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.

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

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!!

Birthday party #2

Lily's BFF's brother had his 2nd birthday party Saturday evening. He knows how to do it right. He was the only boy amidst 8 little girls, something he'll probably appreciate much more in about 10 years.

The birthday boy

Hangin' with the girls

Lunch date with daddy

Today we met Carl for a picnic lunch at his work. They have a great playground (actually now 2 playgrounds) just steps away from the entrance of the hospital. Conveniently, there are some trees next to the playground that provided nice shade for our picnic. We love to see daddy in the middle of the day!

Picnic #1

We have 2 picnics today. The first was with my friends and their kids. Luckily for William, Patrick and Charlie were not there today, so he had Lydia all to himself.

"How you doin'?"

What a guy, he even offers to rub her feet after a long day playing at the park. That, or he wants to play "This little piggie"...

Lily enjoyed a new water element at a new park!

Monday

On Monday, we went to Ingrid and Ryan's house for a BBQ dinner. The food was yummy, and the little ones enjoyed popping (Lily and Irie) and watching (William and Tuesday) bubbles in the backyard.

Yeah, all the ladies love me.

You have to check out Ingrid's blog too to see the video of William cracking up while we were there. Priceless!!!

Time for some r & r

It is so nice that it is Monday night, and we are still in weekend mode. Yay for three-day weekends! On Saturday, Lily and Carl enjoyed a day together, running errands in the morning and then going to Shrek in the afternoon. Unfortunately, Lily found one of the previews to be sad (an alien baby was shot out into space without its mother or father), and then she was sad when Shrek could not be with his family. Lily can be quite a sensitive girl especially when it comes to babies/families (human or otherwise). One day, I was looking at our wedding album and left it on the couch. I came into the room a little while later, and Lily was sitting so quietly with tears streaming down her face. I asked her what was wrong, and she responded that she really wanted to be at our wedding. It was so sad and so sweet.

Later on Saturday we enjoyed dinner on the patio together. This summer we decided to grow some herbs, peppers and tomatoes. We used the basil for the first time in my favorite pasta salad on Saturday. It was so nice to just walk out onto the deck, pick the basil, and then use it immediately, especially since half the time when we buy fresh basil, it goes bad before we get around to using it. I'm really enjoying this set up and planned dinners this week that use the dill and cilantro. I can't wait! It all just feels so summer-y, and we are all ready for summer-y!

Our little container garden

Lily's pasta salad review: "The pasta is delicious, and the beans are scrumptious. The cheese is good too. Yum!"

We spent Sunday out at my mom and dad's. Lily, William, Carl, mom, and I all enjoyed some fun in the pool before we met up with dad for some yummy bbq. Going to mom and dad's house is seriously better than going to a spa. There is just something about being with your parents. You can relax knowing that everything is taken care of, and relax we did!

Today, we stuck close to home and enjoyed more outdoor time. As you can see from the pictures below, all the kids love to spend time in the backyard.


Lily dragging a sackful of water to her playhouse.

Terra enjoying "her" pool (so she thinks).

William being his sweet, smiley self - enjoying watching all the action.

Good friends

Lily and her friend on their school playground.

Doing the crabwalk at their school fair


Walking hand-in-hand at Grant's Farm

Taking cover together at a rainy-day picnic

Picnic at the park

My friends and I had our monthly picnic at the park on Friday. We did not stay that long due to the ominous weather, but we got a few updated pics of our littlest ones.

Lydia - 7 months

Patrick - 6 months

William - 6 months