Mom saves the day!

Even though she was just here 5 weeks before, my mom came again to help me when Dave had to go back to work (to the night shift!) and I am soooooo grateful she did! Mia was only 8 days old when she arrived and had some really fussy nights so it was so nice to have Grandma here to hold her so I could nap and play with Zanna and James. She took them to church and got them ready for school and they just love being with her. We got out to do some fun things too so it was a great trip and saved me from going a little crazy with the transition from 2 to 3 kiddos...

Grandma arrived on the red-eye flight and the kids were all so happy to see her when they woke up...even Mia!

She got to go to Zanna's class picnic at school

playing on the tire swing at our house

such a little poser

Mia at 1 1/2 weeks old

we had lunch at Stew Leonard's and I wanted a picture of Mia and my favorite ice cream :)

We went to an Eco Festival and had a great time getting faces painted, decorating reusable bags, catching tadpoles, listening to music, eating ice cream, and watched an awesome reptile show with snakes, turtles, alligators, frogs and more...

Only Grandma can teach piano, play a duet, sing and hold Mia all at the same time!

my 4-year old baby... he said he was just trying out Mia's new chair for her :)

We had to take Grandma to the beach since she had never been to a Long Island beach yet. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we built a castle for all the sand crabs, jumped in the waves, took a fun walk and ate lots of chips

Zanna wrote this on our walk...she is such a great big sister and loves Mia to pieces!

Dave was working the night shift and this was right when he got home. He always thinks he's going to stay awake and hang out with us for a bit but falls asleep in about 2 minutes.

He loves to hold Mia when he gets home though and is such a cute dad with her.

She always smiles in her sleep and I finally caught it!

the day Grandma had to go home...Mia is not very happy about this

Before going to the airport we stopped at the nail salon for pedicures and manicures. Zanna was home sick from school and the ladies painted her nails for her...she was SO EXCITED to get her first manicure and loved the little flower. I told her this is not going to be a habit, but it was fun to see her so happy!

We picked up James from school, got some lunch at Panera and headed for the airport. These three are so cute and James was so sad to see Grandma leave. He said, "I'm not ready for Grandma to leave yet" and started crying in the car. We counted that we would see her again in 40 days so that made it a little better.

Thank you Mom for coming out to entertain, cook, clean, hold, wipe, laugh, eat, play, read and love us! You are the best and we sure love you!!

Here's a little video of Zanna and Grandma's duet...