Princess Party

One of the girls friends had a princess party adn both the kids were so excited. Darby went dressed as Snow White adn G waited to pick out a costume when we got there. The both got hair, make-up and nails done. Here is G's final product.

Darby getting sparkle eyes.

The finished look.

Mera didn't get her hair done:(

Then they all danced with Belle.

And did a fashion show for everyone.

G's fashion show was so fast she was a blur.

Bath Time with Mera

There has been an absence of Mera bath pictures on the blog because she and I take a shower together every night. Every now and then I drop in the sink for fun and here she is. It is never too early to start practicing good oral hygiene.

No Mo Dy-dee-do

From Matt Gleason: Georgia, god love her, will be five in April. Still, she's slept with a pacifier since babyhood. It's a part of her. We tried to coax it away from her a few times, but eventually gave up. Last night, though, an opportunity to free Georgia from the crackpipe that is her pacifier presented itself. Somehow, the pacifier went missing. I swear I didn't take it. For quite a while, Georgia's had a standing offer that if she gave up the pacifier, we'd buy her Cinderella on DVD. So in the absence of the pacifier yesterday, we offered to take Georgia to see "Tangled" at the theater. She's been talking about the movie since it came out. It was an exciting possibility for Georgia, because she's never been to a movie theater before ... and she's a sucker for candy. Amazingly, Georgia went to bed without a fight. Of course, she woke around 5:15 a.m. wondering where in the Dora the Explorer her pacifier went. Then she came looking for me in bed at 5:30. I was none too happy, but sacrifices had to be made for Georgia to be dy-dee free.

Later, at the movie theater, me, Virginia, M.J. and Georgia had an arsenal of smuggled candy to eat during the flick, which turned out to be an outstanding movie. Georgia, however, seemed like she wanted to bolt every few minutes. For a kid who once ran screaming from an Elmo movie, it probably wasn't smart to take her to a movie that included: A kidnapping, fatal stabbing, countless scary guys with swords, a near-drowning and an evil witch. Towards the end of the movie, we left the theater altogether. Just before we walked into the parking lot, Virginia asked Georgia if she wanted to go back to the movie. Georgia, surprisingly, did. We got back in the theater just in time for the handsome rogue to get stabbed by the witch. Not cool. But we waited long enough for Georgia to see the princess get her happy ending. Afterward, Georgia said the movie made her, in no particular order: "Happy," "sad" and "scared." I, for one, loved it. So did Virginia. A great date movie, even if the date involved calming a nervous 4-year-old in my lap while my amazing wife nursed a baby for the better part of 90 minutes.

So, in all, it was a very historic day for the Gleason family. Now it's time to bribe Darby to poop on the big girl potty.

Thanksgiving 2010

Captions by Matt Gleason:
A Daddy's dream come true. My girls do love their football, especially baby M.J.

Georgia is such a great helper in the kitchen. She's wrapping potatoes in foil for Virginia's amazing Thanksgiving twice-baked potato casserole. Yum. My favorite.

A little science lesson about turkey innards from Mary Byrne.

I think I was the only one who thought this was gross. The girls loved it.

A family picture sans Darby, who we weren't about to interrupt eating. She's "spirited," as we like to say, when she gets hungry. Man, that Virginia sure is a beauty just like her baby girls.

The Cousins. Blake looks so nice here, but he's a ruthless Blackjack player. And Michelle, well, she's a mean drunk. Just kidding. We always love when Blake and Michelle come to town. Come back soon, guys.

No, that's not a turkey in Kiki's shirt.

The first of many pictures Bob probably wishes didn't end up on the blog.

Baby: The other, other white meat.

Am I the only one unsettled by this?

Put that thing away, Bob! You're scaring the baby.

We were glad when Bob took her tongue out of Billy's ear for this picture.

The return of Rock Star Darby.

Please, no pictures.

Mama's Kitchen Helper

Mera is such a sweet and low key little baby. She is into toys and putting everything in her mouth. She likes to sit in her Bumbo and "help" me cook dinner. She has started vocalizing when she is excited or is chewing on something she really likes. When she sees one of her favorite toys her eyes get really wide-eyed and she starts to shake a little and the very precisely moves her hands towards it as if it might run away were she to move suddenly.

She has not started solids and probably won't for another month or two, but I was chopping green beans the other day and gave her one to gnaw on. Darby and Georgia both scolded me and told me she was not allowed to eat real food. Good thing I've made that clear to them.

Attack of the Tube Worm

Every time Vivian comes to our house we play a fun game called "Tube Worm" where Vivian gets in the girls tunnel and chases them around. I love it because it is one less time during the day that I am being yelled at by the children: they are yelling at Vivian.






Here Matt was playing with the night settings on the camera. It was all the way dark outside.

Liar, liar

From Daddy Matt:

Tonight, when I put Georgia and Darby to bed in the same room, which has been going good now for about two weeks, G showed she's quite the devious one (not that we are surprised).

After I leave their room, I usually sit outside the door and play "Angry Birds" on my iTouch. It's so very addictive and glorious. If you have the means, I highly recommend it. Anyway, Georgia eventually opened the door to tell me, "Daddy, I have a very important thing to tell you." This usually means she just doesn't want to go to bed, but I let her talk. Glad I did.

Georgia continued her very important message by saying, "Mama told me that if I didn't sleep with my di-dee ... (OK, that would be her pacifer, and, yes, we know that she's almost five and that she really shouldn't have one, and, yes, we feel bad about that, and yes, we should have taken it a long time ago but, ugh, you try taking it away from a kid whose dealing with a new baby sister and a Darby 24-7 and, well, she's got hearing aids, and a new school and she's really freaking cute. Sigh.)

On with the story, already in progress .... So at this moment, Georgia is ready to give up her pacifier in exchange for a price: Mama told her Bob and Vivian would take her to see "Rapunzel." (that's "Tangled" to the rest of us) Seemed like a good deal, so I agreed with the deal. Georgia, in turn, plucked the di-dee from her mouth, set it on her toy shelf next to the door, then promptly shut the door on me.

But before I could marvel at how easy it all was, I hear Georgia on the other side of the door tell Darby, who wanted to know what this blasted "Tangled" was, that "Darby, I'm going to go see 'Rapunzel' because I'm not going to sleep with my di-dee...but I'm lying."

Sure enough, she was. And that's OK. A kid needs a vice. I've got plenty myself.

Kiki Shower #1

Aunt Bob, Kiki's sister, Sarah and myself threw a couples shower for and Kiki last night. It was Vegas themed complete with Black Jack and Poker tables. For those who don't know, Aunt Kiki is due at the end of January with twin girls and she is doing (and looks) fantastic. Here she is with Sarah.

Here are the ice cream cakes I made. They do taste as good as they look might I say.



Mera was at the party and did amazingly well for being up so late.

Aunt Bob, Matt and Uncle Billy.

Uncle Matt and Aunt Bob.

The Three Amigos plus Mini Me.

Even More Love

These were taken yesterday. The girls are so nice to Mera and love her so much. It is amazing to watch them together.

So Much Love

These were taken November 8th.