Did You Eat Me?

One recent outing to Barb's combined with an absurdly preposterous photo had my littlest babe believing I partook in infanticide. I was simply showing Hope some earlier photos of her ridiculously crazy hair when she was just a toddler. Nico was not interested in taking a trip down memory lane if he was not involved and so inquired why he wasn't in these photos. I assured him he was with us - just still in my belly. A similar photo (that I am so proud to share with the world) was produced to satisfy his desire to be included.


His very serious and concerned response to viewing this picture:


"Did you eat me?"


Well... it kind of does look like I ate him! But note: I did not eat that tub of ice cream next to the regulation size basketball under my shirt. As appalling as this photo might be to you all I am proud to say that this was taken approximately 7 weeks before I actually gave birth to Nico.


But now that you've digested my pregnant nature in this picture (no pun intended!) back to the point of this story... after I wiped the tears away from laughing and finally had the breath to tell curious bystanders what was so funny I promised Nico that I did not eat him for lunch that day. I told him he was much too cute to eat! Thankfully no subsequent questions ensued about he got in my belly to begin with.

A Real Witch

I might just be a real witch...

And Hope just may love dressing up like her Mommy...

But make no qualms about it... Hope is, without a doubt, exactly like Sarah...

Not to mention that Riley often gets mistaken for Barb's twin...

Does this mean Batman looks like Janet???

To view all of our annual, traditional Halloween fun click here...

I want to be a Rock Star

Post turkey coma (and groggy after a day filled with family and friends, good wine and a few rock star serenades) I awoke to a sad and confused little boy peering over my bed, staring directly into my eyes, only inches away from the fog that was settling into my mind. On the verge of tears my littlest babe pleaded desperately vying for some sympathy or perhaps just a bit of consolation. In his shaky voice Nico barely managed a very sad little whisper of a whine:

“My room… is a MESS!”

He too seemed to be lingering in the after effects of a Thanksgiving party that ran late into the previous night. I visualized my own pile of unattended dirty dishes downstairs and I gently assured Nico that waking to a messy room was simply a sure sign of a great party the night before. Then I tried to lure him into my arms and under my warm blankets for a few more moments of cuddled slumber before we had to further examine the party’s aftermath.

The comforts of my warm bed couldn’t keep him away from the lingering mess in his room. Nico sauntered off mumbling something about not having enough space for his toys. I couldn’t let him wander off so disoriented and sad… and it was 10:00 a.m. after all – time to go see what the fuss was all about.

"See, I don’t have any more room to put my toys away”, Nico quietly cried as I entered his room and sat with him on the floor.

I moved some things around on his shelf securing a home for the remaining toys and offered up my praise at a job well done. Nico cleaned his room all on his own accord – a first in our world and I really was proud of my little babe.

Still not quite emerged from his own slumber Nico looked me straight in the eye and very seriously stammered, “Sometimes… when Sissy clean her room… (a long pause obviously lost in deep thought)… she is… a WWW… WWW… RRRRock SSStar!”

With a melting heart and tears stinging my eyes I recognized the plot behind the clean room was to attain his very own rock star status. I wrapped my arms around my littlest babe, held him tight to hide the tears streaming down my face and whispered, “You’ll always be my littlest Rock Star.”

Christmas 2010 Photo Shoot

Picture day in the Gronke household always justifies skipping school and ditching work responsibilities. It's a lot of work to coordinate cooperation for this annual event.

Riley is naturally mellow and loves the day off with the promise of lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings so he only mildly grumbled when we forget his belt. He really just wants it all to end so he can go back to bed.

Hope was modeling her attitude through the first round of pictures because we insisted she not wear her shirt that shouts "Totally Cool" (and you'll see that attitude if you look through all the pics).

Nico has no idea what's going on but he doesn't like to hold still for the camera and he perfected the art of the fake, plastered, constant smile, not moving his lips at all when he repeats "my brother is stinky" (our failed attempts to get him to smile normally).

But it's all in fun. We got some great shots that convey the story of picture day in all its glory. And I might be bias but I think these just might be the cutest kids ever... goofiness, attitudes and all.

To see all the unedited fun click here.

Homecoming 2010

I'm thinking the homecoming party was a hit... hoards of soda and chips, intense foosball matches, movies, xbox, 1:00 a.m. runs to McDonalds, 3:00 a.m. street football, 5:00 a.m. walks to Safeway for more food! It was a successful all nighter topped off with some extreme flipping at Sky High Sports in the morning only to find kids passed out in the office that afternoon - they were sitting in chairs, heads bent over desks or slumped in their seats while attempting to do homework! If nothing else we successfully wore them out.

What Goes on at Your House at Night?

Be sure to turn up the volume so you can get a little Justin Beiber stuck in your head... only then will you have the full appreciation of what goes on at our house each and every evening!

This Little Lady...

Has wormed her way into the hearts of a group of 6 year old boys! In the midst of Hope’s hourly nightly story where she recounts every minute detail of her day (she is SO different from Riley) she announced that one of her best boy friends wants to marry her… and her other boy friends gathered her to tell her… and I’ll spare you the remaining scene of events because I lost track of the story when it went on for 30+ minutes. However, the mention of marriage brought my focus back into the long story Hope was conveying and Riley and I chuckled at the thought of 6 year olds betrothing themselves.

Later that evening I received a phone call from a mother of one of these boys. My insecurities kicked in and of course I was sure she was about the “discuss” the marriage proposal. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to hear this Mom had a special request from this group of boys to extend a very late invitation to a birthday party – the boys insisted Hope be part of these festivities.

We arrived at the party unaware that Hope would in fact be the only girl among this tight knit group of boys. This group of boys (and Hope) were in kindergarten together and although they are now split between four different classes their friendship remains strong. They eat together, they play together at recess and they apparently weren’t willing to let Hope miss out on this extracurricular activity.

Hope was in her element… batting her eyes, flattering the boys with balloons, leading a game of chase and delighting even parents who marveled at her lack of consciousness that she was the only girl in the room leading the way in a close group of rambunctious boys.

It’s cute… I’m proud of her confidence… I admire her choice of friends… all when she is 6!!!

Will I think it’s cute when she’s 16??