riding a bike!?!

Nicolette learned to ride her bike, for real this time. She was so proud of herself!! Jon and I were too! We've been practicing for some time now.

grandma's birthday and this and that

It was my mom's birthday and we needed to celebrate!

A sibiling picture... do you think we look alike?

We didn't know who was taller, so we had to measure! Wouldn't it be nice if we all were just a bit taller?! Mike wins!

My little guy playing in the kitchen

And my little girls new shoes! She is in love and so is her momma. I wish I coud find my size!

Just lounging before going over to the birthday party!

Finally playing with some trucks! Haha! He loves to do what nicolette does... which is typically playing with her babies and purses!

We're going backwards here, but I'm too lazy, and behind, to care. We were making hand prints on bags and cards for the upcoming holidays! Nicolette loved it. Cole loved it more, until he decided he was DONE!

Having fun with mommy! I love pictures of me and Miss Nicolette!

Some randoms for days past.

popsicles... summer is here

You know it's summertime when you crave popsicles. I distinctly remember eating popsicle after popsicle while I was pregnant with nicolette. Ahhhh... reminds me of being pregnant.... which kinda sorta maybe makes me want one or two more kids. Really. Jon would kill me. In my own little fantasy world I have 4 kids. A girl, a boy, another girl and then another boy. If only money weren't an issue. Anyways, I digress...

It was a warm night and my little miss wanted "essert". Popsicles it was. Green ones for both so no one will fight over colors.

My little man did not like lime. Maybe it was too sour for him.

This next picture makes me laugh!

I see more of these kind of nights in my future.

first weekend away, and it was good!

I went back and forth and back and forth and then back and forth again, trying to decide is I should go away with my friends for the weekend.

I really wanted to because I love to hang out with friends and there is not nearly enough time to always do that. I wanted to celebrate my dear friend Meghan's upcoming wedding and I knew we'd have TONS of fun. But, then the guilt ran through my mind. I'm a mom, I don't have enough time with my kids already, and I want to leave for the whole weekend? What was I thinking. I could barely leave them for a night and I was going to go for two nights? And then I thought about how they are still so little, and they wouldn't even remember me missing two nights of their lives. And they would be well taken care of my my parents and Jon, who both love them as much as I do. And then I worried about burdening my parents and then I thought- wait a minute, Jon is going to NYC for 3 nights next weekend for a bachelor party. I deserved to go this weekend, and it would make me a better mommy for making time for myself too. So, I went. And I am SO SO SO happy I did because it was a blast!

Can you believe we all went to high school together and half of us went to elementary school together and the other half went to a different elementary school together? It's the best having friends who have know you for that long... more than half of our lives!

So, as we're driving from Syracuse to New Haven, CT (a four hour ride), we start talking about mojitos and then burritos and then the conversation goes to pizza and it's 6pm and we're hungry. Mind you we are in the middle of no where and no one wants fast food. So, Stefanie gets the gps and does a little research, and low and behold, we find Panchos Burritos and Pizza, only 15 miles away. So we take a little detour, half expecting to be going to a towny dive in the middle of no place. But, let me tell you, we were SO excited. It was actually in a populated town (Springfield, MA) and so yummy! Exactly what we needed. Panchos was a a authentic Mexican restaurant, with no pizza, but great Sangria. They were out of fresh avocados, so no guacamole for us, although Stefanie offered to go get some at the store! I was driving the van, so only a few sips of sangria for me!

We made it to CT and got comfy and relaxed in our awesome suite, which even had an upstairs and felt more like an apartment.

Saturday we went to see Sex and the City!

And at night we went out to dinner and then to a fabulous piano bar. Boy do I wish they had one here. I would be going every night. Wait, maybe that's a bad idea!

The bride to be!

It was a fabulous getaway! I am thankful I have great friends and a great family who took care of the cutest kids ever while I was away!

i love my family

It was Sunday. And we had our typical Sunday day. I love Sundays. We literally just hang out at my parents all day. Yesterdat everyone was home, from work and college and we all went outside for little fun. Mike is very into frisbee golf, so the kids got a lesson. Fri-bee is Cole's new word.

We were checking out the Target add. I can't remember why.

I'm so happy it's summer!

visitors!

I not only love parties, but I love visitors too. It makes me heart happy when people come to visit. I love having them sleep over and wake up in the morning. It's like an adult sleep over! I wish more people would come and visit.

Katie and Alex came for the night all the way from Philly. Nicolette adores Alex and it reminds me of playing with Katie and Alan when I was little. Alex, Nicolette and Cole are second cousins and we always have such a blast when we're together. Alex is 8 months younger than Nicolette and 8 months older than Cole. Perfect ages for fun!

These three had such a fun time jumping and playing on the bed!

Before Katie and Alex took off, the kids enjoyed a nice picnic lunch outside while we ate leftover nachos!

ethan's birthday party

We went to Ethan's 4th birthday party today!

I love birthday parties! Everyone should have one, every year. Really! Think about how much happier the world would be if people celebrated with a party every year. It would be so fun! And, maybe a bit expensive, but hey, happiness has no price.

Anyways, we traveled to Rochester to celebrate the big 4! Can I tell you how excited I am that Ethan lives in NY now. The kids will get to "know" their cousin now!

Some lovin' from Uncle Jon!

Really, think about the party thing...