A Tale of a Monkey and her Banana

Here it is folks. Halloween 2008--Riley wanted to be a monkey. Zoie was a banana....Riley HATES getting her picture taken, so this is the best I could do. I couldnt find a monkey costume to fit Riley, so I sewed her one...it's quite ghetto-fabulous....enjoy the pics while I go enjoy the stash of candy Riley has brought home....She is about to take a bite out of her monkey in this picture...

OBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After TONS of this:

and WAAAAAAYYYY too much of this:

We finally have ALL of these (7 to be exact):

Watch out Brasil, here we come...

Never a dull moment

I was quite the complainer when I was little. I would ALWAYS tell my mother that I was BOOOOORED. Her response every time was "Shea, there is no such thing as being bored. There are only boring people."

I am happy to say that I am cured from my bored aliment. I, however, could still very well be a boring person...but because of these two fiesty girls, I am, never, ever bored....

Halloween Hoo-ha and Goblin Goo

Who doesnt love to eat fatty food and play with pumpkin slime? Monday night we decided to invite some friends over for a pumpkin carving party. We ate some frito schma, let the kiddos decorate sugar cookies and carved pumpkins! Riley was also thrilled about the "Goblin Goo" I made to drink...all it was was lime sherbert and 7-up...but she is convinced that I am now the coolest mom ever....10 points for me! Zoie just enjoyed being held and loved on the entire night. It was a nice night....now time to plan the next little party...Neils, next time we will plan it on a night when you dont have to study! Sorry!!

Make the mental note--marry a foriegner...

Being that I married a wonderful man from a wonderful country...I get the joy of having to try to get visas, dual citizenship, and LOTS of passports....and by joy I mean, no fun at all. HOWEVER...I can't complain this time.
We are planning a most wonderful trip to Brasil early next month, so I had to get Riley's visa. When I applied for my visa I just sent in the paper work and viola! There it was...APPARENTLY times have changed in 2 years. The Brasilian consulate no longer accepts visa applications by mail, we had to appear in person!
Well, the closest consulate happens to be in L.A.--So I packed up the 2 girls and treked down the 4 hours to L.A.--my thought was DARN, I guess I'll just HAVE to stay a few days and visit my beloved friend Pam, go to the beach, and eat lots of good food...(what a drag huh? moohaha)

Sooo, we stood in line for the consulate for about 1.5 hours, and then spent the next 3 days enjoying beautiful sunny California.
BONUS! My brother and his lady Alyssa were down for a friends wedding, so we were lucky to see them too! It was quite the fantastic weekend, we are just bummed Berns didnt get to join us...Next time babe! But thanks for being from Brasil so that I HAVE to do things like this :)

LOOK WHO DECIDED TO SHARE!!!

Riley has decided that her pool can now be a treat for the entire family!! So, we all got decked out in our lovely swim suits...(I spared you all the full body image picture) and got in the "pool" for a nice dunk. I must admit, it's quite nice on an extrememly hot day to sit in cool water and not have to actually swim...I'm kinda diggin the "cold tub"...so, now that we can all partake of Riley's toy, who's coming over?

WHOA TURBO, slow down...

Our little Zoie Monster has decided to grow up too fast. I'm not sure where she got the crazy idea that this was ok, but nonetheless, she decided to do it. She is now 5 months old and has decided that rolling around is no longer enough. She is trying with all her might, mind, and strength to crawl....it's looking a bit like a seal out of the water. We are loving every minute that we have with her...just not real sure who told her that its ok to get big so fast.... Graduation from Bumbo to an actual high chair!!
Although, she is still a tad bit short for her high chair...she can barely see over the tray.

Toes are a delicious treat.
Trying soooooooo hard to lift herself up so she can crawl.

Sweet, happy, healthy girl...what more can you ask for?

Nothin better than a hyenia cackle....

So, apparently Zoie thinks my "hyenia/witch/I'm crazy" laugh is hysterical....We just thought this was too precious to pass up...