July 2016

I'm going back in time and blogging, so I can't even remember what I've posted in the past. If I haven't said it already, there will be many "this is where Joe fell asleep" pictures in the coming posts. Adjusting to a lack of nap is TOUGH! First up, napping in costume in a basement chair. 

Of course, summer means swimming and camps and visiting family. Mark loved swimming at the neighbor's pool especially.

We had to take a trip to Virginia for Camp Nonna and maybe more importantly, to me, anyway, to visit our new nephew/cousin. Doug's sister Jenn and brother in law Steve had a baby boy, Donovan, on July 1. We couldn't be more thrilled to have a new baby in the family!

The garden got in full swing. That's a big ol' zucchini!

Gianna had dance camp at her dancing school. Each day had a theme, I believe this was wacky Wednesday...of course Joe is always up for some extra wackiness. 

End of school!

Once again, another school year has come to an end. Doug and I were both able to go the kids' end of school year events. Mark's class did a little "year in review" program where they sang songs, showed a slide show, and read some of their writing to the parents. It was adorable! He had a great year in kindergarten. We are so proud of him! Look out first grade, here comes a great kid!

Gianna's class put on a little play about our town. It was very cute...and informative! She was so excited! The kids did a great job! Gianna had a great year too! She's become a great little writer and is truly passionate about it...not to mention prolific. We can't wait to see what 4th grade has in store for our school-loving girl!

Last day of school smoothies. Delish. Next year, "baby" Joe starts pre-school 3 mornings a week. That'll be interesting. If nothing else, he'll be delighted to be part of the first day of school excitement! Way to go kids!

June fun!

June is always a busy time...even aside from school stuff, I'll get to that in my next post. First, Gianna had her first Irish dance recital, called a Ceili (pronounced KAY-lee), which Nonna and Pop-pop were able to attend.  Contrary to my usual opinion of dance recitals (sorry, folks) it was a lovely afternoon of food and family!

Joe has stopped napping. Sometimes he can't get through the day.  He slept like this until he REALLY fell asleep at which point he fell to the ground and started crying. I wish we had it on video. It was hilarious. He didn't appreciate us laughing either. 

While Mark was at one of his dozen birthday parties, I took G and J to a cute little ice cream shop. I think they liked it. 

We crossed another item off Doug's "local" bucket list by going to Bushkill Falls. With all the little people along, we kept the hiking pretty minimal, but we did see some nice falls and the kids had a good time. 

We also headed to the shore, just for a couple hours. Sorry kids, we know you like it, but unfortunately you got a mom and dad who aren't really beach people, so a few hours is all you get. But I have to say, it was a lovely day and the kids did great and I actually might have stayed longer if the local burrito joint hadn't been calling my name! Maybe we'll go again later in the summer. 

Yard work

Okay, this post is for only our biggest fans (i.e. it's boring). The previous owners of our home were SUPER into gardening. To them, this meant devoting as much space as possible to as many plant varieties as possible. To us, this means they had way more time on their hands than we do and we really needed to simplify things. I'm not so good at before and after pics, so some descriptions may have to suffice. The two pictures below show our new fire pit area, next to the quoit court Doug put in last year. The area always had the rock wall, but was filled with some plants and a s*** ton of rocks. So Doug and I (mostly Doug) dug up the plants, moved the rocks, and covered it with mulch. And the third pic is of Gianna's first "ringer" at quoits! 

Now to the front. This is a before picture from right in front of our house. It's hard to tell but this flower bed was about 10 feet deep and filled with roughly 47,000 types of plants. So we had it dug up and replaced it with a 5 foot bed with 5 bushes and one small tree. I like to be able to count the number of plants on my hands and to be able to tell what are weeds and what are plants. It's nice. 

 It's hard to tell, but that HUGE dirt pile near the truck, extending from one big tree to the other, was a big berm, again with 47,000 plants. So we dug that up too and had them plant grass. This literally doubled the size of our front yard and now we don't have to weed and prune, just mow. Easy peasy. 

So here's the finished product. Small flower beds with simple plants and lots more grass. We are SO pleased!

May days

Spring had trouble settling in, so a chilly afternoon of bowling was in order! Why didn't those bumper things exist when I was little? It would have made the activity infinitely more satisfying! I distinctly remember getting a total score of 7 at my first time bowling...seems pretty discouraging. 

Chilly weekdays we spent bouncing. 

Doug's birthday! 

This boy is in a costume more often than not.

On Mother's Day weekend, we met Nonna and Pop-pop in Bethlehem, PA just for a day of roaming the shops and having lunch. It was nice...chilly again.

 Again, with the chilliness at the fair.

Joe gave up naps this month...some days are more successful than others!

Again with the costume. This mask was a reward for finally putting pee in the potty. Sadly, the reward did not immediately have the encouraging effect I had hoped! But a few weeks later he started to get the hang of this potty thing. 

April outings

Wow! Looking back, April was a fun-filled month! Gianna's easter gift was going to see Riverdance. She is so into Irish step dancing now, it seemed like a must-do since it's doing a 20th anniversary tour. We both loved it!

I had a fun day with this little guy while the big kids went to work with Doug on "Take Your Kids to Work Day." At least they brought him home a sweet shirt! Kudos to jet.com for creating such fun activities for the day!

Happy Birthday, Joe!

On April 22, Joe turned 3! He's adorable and hilarious and we just love him to pieces. His favorite toys are costumes, masks, and swords. His favorite activities are dancing, sitting on laps, and climbing on Mark. His favorite foods are any kind of meat, GoGo squeezes, and pizza. He loves to repeat things he hears (i.e. telling grandpa he's going to "clean up this one horse town" a la porky pig), to invent new friends (like his "classmates" Jumie and Diago...he does not go to school yet) and to do anything with his big siblings and cousins. Happy birthday sweet boy!