August Picnic

Today we met my friends at the park for our monthly picnic. The weather was absolutely beautiful. We are so ready for fall! As my friend Sara's sister said, that's what August in St. Louis will do!

Once again, William got Lydia to himself today. Too much of this cavorting, may lead to a future Lydia Deetz.

Hee hee.

The coordinated family

We're so cheese.

Crazy for Crazy Cubes

Lily found a Strawberry Shortcake cookbook (80's edition, of course) recently and has been super excited to try out some of the recipes. Last night we made "Crazy Cubes" (basically ice cubes made from colorful juices). As you can see from the pictures below, Lily was thrilled with the results and enjoyed her crazy cubes in a margarita glass - party on!

Feeling the love

Nuttin' but love for the Cardinals!

Showing love of country in patriotic colors


Sibling love

Week with Mary and Katie

These pictures are far overdue, but better late than never I suppose! They are from our whirlwind week in June when Mary and Katie came to visit. We packed so many activities in that one week that everyone was exhausted by the end and needed a vacation to recover from the vacation. Included among our activities were: a trip to Missouri Botanical Gardens, two trips to the pool, a "Mad Science" program, a ducky program at the library, a picnic lunch at Faust Park, a birdwatching program at the nature center, an afternoon at the Magic House, William's naming ceremony, and my cousin Maria's wedding (and Katie's spa birthday celebration which I already posted). It was a lot, but we really had a blast.

So, after only a mere two months, here are the pictures. As you can see, I took the easy way out by creating a slideshow. I also got tired of doing the captions after the fifth picture so Carl volunteered to do the rest (well maybe volunteered would not be as accurate as conned into it). So this is a disclaimer that the majority of captions were created by Carl. Proceed at your own risk.

Make a free digital slideshow

10 months

William is now officially 10 months old! He continues to be a very sweet boy who gets compliments everywhere we go. His current loves include:

Taking a bath. William gets so excited when we turn the water on for the bathtub. He jumps up and down and makes all kinds of noise.

William also loves to play peek-a-boo.

Peek-a-boo

I see you!

William continues to be fascinated with Terra's food and water dishes which is oh-so-fun. He also loves to go up and down the stairs. Who needs a stairmaster when you have a 10-month-old? William is now cruising all over the place and going from couch to table to whatever, as long as it is within arm's reach. He also took his first unassisted step this past weekend. He needs some more work with balance though to get the whole walking thing down. Lily could go from the floor to a standing position (without holding onto anything) proficiently by now, but William has yet to master that skill yet. By far my favorite development is that he is now calling me "mama". He has been saying "ma ma" for a while now, but there was no meaning behind it. Now he clearly uses it to get my attention. I'm pretty sure that he understands who "dada" is as well, and he certainly knows "Lily" and "Terra". It won't be long until he really starts understanding this language thing which is so exciting!

And what has our sweet Lily been up to?

As you could probably tell from the pictures above, Lily has been having fun dressing up her baby brother!

The pop star

America's next Top Chef?

And zebra. :)

First day of Pre-K

Today Lily had her first day of Pre-K at her zoned school. Carl and I were excited about this next step, and we really played it up. So it is hard to know whether her excitement for today came from within or she was just feeding off of us. Either way, she was happy all the way there and had only good things to say when I picked her up.

She got to wear her special first-day-of-school dress that she saved just for today. She picked out a new lunch bag to accommodate her cup for water at snack time (a good green idea - to have the kids bring their own reusable cups). She had picked out the snack that she wanted to bring days before (which was celery and carrots with ranch dip - something I'm quite sure that I never begged my mom to pack for me). She made sure that she had our family picture for her picture frame. She also brought along (snuck in) a special friend - a littlest pet figurine that she put in the bottom of her lunch bag.

Drop off was fairly uneventful. I got there a little early to pick her up, and she was on the playground playing in the sandbox with about 5 other little girls. She later told me that they were making "cakes", her favorite thing to do with sand. We had to teach William the song "The Wheels on the Bus" this afternoon, and I'm quite certain that William will be subjected to learning many new things this school year whether he wants to or not. Lily commented that she made two friends, a little girl named Claire and a little boy whose name she did not catch. Overall, it was a smooth day - aside from William not napping at all due to what we think is a cold, poor baby.

I'm really excited because we are back in school mode. Our days are structured, and I'm about a thousand times more productive. It is nice to feel on top of things again. I love new school years because it presents an opportunity for new beginnings - so far we are all off to a great start!

Lily's school is just a 10-minute walk away so we loaded up the sit and stand stroller (which I love, by the way) for our walk to school.

Thankfully today was a lot cooler than yesterday when we did our practice run (by cooler, I mean actually under 95 degrees). When we showed up today, no sweat! Whoo hoo!

This school girl is clearly no stranger to the camera and loves to ham it up!

Sweet girl

My little baby Deetz

Today we had a great Cooking Club gathering. Great food, great people, great times. (Thank you to Carl who willingly volunteered to help clean the house and grill the meats (so manly) for the get-together - he always goes along with my crazy ideas, and I love him for it.) We had seven families attend and had a total of 12 kids scampering through the house! Needless to say, Lily had a grand time. There were a couple of babies William's age as well (both little girls). One of the babies waved good-bye as she left. We were all remarking how impressed we were by this skill at her age. I mentioned that William seemed to have no interest in such things and didn't seem to quite grasp the concept of bye-bye. So naturally, when other guests were leaving later, what does William do? Wave bye-bye - clear as day with a big grin on his face, as if to say, "Oh, yeah? You think I don't get it? Well, I'll show you!" So I stand corrected. And William shows his first sign of being a true Deetz - being underestimated was the only motivation he needed! ;)

Butterfly House

In between Lily's Pom Camp and going to her Open House for Preschool, we made a stop at the Butterfly House. Lily really enjoyed using the guide to find different species of butterflies. Every time Lily spotted a different butterfly, she would say, "Get it mom!" (meaning take a picture). So we have lots of pictures!

Pre-K Open House

This afternoon we went to the Open House for Lily's Pre-K class. We got to explore all the centers in the classroom and meet some of the other kids in her class. Lily does not seem to have any problems with transitions, but this was still a nice way to ease kids into their new classroom environment.

Lily spent the vast majority of her time in their housekeeping area - no surprise there!

She also managed to squeeze in a little time for playdough

She made several heart shapes for her baby brother

For her grand finale before we left, she painted a picture: a baby crying with blood running down its cheeks. Not only did she point out the details of this picture to her teacher, but she also showed other parents as well. Nice. I'm sure they will be knocking down our door for playdates.

Pom Camp

Lily completed her Petite Pom Camp today. They met for an hour each day this week and then had a little performance today. It is hard to tell if Lily is really into any of the sports or activities that we do. She seems to like going to the classes and practices, but then she is also just fine when they're over. I don't know if we have found her "thing" just yet.

Pre-performance. Lily just exudes enthusiasm, doesn't she?

The girls showing some spirit - Lily's spirit was maybe more accurately some controlled positive emotion

Lily receiving her award for the friendliest pommer. It is true that she is a good friend and got along well with all the little girls.

Brings back the days...

A new generation of pomming :)

I love the difference a couple years makes. This camp was for 3-5 year-olds. In the video, you can see the full range from the 3-year-old that just randomly wanders off in the middle of the performance to the 5-year-old that clearly gets it.

Spaghetti!

Hmm...I'm not sure...let's give this a try...

Oh, yeah. Spaghetti's good. Maybe I can get more in if I put my whole fist in there.


I say "yes" to spaghetti!

The clean-up crew arrives


We are slowly introducing regular table foods into William's diet. I think everyone is excited about this next step. William seems to really enjoy regular food, and I can't wait until we can all eat the same thing for all of our meals!

Mini family update

William is really starting to "get" things. Some of my favorite things recently are:

• He tries to put his foot into shoes that are laying around when we are walking with him around the house. (In other words, he gets that shoes are for feet, even though he currently does not wear shoes.)
• He loves pens and tries to "write" on paper whenever possible.
• He continuously tried to put the phone to his ear yesterday.
• We had to lower his crib to the lowest level because he likes to stand in his crib, and he is SO tall!
• His first tooth is FINALLY popping through!!!

Lily getting ready to start Pre-K at her zoned school. I'm really excited about it. Lily just takes it all in stride. I think we have been doing so many different camps, classes, and activities this summer that she just sees it as the next thing. Her teacher came over for a home visit last week that was really nice. The teacher read a book to her about starting school, talked about all the activities they have in school, and made a project with Lily - a picture frame that will hold a picture of our family for the classroom. I was also able to ask her some questions about the program. Overall, I thought it was a very thoughtful way to introduce little ones to their new school and to their teacher. There is also an Open House at the school on Friday, and then she starts on Tuesday! She will only go three days per week in the afternoon, but I feel like this is a big step because it is at her zoned school. Therefore, this is the same school that she will (theoretically) attend for the next 6 years (Pre-K through 5th).

That brings us to the last family update. Carl is currently applying for fellowships for the 2012-13 school year. There are only 2 medical centers in St. Louis that have the fellowship Carl wants (Hematopathology). Therefore, we will apply to medical centers in other cities as well. We are currently looking at 10 different programs in 9 different cities: Bethesda, MD, Memphis, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Tampa, Seattle, Portland, Ann Arbor, MI, and St. Louis. There are a number of factors that will play into our final decision, but we will hopefully know by Feb, 2011 where we will be. If we end up going to a different city, we will likely rent out our house for the year and then return after the fellowship to look for a permanent job. Carl and I are both up for the adventure. Our only concern was how Lily would handle this, as she would be going into first grade at that time. When I explained the situation to her, in true Lily style, she said that she would prefer to move for the year. It must be in the genes!

Aunt Kathy's 60th Birthday Party

On Sunday afternoon, we went to my aunt's 60th birthday party at the park. It was a big family gathering because after all, big family celebrations are what Italians are all about!

From left to right: Uncle Vito, Aunt Kathy, Grandpa, Aunt Chris, and mom

(missing siblings are Uncle John and Uncle Sal)

Just the girls - Mom, Aunt Kathy and Aunt Chris

Aunt Chris & family

From left to right: Cousin Maria, her husband Dan, cousin Patrick, Aunt Chris & Uncle Tom

Aunt Kathy & family

From left to right: Cousin Jenny, her daughter Kailey, Aunt Kathy, Uncle Ron, Sammy (Andrea & Brian's daughter), Brian (Andrea's husband), and cousin Andrea

Swingin' Sammy

William with Aunt Chris & Suzanne

The four of us (notice how William is gradually losing clothes as the day goes on)

Trying to keep the baby cool & hydrated on a hot August afternoon

Finally Grandma strips the baby

Angela attempts to entertain the baby

I love my Aunt Angela!

Two tired, hot and sweaty kids at the end of the day - all in the name of good family fun!!