Brainteaser: Rearrange pictures to show the order in which these were taken today. Good Luck!

simon the sweet

beautiful saturday

Just throwing together the last of the Maui pics for my Mom who turns 39 today...Happy Birthday to an incredible woman!

New Mommy Old Mommy Old Auntie New Auntie

James barely got a crumb of my attention during our 2 week oppurtunity to get to know each other. The trip felt like a whirlwind of whining (Tommy's making his grand entrance into the terrific two's) but not without some memorable windows of kid (and grown-up) fun and relaxation. Holding our beautiful nephew during a few of those windows was a very special feeling that I never want to forget. We really miss him. And on the subject, Heather and Ryan made a real impression on me both as new parents and in their familiar aunt and uncle roles for devoting an evening to taking Emily to the mall to buy her an "extra" Christmas present. For Ryan, this meant strolling James around so us girls could frolic and run into freak'n CHER! Not that Ryan planned on that, since it only means he'll have to hear about it for the rest of his life.

Emmy and her geckos.

My Krystle dolly. Happy 25th Birthday my dear. I have to say, the way you care for your boyfriend despite his many challenges is truly beautiful. Either you just want to look good in comparison or you have the biggest heart in the world. Actually, I'm convinced it's the latter and now I'm not joking. Love you and see you soon.

I'm just too bushed at the end of the day to go through our gazillion Hawaii pics and select my favorite 10 or 20. But I have to post at least one or two a day just for fun. Anything more than that feels like work.

Emily loving the view and me with a pumpkin spice latte in one hand and a, well, you can only guess what kind of cornball thing I want to say next.

Hope you had a special day Sweetheart! Sorry we kinda got the date mixed up until Auntie Heather phoned to wish you a Happy Birthday this afternoon. Could have sworn today was the 11th. Oh well, a firetruck balloon the size of our kitchen and your first taste of icing hopefully helped you to forgive us. We absolutely adore you our sensitive, loving, strong-of-voice-and-will little Tomster. Happy Birthday to you.

Tommy sat quietly disturbed watching Daddy and Emily enjoying the scary, cold, loud ocean while he was stuck with Simon and I in the sand. The whole suntan lotion in the eye thing didn't help things much either. Then, the glorious moment when Steve came bounding toward him from the great blue monster for a hug!

Emily's passion for underwater life has been taken to a whole other level or a "Ho...nutha...lebel" (surely someone reading this watches MadTV?) this trip. She and Steve have been snorkling up a storm and you'd think she'd died and gone to Disneyland every afternoon when she comes back to tell me about the latest fish they discovered. Today they brought along an underwater camera and the pics are going to be awesome! I'm too scared to go without Steve (damn that Jaws, I just know he's looking for me) so I am forced to have a long dreamy nap every afternoon with the boys. I haven't really napped since Simon was born (did I mention I love napping?) so that's what is distinguishing this vacation from homelife. I don't have to use that window of time when they both snooze for housework. Can't much say the housekeeping staff have a great level of respect for me this trip...kinda letting things slide a little. Um, is it bad to throw ALL our clothes ALL over the floor knowing that they'll be folded and piled carefully for me every day?? Or to huck dirty diapers across the room knowing they'll somehow be found and disposed of properly? Or to complain if I find a little sand was missed even though we bring half the beach back into the room and tub with us every day? Or to complain about anything at all while we're here? Likely yes.