Mo' Faux Birthday

Matea requested dinner at Red Robin for her birthday. This was totally random since she's only eaten there once and it was quite a while ago.

First, she pre-partied on the way to her dinner. Doesn't she look comfortable?

Then she dined on her favorite appetizer, mozzarella sticks.

Had her first experience with a restaurant birthday song. Total deer in the headlights. When they walked up clapping, she immediately looked behind us to figure out where they were going.

Lastly, she chose to lick her sundae instead of using a spoon because it was her birthday and she could do whatever she wanted.

Happy Faux Birthday Matea!

I had to wake up baby girl this morning so she could see her present before papa left for work. It's a Go Diego! "motorcycle"!

She fueled up with some breakfast birthday cake and then hit the road.

She was really excited about it and especially loves all of the music and sounds.

She's still getting the hang of pedaling so Bella's there to help out.

First Day of Summer School

Here are the outfits they picked out...

Ok, not really. But I did drop them off at Steve's work dressed like this on Monday.

I had them pick out their clothes the night before and was nice enough to let them pick one outfit from their new back-to-school stuff if they wanted to.

Tatey still isn't sure about the whole school thing. I had to sneak out yesterday and today she seemed dead set on leaving with me again. So, it looks like sneaking out may be the routine for a while. Her teachers say she's great at school and that Bella is being a wonderful big sister. They're always sitting together at the table when the classroom door opens, looking really sweet. Then we walk to the car and the magic of school wears off and they're back to screaming and slapping.

Teaching an Important Life Lesson

Lying.

Matea's birthday is Friday. I requested the day off but didn't get it. I put up a note almost three weeks ago asking someone to take my shift, explaining that it was Tatey's birthday and I'd like to be home to celebrate with my family that night. No takers. So, as it stands, on Friday, I'll be home with the girls all day, drop them off with Steve at 5:00, go to work, see them briefly the next morning and then go to work again. No family celebration.

So, we're bumping up Matea's birthday to the 23rd this year. She'll never know. I'm pretty sure Bella will know and will definitely question us all day and night about it but I'm thinking I'll throw in a lollipop if she can zip her lips on the secret.

So, if you call to wish Matea a Happy Birthday on Friday and she tells you her birthday was the day before, just pretend like she's right.

Tomorrow, I Begin My New Life

All Gonzalezes (or is it z'?) under the age of 18 will be in summer school. I'll be home all alone for three hours a day, three days a week, for the next three weeks.

For the grand opening celebration of my new life, I'm going to Walmart to get Matea's birthday gift and won't have to try and hide it in the cart by purchasing a towel or something else we don't need just to cover it. Then I'm going to the local beauty school to get my discount hair cut. Alone. I'll go to the ATM at my bank and not have to worry about finding a spot right on the curb at the ATM so I can leave the kids in the car and be 5 feet away.

The next day, I'm going to make my first solo trip to Costco. I might spend all three of my free hours there.

A New Super Hero

Matea: Bella, do I look like Super Man? (while pumping her chocolate pudding covered fist in the air)

Bella: I think you look more like Pooper Man!



Well done, Bella. Normally, we're very strict about language and potty talk but I was actually quite proud of Bella's wit and play on words.

Little Fish

Somehow, in the space of about a month, Bella has gone from screaming as though she's being tortured when asked to take her swimmies off to casually swimming about the pool all on her own. I always knew she had the skills to swim, she just wanted to be in control (and piss me off) of when and how she did it.

We've been to the pool a few times this week and today she just hopped right in and took off. She looks more like a Golden Retriever than Michael Phelps but now we are confident that if she ever falls into a pool, she can swim to safety and that's all we really care about right now.

Sorry for the very poor video quality. I used my new cell phone but plan to get better video of her soon.

The New Green-Gonzalez Family Truckster

A 2000 Honda Odyssey. Now when grandparents come to visit, we won't have to take separate cars everywhere. We got a really great deal and bought it from one of Steve's customers so we know the car's maintenance history. Both girls are really excited and so is mama.

And I said "Green-Gonzalez" in the title because we recently realized that the girls think we have a hyphenated last name instead of Green being their middle name. As far as they're concerned, we're Steve and Kelci Green-Gonzalez. Too bad great grandpa isn't still here because I'm sure that would bump us to the top of the inheritance list.

4th of July

We went to a friends' neighborhood block party again this year. The girls got to drive around a motorized jeep, play with a parachute, eat lots of treats, and do sparklers in their jammies.

Photography by Bella