Spring has Sprung - Merry Eastermas!

I'm sure Chels will be changing that title any moment now...

Well, April has been a fun month so far for our little family here in California. At the beginning of the month Chels decided to start feeding Gretel rice cereal. This has been a big hit and Gretel looks forward to sitting in her little chair and being spoon fed (she is just like her papa).

"Eat your rice, you need your strength!"

Now something about this little girl. Gretel does not cry. She yells, squawks, whines and grunts but this little girl does not cry (she doesn't even do those other things very often) So needless to say I was very shocked at her reaction when I attempted to serenade her to Tom Jones's "Shes a Lady". After the first verse she froze and just looked at me like this:

I thought it was pretty comical. She wouldn't move at all - and she looked like she was terrified of me. In hindsight my attempt to rectify the situation probably wasn't the best, but I thought that if I kept singing the song, she would just realize that it was her silly ol' dad. The following pics explain the rest...

Yes that is an actual tear by her eye!

I tried to apologize but it was too late! The tears were flowing..

Lets chalk this one up to the up and coming teething phase, in the mean time I'll let Chels handle all Tom Jones impersonations.

On to the main event: EASTER!!

Even though we miss being with our families around these fun holidays, Chels and I put in a pretty good effort to make these occasions fun and memorable. In addition to it being Easter it was also Gretel's half birthday!

The festivities started with an Easter egg hunt organized by our friend Shauna, at the park.

Soaking up the sun in the dewy meadow!

She didn't get any candy eggs but she still had fun.

Easter was fun! Chels and I (mostly chels) made a yummy din din - Chicken cor don Bleu and some red potatoes au johnny, and a touch of asparagus. And dessert was provided by Tiny Tina - thanks for the Cummings Eggs!

Gretel wanted to thank Grama Mimi and Craiger for helping to fill the Easter basket, and for her cute little Easter dress.

As a thank you, little Gretel will be sending some Easter pics to the Grandparents

This one is our favorite!

Raffle, Raffle At The Darlybird "Mall"...

Who's The Luckiest Girl Of All?

'TIS I!!!!

I just won the biggest, best, girliest give-away of all time!!! Yes, and when I found out the wonderful news I pranced around the house like a lunatic with my arms outstretched above me. I couldn't stop yelling, "I won I won I won!" "YESSSSS!" (with extra long hissing at the end)

I suddenly remembered a few of the items promised when I entered the contest, so my little victory dance included short, quick movements while shouting things like,

"Lip Balm!"

"Cupcake Supplies!"

"Apron for Gretel!"

"Bobbies!

I couldn't stop talking about "My Prize" and when I would go and collect my winnings!

I kept saying obnoxious things like, "Raffle me this, Raffle me that..."

Anyway, take a peek at my stash!


Here are Gretel's slippers, some bobbies/hair clips, earrings, cupcake toppers & papers, a skull onesie, cake topper, necklace & lip balm!






A dress for Gretel that I just LOVE!


Gretel's apron so we can bake cuppie-cakes together!


My apron!



A clutch and wide belt!

I feel like I robbed her blind!


Now you can understand why I was celebrating just like the Dad on "A Christmas Story" when he won that hideodorous leg lamp-so tacky. Wait! I have one of those!!

It's one of my prized possessions, actually!

Before I knew that I was the winner, I'd told a friend (I feel really bad because she was the one who emailed me the info about the raffle) that I am pretty lucky with raffles...I just get this feeling like I know my name will be called....I can still remember winning a can of pop in 6th grade from a raffle!! (I'm very easy to please)

It was totally meant to be, because when I arrived to pick up the goods, I was wearing a shirt that had this design on the front.....

Rachel (Darlybird's generous owner) immediatedly noticed and pointed out that it was the exact same flower as the one on the hair clip I was about to receive!!! (Gretel's hair clip, really-but mine until she gets hair)

Anyway, we thought that it was the craziest coincidence ever!

(thanks to Hab for my recent, fresh highlights!)

THANK YOU, RACHEL! You really have no idea how excited I am and how much Gretel and I will forever love and treasure our goodies!!

Gretel modeling her skull onesie-Johnny's fave; he loves skulls

We decided to give her the full, "thugged out" look with the chain!

(thanks to Katie aka "Rowberry" for making such a darling bow for Gretel)

Get Your Shop On!

I have to tell you about a fabulously fun website called Darlybird. It's http://www.darlybird.com/ and you can find anything cute and wonderful there for yourself, or your little dumpling!! The owner (Rachel) lives near me, and she is sooo talented and creative. Last year I got a gift certificate to Darlybird for my birthday, and I spent the afternoon shopping for nifty-gifties for myself, Gretel, and even my hubby-I got him some awesome cuff links. Anyway, you must check this out-I could spend hours looking at her website, and I'm lucky enough to be able to drop by and look at the eye candy in person! She really has something fun for everyone and every age!

My b-day stash-I also got a full apron that isn't pictured here, but I feel like a cute cook when I wear it!

HEADLINE NEWS: FATHER MISSES WIFE AND DAUGHTER

Sacramento, CA - Local Father, John Thackeray, reported to the news today that he desperately misses his wife Chelsea and their 5 month little girl - Gretel Emeline. When asked by reporters about the location of his "girls", Mr. Thackeray informed the news that his girls were visiting family in Utah.

However, a more startling revelation is that Mr. Thackeray claims he is a victim of serious fraudulent misconduct which includes the tampering of flight reservations.

Mr. Thackeray reports that the two responsible for his missing family are non other than the dublicitious duo Gramp C ("grampsie") and Grama Mimi a.k.a Barney and Claudia a.k.a the in-outlaws.

"Chels and Gretel were supposed to go to Utah and visit from Saturday to Friday." says, Mr. Thackeray, "I could barely stand to let my little 'gremline' out of my sight for 1 day let alone 7." Mr. Thackeray reports that the night before their flight they were informed that due to "suspect" circumstances, Chelsea and Gretel would instead be flying Friday to the following Saturday, adding on two extra days to their trip. "I was heartbroken when I heard the news", claims a sobbing Mr. Thackeray. "I was tempted not to let my munchkin go."

When asked how he uncovered the fraud behind the reservation transaction, Mr. Thackeray told reporters, "It didn't require a degree in rocket science. I was told that Chels and the babe couldn't fly to Utah on Saturday because it would be too expensive so they would have to fly out instead on Friday. Then they told me that Chels and the babe couldn't fly back home to Sacramento on Friday because it would be too expensive so they would instead have to fly home on Saturday... hmm.. suspicious? I think so!"

Finally when asked if Mr. Thackeray would file charges and bring a suit against the two for their criminal behavior he responded by saying, "No... not in a million years! I am grateful that my little girl has such loving grandparents that really care about her. I know they would do anything for her. Gretel is really lucky to have two great sets of grandparents that really love her." In closing, Mr. Thackeray remarked, "Enjoy it Craiger and Mimi - Because it's not going to happen again for a looooong time!

Gwennie Gumpdrops reporting for the the Gretel Gazette

"KNEE! SHIN! FOOT!...

...GROIN!!" These are just a few of the words screamed by the most recent girl who earned a black belt in karate. That's right, moi!!

So what if the belt was one that I pulled out of my own closet? I feel much more powerful, confident, and capable of taking on this "Chester" that I saw lurking at the gym a couple of weeks ago-if I ever see him again. I'm just being silly; I'm such a weakling!!

Last night we did a self-defense night at a real karate academy for our Young Women's activity, and it was the most fun I've had in a long time! I'm sure the teacher thought I was a real fool! I couldn't stop laughing, especially when the pad I was holding was being pummeled by another YW leader, and I felt like Kip from "Napoleon Dynamite" because I couldn't help but whine, "Ow!" Also, when Shauna was holding me back using a belt wrapped around my stomach, I was supposed to be trying to get away from her and punch the pad in front of me, but I couldn't even move because Shauna was way stronger! The two of us couldn't breathe we were laughing so hard!!!

Later that night, John got home from class and asked how it went. He jokingly grabbed me from behind in a tight hug, and I gave him a swift kick in the shin with the back of my heel! That's right, baby-BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Love,
Our Little Leprechaun!!!

Chelsea and the Chocolate Factory!!

The other night I hosted the most fun party ever! It was a SURPRISE party for our friend Katie-her husband Zack planned everything, and just needed somewhere to have it. He wanted some suggestions on what I thought would be a fun theme. Knowing her passion for anything chocolate, I suggested that, and maybe some karaoke! He really took both ideas seriously, and hired a guy who used to be a radio D.J. to come and bring all his equipment to my house. We had a chocolate fountain with lots of yummy dipping treats, a huge chocolate cake, chocolate soda, & an assortment of candy bars, truffles, etc. I made my mom's famous marshmallow brownies, and I was going to make hot chocolate, but I think we were all a little too hot and sweaty for that, after all of our wild and crazy dancing! So here are some pics of our little chocolate/karaoke/dance clubbing ladies night....

I made these really fun centerpieces for the table-they were so fun to create!

I was glad we all pulled it off! Katie thought I was babysitting her kids while she and Zack went to dinner, so they were dropping them off when we all surprised her! She started off our party by singing "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!" Some other highlights of the night were Jaycee (both Jaycee and Katie are pregnant which made it even funnier) rockin' out to Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" and Abby and Jessica rapping/booty shaking to "I Like Big Butts." Melissa and I did Salt n' Peppa's "Shoop" and a big group sang "Summer Lovin" from Grease which I heard was the best, but I missed it because I had to take Gretel upstairs to feed her-she was way too into the party and refused to eat amongst the action because she just wanted to watch!! I'm glad she warmed up to the crazy atmosphere fast-here is a picture of her when I'd just brought her downstairs for the first time right after she woke up...

But pretty soon she was one of the girls!

It might've been partly because of all the chocolate I ate, but I couldn't sleep later that night because I was still so hyper! Shauna told me the same thing happened to her; she just laid awake thinking of all the songs she should've done! So we've decided it would be really fun to do it again, and we've already come up with a long list of future songs that we think would be hilarious!!

A few girls had already left before we took this group picture; sorry!

(sing along now....) "Yes it's ladies night, and the feelin's right-oh yes it's ladies night, oh what a OH WHAT A NIGHT!!!

Also, thanks for visiting us recently, Grandma Cheryl! We had a blast as always....

Gretel Gumdrops is five months today! I can't believe it!!