NINETY

Celebrating 🎉 Grandma Gigi's 90th #birthday 🎁🎂! You've never met a lady with a funnier sense of humor 😂👵🏻. Facts about Gigi you should know: her first name is actually Carol (my mom was named after her 😜), she was dear friends with Louis Armstrong 🎺 and family (my mom @cccarol626 used to babysit their kids), she had 5 babies in 5 years 👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻 and then she had two more 👶🏻👶🏻 #yep , NOBODY on this planet is a better "waker-upper" of people (she had this song she used to sing to me--her voice was the perfect pitch, never too demanding, and was always just the right amount of HAPPY for the #morning ☀️), she used to have the most beautiful jet black hair (and now it's perfectly silver) and blue eyes 💙👀 (this was something Frank Sinatra liked about her, but we'll get to that later), her red Ford Fairlane car 🚗 is always where I picture her in my mind when I think of her as a young #mom , she broke her shoulder on the #GreatWallofChina 🏯⛩ right after we alpine slid down it 😂, she likes to golf 🏌️‍♀️⛳️ more than bowl 🎳, but she'll whip you in both, even at 90, and once Frank Sinatra 🎹 hit on her in front of her hubby 🙊, while she was sitting next to Al Collins#truestory (she's also met Sophia Lauren, Count Bassie, Benny Goodman, Janis Joplin--she didn't like her much 😂, Ella Fitzgerald, and Jimmy Durantee). In an interview I did with her on my #blog eight years ago, she gave me the best advice I've ever heard: BE HONEST. HAPPY 90th BDAY 🎁🎈🎉Grandma Gigi!!! I love you 💕 SO much, and am so #grateful for all of the things you have taught me about #life !!!

i repeat: TOTALLY.

we found frosting 

in all sorts of places. 

premade gingerbread house 

TOTALLY worth the extra $5 bucks.

i repeat: totally.

TIME TRAVELER {the river between Vietnam and Cambodia}

last night while i was shredding chicken for enchiladas, 

i heard skype ringing over the sounds of the little mermaid soundtrack on our computer.

we all came running when we saw it was grandma carol.

right away she told us how she was

calling us 

ON A BOAT

in the

MEKONG RIVER

about to cross over

INTO CAMBODIA

from VIETNAM.

and i was all, "mom, are you on 4G?"

and she was like, "no, skype on wifi!"

and i was all, "on a boat?"

and she like like, 

"yeah! isn't that crazy! technology is so cool. 

i even had it in some of the jungle places i backpacked through too. 

wifi is everywhere now! so different from when i was here 5 years ago..."

and then she turned the camera around so we could look at the brown river water,

the boat she slept on last night,

a boat that was floating by them,

{brennan thought this was super awesome},

some Vietnamese travelers loading onto the boat they were leaving on,

and all of the vietnamese ship people coiling up ropes and other boat stuff like that.

and sean was all, "this could be on a skype commercial."

and my mom told brennan that it was wednesday morning where she was,

but tuesday night where he was,

so he ran outside to see,

but all we heard him say was, "but it's still light here."

so i told him that grandma was a time traveler,

and even though we were in tuesday,

she had time traveled to WEDNESDAY!

and his little eyes lit up like sparkling magic,

and you could tell that his brain was thinking about how she did it, 

and that grandma was pretty awesome 'cause she did.

then the vietnamese tour guide came over, 

and got after my mom who still hadn't put her life jacket on yet,

{you know, 'cause she was busy skyping her daughter, son in law, and grandchildren},

but the vietnamese lady was really nice about it,

b/c they have really good manners over there,

always so polite,

and then the signal started to get all blurry,

so we waved goodbye, 

blew kisses, 

and everyone said i love you,

all shaking our heads in amazement.

what?

is this not where your 67 year old mom skypes from with your kids?!

once in a lifetime.

and my kids didn't even know it.

and that's when i told sean that we can't travel with our kids anywhere awesome 

until they're older b/c they won't appreciate it right now,

so it's a good thing we can only afford to drive them to their grandparent's houses 

in california and highland, and places like that.

and then i spent the rest of the night thinking about 

how my parents took me to 16 different countries before i was 16.

once in a lifetime.

and i didn't even know it.

...

P.S.

my mom emailed me later saying that the boat's engine blew up 

right after we got off of the phone with her.

so they had to go back and switch boats.

and then she told me how glad she was that it didn't happen 

when they were further out and away from the dock.

i told her to make sure to keep that orange life vest on.

and asked if they rowed themselves back to the dock or what?

can't wait to hear what she says.

globe trottin' grandma.

that's for darn sure:)

baby man ninja {chris farley & other ninja antics)

baby man meets chris farley beverly hills ninja.

YEP, we pretty much can't stop laughing over here either.

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

i dare you to try to get 3 kids to all look at you at the same time 

WHILE doing their best ninja pose.

it's impossible and hilarious.

and the 15 month old will growl like a lion the entire time.

wait, lions roar.

you get what i mean.

i swear.

thank  you grandma carol for the ninja jammies from japan.

they are a BIG HIT.

{i've spent 3 days looking for the picture of my brother, sister, and i 

wearing red jammies from japan that my mom bought us when we are all little. 

where in the heck did i put it??!!?? i know it used to be on my fridge...}

it's a wonderful life

tonight i wrapped presents for the kids,

and sean put together a doll house for max.

the little screws are even pink.

i adore it.

we watched "it's a wonderful life."

and i just sat their the entire time with my scissors and tape 

and was so overcome with happiness. 

happy to be wrapping presents next to the christmas trees,

in a warm house,

with three beautiful children sleeping upstairs.

so happy to have a husband like sean.

staying up late to put together a doll house for three hours.

such a catch i caught in that one!

it's a wonderful life.

:):):)

.......

earlier tonight it was stroganoff and sugar cookie night with grandma carol.

she had her best friend make my kids aprons for the occasion.

thank you cherie!

even one for baby man chase ray.

with little candy cane and candy ribbon prints on them.

they were so cute in them.

brennan wasn't feeling good and ended up watching Cinderella on the couch.

while max basked in her time alone with grandma carol at the cookie counter,

cutting out sugar cookies with santa, stocking, snowman, stocking, and star shapes.

and frosting and decorating them with candy crushes and red and green m&m's.

i want to sleep in until noon tomorrow.

there is no way that is happening.

i will settle for watching christmas movies all morning.

and i'm hoping and praying that no one starts puking:)