Lucia and Daddy

Enjoying the breeze on the front porch this evening- did I mention it was hot here in Michigan today?

Summer Fun 2

Ethan was in his pool all afternoon. He had Jim and a water gun fight- I think Jim won!

Summer Fun

Lucia's first time in the kiddy "cool" (as Ethan refers to the pool). She loved it! Today and the parade I ran into a co-worker and her husband (they were watching the parade). My co-worker called me later on and said that her husband thought that Lucia was the biggest baby he ever saw! I don't think she's that big :-)

In other Lucia news- it has now been one week since she has feasted in the middle of the night! Lucia had been getting up about two times a night and would not go back to sleep until I nursed her. I was getting worried because I do not want to nurse past her 1st Birthday- but didn't know how I would break this habit. At her 9mo. appt. her Doctor told me I should just cut her off cold turkey- let her cry, go in if we feel we need to, etc. So, since Jim had quite a few days off of work this weekend, we decided to cut out her night feedings. So far so good! Jim has been going in when she cries at night to stick her pacifier back in- and I think that has helped the process.

Memorial Day Parade

Ethan, Lucia, Aunt Kerri, and I marched in the Walker Memorial Day parade today to support my Zia Rina who is running for GR 1st Ward County Commissioner. It was a bit hot (almost 90!), but still a lot of fun.
Ethan was helping hand out candy along the parade route- he would run up to the side of the road, find a spot of grass that no one was sitting on, and deposit a handful of Tootsie Rolls there. I kept telling him to hand the candy to the kids and not leave it on the lawn! It was pretty funny!

Ethan and Lucia

Ethan was running circles around the yard last night - it was great! He finally obliged me with a photo next to his sister.

Lucia enjoying the yard

I sat Lucia in the middle of the new sod last night. She just sat there and would gently touch the grass with a disgusted look on her face! I think she approves though!

Backyard After

Here's a picture of our backyard now. It's so much greater than it used to be! We still have some work to do. They laid sod on the bottom half of the yard- so that looks great- now we just have to fist the top half by putting some grass see down, etc.

I love it- I'm so happy we did this! We are definitely going to get a lot of use out of the yard now!

Backyard Before

Jim and I decided to put a fence in the backyard and get rid of the "garden" (lower level of our yard). I am not a gardener and since we have lived in this house- the garden always became over crowded with weeds. I would always feel depressed when I looked at our yard and all the wasted space.
Now- with having kids and their (Ethan's) desires to always play outside- we decided it was time to redo the yard.

Since we are way too busy (and not proficient in fence installation, etc.) we decided to hire someone to do the work. We settled on Earthtone Landscape Management. And I think they have done a great job!

Ava's Baptism

Today we celebrated Ava's baptism. She did very well during the ceremony and hardly cried! (I think Lucia cried more than Ava- it was quite hot in MI today!) I was explaining to Ethan that Ava was going to be "baptized"- he interpreted that to Ava was going to be "tied up." Ethan was quite intrigued during the ceremony- He was probably waiting for the Priest to tie her up- but that never happened!

Look who's standing!

Lucia can now pull herself up and stand in her pack-n-play and her crib. She's quite proud of herself!

Little man

Here's a picture Nick took last week when Ethan stopped by for a visit. He is turning into quite the little man.

Time flies . . .

This weekend I spent time looking a bunch of old pictures on Picasa selecting some for a photo collage frame (that I got as a birthday gift back in February!- I'm a slacker!).
Anyway- this is a picture of Ethan at Nick and Sunny's wedding almost two years ago (this June). I can't believe how much he has grown! Look at those curls!

In 9 short months . . .

Ivana will grow to be the size of her sturdy cousin Lucia! It still amazes me how fast babies grow!! I think Ivana was a little scared of her cousin- after all, Lucia did try to roll over her a few times!

All better!

Lucia loves being tossed up in the air- it made her forget all about her bad grass experience!

What IS this stuff!

Not a fan of grass! Lucia started bawling like a baby (ha!) as soon as I set her down.

Bye Cecca and Jarrod!

Aunt Cecca and Jarrod headed out on a month-long trip across the US last night. Before they left, they stopped by to see Ethan and Lucia (and Jim and I) one more time. The first two pictures are of Ethan running to see Jarrod. During dinner last night, Ethan was jabbering about all his friends and his "best friends"- Jarrod being one of Ethan's "best friends." I thought it was cute how E. ran up to him when he saw him last night!

A little better

At least one kid is looking at the camera!

Awkward Family Photo

Trying to get a nice picture of the two kids is challenging at times. Lucia was kind of slumping over, so I ask Ethan to "prop her up a little."

Zoo con't . . .

Quite a few animals were out. The second picture is at the Chimpanzee exhibit. Most of the chimps were sunbathing right below the window.

Friday at the zoo . . .

Friday was beautiful here, Jim was out of work early (at 9am!) so we decided to pack the kids up and head to the zoo.
First up, we made our way to the petting zoo area and heard the different roosters calling. This guy had a strange familiarity about him . . .
Then- all of a sudden- he says (in a thick Italian accent) "Jim- I'm glad to see you outside enjoying the sunshine- is good for you!"