It's better than nothing!

The girls on their big Oscar night! Sorry they are so small....it's a group picture and I hate putting pictures of kids that aren't mine without the parent's knowing and so I cropped away.

The Oscars

They were tonight and sadly I did not take one picture! I don't know what I was thinking...wait...yes I do. Today was crazy busy....I had to drive about an hour to get my car serviced....I found out there is an Abby is Bury St Edmunds and so Bells and I walked around the super cool ruins and beautiful gardens. Bellies went crazy happy when the ducks came over and surrounded her. She loved the quacking noise they made. We enjoyed our Starbucks treats, yogurt and a tasty cheesy pastry. It didn't rain on us at all and then it started to rain as soon as the gentleman picked us up at noon. My car looked beautiful and the maintenance light was now off (I already have 7500 miles....have I mentioned how much I love driving my car?)....we drove to the other base so I could try and find some thing for Madison to wear to the Oscars. I picked up some gloves and a feather boa for Hannah. I found Madison a dress and some shoes. I was just in time to pick up the girls from school at 3:15. We headed to the base to go to the bank, commissary and post office...mainly I figured I would pick up a frozen pizza so we could eat something before 5:30. We ate, we quickly got dressed....in getting dressed I realized I had given away the dress I was going to have Hannah wear. So we improvised....and she wore her pink Barbie Princess dress. We dressed it up and she was happy. Dan even got dressed up for the occasion. And so in the hurrying of getting everything done I left the camera on the table by the front door so I wouldn't forget it. Hannah and Madison both looked lovely. Madison was one of the presenters and did a fabulous job with a boy in her year. Hannah was funny in her "comedy" movie. She was sad she didn't win "best female actress" she was hilarious...I'm her mom so I think she should have won. All ended with a certificate for everyone on a job well done so life was good again. Madison looked so elegant....Hannah looked like such a movie star. Everyone kept telling her she should have gotten an award for best dressed...that helped a lot since I was space cadet mom frantically trying to come up with something since what the original plan was not going to happen. It was a great night....the best part....watching our kids be so happy and seeing that we were so proud of our beautiful girls.

smiles, books and handstands

My favorite Hannah word

Bignormous! She says it all the time...I love it! Who says that word besides my Hannah? It's like one of the best words ever!

The Bellies

She doesn't really like baby food...she's just like Hannah (Madison preferred baby food...I think since she was a little lazy and all she had to do was swallow)...she doesn't have any teeth but she knows how to gum away. She wants to eat what we're eating and so she does just cut up a little smaller. I don't mind...it's a lot easier feeding her that way. She also likes to sit like this:

She really wants to get moving...she can roll and squirm....but no crawling. She also loves standing up. My mom has her doing this game, the up and down game....she loves being up like that...she feels like one of the big girls. And boy can this girl talk...she says mumma....and I know she knows that's my name....she screams it when I leave and she doesn't want me to leave the room. She can say "more"...you know what she's saying. I think she feels she needs to do a lot more since she has two big sisters on the move all the time. She may be small but she knows how to get heard and get what she wants.

She's a little upset she's not moving....

So maybe screaming will help.....

Oh my gosh...camera....got to smile!

A big sister does this:

And Bellies just sits there smiling....

Madison wants me to keep her hair like this the whole day....I just might....she still looks so cute!

Who's that girl???

Madison now is wearing glasses. She had a physical when I was in the states and so Dan took her to the eye doctor since he recommended it. She can see fine...her muscles I guess flex too much and so they get fatigued and she can't focus as well and things get blurry sometimes. I would see her kind of strain once in awhile while she was reading and so it's been helping. The eye doctor is pretty sure she'll be out of them by age 8 or 9, she just needs to grow into her eye muscles I guess. She is hoping to get out of them....she doesn't mind them but prefers not to have to have them...she already told me that if she has to wear them for the rest of her life...she wants contacts...she's really good about wearing them though...to school at least.

Blenheim Palace

My mom, the girls and I headed down to another RAF base to stay down in the south west part of the country before my mom headed back home. It was a beautiful drive...but it pretty much always is. The girls were super excited to stay in a hotel and on the way down to our destination, we went and saw Blenheim Palace and had a great time. It was sprinkling on the way there, but by the time we got out of the car, it had stopped. The girls were great and did the animal search through out the palace and my mom and I were able to read a little about the history. We didn't go upstairs since we plan on going again and have free passes for a year and the girls were doing so well...we didn't want to bore them since they were so eager to go outside. Bellies is a champ and goes with whatever. We were able to go through the maze, see the butterflies that kept landing on Bellies and take the little train. The girls were also able to run around and burn some of that energy off. I really don't feel like explaining all the pictures and to be honest when I look at blogs...I really don't read about the pictures...I just look...and so here are some pictures without the captions.
For the record...we actually made it to the center of the maze....we NEVER do...it was a first!

80s Club Tropicana Night

Good times, good friends, lots of laughs and a lot of dancing to George Michael in 4 inch hot pink pumps....Dan and I had a great time. And I was able to get all that nasty make up on my face. I had to go all out...I wasn't even able to wear make up in the 80s....I was too young....so I had to live it up that night. I loved how Dan was a sport and dressed up too....although....he did change his mind about his outfit a lot more times than I did. And I had hot pink and grey leg warmers...those were my favorite part of the outfit! Dan saw me when I came in to show him my outfit and said....I look like I just fit in here. The 80s are coming back! I didn't really have to search very hard for an outfit.....Tesco, Claire's and Peacocks had it all. I was just missing my crimper....

Great Granpa and Grandma Trapp

While we were in Medford, we were able to see my grandparents. I was able to see my grandpa's paintings....I so want some of the landscape ones he's been working on. He's so amazingly talented it makes me sick. Grandma made some "special" bbq sandwiches....I ate the tasty salad and rolls....it was elk and she told me and that was enough to make me steer clear from them. Everyone else liked them...so it's not that they were bad....I just can't eat Bambi's cousin.

Bellies with the Great-grands and the Grands.

She was all giggles and laughs.

You just have to laugh sometimes

Yesterday was a Bank Holiday so my mom, the girls and I headed up to York to see Howard Castle. We hit rain, sun, wind and hail on the way there. It was so beautiful by the time we got done with a super scrumptious lunch at the cafe there and Isabella was loving the new stroller...I finally set up the jogging stroller I've had for like months! And so we wandered to the house, my mom took some pictures of the girls around the fountain as Isabella and I trailed behind since I had to run back to the car and then we headed inside the house. My mom was bummed she had left the batteries in the car (we had bought them at the gas station just before we had left in the morning) and I thought it was no big deal since I had my camera of course. So I'm snapping a picture of my girls and then I see NO SD CARD! I was so bummed, not to mention my mom since she'd been capturing these super cute pictures of Madison and Hannah earlier, and so she ran down to the gift shop to see if they had batteries for her camera since I had it in my baby bag, no luck so we had a disposable. Yes, we could have ran back to the car but we were already in the house and we figure we will have to come back with my dad some time. And so there aren't any pictures to post. We had such a great time though, the kids ran around outside in the gardens and Isabella went crazy over the dogs we saw. She LOVES cats and dogs.

We were pretty much the last ones out, went to a pub along the way and ate some yummy dinner and then made it home super fast. On a side note....my kids always traveled with me in the car....8-9 hours driving back to my parent's house from our house in Cali or W.I. no complaints ever. Now they complain about a 2 1/2 hour car ride! They did fine bu we had the typical "are we there yet" question many times.

My mom and I also watch Brideshead Revisited...I don't particularly like the movie, although many people that work at the castle rave about this movie...it was filmed there....I always enjoy watching something though and being able to say, "I've been there!"

Utah

All us kids were there to celebrate my mom's 48th birthday. It was a blast! Lots of decorations, lots of yummy food, lots of laughs but honestly, it was just great being together as a family. We missed Dan, Madison and Hannah...maybe next time....actually next time at Disneyland for family reunion 2011!!! YAY!

Jackson and Isabella shared drinks
They shared toys
My little Picasso
We were able to head up to Great Grandpa's and take this FABULOUS picture. I can't seem to find just the one of Isabella with Grandpa....perhaps on my camera that I haven't uploaded or I just didn't copy it off my dad's....it was so great to see him. I loved how he kept saying she was "neat" and tubby and a thing of lead....the best was fatzo. He meant it endearing and I think he got a kick to see all of us Trapps there. We had a great time listening to his stories....he has such an amazing memory for being 92.
I have more pictures to post but I think my camera is in the room my girls and mom are sleeping in. They are having a slumber party....we love having Grandma Nancy here!