We're melting...

So much has happened since the last post, it would be impossible to tell it all. Most importantly FI said MAMA this week. Yes, before she said DADA.

I heard it with my own ears!

Luckily for our baptismal guests who stayed with us this past week, they left just in time! The air conditioner went out and has been out now for four days. It could be another week or more. ugh. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't 98 degrees outside. The kids are wearing bandanas soaked in cold water and we are all congregating in front of one large box fan. Ah, it's like camping, without the bugs. (as Mark says).

The heat has brought us closer together though... not just in front of the box fan. Yesterday Daniel reached out and patted Soph and said "You are my best friend."

Summertime has brought an important slice of Americana to our neighborhood. The ice cream man. He comes every Wednesday night, just a little after seven o'clock, and you can hear him from a few blocks away. He was playing Christmas music from the truck until about two weeks ago. Now it is normal summertime music. Daniel gets very excited and we take our few dollars and meet the truck at the bottom of the driveway. Now Dan thinks that any white truck he sees is the ice cream man. You should have seen his face fall when he found out the van in the driveway when we pulled up was really the Cable man. There was no explaining it to him...

Daddy's Little Girl...

Sophia was baptised on June 22d at the Wren Chapel on the campus at William and Mary. Here is a website if you want to read more about the history of the chapel. It was a beautiful, small, short, heartfelt ceremony and Aunt Lynne was our honored guest and did the baptism herself. Here are some pics from the service.

This the Wren Chapel:

Susan and Catherine

Nana and Soph
Grammy and FiPop and FiTwo ladies who made the entire day possible: Celeste and MaryBeth (both of whom are the bomb diggity!)
Also a big thanks to Erin and Patrick, who saved the day in the nick of time... or at least made sure everyone got fed. If I had an awesome pic of them I'd post it. I was slow with the camera this day. We value each and every person who supported us on this special day so thank you all for coming!

Thanks to Rene for taking the great family photos! The baptism offered the family a chance to get together. And play wrestling dinosaurs with Uncle Mike.

Uncle Ken didn't waste anytime attempting to vogue for the camera with Sophia.

Aunt Lynne also got to spend quality time with us after the baptism for a few days. Here she is helping Grumpy with the baby chores.

There were long talks with Daniel about Coconuts and life on the back porch over chocolate milk...


And time to spend with Sophia (notice Fi's Brittney Spears look...)

Summer IS Here

The calendar may not say summer, but the weather certainly does. It is hot!!! And, as if to prove the fact that summer is truly upon us, I began teaching summer school this past week. Luckily, Grammy and Grumpy were able to come and take care of the Fi while I went to work. Here is Grumpy introducing Dan to gang signs.

Here are Grammy and Fi trying to tame the wild Daniel

Grumpy and Fi (notice the fashionable spit up stains on Grumpy's shirt. We call them formula kisses)

Dan and Fi watching CSI with Grammy and Grumpy (Just kidding!)

Woobie came to visit and got some quality sibling time

Here is Dan and the little girl down the street at her birthday party. Dan gave her a very pretty flower and a gift certificate to rent Dora movies. He had his share of blue-icing cupcakes too, as you can tell from the picture.

We took the kids to the zoo this weekend. It was Dan's second time at the zoo and Sophia's first. Dan loved the animals.

He also REALLY liked the monkeys.

After our long day at the zoo everyone was pooped.

Sophia is now eating four different solid foods. Rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce and green beans. This video pretty much shows how she feels about green beans.

While Fi is anti-the green vegetable, she is ALL about toes. Do you remember when you could do this?

Big Day!

We're back. Things around here, as you can imagine have been quite busy. Sorry to my long time readers (here I am thinking of you Shawn) who don't see quite as many new posts as they'd like. I'll work on it.

Two weeks ago was teacher appreciation week. You may not have known that. I was painfully aware of it. Somehow I got inticed to be the PRESCHOOL I ROOM LIASION. I mostly did it because Ms. Bev, Dan's teacher, made it sound like I would be a Bond Girl or something. C'mon, it does sound exotic doesn't it? Say it with me... "LIASION." So, I was in charge of the teacher appreciation day gift. No problem I thought. Then I was emailed the weekend before the week of the teacher and told that I wasn't in charge of a gift for our teachers, I was in charge of a gift for ALL the teachers, all 18 of them, and I had to collect money from the other parents. I was assigned a partner who I had never met and together we attempted to shake money out of the pockets of these parents and come up with some clever idea for a gift. You can't just buy a gift... there has to be a clever theme. Frankly, my whole reputation as a mother was riding on this endeavor. Luckily, my folks were visiting when this bombshell hit so Grumpy came up wtih the idea of Blockbuster cards. Then my mom and her lovely friend Jane (Hi Jane!) ran with the idea and there was born "Poppin' With Appreciation!" Complete with movie candy and cute gift tags. As you can see, I need to go back to work and come off maternity leave so that I never have to do something like this again!!!! I have no qualms about contributing money! Thanks mom and dad and Jane. The teachers loved them.

Mother's Day was lovely. I got to take a long bath and watch part of Camelot. Ah... And I got a beautiful flower pot and got to spend time with my family. The best mother's day ever.

Last week Daniel went to his first birthday party. I figured that since he is 2 1/2 it was pretty good that it was his first. Then I was informed by the mom throwing the party that she wanted to do something "different" so she was having the kids paint pottery that she would later fire. (ambitious but fun). I was pretty surprised because I thought "different" was just going to a birthday party. But apparently all the kids are going to them. We are just behind the social power curve. And so it begins...

Here are Daniel and his daddy and two of his friends from school and their daddies.

Bear was very into the birthday cake (like his fingers in the icing before the little boy had a chance to blow out the candles)

DanMan also had his first sucker. I had to finish it.

Fi also had a red letter day! On the 16th she went in for her four month appointment. She is very healthy. The doc said she is at the top of the charts (92%) for height and weight. So, the doc said to start her on cereal right away! Otherwise she'll eat us out of house and home with the cost of formula! So, yesterday on the 18th, she had rice cereal for the first time. She did very well. It was a lot of recycling the bites (yes gross, but you try learning how to eat all over again!) but she did it. Today was a little touch and go, but I'm sure she'll be all over it tomorrow. Yesterday, not only did she join the world of masticating mammals, but she rolled over! Here she is:



Of course, she wasn't rolling over quickly enough for Dan apparently...

VOGUE

Sophia had her three month pictures taken. Grammy came along with us. Four costume changes (the first of which she spit up all over) later our supermodel was ready to yell "it's a wrap" after a very long morning of being cute!

Sophie and Pooh...

Look at those little wisps of hair on the top of her head.

The bow is Grammy's idea
This is my favorite picture I think. It is very her.
The end of the morning. It is hard to be cute.
Mark says she has his eyebrows.

too cute

Grumpy and Grammy visited this week. Here are Grumpy and Fi.

And Bear and Grammy

Obviously, Sophia is not buying all the "When I was your age we didn't have diapers..." talk from Grammy.

Daniel with food all over his face and the John Deere shirt Aunt Lisa gave him!

Sophia started sitting in her highchair this week. She is strapped in to keep her sitting up, but she seems to enjoy looking at the world from our level.

Keep you posted later! Have a great week.