GIADA & JUNGLE ISLAND

We got tickets to the South Beach Food & Wine Festival family event at Jungle Island this past Saturday.

 Sammy sat very still and had her face painted to match her sister!

 The main reason we went, was to see Giada De Laurentiis. She did a demo with questions and answers, followed by a book signing and pictures.

Unfortunately, Miami parents are rude and Jungle Island didn't do a good job of controlling them or their parents. About a 1/4 of the audience left early when they explained the pictures would be happen afterwards at the book signing. People were letting their children run up and down. It was embarrassing for Miami. 

 Joey loves The Barefoot Contessa and Giada. When I asked her who her favorite was, she said Giada because she's prettier and Daddy likes her better!

 Joey petting a Joey.

 Jungle Island is really well done. It is a nice place to visit. It's just that the regular admission is to much. They do have specials throughout the year so keep an eye out for a $10 day. 

 The Parrot Bowl bird show is really cool. They have the only trained Cassowary (think ostrich like) in the world!

 Someone was wore out!

PEE IN THE POTTY!

Sam goes pee pee in the potty 2 to 3 times a day. 
Yes, I said Sam.
I'm not doing the full on "Elimination Communication" thing. 
I didn't do it with Joey and didn't plan to with Sam. 
But Sam just doesn't pee in her sleep. She wakes up dry from almost all of her naps and sometimes in the morning. So one day when I woke her up and went to change her diaper only to find it dry, I stuck her on the potty, just for shits and grins really. And she went pee immediately. 
Sam's schedule is to eat when she wakes up from nap, not before. So when I feed her at 7 AM in the morning, and she goes down for a nap around 9:30ish, I need to wake her up to feed her around 11 or 11:30ish. 
I know, some of you moms out there are thinking "wake up a sleeping baby, are you crazy?" But if not, she'll sleep to much during the day, not eat on schedule, which also means not enough, and would try waking up at night hungry. She has been sleeping through the night since she was 3 months old. My method works well for us.
If I wake her up, she is dry and goes pee on the potty. 
If she wakes before I wake her, then she sometimes pees before I get there.
I plan to roll with this. I've even tried taking her back to the potty a half hour later and she peed again. 
I never could have done this with Joey!

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM

Joey started playing soccer about a month ago. 

She is the youngest and smallest kid in the league. 

Sometimes she looks like she knows what she's doing.

Other times... one could maybe say most of the time, she is standing there looking around.

Part of her dedicated cheering squad!

At the end of the game, they line up and give high fives and then run through "the tunnel" that the parents make with their arms.

  

 She's having a blast! And that's what matters.

 Her first game, was first experience. No practice or anything. She didn't even have a jersey yet.

IS THERE A PROBLEM OSSIFER?

I think, when most men dream about throwing three chicks in the front seat of a corvette, they don't mean this.

I'M FABULOUS!

Sorry, these pictures are about a month old. I missed them somehow. This is the first few days after Sam learned to pull herself up to standing, and began to do it everywhere! And then, immediately after, began to cruise around her crib. (We lowered her crib mattress after this picture)

I seem Paka Rick/Grammy Jo in Sam when she give me that big fat cheeked smile and her eyes disappear. Sammy is a Meyers, Joey is a Craven.

She's awful proud of herself. She will smile at her own accomplishments, even if no one is watching. 

Above, is how she crawls most of the time. It is the "bear crawl", with hands and feet. I would like to see statistics  on whether girls do this type of crawling more. I suspect, because their dresses get in the way. 

  You see that smirk?

Sing Justin Timberlake in your mind with me... "Just look at that body, just look at that body... I'm sexy and I know it!"

MOMMY, YOU LOOK LIKE A ...

I was fixing Joey's hair, getting ready to go somewhere, and was concentrating on what I was doing, because doing hair is not my forte.

Joey: "Mommy, you look like the monkey from TOY STORY 3."

Mommy: (long pause, shocked look of disbelief) "What do you mean?"

Joey: "You're moving your eyes from side to side but keeping your head still like the monkey does when he's watching the TVs before Woody comes in and surprises him and he screams and bangs and the put tape on him."

Mommy: "Oh." (relief and amusement) "That makes sense I guess."

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

VOLDEMORT WON

The new "M" from the latest Bond, "Skyfall."