3 reasons why today is a wonderful day....

1. Even though are kids are sick, they slept through the night peacefully last night. Glorious!

2. George, a beloved semi-father/uncle-figure of mine, brought me a 2 lb. box of See's nuts & chews (2 pounds!) to church today. He said that the nuts are good for me and the chocolate will make me feel better. Amazing!

3. The sun is shining through our front window for the first time since we've lived here. Our neighbors had this disgusting, scragily pinetree in their yard that blocked all of the light from the front of our house. Today, we got home from church and it was cut down. Hallelujah!

I hope your Sunday is wonderful as well!

Coming this October....

Some of you may have heard, but in case you haven't, Baby G #3 (aka Howie III) is coming this October!

We're really excited about this news, even though it means morning sickness, a million doctors appointments, gallons of blood being drawn out of my veins, an EKG (why? I'm not really sure) and the WORST ailment of all, Restless Leg Syndrome (yes, it is the worst, trust me).

Emma is particularly happy to be the bearer of this news. She likes telling her friends that there is a new baby in her mommy's tummy and it might be a boy or a girl, but she hopes it is a girl. Personally, I'm not sure if this family could handle another little girl. Just kidding. Kind of :)

Speaking of the baby's gender, we won't be finding out until it is born. Dylan has wanted a surprise for the last two pregnancies (but, of course, I've gotten my way and found out), so this time, I'm going to give in and be surprised. I really don't like surprises. At all. But, since we already have one boy and one girl, I figure we're pretty much prepared either way. Right?

Well, here's to the next 7 months of carrying mystery baby!

SnOw Fun!

A few weeks ago we were invited to Tahoe with our friends Dan and Jackie. Dan's parents own an awesome house up there and we had an incredible weekend of lounging around, playing in the snow, and sledding down a super fast track that Dan and Dylan made behind the house. Enjoy the pics!

High Fashion

Well, some of you may appreciate how much of a fashionista Emma is, but really, must she dress like this for school?

So BIG!

This little girl started preschool today...

...and she loved every minute of it. She wore semi-matching clothes, let me do her hair and didn't even cry when I left.

Meanwhile, Grady cried. A lot. He didn't know what to do with himself. He kept wandering around aimlessly looking for "Ahhhmaaa." It was a long 2 1/2 hours for the poor little guy.

When Grady and I picked Emma up, she was elated. No, she doesn't know the names of anyone in her class. No, she's not sure what projects they worked on. But, she played on 2 different playgrounds, had cupcakes for someone's birthday, had a snack, and played with glitter and playdough. AND, there's a class guinea pig named Tinkerbell. Basically, it was a perfect first day.

And then on the way home, my heart melted as I looked over my shoulder and saw Emma and Grady, smiling contentedly, holding hands. I guess she's not too cool for us yet!

Great Friends, Good Times

A few weeks back my old college roommate Stephanie, her hubby Dan, and oh so cute little boy Caleb came for a visit. We LOVE it when they visit and wish that we could see them more often than twice a year. We've pretty much convinced Stephanie that they should move up here to the Bay Area, but until we can convince Dan of the same thing, we'll have to live with what little time we have.

Dan and Dylan are both budding amateur photographers (ie, they both own nice cameras) so lots of photo opps were taken. Since we(Dylan and Julie) are totally lazy and have no clue how to edit photographs, enjoy this slideshow from Dan and Steph's blog!

The Super Duper Bowl

Some thoughts about the SuperBowl:

On where to party:

We always go up to Hidden Valley Lake (Middletown, more or less) to watch the game with Dylan's grandparents and family. We eat this incredible cheesy potato cereal casserole and other calorie laden snacks, and watch the game on the big projection screen.

(Donkey Hill Road, the ONLY place to party)

On choosing which team to root for:

I'm pretty sure that the SuperBowl is the only football game either of us watched this year. Since neither of us is a huge sports fanatic, we had to choose our teams based on our own opinions.

Dylan always goes for the underdog. In this case, the Cardinals.

I chose my team based on the psychic powers of our family friends (see proof below):

One year and 4 months ago we received a package in the mail from Bob and Nancy Grieco, our friends from Pennsylvania. Inside the package was a gift for our baby boy: a Pittsburgh Steelers jersey and pants set, size 18m.

Fast forward 1 year and 4 months. The Pittsburgh Steelers happen to be in the SuperBowl and Grady happens to wear size 18m clothing. Hmmmm. A coincidence? No way. The Griecos must posess pshychic powers. There simply is no other explanation.

(G-dub in his Steelers outfit)

On betting:

I owe Craig $10. He spotted me the cash so I could bet in the family pool. Last year, I won the first 3 quarters. This year I won absolutely nothing. :(

(my hard earned money being squandered)

On 3-D vs HDTV:

People spend thousands of dollars each year purchasing television sets that have superior picture quality. Then NBC broadcasts the SuperBowl in 3D. This means that the picture will come in fuzzy and speckled unless you're wearing free 3D glasses that you picked up at your local 7-11 store. Who really wants to sit around for 4 hours wearing cardboard glasses that have different colored lenses? They make your face sweat. They're uncomfortable. My poor husband is blind in one eye so he can't see 3D anyway. Basically, broadcasting in 3D was the dumbest idea EVER!

On the "Star Spangled Banner:"

Every time I watch people sing the National Anthem, I get emotional and teary eyed. I can't explain it. I just do. Hearing Jennifer Hudson's rendition was no exception. She sang beautifully, emotionally, powerfully. I loved it. And then I got home and read an article that said she lip-synced it. Yup, that's right. It was her voice you were hearing, it was just pre-recorded the week prior to the game. So, needless to say, the emotional, heartfelt performance lost a little bit of it's luster for me. I knew it was impossible for her to sing wearing those ridiculously tall heels. Faith Hill's "America the Beautiful" was pre-recorded also.

On how to act like a sports nut, even when you aren't one:

Pretty much everyone at the SuperBowl party was going for the Cardinals. This meant that Dylan had to jump up and yell things like "Hold that line!," and "Where's the flag!?" I on the other hand had to talk trash to the Cardinal fans and scream and yell a lot as the Steelers made one awesome play after another. That's not hard to do when you see the guy in your jersey color intercept the ball and make a 100 yard touchdown run!(dylan faking his enthusiasm while sitting in the ab lounger)

On the halftime show:

Well, I'm not really sure what happened during the half time. We went out for a nice family drive in the golf cart. Emma was driving and it brought back memories of driving in Autopia in Disneylad with her only this time, there was no whiplash or crazy car behind us trying to bump us off the track.(Emma taking her family for a spin on the golf cart)