Love the hair

Yesterday Gigi climbed onto my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered, "Mommy, I think we should buy some new carpet."
"Where do we need new carpet?"
"Oh upstairs."
"Why did you pee on the floor?"
"No."
"Are you sure."
"Yes."
Later that same day. Mr. Pond returns to find two smashed tomatoes in the carpet in Gigi's room. Oh that's why we need new carpet. Gigi is always tending to the garden, and finding new uses for tomatoes.

It's summer, and its way too hot outside. I had my kids read this afternoon, after swimming lessons. Ford and Gigi ended up snoozing instead. Ella, I'm not sure how, but she managed to read her 5 book requirement so should could go play with cousins.

We have been renovating our house. What started out as oh we'll just replace the carpets has now turned into oh we need to fix the roof, replace part of the wall, paint all the walls, and put up new baseboards, oh and while we're at it lets put new tile in the bathroom. So this summer is not lacking excitement, but the kids are dying for some sort of vacation. Lucky for Ford he gets to go flying with Grandpa, and Ella, is looking forward to going to the movies with Grandma.

(Gigi in her new swimsuit and the new floor)

I'm hoping to have our house back to normal by Christmas, I put that as Mr. Pond's deadline so I will be pleasantly surprised when he finishes everything before school starts. (wink, wink).

Ford earned his orange belt at the end of June. It was cool when he kicked two boards in half.
and Ella's excitement for July, she was lucky to catch a stuffed animal at the fourth of July parade.

So today I was upstairs and I heard a cry from downstairs (my bedroom specifically). "Mom. I poop. Gross." So I ran downstairs to find Gigi on the changing table trying to change her own diaper. It's definitely time to teach Gigi how to use the potty.

So in our Halloween efforts,I did stand in line on Halloween to score $1 costumes at Old Navy.

"mouse"
Gigi loves these hamsters. She packs them everywhere, and seems to panic when one of the twins is missing. She calls them "mouse" she also calls coco puff (that's our hamster) mouse.

Simple Pleasures

Mmm cookies & milk, something everyone enjoys at any age. Cookies seem to bring some sanity and happiness back and for some reason makes doing homework easier. So we are sure to make time for COOKIES.

Today Ella, Gigi, and I walked down to feed the horses by our house. Gigi calls them CC's (horsies). Ella carefully fed the horse, by extending her arm out as far from her body as possible and holding the apple with two fingers. Mr. Pond has evoked such fear into her that the horse will bite of her fingers, that she takes all precautions. She was so brave and so proud, that the horse had eaten the apple out of her hand (well 2 fingers anyway) and she didn't loose any fingers, not even a nail. Anyways, I did take some pictures but regretfully they are all over exposed. Better luck next time. Gigi and Ella were so happy after feeding the horses, it kind of brought the same result as eating cookies, and I think the horsies were happy too. Enjoy Simple Pleasures.

EggCiting Easter Fun

Weekend Pictures

The kids had fun discovering Layton's "beach". I think it was a little too sunny for these pictures.

Birthday Surprises

Wow!! Ella is 5! We had a fun Birthday weekend full of surprise. On Friday we celebrated Elle's Birthday by taking her and her friends to Build-a-Bear, they were pretty serious, and I think it was more work building those animal friends than play. Her Grandma gave her a hamster, which takes the cake as the best birthday present, followed closely by her mouse shoes.

On Saturday we drove into Gunnison for Great Grandma's Birthday Party, and on the way there, Gigi got here first teeth, that's right she cut two bottom teeth at the same time. Later that afternoon, Gigi took her first step. It was a big day for Gigi. Then that evening Fords first little baby tooth fell out. And as he put it, "the fairy dust made me sneezed" and that's why he woke up in the middle of the night to find the surprise she had left him under his pillow.

the CRAWL

Gigi started crawling the beginning of this week. Well if that is what you would call her scoot. This video was taken this morning. For the last two weeks she was pivoting herself around the room by going up on her arms and then moving her tush around. And the week before that she would just roll were she wanted to go. She has definitely been working on figuring out the CRAWL. She is beginning to pull herself up but her thighs just won't support her for very long, but she's insistent on working them out. Ford & Ella, have really enjoyed watching here reach these milestones. The get so excited when she crawls over to the toy bucket and pulls herself up to look inside at all the toys. It's a life changing event for us all.

Pillow Fight Fun

Gigi

Gigi's Laugh

Well, she was giggling at Ella, and then I tried to film her, and she didn't think Ella was quite as funny the second time around, but she does giggle a little in the video, so here it is, Gigi's first laugh...

Gigi's Spot

Gigi loves the view from her changing table. She could seriously stare at this photo for hours, and she protests when we pick her up, keeping her eyes fixed on the image. She has kept her eyes on this image since she was just a few weeks old.

Adorable

Gigi is growing so fast. I love waking up to the first picture. Lots of fun to see my girls first thing in the morning. Ella usually crawls in bed around 7:00, and then we all get up around 7:30. The second picture is of Gigi the last time I could squeeze her into these 0-3 mo. onesies my sister made for her. They are so cute. This one says sweet pea, but our favorite, onesies had a picture of a fish on it, and it said, "another fish in the pond." The last picture is of Gigi watching TV, sitting on the couch. We all adore her.

On Tuesday, she rolled over for the first time. And I have been trying to catch it on film ever since. Here are my attempts.

Attempt 1 Tuesday Morning, after she had just shown her skills for the first time


Attempt 2, showing the Ford and Ella the roll


Attempt 3, showing Daddy the roll


Well maybe I'll be able to video it today w/o all the tears.

Easter Eggs

Ok, so I wanted to share these pictures a long time ago, but my computer came down with a virus and it has taken me a good 2 weeks to get photoshop up and running again. So without further ado...Easter Eggs.

a Name & a Blessing

Announcing...

Ok, most of you received this in the mail but for those who did not, here is Gigi's birth announcment. Ella adores her new baby sister, she is always checking up on her, and must hold her as often as possible. Ford, loves her too, he always makes sure she is being taken care of.

Meet Georgi

Happy Birthday Gigi!!

The night we came home from the hospital, we celebrated Gigi's Birth, The kids keep saying, "I love my new baby sister." I'm not sure how we've gotten along all these years without her. We have all fallen in love with the new baby!!