A Treat...

before dinner. Don't judge.

This was Andy's first real taste of chocolate....or ice cream. Needless to say, he liked it!

Totally unrelated, but has to be shared: Julie and I were playing a counting game over dinner, she was counting and I was making faces for each number. She was laughing really hard then suddenly very seriously said "I have to go potty!!" I ended up shooting iced tea out my nose it was so funny. Julie didn't really see the humor as she ran to the bathroom.

Climber

Andy has proved himself to be a climber, going up flights of stairs, trying to climb the drawers in the kitchen, climbing up onto the footstool. But tonight, he went above and beyond! He went straight up the 5 foot slide on the play structure in the backyard. He did it without any help or steadying. I think I only put my hand up to catch him once.

He was even able to climb into the house at the top...none of us could believe what we were seeing. Especially Julie, who threw off her shoes and followed him, as not to be outdone by her little brother. They were both proud when the got to the top.

Proof

There is no denying that both of our children have their Daddy's strong genetics, but here is just a little proof that there is a little bit of me in my girl!I was about Julie's age in this picture! When I showed it to John this evening, he thought it was Julie! Apparently she got more than my sassy-ness and attitude!

Here is another one. I was a little younger in this one I think, but I can still see a resemblance.
No wonder her Memere and Aunt Arlene call her Rachel every now and again!

11 Months

Another month, gone so fast! Andy is such a funny boy. He climbs all over everything! I can not believe what a climber he is. He can go all the way up a flight of stairs without any help. He is trying so hard to get out of his crib. It won't be long before he is in a big boy bed!

He is still thinking about walking, but not doing it yet. When he does, he will be off like a bolt!

He loves to eat...anything. He is not picky.

About a week ago, he was standing at the gate while I was making dinner and he said "Uh, Uh, Momma Uh!" Of course, I was the only one home, but I swear he said it!!

I love my big man and I can not wait to see what he does next!!

“Style”

Julie has really been playing with her clothes lately. Not really playing dress up, just wanting to wear thing that are AWESOME!

This was while we were dancing in the living room.

Here she is watering the plants in the front yard with her binoculars made of paper cups.

Here she didn't want to get ready to go to Avila Valley Barn, so she put her shorts on her head and her shirt on like pants. She walked around like this for an hour.

This is what Julie's outfit turned out like that day...notice the backwards hat.

This hat was my Memere's. And it alone is a fashion statement, but pair it with an Elmo backpack and a dirty face, and you have a masterpiece!

When I was young, and we had somewhere to go that I had to look presentable, my mom would have to hide all my clothes except the ones she wanted me to wear! It has not come to that yet, but at least I know the trick in case it does!

While Julie is expressing herself, Andy has become super mobile. The other night we heard him whining, but walked by him 3 times before we found him. He had wedged himself behind the couch. Poor guy, we took his picture before we helped him!

Philly Trip

Our trip to Philadelphia started, and ended at the zoo. Wow, what a zoo! We went 2 separate days for a total of at least 5 hours, and could have seen more. We didn't even go in the aviary! All of us found something we loved.

Julie got to ride the Merry-Go-Round. So did Daddy. They had a great time on the alligator.

Julie did not like this gorilla statue, even though she really likes gorillas. Look at her face!

This was a nice picture, but it was the end of the day, so Julie was tired, and Andy was asleep. I got my workout that day! If you look close, there is a giraffe coming out of Julie's head! They were so close, you can't really tell in this picture, but they were amazing!

Julie also wanted to ride the train.....twice! Daddy couldn't say no!

The second day we were there, we were going to go to the Historic District (or Old Town) but I took a wrong turn, and ended up at the Aquarium! It all worked out!

The Aquarium was really busy. And it was geared towards bigger kids, more hands on. So it was not as successful as the zoo, but we still had a good time.

This was in the shark tank. They had a tunnel you could walk through and it was like you were in there with them. Creepy!

While we were waiting for the rehearsal to start, Julie went exploring. She found a walking stick and away she went with her canteen she got from the aquarium. It was pretty funny. Here is Julie and Olivia practicing their moves. They were so cute walking down the aisle holding hands, but at the actual wedding, they couldn't hold hands because they were holding baskets. They were both a little upset about it, but it ended up ok.

The bride and groom practicing being the bride and groom.

The rehearsal dinner was at a very neat park not far from where Bess and Matt live and it is the only park in Philly that is maintained by the community (as in it is not City run). The kids were so happy to see swings and slides and grass. At one point in our trip, Julie said "Mommy, I miss my sandbox! I miss my dirt!" It doesn't get any more country bumpkin than that!

I love this picture.

We had a lot of fun swimming. The hotel we stayed at had a very nice pool. We used it to cool off, relax and wear out the children. It worked for all 3!

The day after the wedding, we made it to Old Town without getting lost! Mom took us on a carriage ride to see all the sights. It was a GREAT way to see everything, without walking, while entertaining the kids. We learned a lot! And I got to cut off more traffic without it being my fault!

This is John and Julie in front of Independence Hall where the Liberty Bell originally hung. But it is now across the street.

This is Mom and Julie across the street looking at the Liberty Bell. It is a very serious matter if you ask Julie.

After the ride, we met up with Anne and Dave and walked all the way to Reading Terminal Market and got awesome cheese steaks. They were so worth it! Then, we walked back to the car and Andy was tired, so he fell asleep, like this.

Poor Baby!

It was a great trip. It was the perfect balance of family, kid time, adult time, food, walking, sight seeing and wedding. Philadelphia is a beautiful city. I can't wait to go back and visit Bess and Matt again!

Bess and Matt

We were lucky enough to travel to Philadelphia to see Bess and Matt get married. The day was July 26th, and though our travels started a few days before, the wedding was truly the highlight of the trip. The wedding took place at an amazing state park called Ridley Creek in Pennsylvania. On it sat a beautiful mansion that housed the reception while the wedding took place out on the lawns. The weather was nice, warm, humid, but it could have been worse considering we were on the east coast in July.

Bess was the most beautiful bride. Her dress was made by a friend of hers and it was prefect. She and her bridesmaids all had peacock feather earrings.

The whole family. It was nice taking pictures before hand because as soon as the ceremony was over, we got to celebrate.

The proud big brother.

Flowers for the flower girl. She was so sweet. There was also another flower girl named Olivia. She was a little older than Julie, but had never been a flower girl before. Julie showed her how it was done. But Olivia did not want to wear her head wreath, so the girls ended up putting them on their baskets instead. But not before I got a few pictures.
This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. This was before the wedding, Julie was looking out over towards the mansion deep in thought. I don't know what she was pondering, but it must have been something important.

Julie and Olivia. Olivia has the same birthday as I do.

Getting ready to walk down the aisle.

This was during the ceremony. We didn't get too many pictures of the ceremony because my mom and I were busy chasing kids. But this one is sweet, and that about sums them up. They had a band at the ceremony, completely made up of friends. It was really neat. The walked away as husband and wife to "Pump Up the Jam, Pump it Up!"

This was inside the mansion. Isn't it beautiful! It looked even more amazing with people in it. Bess and Matt's friends are all so nice. It is easy to see how they call this place home.

Bess and the two cutest kids in the whole world.

The wedding was perfect. It was so "them" I hope that they felt the same way. I really had to edit down the pictures and only put a few on the actual blog post. So I uploaded the rest to Picaso so that anyone who wanted to see everything from that day can go HERE. Enjoy. And congratulations to Matt and Bess. You guys deserve all the happiness in the world!

There will be another blog about the rest of our trip, but I wanted to do them seperate to make sure everyone knew the wedding was the main event.

Two...and A Half!

Julie is 2 and a half today! If you ask how old she is, she will say " two and a half!"

She says some of the funniest things, her vocabulary is amazing. It is so funny to hear such a little girl use words like "absolutely" and "delicious" She is such a big girl and a great big sister. She warms the heart of everyone she meets.

Her favorite letter is "W" and her favorite number is 4.

If you ask her what her favorite animal is, she will say a turkey. But her favorite animal at the zoo is the tiger.

She loves ketchup, just like her daddy and Uncle Monster. If you ask her what she wants to eat, she will always say a hot dog with ketchup.

She named her doll "Chaucer" after Uncle Monster and Auntie Kay's cat.

When we were in Philly (blog coming soon) she started calling me Rachel. Then, it was Ray. Then, I got her to call me Mommy again, and just now, she was trying to get my attention from the potty and she called out, "Hey, Mommy Hunter!"

She is a character, with her own ideas and her own style. We wouldn't want it any other way.