Ellie began her summer swim lessons today. The photo above is of her waiting to be taken out into the water. I was really proud of her because she did great in the lesson. Ellie thought she was going to be with a bunch of her friends today but she was solo and there were no complaints.
The highlight for her was getting to go off the diving board.
Meanwhile, Max and James kicked back (kiddie) poolside with some drinks. The seltzer can and juice box are actually empty but provided several minutes of entertainment for the boys.
James is a true water baby. He loves the pool and enjoys pouring buckets of water on himself in the kiddie pool. He's even been in the big pool with us a few times and seems to enjoy that too.
We were fortunate enough to get some quality time in at the beach this weekend. It was perfect beach weather at Baker's Beach. James loved it- he liked the sand (he even tasted it), the waves and water, and playing with beach toys. Ellie is more hesitant in the water and her favorite part of the beach is getting a treat at the snack bar. I guess she's more of a pool girl.
Our sweet boy is now 14 months old. It's been such fun being home with him this summer. James loves the pool, he sits on the slope in the kiddie pool and splashes and he walks along the perimeter of the pool, holding on to the sides. At the playground, he seems to prefer the slide over a swing. He uses tools purposefully. When he sees a phone, he puts it to his ear and says, "hello," he puts toothbrushes in his mouth and tries to use Ellie's crayons on paper. As of now his words are: Mama Dada Ellie Mimi Baba (Papa) uh-oh baby date doo (thank you) no (sometimes with a finger pointing to add emphasis) ni ni (night night) Meh (Max) dah (dog)
The funniest thing he does is sing "Happy Birthday." He isn't exact with all of the lyrics but he knows the tune and the words sound close enough. One of these days, I'll record it and post it.
As a way to keep Ellie entertained while James is napping (and as a distraction from waking up her brother), I've let her use a dry erase board. She loves it and now draws people. The top picture is of our family; John, me, Ellie and James (L-R). She told me we were all wearing undies, except James, he's wearing a diaper. The circle above the kids' heads is the sun. The bottom drawing is of Elile and James. You may be wondering what the things attached to the sides of their faces are. They're cheeks and ears. It appears that James has eyebrows but no arms, and Ellie has given only herself feet. She told me that she has a ponytail in this picture.
Summer is here and we're loving it! We're now almost done with our second week of being home together and we have somewhat of a routine established. We've been spending lots of time at the pool and both Ellie and James are really loving the kiddie pool. I don't have many photos because our camera wasn't working and I just picked up our new one yesterday but we'll have some pool pics soon. Stay tuned.
It's official: summer is here! We enjoyed our first corn of the season this week. It was James's first corn ever and Ellie's inaugural ear of the summer.
I ordered a new console table for our living room. It adds a little modern touch to our living room which I like. The old console table will have a new home in our basement once it's redone.
I couldn't help posting the above photos of Ellie and Will. Will was Ellie's first friend and such an important part of her first 3.5 years. I'm not sure she realizes how far away Chicago is (she actually asked if we'd see Will and Cate today). It's going to be an adjustment not having them around but I know Will and Ellie will be lifelong friends.
We gathered on the beach last Monday night to say goodbye to Julie and the kids. They moved to Chicago last Tuesday. I know that we'll keep in touch and remain friends but it's not the same not having them close by. They have been such an important part of our life and they're like family to us. We're going to miss them terribly.
Erica and Todd graciously hosted John and me overnight while we were in NYC. While we were there we put our boys in matching lobster outfits. I always joke around that James may be in therapy some day because of how I dress him, but I think they look adorable!
The Fordham Reunion was a blast. It's quite possible that I may have had too much fun! It was great to see old friends, catch up with people I hadn't seen in five or ten years and wonderful to be back on the beautiful campus. It's hard to believe that ten years have gone by so quickly and I'm already looking forward to our 15th reunion.
My brother proved himself the best uncle in the universe once again last weekend. He met up with us, hung out with us during the day (not only entertaining Ellie and James but also Sadie and Dashel) and then watched our kids while we went to Fordham and kept them overnight in his new apartment and delivered them back to us in the morning. He didn't do it alone though and we're so grateful to Nikki and his other friends for giving him a helping hand. Ellie loved all of the attention and as you can see from the top photo, Adam is her #1 favorite uncle.
After our insane week of traveling to both Vermont and Buffalo, we topped it all off with a quick trip to NYC for my Fordham Reunion. We were able to see a few friends in Central Park before the big event in the Bronx and it was awesome to have such a gathering of friends. Erin brough Sadie in from Brooklyn; Erica, Todd and Dashel were there and Alexis and Mark were in town from Chicago- lucky us! This was James's first trip to the Big Apple and it was quite a hot weekend but we had an amazing time.
Ellie began her summer swim lessons today. The photo above is of her waiting to be taken out into the water. I was really proud of her because she did great in the lesson. Ellie thought she was going to be with a bunch of her friends today but she was solo and there were no complaints.
The highlight for her was getting to go off the diving board.
Meanwhile, Max and James kicked back (kiddie) poolside with some drinks. The seltzer can and juice box are actually empty but provided several minutes of entertainment for the boys.
