telly ride, part 1

oh heaven on earth.

like a thomas kincade painting, but better.

we have had quite a bit of change happening in our family and thought it would be a great time to do thanksgiving a little differently this year. nonni, papa, tio, megan, the daisies and i, nini, jj, auntie and uncle jerry came to "telly ride" for 5 days of nirvana. it all came to an end much too soon. while we still have one more day, i am already mourning our departure. i hope we can make this a family tradition. the easiest, stress-free, most family-oriented and purest holiday we have ever had. what is left of our family is the strongest most beautiful, unbreakable, steadfast bond.

i never want to leave.

on the way up, we stopped in ouray at a great little chocolatier. i bought two turkeys for my little turkeys.

this was the windiest road i have ever experienced in my LIFE. i always thought i had an iron stomach, but the altitide and twisty turns really got to me. i actually had to have papa pull over so i could hurl...not fun :(
titter was scared and had little "protect" her. little said, "titter, i'm not scared...should i be?"

we stopped in durango and in the front of someone's yard were 8 DEER! just hanging out. beautiful.

just life

eeh, gads, it's been too long since i've posted.
no excuses, just life.
happening at warp speed.
nothing new, and nothing no one else experiences. just life.
titter finished preschool and is off to kindergarten, little is potty-trained. completely on her own schedule, practically over night. no thanks to me. she simply enjoyed contributing to my mass of wrinkles and gray hair.

this big girl is gunning for my job. she (FINALLY, MOM!!) got a camera and will rarely be seen without it.

and little would prefer to be pampered than to actually have to work at something.

a couple daisy girl anecdotes:

when the girls are in the middle (or beginning, or end. it's hard to tell when one ends and the other is just beginning) of an argument, i do not want to hear tattletaling and am often found saying, "work it out between the two of you, or else i will throw xyz away!" titter responds, "it's all little's fault. she needs to work it out between the ONE of her. i'm serious!"

our new word is antagonize/antagonizing. every chance they get, i believe they do it just so they can use the word/act out the word. in the car the other day:
titter: moo-oooommmm, little's antagonizing me!
little: i am NOT. only i am antagonizing mySELF. let me DO it.

interview with little

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
ummm, i love you

2. What makes Mommy happy?
um, being happy. but what makes elli really happy?


3. What makes Mommy sad?
ummm, when we hit somebody

4. How does your Mommy make you laugh?
ummm, when we laugh together


5. What was your Mommy like as a child?
i babysitted you when you were a baby.


6. What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do?
you like to work doing the computer.


7. What does your Mommy do when you're not around?
you just walk from school.

8. What is your Mommy really good at?
teaching us how to jump.


9. What is your Mommy not very good at?
not very good at teaching us how to snip stuff.


10. What does your Mommy do for her job?
go to work to make money for us to go to the mall. weeeeeee!!!!!!!

11. What is your Mommy's favorite food?
worms and bugs!


12. What makes you proud of your Mommy?
when i go to the big girl class and then i go potty in the toilet. oh and poopy, too.

13. If your Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
a mean lady (ooh, that's not good)


14. What do you and your Mommy do together?
go to the mall

15. How are you and your Mommy the same?
when we have, like, we have, like i don't know. (that's my valley girl!)


16. How are you and your Mommy different?
we change clothes


17. How do you know your Mommy loves you?
you just be yourself



18. Where is your Mommy's favorite place to go?
you like to go with us


19. What does Mommy like about Daddy?
he goes to work


20. Who is Mommy's best friend?
US!

interview with titter

1. What is something Mommy always says to you?
i love you

2. What makes Mommy happy?
being nice and being good to your sister


3. What makes Mommy sad?
when we hit and bite and do mean things


4. How does your Mommy make you laugh?
by doing silly things like making funny faces, ok?


5. What was your Mommy like as a child?
you liked ballet


6. What is Mommy’s favorite thing to do?
to hug and kiss and one more thing...and spank (ooh, that needs some work)


7. What does your Mommy do when you're not around?
she goes to costco, does peeatees (pilates), and you go to stamp club

8. What is your Mommy really good at?
ooh ooh i know! stamping. OH! and helping your children!


9. What is your Mommy not very good at?
i know! she's not very good at, well, playing baseball, or golf. and she's not very good at listening (ouch)


10. What does your Mommy do for her job?
money. she makes money and then spends it on her girls.

11. What is your Mommy's favorite food?
enchiladas (ooh yummy!)


12. What makes you proud of your Mommy?
when she hugs me and kisses me.


13. If your Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
you would still be mommy.


14. What do you and your Mommy do together?
we stamp.

15. How are you and your Mommy the same?
when we do things that one of us is doing. like when i'm pretending to be you and you're still you, then we are both the same.


16. How are you and your Mommy different?
when we don't do things that the other is doing.


17. How do you know your Mommy loves you?
when she says, "i love you."



18. Where is your Mommy's favorite place to go?
home!


19. What does Mommy like about Daddy?
when he brushes his teeth. yup.


20. Who is Mommy's best friend?
just me!


(stay tuned for little's interview tomorrow)

you don't know how much i love my little girls

especially today.

on any other normal day, i abhor pop-ups. we have a good pop-up blocker, but this particular one...popped up. titter was right next to me and she said,

mommy! that looks just like you!
what?! how?
...and then she pointed. to her chi chis and giggled.





what i love even more is, in a previous post, this was daddy!
i think i win :)

you are not my mudder

this morning, one funny and one beautiful thing came out of little's mouth:

she sleeps with me, so the first thing this morning, she opens her eyes, smiles and says, "thank you for being my mama, mama."
i wanted to cry.
she says the sweetest things all of the time. i've always said she has an old soul. she is such a diplomat. she does not like inequality. she wants everyone around her to be happy, and has a keen sense when someone is down or emitting sad/mad/blah vibes - she just comes up to give a big hug. my god i love that little girl!

now the funny thing:
mama, how come we don't have a mudder in our house?
what? aren't i the mother?
(laughing) you silly mama! you're the mama, the mommy, not the MUDDER!
(and she walks off laughing!)

what's a ho?

one day, titter and little were at my parents and my mom was getting ready for some fancy shindig. titter was "helping" nonni get ready and nonni asked her:
hita, can you hand me my hose?
ok nonni. but, what's a ho?

from this point on, we refer to them as nylons. not hose. it's all a matter of semantics.

my bestie from the westie

was here over christmas, i think? it seems like yesterday, and when i look back, i can't believe we're already in the middle of february! anyhoo, she was here for three weeks and because i was sick, i didn't get to see her but a small handful of times (like twice). the one day we had, we had a blast: massages, steams, and saunas at la bella; followed by a great soup and salad lunch at...somewhere, i can't remember; and whirlwind shopping at white house/black market, and somewhere else, maybe. i suppose the massage got the best of me, i still can't remember the day!

here is a quick click. it looks like we were nekky and in bed, but we were dressed in our massagey towels relaxing and ridding our bodies of toxins.

we three king day

the daisies do not have school today because it's a celebration of an amazing man: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His "I have a dream" speech literally sends chills down my spine and makes me teary. i cannot fathom the change and excitement the crowd felt while listening to this beautiful man.

i asked titter if she knew why she was off today. she factually responded, "yes, it's we three king day". i tried explaining that it was a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and attempted to
explain, the way a 4-year old might understand, who he was: he was a man who did not accept fighting; did not believe in being mean and stinky with each other; believed in taking care of each other, and being kind and sweet to everyone, but especially those who are smaller and weaker than us. he believed that everyone should be able to have nice things and that no one should be left out of having fun.

"i know, mama. it's 'we three king day'. " i tried.

Stand up for freedom together. Make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time!

i don't even know how to entitle this post...

i subscribe to a blog called "sunday stealing" in which they "steal" different memes from around the world. i was reading through it, answering the questions in my head when the daisies walked by. little said, "hey, that's my daddy!". titter responds, "silly little, daddy doesn't have a hat like that!"
here is a picture of the gentlemen to whom they were referring...and you know what? daddy doesn't have a hat like that!

by the way, below is the meme:
Is there someone you like to be kissing right now?

2. When you're being extremely quiet what does it mean?

3. What are you listening to?

4. Are you a big fan of thunderstorms?

5. Do you believe in perfect?

6. Are you a jealous person?

7. What was the first thing you thought this morning?

8. What do you think about when you are falling asleep?

9. Are you satisfied with what you currently have in life?

10. Do people ever think you're older/younger than you actually are?

11. Do you think men truly understand women?

12. Do you usually tell people when they hurt your feelings?

13. Did anybody ever call you handsome or beautiful?

14. What is one fact about the last person that called you?

15. Other than your current one, what’s the longest relationship you have had?


from Woozie at Tome of Communism

I WANNA BE LEDO LO' JEEEESUUUUSSSS!!!!!

my sweet darling daughters were in the Christmas pageant.
titter was honored with the role of Mary, and little was a sheep. let me tell you, little practiced her line as though she was up for a tony award: "baaaaa!" she baaa-ed better than any sheep i've ever heard, and with the family i married in to, i've heard a fair amount of sheep. in practicing for this momentous occasion, the girls thought a dress rehearsal was due. titter, of course, was Mary, but little decided to be the understudy for the angel, jofus, the donkey, and little Lord Jesus. the photo below is when all was calm, all was bright. round yon virgin mother, child and adoring angel were at their best:

and this is when little was denied the role of "ledo lo' Jesus". ooh, she was mad. screaming at the top of her lungs, cursing as only a 2-year old can, throwing a 10-point tantrum declaring, "YOU are not my friend. I am my ONEY friend. i am CANCELLING you from my BIR-DAAAAAAAAAAY." (and then insert an additional high-pitched screaming tantrum here):

of course, this is followed by titter being oh. so. bored...

my first band photoshoot

and i was nervous as all heck!
check out www.ellemariephotography.blogspot.com
we had a blast!

warning: you'll want to gouge your eyes out after this one.

today i'd like to provide you with three gabrielli-isms. the first two are versions of titter and little's spanish...quite endearing, of course. the third one, i have to warn you: if you are the type of person who gets a song stuck in your head or a site stuck behind your eyes, this post is not for you. i have tried and tried and tried to come up with another way to share this story with you that isn't as embarrassing, but it just would not translate the right way. so without further ado (or tequila), i share with you my gabrielli-isms for the day:
1
my girls love to speak spanish (or as elli says, "panish"). today, all elli would sing was, "who are we saving? la tee nessa! who are we saving? la tee nessa! who are we saving? la tee nessa" (thank you, dora). i asked titter who little was singing about and she said, "oh, that's from 'dora saves the snow princess'. la tee nessa is snow princess in spanish." now i get it: instead of "who are we saving? la princesa!" it's "la tee nessa". clearly.

2
the girls have a Christmas pageant coming up and titter's class is singing (among many others) "feliz navidad". aye de mi:
fleece navidah
fleece navidah
fleece navidah
oh se doh ana and a reesy pah

um, what's a reesy pah?

3 - last chance, turn around.
ok, so i'm fresh out of the shower in my (this is the part you will want to gouge your eyes out) bra and panties (which actually match today), trying to get ready for the day while i have little glued to my thigh. i'm dragging her around the bathroom putting on all my pretty girlie stuff on while talking to my mom on the phone (i'm quite the multi-tasker). she's nuzzling my skin and rubbing her face back and forth. "mmm, yous smell good" and all of a sudden: ARGH!!! she bites me on the butt! she then says, "ooh mama, yous good enough to eat!" titter starts laughing, little starts laughing and my mom starts laughing hysterically. nice. thanks, guys.

i should get a tattoo on my butt that says "usda prime cut"

the daisy girls in the sunflower patch

i have to give props to my girl bri for mentioning this patch. we missed the full-bloom flowers, but still had a great time...despite the bees.

raspberry fields forever

in corrales, there is a great raspberry farm.
tons of huge and juicy raspberries.
you can pick to your heart's content (or until there are more raspberries in your tummy than there are in your pints)
raspberry jam.
red chile raspberry jam.
and honeylicious honey.
this was an excursion the entire family went on...unfortunately, a rarity. we had a BLAST!

boo-foh

i actually had my blog planned for today (shocker). as i was editing photos, i realized that all was too quite on the western front. little had found my brand new lipstick. brand new. worn once. killer color. now smashed. if you know anything about me, you know about my love affair with lipstick. it started in eighth grade: one-a ponsa time, there was a beautiful little girl named leslie marie (ok, beautiful is stretching it. she had glasses which took up the majority of her face, braces attempting to straighten out the fangs poking out from every direction, and a sweet, sweet haircut) and she had a "boyfriend"named paul bruns (this name has not been changed to protect the guilty, sorry pablo). he said she had the smallest lips he had ever seen and from that point on, he called her "chicken lips". as soon as her mom gave the approval for lippy, she never left the house without lipstick. ever. when she lived in the sorority, before going down to breakfast, she would don her drumbeat red #264 by l'oreal and glide down the stairs in her robe and slippers feeling completely put together with her lippy.

ahhh, sweet lippy. the joys you bring me.

and just as chris tucker says in rush hour, "don't you EVER touch a black man's radio, boy!" you NEVER touch my lippy. EVER.

unless you're my little.

then i'll feign horror, grab my camera, and blog about it.


our quick conversation:
me: whaarghatahhhhh are you DOing?!?!?!?!
little: me see me boo-foh like you, mama
me: ohit'sokanythingyoudoisfinewithmebecauseyouaresoamazinglythoughtfulandcorrectandiloveyousomuch
little: i no me wear lissticks now?
me: no, hunny, not til you're older (or until paul bruns' son calls you chicken lips, then we'll reassess)
little: oh. when i getta be da mama, i can wear lissticks?
me: yes, honey.
little: when i getta be da mama, i drink sooooda?
me: yes, honey.
little: oh. when i getta be da mama, i open da stove?
me: yes, honey.
little: oh. when i getta be da mama, i eat pee-non?
me: oh, yes, honey.
little: oh. when i getta be da mama, i eat gum?
me: yup.
little: oh. when i getta be da mama, i go cazy, too?
me: (giggle) yup, totally totally crazy.

sleeping beauties

oh to be able to sleep with such abandon.
not a care in the world (dreamland or otherwise).
after looking at these pictures, i realize why i am so "zazausted" every day.

as you can tell from the wardrobe changes, these were all taken on different nights. what beauties!

dr. yaya? paging dr. yaya

this is a sour and sweet story (i'm sure you're wise enough to figure out which parts are which):

a few weeks ago, my 85-year old grandmother (maggie) passed out, hit her head, sprained her wrist, twisted her (flipping off) finger and ultimately had to get seven staples in her head. the daisies and i went to visit her and they were entranced with the fact that she had staples in her head. titter went into maggie's room, came out and announced, "boy mommy, maggie's a MESS!" and little automatically mimics and says, "yep, maggie a MESS!" we brought her some coloring books and crayons and visited for a while (that is, as long as we could without having maggie pass out again due to the um, spirited, earsplitting, and alto-esque exchanges between the two daisies).

now we're home and little is quite quiet (eerily so). i find her in her room with her favorite baby (jackson), some tape and a sharpie (not a good combination).
me: what are you doing, little?
little: oh hi mama. jackson hurt he-self. i no have staples so i use tape.

ladies and gentlemen, i proudly introduce a pain-free medical breakthrough technique discovered by dr. yaya:

nb: the sharpie marks are jackson's owies. you know what the tape is for.
yes, we have hidden all the staplers.

recipe for disaster

well, not really.
yes, ok it was.
but it was a good disaster. a friend brought over a huge ol' bag of dixon apples and i got a hankerin' to make me some appley pies. the daisies and i made FOUR! and i have NEVER made a pie (thank you, Paula Deen for a superb recipe!).

don't laugh. it was my first.

end of summer

the end of summer always gives me a bittersweet feeling. i love popsicles, the daisies in their suits running and screaming like little maniacs, swimming lessons, blistering days at the ranch, and oh so much more.
on the other hand, i LOVE the fall, pumpkins, changing leaves, crisp days at the zoo and biopark, fires, warm pjs and cold pillows. oh, and the daisies still running and screaming like maniacs!

i don't even say smile, this is her automatic response the the camera.

this was an unplanned pose...checking out their names: how cute are they?!?