cupcake. When she dropped part of it on the ground, you better believe I just picked all of the grass off and gave it back to her. No pie eating contest, so I retain my crown for another year.

Then Sunday morning both kids woke up unnecessarily early, but at least we had plenty of time to prep for Father's Day brunch with Pa (thankfully, they let their own dad sleep in a little.) We had a good spread, and the kids enjoyed having their family around. Tim's wish was to go see a movie with his little gal pal and his dad, and Jake and Mimi came along too for them to all see Inside Out. Meanwhile, Adam and I took some very long, much needed naps. When I heard Tim come home, I was totally confused and thought it was morning, or that someone was breaking into the house.

Our evening was spent celebrating with Grizz. The kids both enjoyed a good dip in the pool. Ellie was so funny and cute. I watched her swim across the pool, flipping onto her back and paddling when she got tired, and then as she climbed out she said "hello, I'm Mrs. Mermaid!" Indeed she is. That kid is an absolute fish (and her brother is close behind her on fish status. His problem is he lacks the body fat to keep him warm for very long.) The kids helped Gigi and Grizz make pizza from scratch, and then ended the evening outside blowing bubbles and rescuing rolly polies from the concrete. A full life for everyone! I was so glad to climb into bed last night, and so glad that the kids slept in until a decent hour this morning. Summer time is crazy fun!