can we go for a bicycle ride?

Daddy brought home a very special surprise the other day- Squeege's first bicycle! He LOVES it! My little speed racer zooms around our neighborhood and leaves me and Gracie in the dust.

outdoor fun

Squeege's new favorite activity: sidewalk chalk! Emily brought a bucket full o' chalk, and since then, Squeege wants to draw outside all day long! And, although I might be biased, I think he's really good! The drawings pictured above are his and his alone. He calls them ghosts. I call them masterpieces.

While Squeege is creating his driveway art, Garrett takes the opportunity to indulge in a little outdoor roughage. Pinecones have to be delicious, because both him and Gracie had several of them.

if only this was a habit...

Peace and quiet. Can't get much better than this.

what else have we been doing?

When not saving neglected and abandoned infants, we spent the middle of April at the Verizon Heritage golf tournament. Tons of friends came in town, and we even got to meet Brandt Snedeker, who had finished 2nd in the Masters the week before! We had tons and tons of fun, and we even had our SuperNanny, Emily, watch the boys the whole week. I didn't know what to do with myself! She took care of everything!

where have we been?

We've been volunteering with Feed the Children. We adopted this one because it looked like he hadn't been bathed in months. The drool and snot closed the deal.

I have lost my mind.

On a beeeeeautiful Friday morning, I got a wild hair & decided I was going to take my children, my new puppy, and my sick BFF's daughter to the beach. By myself. "Of course I can do it. How hard can it be?" I thought to myself as I packed everything up. My confidence level began sinking the moment the first tantrum started- in the beach parking lot. I ignored that first warning sign and lugged everyone and everything down to the shore. Thankfully, we saw our friends Andrea, Jonah, Jackson, and Clay. Reinforcements, I thought to myself. Jonah and Jackson, Andrea and Clay's little boys, played with Bella and Squeege in the tidal pools. Andrea and I chased after the 4 toddlers while one of us was holding Garrett and the other was holding Gracie's leash. After about 45 minutes of nonstop, nuclear-level chaos, I raised the white flag and decided to call it a day. After wrangling up my herd and all of their junk, I spent the next 30 minutes hosing two screaming toddlers off in the ice-cold beach showers. So much fun. I wish I could do it every day. I then loaded the naked children up and took them to Wendy's for some chicken nuggets. Hunger crisis averted. We got back home, Squeege hosed off our beach stuff, and then I threw the kids into the bathtub for a more thorough rinsing-off. How did this drag race of a day end? My BFF's daughter Bella pooped in the tub. I laugh now, because it's funny and cute and straight out of an episode of some random family sitcom.

I had originally planned this day as one continuous photo-op. Little did I know that it is a near impossibility to photograph the chaos that I experienced in that one short period of time. This is the only photo I got from that day (and yes, this is Pre-Poop):

Good News Bad News

Good News: We are so lucky to have such an awesome pediatric dental office in our area. The place is amazing! Coastal Pediatric Dentistry is their name, and awesomeness is their game. A movie theater in the waiting room, complete with a flat-screen TV mounted inside a tree, with matching little cushioned tree trunk seats. A Wii for the older kids to play with. A playroom/conference room. Flat-screen TVs mounted on the ceiling so the kids can watch & listen to a movie while they're getting their toofs cleaned. A great staff. What more could you ask for?

Bad News: Squeege has FOUR cavities! I have always known that you're not supposed to put your kids to bed with a sippy cup, but, invincible as I think I am, I didn't think anything would come of it. So for the past two years, I've been giving my son a sippy cup full of CHOCOLATE MILK before he goes to bed. What was I thinking, right? Apparently I wasn't. As a result, Squeege will become a regular at CPD.

Glass is half-full: At least I can watch Alvin & the Chipmunks in the theater while Squeege gets laughing-gassed and drilled. Better bring lots of buttery popcorn.

It's A Girl!

We are so happy to announce the arrival of the newest member of the always-expanding MacGillivray family. Her name is Gracie, and she is a beautiful 9 week old puppy we adopted from Maranatha Farm (BTW- best place in the world to adopt a pet for SO many reasons, including lifetime boarding, vaccinations, and spay/neuter all covered under the $125 adoption fee). She is a veritable smorgasbord of breeds, but she looks mostly like a Lab right now. In the photo above, she must have been having quite the dream, because her legs were kicking around and she was panting. So cute! She has been such a great little pup (knock on wood). Although very puppy-like, she's not at all out of control. She hasn't yet had an accident in the house, and she does great in her crate ("Gracie's cave" according to Squeege). She wears Evan out by chasing him around the house in excited little laps around the kitchen until they both collapse on the floor, so that's another plus to having a puppy around. Despite all the nightmares I heard about raising a puppy, I must admit that she has been a dream! I highly recommend getting a puppy for your kids- they'll both love it!

In the mood to bawl your eyes out?

The video posted below is a documentary of a new parent's worst nightmare. Little Gianni Godoy, the son of Etresia Godoy, who was in our Mothers of Preschoolers group, was born prematurely at only 25 weeks gestation. He died 10 days later. Please view this video with plenty of tissues nearby.