June NY visit

I'm trying to get over my obsessive need for things to be in "order". So here is a post with some pictures from our NY visit in June. Everything worked out so well for us to have a week visit with family in June in addition to our longer visit later in the summer. Marisol's dance recital was the first weekend in June and both sets of Grandparents made the drive to see her perform. Then the kids and I caught a ride back to my parents to spend a few days there. The next weekend Mike drove up and we spent the weekend with his family celebrating his parents' 40th wedding anniversary. The whole week was so much fun and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins!

May and June

More catch up from the past few months. I was feeling kind of blah today and looking through pictures is a total pick-me-up. I see how much we've done and all the fun too and immediately feel better. I highly recommend it if you are ever feeling a bit down. 

So I was feeling a bit more motivated to post a few pictures from the last few months. Maybe some day I'll be uber-consistent and post every week or month, but until that day I'll be content with sporadic. ;-)

Mr. Pelo all snuggly in Marisol's nightgown.

Her baby

We brought a caterpillar inside and it actually went through its transformation to  a moth! Miss Katie was the one who discovered that it had emerged!

At our friends' house near Charlottesville, VA

Noah, Rebecca, Ben, and Marisol in a Snuggle Pile

Close up of my Cutie

Neighborhood puppet show

Day 2 of Puppet show, this time with scenery and a bigger audience

Lawnmowers!

Her second annual dance recital

Flowers for our dancer!

With Grandma and Nonna Gigi

I love Gerry's expression! Grandpa is pretty funny :-)

Mike, BG, and Gigi

Baseball with his Grandpas

Lemonade stand - she did pretty well!

We saved a baby bird!

We started preparing for her party about 2 weeks in advance... good thing because we still cut it close!

Because it's pretty... I love rainbows

Mermaid number 2 - pin the starfish on the mermaid

The weekend that we lost power... we came downstairs at about 5 am and she fell back asleep on the floor!

My July Babies Turn 6 and 3!

Hard to believe, but our babies are 6 and 3 years old already! July is a big month for us. 

Marisol's birthday was interesting because the weekend before there was a big thunderstorm and we lost power. So we spent one night at Mike's work and one at a hotel. The biggest disappointment was postponing her birthday party. But she handled it very well and showed her 6 year old maturity by taking it in stride. 

First present in the car on the way home from the hotel
(The best gift was electricity and of course air conditioning in our house!)

Bobble head kitties from Aunt Stacie
She's wanted them since her *4th* birthday!

Decorated that day :-)

Presents that morning - still looking disheveled from our weekend adventures!

An impromptu party ON her birthday (Monday afternoon) to make up for the postponed party from the day before...
Pool and cake at the park - it was perfect!

Finally we get to the Mermaid Party!

Atlantis - yes this took quite some time!

She looks 6

Marisol and Josie, her sister-friend

Marisol and Bella - mermaids and best friends

Gerry's birthday is exactly 3 weeks after Marisol's which was actually only 2 weeks after her party (since it was postponed) so we were still recovering from that excitement. Luckily he is still little and easy to please. Mike did a great job taking over with presents and cake. I only had to invite a couple friends over to eat it :-) We decided to celebrate the day before on Sunday which was perfect because we left for our big trip up to NY on Tuesday. So on his birthday he had new toys to play with and I got to get us all packed up!

Driving to Daddy's work after Mass to pick up his presents

Gerry's face when he sees the stack of presents!

Lightning McQueen Track!

New Bath toy - now we have to take 2-3 baths per day to play!

It's hard to believe how the time just keeps going faster! It is so fun to celebrate these precious people we've been blessed to share our lives with. Watching them grow and change is such an adventure!