6 Months

Looks who’s 6 months old!

Oopsie.

Happy half—birthday, sweet boy!

“Together”

Leia went with me to my hair appointment, where there are a lot of big mirrors. “Let’s take our picture together,” she says.

Silly girl. 🤣

Our Life

A day in our life . . .

Donovan only naps if Papa is holding him, and usually for only 30 minutes at a time. When he’s awake, he wants Grandma to hold him and sing silly songs. Good boy.

We made glitter slime this time. 

Colorful sparkles make everything better.

Mended a hole in Leia’s new jacket by adding a patch to the front,

emoji fabric inside and embroidery to pull it all together. She loves it and wants to add a patch to the other side too. Win!

First Halloween decoration is up, made by my pal Debbie. I’m curious to see Jaclyn’s reaction tomorrow. She is adamantly opposed to spiders but these are so cute!

Leia fell asleep tonight with brother Donovan’s favorite lovey. She thinks she’s a big kid but I know different. 💕💕

Slime Girls

Leanne has been begging me to help her make slime for a couple of weeks. I was hesitant - we tried this once before and it was not a success - but the girl is slime-obsessed, so I finally gave in. 

We tried this recipe; it doesn’t require borax, which I refuse to use, and I had all the ingredients on hand.

Success!! Leanne was beyond thrilled. 

I worried that Jac wouldn’t like the damp, slimy texture

but she loved it.

Jac called it her “ice cream” and gave Sissy the “no no no” finger-wag when Leanne tried to touch it. (It’s toward the end of the video. Still makes me laugh.)

Good thing I bought a gallon jug of Elmer’s glue. I think we’ll be making a lot of this.

Space Launch

We remembered, on our way home from an impromptu antiquing trip to Cambria and Arroyo Grande, that SpaceX had a launch scheduled from Vandenberg at 7:20 Sunday night. 

We took the slow back route to Lompoc (via Hwy 1), had a leisurely dinner, then found a parking lot with an unobstructed view and settled in to wait. 

So worth it!!

I know most of S. California could see the rocket’s red glare but there was just something special about watching from less than 10 miles away and feeling the roar from both take-off and landing.

Hubby is a space nerd and SpaceX fan so seeing this first - successful! - West Coast land landing of the orbital rocket was a big thrill. 

We both can’t wait to go again - and take the grandgirls with us. 

Pumpkin Babies

Mary had a photo-op idea for her mom’s group. I made a pumpkin hat for the babies to wear -

and she bought a giant pumpkin, cleaned it out, cut some leg holes with Pop’s help and voila -

cutest baby photos ever. 

Then it was our turn.

Leanne loved posing with the pumpkin

and with cousin Donovan. 

Jackie?

She hated the whole idea,

even when Sissy tried to help,

and especially when somebody plopped the pumpkin hat on her head. 

Poor baby. (I’m still laughing. Such a bad grandma.)

We tried again today, after Jaclyn had a good night’s sleep.

Much happier baby 

but dang those fingers must taste good. 

I managed a few photos without them in her mouth, 

but she really really liked chewing them today. 

Happy pumpkin season, y’all!

Pumpkin Time

Donovan’s mama asked if I’d make a crochet pumpkin hat, baby-size, for a photo shoot she wants to do with her mom’s group. 

This is the first thing I’ve crocheted in 2.5 years, since I tore a ligament-thingee in my shoulder. 

I think it turned out pretty well, considering how rusty I am. And I can’t wait to see it on sweet Donovan. 

I’m also curious to see how my shoulder feels tomorrow. (Fingers crossed 🤞)

Toddler Times

Introducing Bob

We’ve been thinking about getting a new car for awhile - the lease is up on our SUV in October - so Friday evening we persuaded Leia to go with us to just one dealership before we settled in for the night with dinner and a movie.

The BMW lot was closest, so that’s where we headed. I wanted to test drive the BMW X3, Porsche Machan and maybe one other mid-size SUV before making a decision.

 Waiting patiently while we did the “buying a new car” dance

But plans are made to be broken adjusted, right?? All three of us loved the X3, the salesman was easy-going (he and hubby had former colleagues in common), they had exactly the car I wanted in stock, so . . . .

Meet Bob, a 2019 Phytonic Blue BMW X3 M Class with an Oyster interior and enough gadgets and electronics to keep me entertained for the next 3 years. (The dashboard is a bit intimidating . . .)

Leia was disappointed we weren’t going to additional dealerships - turns out she really likes test drives and that new car smell. However, she settled for naming rights, deciding first that the car was a boy and, second, that he should be called “Bob”. (I vetoed “Percival”. )

I’m going to miss Ladybug, my pretty little Mini Cooper Paceman, but we gotta have more room for bulky car seats and cute grandbabies. 

Anniversary Present

Friday the 21st was our wedding anniversary,

 

 and as we’ve done for the past 6 or 7 years,

the grandgirls got the present

and were allowed to play hookey from school for a day.

 

We asked them where they wanted to go and - shocker! - they both chose Universal Studios over Disneyland**. (!!) 

Our first stop of the day was the Hogwarts ride -

silly us thought the line would be shorter first thing in the morning.

Wrong! This was our second longest line of the day, at slightly more than an hour. We came back just before the park closed at 6 and waited less than 15 minutes*. Yay!!

 
Next up was lunch, the Minions ride,

crazy critters ride - 

I can never remember the name of this one

 
but both girls love it -

 

and then one of both girls’ top 3 favorite attractions - 

 

the water park.

 
(I loved it too -

 
45 happy minutes of sitting in the shade, watching excited girls play).

Leia loves the tram ride - Leanne likes everything on it but the 3D dinosaur fight - so we headed there . . .

The “I’m so bored in this line” selfies.

annnnnnnd straight into the longest line of our day. Their “30 minute” wait - according to their app and ride signage - turned into almost 90 hot, miserable minutes of shuffle-forward-turn-another-corner. We had less than 10 minutes left in line when they finally turned on the mist cooling system. Um, thanks guys?

Notice Leanne’s white-knuckle grip on Pop’s arm 

At least it gave the girls time to dry off

and we really, really enjoyed sitting down once we reached the tram.

 
We finished up with “can I have a present, pleeeeeeeeeeeeese, Grandma” shopping. 

Leia got a giant cupcake (shhhh, don’t tell her parents); both girls got a chocolate wand;

and Leanne found Purplebud, her newest stuffie, which included a sweet adoption ceremony at check-out.

All in all, a very good day. Happy Anniversary to us and see you again soon, Universal!

* The Hogwarts ride broke down while we were on it the first time, leaving us suspended sideways in our seats, and scaring Leanne to tears. So proud of her facing down her fear and deciding she’d go on the ride again before we left. And she enjoyed it! Hooray!!

** Dear Disneyland, please bring back the Elsa and Anna Boutique in Downtown Disney. My girls **love** it and its loss was the deciding factor in their picking Universal Studios over Disneyland.