TOPAZ, my first dear daughter.

Yes, Topaz with her sweet & gentle yet demanding & bossy nature is my very first 4-legged daughter. She's just like any other girly girl. She's bossy around the house & makes my 4-legged son do whatever she wants. She runs him out of his sleep spot. She steals his treats. She takes over his crate. But she's also the BEST cuddler & gives the cutest kisses. She watches over the twins to make sure they stay in line. She plays nice with the twins. She lets them pull on her ears & unwind her curly tail. She LOVES shoes (to eat them, that is) & is a foodie (just like her mom) who will eat anything!!

Poor C3 KNOWS she's gonna wrestle him for his spot.

Some of her not-so-good traits is they she's a worrier. She's nervous about all things foreign to her. Take the vaccuum for example, she doesn't get this loud purple thing that sucks up anything in it's path. So she shakes & tries to growl at it every time the vaccuum is out doing it's business. She's nervous about cars zooming past us on our walks. Why are they so loud?? She's afraid of lawn mowers. She's afraid of large people invading her personal space. Most of all she HATES to be without her big brother C3PO. He gives her a sense of security. Although she annoys him to no end, she loves him dearly & just hates hates hates to be without him. Her favorite place to be is home with the all those she knows & loves, her family.

Now that you know a little bit about my little girl Topaz, I can share this story with you. C3PO got sick a couple of weeks ago. So sick he needed to go to the vet asap! I didn't want to leave Topaz behind at home with the nanny & the girls because I knew she would just whine & scream like tortured cat the whole time I was gone with him. So I decided to bring her along with me but leave her in the car while I took care of C3PO inside the vet's office. Please don't call PETA on me. She was fine with the windows open & I wasn't going to be longer then 20 minutes. Well ALOT can happen in 20 minutes.

When we got back to the car, with C3 on his way to recovery, Topaz was a nervous MESS! She got so freightened about being left alone she decided to poop in the back. As if this weren't enough she decided to pace all around the car to calm her heightened nerves. I'm guesing she was frantically pacing around the car because she managed to step in her poop & track it EVERYWHERE :grabbing my face in shock: So you can imagine the look of disbelief on my face when I found her in the front seat & noticed her white paws were brown. And when I opened the door to the car the smell would send such a shock across my body that it could have knocked me right on my ass. My leather seats, console, steering wheel, dashboard, kids car seats ALL were a poopy mess! Part of me was in denial as I tried to wipe my seat down to take them both home. Did she really do this?? Then I realized, yes, she did because I'm suddenly nauseous from the smell in the car.

On the way home I was thinking of how many different ways I could pack her up in a FEDEX box & send her off to the North Pole and wondering if the FEDEX man would notice that there was no return address on the box. By the time I got home the rational side of me kicked in & I was left with only 1 person to blame for all this...ME. I know my little girl too well & I why on earth did I think she would be ok in the car completely ALONE?? What was I on that morning??

When I told J the story all he could muster up was "How in the world are you going to clean up the car??!!" Thanks J! I can always count on you for support sweetheart :) But I did clean up the car & took apart the car seats & washed the covers & wiped down the seat belts & cleaned every poop-filled crevice I could find in the car.

Lesson here is, THINK before you act. Think Jennifer, just THINK a little before you decide to do something so incredibly dumb!



And when you look into this mug...all is forgiven :)

Adult Entertainment

Not THAT kind but the kind where adults sit around a table and eat a meal with a knife & fork & enjoy the simple pleasantries of being an adult.

My monthly book club is something I anxiously look forward to month after month. It's the one SURE time that I will get without the kids & the hubby and engage in some thoughtful & intelligent adult conversation. As you can tell from my previous posts, I don't get THIS kind of adult entertainment often. I was lucky enough to be able to be host for our book club this month. The weather was scheduled to cooperate so I went out on a limb here & planned for an outdoors setting. I grilled chicken cutlets with a basil sauce & marinated beef ribs. I made a simple salad & Italian sweet sausage pasta dish with sun dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts (courtesy of my Italian mentor Giada) to compliment the grilling. I also made a punch courtesy of my Food Network buddy Paula Deen.







I'm guessing it was a hit since there was not much left over! The Food Network Fairies never let me down!

The food was actually the last thing on my mind (surprising, I know). I was actually looking forward to sitting around a table (sans the high chairs) and enjoying a warm meal & discussing a topic, other then toddler adventures, bills, & the list of chores for the week. This was my sole own opportunity to catch up with the rest of the world & the happenings within it!

My book club girls did not disappoint! Our topics of excellent convo ranged from what's NOT so good on TV, supreme court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, our recent summer readings, planned parenting, child care options, and some recent events in our personal lives. AAAHHHH part of me does miss the childless days. Is that a bad thing to think??...of course I ADORE my peanuts but I do appreciate the few moments that's not completely wrapped around their little worlds :) It's also nice to know that my brain can actually have intellectual thoughts beyond dirty diapers, one-year-old feedings, and laundry sorting.

Beantown Getaway

We had a good excuse to head out to Boston this weekend, as our good friends were getting married. While I grew anxious as the weekend drew closer thinking about all the packing I had to do, wondering if the girls would have any meltdowns during inappropriate moments, and if the dogs would behave in the hotel while were out & about, in the end it was a great weekend with not too many mishaps.

We left quite early and when I finally saw this sign I was so relieved. For some reason our hotel wasn't expecting us this early, despite my many phone calls to confirm & re-confirm our arrival day & time. They squeezed us into a tiny room (2 adults, 2 toddlers, & 2 dogs...squeeeeeze) that wasn't ideal but we dealt with it because we had a wedding to get to in a hurry on Saturday morning (friggin hotel reservations!).

The bride & groom from afar. I sat waaaay in the back...on purpose!

The flower girls were nice enough to pose for a close up.

The wedding took place in a pretty chapel on the Harvard University campus. I didn't get good pics because my hands were busy chasing a little one around & desperately trying to keep her calm & composed during the ceremony. J had to remove our other little one because she was unable to use here "inside voice" lol. In the end I got to hear the important parts & we were very happy for the newlyweds and very grateful that they allowed us to bring the peanuts to be a part of the grand event. Our good friends were also kind enough to make it all happen a decent hour 11am ceremony followed by a lunch reception at a casual dining establishment owned by the groom's cousin. I couldn't get a good pic of the place but I assure you the ambiance was incredible & the food, to die for ummmmm. Merengue , if you're ever in the Boston area and looking for authentic Dominican cuisine you have to have a meal here.

Once the important events were over and the party was off to take pictures the peanuts enjoyed their abandoned playground. It was a little strange watching them run up & down the aisle. Part of me was thinking, I am SO not ready to see my little girls walk down the aisle yet.

I also don't know why my daughter decided she was going to place rose petals on this gentleman's knee. Sorry mister!

While we were in the area we stopped for a quick visit to J's brother and got to meet the newest addition of the family. This guy is little Mikai and he stole our hearts from the moment we met him. He is too too cute for words!!





But by the end of the weekend the girls were happy to be home playing with their own stuff.





Notice someone finally got her sand!!



Cati was getting a closer look to see if her eyes weren't decieving her.

Val had a questionable expression, probably like me, I'm sure she was thinking ewwww sticky!

Fun Filled Fourth of July 2009

The 4th of July is a holiday both J & I look forward to each year. We know we'll be feasting on a BBQ at home or hosted by someone else & in my opinion it's the real start of the summer. Because it's usually HOT! Something I really truly looove. There's nothing like the smell of cooking out, the taste of summer drinks, & the cool splash of pool water on a hot summer day. This 4th of July did not disappoint!

And we had a weekend full of events for the girls to take part in. Throughout the weekend I kept thinking of 4th of July's to come when the girls will be able to do a whole lot more then just be carried about from place to place. I get so excited thinking about it. They did really well this weekend despite all the social engagements but we were sure to make it back home each night in time for bed time. So unfortunately, we missed the fireworks but got to watch the fireworks on TV (not too bad considering..). Next year will be waaay different I assure you :)

Friday afternoon at the ball park, it doesn't get better then that folks! The girls were in full Yankee regalia to cheer the home team on! Here's Val in her cheering formation. I tell you the "Bring it On" chicks have nothing on my kids. Ha!

And Cati (sans the paci, of course...no comments please!) there's some serious cheering behind that plastic thing in her mouth.

Early Saturday morning I got the girls & myself dressed in our Patriotic gear. We took it back old school style thanks to Uncle Fonsi for the birthday footwear gifts.

I guess Cati wanted to bring it waaay back. She found one of J's projects hanging around our room.

Yes it's a VCR (no, not a Beta ha ha ha!)

The girls entertained themselves with whatever they could until we were ready to pack them into the car & be off to our BBQ, courtesy of the Moquete Family.

The troops were getting restless...

I guess Cati was gettin impatient & threatening to use this NYC Metro Card.

When we finally did arrive, we got to enjoy some good eats, their fun pool, and many of their kid friendly entertainment. This place a toddler's Six Flags!

Look at the grin on my kid's face. Need I say more.

First thing's first...protection.

And some R&R...

I swear I thought the girl was going to ask me to fan her next.

And some more play.

After so much activity the peanuts slept like newborns ALL through the night. AAAHHH nothing like a tired toddler.

Sunday morning we were up early again & headed out to Church for some spiritual uplifting & it what a beautiful sunny day it turned out to be.

So Mr. Peanut decided he was going to grill & so we had our own impromptu BBQ accompanied with some water fun acitivities for the girls (and the pooches snuck in some summer fun too).

The big guy was kind enough to get the girls a water table & sand box to play in for the summer. Except for....ummm there's no sand. WHAT? The darn friggin toy store ran out of play sand. Can you see my child's face wondering where the heck the sand is?

Val didn't miss a thing.

Cati soon joined in the fun! And so did C3.

Here she is looking for her sand again.

And the boxes were fun too! I think this made up for the missing sand :)

As usual, the weekends (even the long ones) are too short for me :( I never get enough of family time.