Great-Grandma's are the most amazing people!

This week was my grandmother's 88th birthday.  Happy late birthday Grandma!  She is the most amazing woman.  For one week a year she does her best to spend every possible moment with her family.  Even if it means sitting by a campfire late at night in the rain. During that special week in July, I was able to capture some moments of her with her with the monkeys.  You will notice in a couple of the shots that a certain obstinate 2 year old insisted on sitting on the ground instead of grandma's lap.  So my awesome grandma showed my little monkey how much she loved her by getting down on the ground with her.  No one could ask for a better grandma than ours.  We love you!

Last Minute Trip

I finally have a great reason for my missing posts. Last week me, the monkeys and my mom took a little surprise road trip to see Grandma Pauline. It was a very last minute trip. The kind that involved being on the road within 6 hours of deciding to go. I learned that I can pack and load the car in less than 3 hours. Pretty good when travelling with two 1 year olds for a week. We left on Monday night and showed up Grandma's doorstep about 20 hours later. I think she was still in shock when she went to bed that night. It was a good week, although no visit ever seems long enough. The monkeys sure love their Great-Grandma and I do too!

Nana Banana is her name.

Despite my mom's best efforts, grandma is not in the monkeys' vocabulary yet. It's just not a word they feel compelled to say. I have encouraged her to try nana for many months to no avail. Until a few weeks ago that is. She was feeding the monkeys a banana, as she often does, and was trying once again to teach them grandma. I told the girls to call her Nana Banana. They both looked at her laughed. She is now officially Nana Banana. They aren't saying it yet, but they look at her and smile every time they hear it.

I told you she likes you!

My brother came in last week for my mom's surgery and has been staying with us to help out. The helping out part hasn't gone as well as he would have liked because the monkeys haven't wanted him to hold them. Isabella has gone back and forth between crying and being happy around him. Most of the time when he tries to pick up Caitlin she starts screaming. He keeps saying that he thinks she hates him. I keep telling him that she doesn't hate him, she has just been off this week because of me being gone so much over the weekend. So tonight Sean picked up Caitlin and she let him hold her for awhile. She even liked it. See Sean, I told you she doesn't hate you!

Answered Prayers!

All of our prayers over the last week have been answered. My mom is home today and is doing marvelously well. No paralysis, most likely no cancer. Almost all feeling has returned to her feet and legs. We could not have asked for a better outcome. Now she just has to figure out how she is going to make it through the next month without being able to pick up the monkeys. So far it is just as hard on them as it is on her. They don't understand why grandma won't pick them up or play with them. Hopefully this next month will pass without too much trauma for them.

Prayers for my mom.

Today is going to be a big day for my family. Please send any thoughts and prayers you can spare to my mom. She is having a long and scary surgery that will have a significant impact on her quality of life. We have faith that all will be well, but it is impossible to not be very worried.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Today was the monkeys first birthday! Happy Birthday girls! We had a wonderful day filled with family and friends. Here is a little photo summary of the day.

Patiently waiting for our guests to eat so we can have cake.

Getting closer to cake. We can't wait for our first taste of sugar!

Our personalized smash cakes.

Do you think mommy will notice if I wipe my hand on her pants?

Can I have a birthday cake everyday?

The aftermath.

I can't wait to play with the spider legs.

This butterfly rocks! Whee!

Caitlin

Isabella

I bet I can put this toy to good use.

Almost there.

I told you I could put it to good use!