Erin's visit!

My dear friend Erin came to stay for a few days to hang out with us and visit a few others. We had a great time catching up and watching our kids play together. One evening, a couple other friends came by with their kids. We had a lovely evening.

Lindsey & Owen swinging together!

Baby Samantha! What a sweetie pie!

Lindsey on the slide. I love this photo of her! She's so adorable!

Owen setting a great example for his younger pals.

Lindsey in action and sticking out her tongue. Too cute!

Charlotte swinging away and showing us her new walking skills!

Erin & Lindsey, Amber & Tucker, Owen, Stephanie & Charlotte, Elizabeth & Samantha

What a difference a few years makes!

Tucker 1 week school report out

Well, it's been a week of day care and we have survived. We had one rough day on Tuesday, last week. Tucker was sensitive and needed a lot of attention. I was worried at my lunch visit and again at pick up, but the staff assured me he would adjust and it'd just take a few days. Wednesday was much better, and every day since he has shown terrific progress adjusting. By Friday, he only cried once for a quick second to let his caregivers know he needed a nap! He is always playing happily when I arrive, both at lunch and in the afternoon and he's sleeping well, eating well, and fussing minimally. I'm quite happy and very relieved. Of course, he already picked up his first cold, but it's minor and too be expected.

Owen is also back behaving like his normal self. By Friday last week, he was ready to go to school, had no problems saying goodbye to me at home or goodbye to Kris at school. It was great! Now, we just need to get him potty trained and he'll be able to move into the three year old classroom!

p.s. Last week, I noted that Tucker started to crawl. I think it was a bit premature. He's doing more than a slow scoot, but he's not quite crawling with his stomach off the ground. He's a quick though and we definitely need to be on our toes.

p.s.s. Today, at school, Tucker received his first injury report. He was on his belly playing with a toy and it moved out from him and he hit his head on something leaving him with a little bruise on his forehead. Poor guy!

Tucker's 1st day of school- report out

He did wonderfully! He napped well, ate well, and played well with his pals and new toys. All the babies in the class are siblings of Owen's schoolmates, so he's well aquainted with the other munchkins and made himself right at home with his new teachers. Nursing during lunch went smoothly and it gave me a chance to talk with his teachers and answer a few of their questions. The room is comfortable and the babies are all happy and thriving, so I feel at ease.

Owen also had a great day at school; he had a much easier drop off today compared with his most recent drop offs so now I'm much more optimistic he'll be back to his normal - "see ya later" goodbye very soon.

such a relief!

1st Day of "school" for Tucker

My little baby starts "school" today. I decided to distract myself by snapping up some photos of the boys before the big day. Owen, in his "greatest big brother" shirt - so proud to be a big help to Tucker and Tucker all grown up. Last night he even surprised us with his first real crawl!

Summer Birthday Celebration

We were in Orange County this past weekend to celebrate birthdays. In addition to my Grandma's birthday, we had a slew of special birthdays. Many of us adults have summer and early fall birthdays and many of the kids were also born in the same months. My nephew Dylan turns 1 in a couple weeks, Owen and his cousin Aiden are turning 3 in September, my step-brother Gianni is turning 13 next week, my cousin Alysha just turned 18 and baby Ethan was born 1 month ago. We enjoyed a beautiful afternoon with pool time, a pot luck bbq, decadent desserts, and a fun family photo shoot.

Kristin and I found these great polos for the kids and decided we'd get a shirt for each of the boys so we could take a photo of all of them together. We differentiated families by color just to be extra cute. We had a vision of a perfect photo with all the boys and a few other group shots. Boy, did I have high hopes. I'm sure my camera alone has over 500 shots and I only have one with all of the boys in it! Owen cried through most it because he wanted to keep playing and Dylan was much to busy exploring the grass. We had no chance at pulling off other group photos of the boys, but still, we had a lot of fun and captured a great moment in time.

Here are a few from the night

Baby Ethan, 1 month old with Daddy Gino & Mommy Kelly

Aiden (almost 3) charming us all to pieces

Tucker enjoying life

Aiden doing his best to keep Dylan in the photo

the only shot where I have all 7 of the boys!

cousins!

Dylan - 1st birthday party (a couple week's early)

the gang

Grandma's 80th B-day

My grandma Jeanne has a special birthday next week, she's turning 80! Unfortunately, we couldn't make it for birthday bash next weekend, so this weekend, while we are in Orange County, we planned a birthday dinner. We went to our favorite pizza restaurant, ate delicious grub, listened to live music out on the patio, and enjoyed hearing stories from her past. My grandma met Tucker for the first time (on his 7 month birthday) and we took a photo with four generations!

Happy 7 month birthday Tucker!

Tucker we love you. You are so sweet and precious. You continue to warm our hearts and make us smile every time we look at you.

In the last few weeks, Tucker has mastered his roll. He loves to roll to a toy or just back and forth for a little bit of fun. He can also sit up on his own now-which is extra cute because he really enjoys to play with his toys. He is scooting around and just begining to get up on his knees. I know it won't be long before we have two mobile boys on our hands!