Summer

Our summer is well under way and we are having a fabulous time so far.  Luke is back at Camp Sisol and Adrienne is back at the JCC.  Coco continues in her same infant room at the JCC so that makes 3 kids in the same place for drop-off and pick-up!  It still takes me at least 30 minutes (at least) to get through the place when picking them up!  We spend extra time admiring all of the pre-school artwork, pushing ALL of the buttons in the elevator, talking to all the teachers, running people over with the stroller, stopping to use all of the restrooms (and steal the rubber gloves stocked in them), making sure we sample the water at each water fountain, using all of the handicap buttons to open doors...you get the picture!

So back to our fun filled, no spare minutes, summer...

We've had bonfires, been to lakes, gone to festivals, had a lemonade stand,
lived it up at the waterpark, been to parties with water slides and bounce houses, been to parks, swung on the neighbors' swings, ridden bikes,  and everything in between.  After the winter we had this year, this nice warm weather is just what we needed.

We are about halfway thru the season and dreading the change of weather already.  And I almost had to start boycotting Target (gasp!) because they have back to school supplies out already.  Not what I want to see, Target.  You don't want to lose one of your best customers.  And take those jeans and sweaters out of the store, too.  stat.  Do not even think about putting Halloween decor out or you're finished! We still have more summer to experience!  And while I'm making threats, you listen to me Rochester, it better be a warm fall and winter or I'm moving!  Rant over, proceed.  


Luke's last day of 1st grade:

The Cutest  Lemonade Stand that Ever Existed:

Somewhere over the rainbow!

SMORES!

Babers!

Twins matching:

Squish

Look at my squishy baby!  I just love to squish her.  I will call her squish!  Actually, I've been calling her piglet because she does the sweetest little squealing noise when she wants something.  She is *this* |<--->|  close to crawling and is just starting to pull up on things.   She has also mastered the butt scooch and is putting that, uh, extra surface area to work.  

We are up to 4 teeth now - ouch, and we've started solid foods. So far she loves bananas and avocados.  She does NOT like apples!  Is that possible?  You know what she really wants to try?  Chocolate cake.  Yep, that's right, she was throwing elbows at me trying to get a taste of some cake at a recent birthday party.  Girl knows what she wants.  And she is my child, after all.

Oh , oh, OHH, and she's been sleeping through the night.  Hallelujah! So here are some pictures of the babe:

Birthdays, 2014 Edition

So we've had a few birthdays: Luke #7 (WOW!) and Adrienne #4 (double WOW!).  Both kids wanted parties at "fun centers," but "fun" isn't quite the word I would use.  Nevertheless, Luke had a blast on the go - carts and Adrienne bounced her little heart.   Each birthday is so bittersweet. So bittersweet, in fact, that we take at least a week and a couple of cakes per birthday!

Attention!

Here ye, here ye, we have a grand milestone to document...princess baby finally rolled over. all the way. over.

Ok, so maybe it's not that exciting but what kind of mother would I be if this went undocumented?  At least I was around to see her do it for the first time (that, or the daycare ladies have learned the art of not spoiling "firsts").

High Tea

Anyone want to come to a tea party?  High tea will be served in Adrienne's room today!

Super Cup

Luke participated in his Taekwondo studio's annual Super Cup this year.  He chose to do the board breaking competition.  Each kid in the competition gets two boards to break: one upper body technique break and one lower body technique break.  Luke decided on the "palm hit" technique and the "axe kick" technique.  He broke both boards on the first try and actually looked like he knew what he was doing (despite mine and Matt's fear that he didn't).  He earned the silver medal for his group which he was super proud of. Go Luke!

Cute

Look at all of this cuteness!

Ready for gymnastics class!

Teaching Coco his Taekwondo moves

Just being cute on her play mat

A Day in the Life

As usual, I am wanting to be a little bit better about updating this blog so here's a quick snippet about my favorite part of today.  I was giving Corinna a bath and my lovely assistant Adrienne insisted on being the "head bather."  Pushing me out of the way with her elbows and boxing me out with her little booty, Adrienne did a fine job really scrubbing that one little part of Coco's stomach.  Although that one little part of Coco was probably already the cleanest part of her body, it's really clean now.  Adrienne was finally satisfied after the 43rd application of baby soap so then she moved on to rinsing Corinna's hair.  Which is really code for dumping water directly on Corinna's face.  But Coco seemed to like it so all was well in baby bath world.

And if you are wondering where Luke was during this time, I'm happy to report he being really cute, using plastic play dishes and pretending to be a waiter.  While busy with my bathing duties, I was served a fabulous meal of salad.  Maybe he was secretly trying to tell me something?

Just an ordinary day with some non - ordinary kids.

Who goes to Canada in February?

For the first time in my life, I went North instead of South for a winter break.  It must be that sleep deprivation affecting my judgement again.  It was dang cold up there!  Original thought, eh?  See how I threw in the "eh" there?  Well, despite the frozen tundra temperatures, Toronto is quite a nice city.  And by city, I mean, a real one!  We had a great time on our mini-trip and have already thought about what we'd like to do next time we visit.  And we will visit in the summer, next time.

For the next visit, I'd love to skip Legoland but apparently the kids kind of loved it.  sigh.  I would actually go to the aquarium again as it was the best one I've ever been to.  The aquarium was home to the biggest lobsters ever and some crazy shark tanks.  At one point, you can look up and see a shark swimming 3 feet directly above your head.  I think the kids enjoyed the hands-on exhibits the most.  They were able to "pet" some horseshoe crabs as much as one can call that petting.  They were also able to touch some small sharks.   There were a few Dory and Nemo sightings and Ade picked the plainest, small, silver fish you could find as her "favorite" and totally ignored the beautiful rainbow coral reef.  Of course the itty bitty indoor playground was also a hit.  These kids will do anything for a slide and a few climbing structures.  

Coco was a perfect baby as usual and coo'ed during the whole trip.  She really enjoyed watching the fish in the Dangerous Lagoon and the psychadelic jelly fish display.   It's kind of funny to think that this was her first trip and it was "international."  She's such a cultured 3 month old.

Another huge hit on the trip was the IKEA we hit up on the way home.  We picked up a nice desk for Luke although he really wanted to get a swivel chair.  And Ade wanted to purchase every fake computer set up in the store.

Here are some of our pictures.