Big blue eyes

Grace in Small Things - 69

1.Grey's Anatomy

2. House

3. Dollhouse

4. Heroes

5. Bones

etc. etc. etc.

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A day at the pool

Another look back at summer...

Just a regular day hanging out at the Madison pool.  July 17, 2009

Ana just hanging out at the waters edge. (1 year and 7 days)

Zoe and her teeny weeny bikini. (4 years and 17 days)

Boy... did we celebrate!

Another look back at summer...

Zoe's birthday is June 30th and Ana's birthday is July 10th.  10 whole days apart.  So... we decided to do one big party will all of our family and friends.  AND celebrate the 4th of July.  All at the same time.  Phew.... talk about a big party.

Tons of family.  Tons of friends.  Tons of kids.  Tons of food.  And, of course tons of cup cakes.

Oh, and there was plenty of beer and wine.  Don't worry, though.  Ana made sure to monitor the alcohol consumption.

"Mama... I'm gettin' a little concerned that we might be runnin' low."

EVERYONE wore party hats.

Zoe blew out her candle.

Ana thought about blowing out her candle.

Ana liked her cupcake just a little bit.

Oh... who am I kidding... Ana LOVED her cupcake.  She had 2 of them... and barely left a single crumb on the tray.

Zoe opened some presents.

Ana opened some presents.

Mommy opened some presents (um... do you think there were enough presents?).

At the end of the day the party was considered a success.  I think fun was had by all... and that a dozen or so children slept REALLY well that night.  (Which was good... because all of the parents were wiped out!)

"Yeah!!!!  I can't wait to do this again next summer!!!"

Crafts and Ice Cream and Presents... oh my!

Another quick look back on some of our summer...

We had Zoe's birthday party (early in July) with her friends at our local ice cream parlor.  We had her party at the same place last year... and it was just so good we decided to do it again.  Even Zoe wanted an ice cream party again.

The kids all show up and immediately started a craft (Zoe picked out the treasure chests since she is big into collecting "treasures").  The amount of concentration in the room was amazing.

After finishing the craft they all took a turn at spin art.

Then they all had pizza and juice boxes.  (Oh... and Zoe picked out the purple/lavendar theme)

A quick few games of ice cream bingo.

Every child got to pick out whatever flavor of ice cream they wanted.

There were tons of toppings to choose from.

Zoe loves ice cream WAY more than cake... so she was thrilled to blow out a candle on her ice cream sundae.

Ana was pretty happy with the whole idea of pizza and cake, too.

And when the party was over... the presents were packed up for us to bring home.

I would say, once again... perfect party.  I love it because the ice cream shop does EVERYTHING.  They set up, they do the craft/spin art/tattoos, order the pizza, provide the decorations and plates, set up the sundaes, do the clean up, etc.  All you have to do is show up... have fun... and then go home.  A fabulous party.

I think Zoe agrees.

SOOC Saturday - Big Ocean, Little Girl

Sometimes Ana seems so big to me.  She is big for her age.  1 year old and wearing 24 month clothes.  97th percentile all around.  My big little baby.

But next to the ocean... making her little footprints... and pointing out into the vastness... it just reminded me of how little she is.  Really... how little we all are.

Please click on over to visit Melody and see what everyone else has been sharing straight out of the camera without editing.

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Grace in Small Things - 68

1. Ana's nap time and Zoe's school time... at the SAME TIME!

2. Our new Keurig coffee maker.

3. Preschool gymnastics.

4. Gym Toddler class (um... how did Ana become a toddler?)

5. A few days of perfect post-summer/pre-fall weather.

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And so it begins...

Today was the first day of Zoe's last year of preschool.  

The year where she is the big fish in the small pond.  The year where she knows it all... the rules are mastered, the teachers are known, the lay of the land is second nature.  The year where she marched in full of nothing but confidence and attitude.  

The year where I followed her in without a worry... feeling like summer never happened and we're just taking up where we left off in June.

I came home from dropping Zoe off at school and I uploaded the photos I took. And that was when it happened. 

I suddenly realized...

Today was the first day of Zoe's last year of preschool. 

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Looking Back on Summer - Our Cruise to Canada

Our summer has been a busy one.  I've posted when I've been able... but there have been quite a few things I just didn't have time to share.  Now that summer is coming to an end (Zoe is back to school next Wednesday) I'm hoping to do some "quick" updates.  Probably mostly photos. 

We went on a Carnival Cruise at the end of June.  It was Ana's 1st cruise, Zoe's 2nd, Nick's 4th and my 5th.  We really like cruising.  Here are some high lights from our Canada cruise.

This cruise left from port in New York City (where it was pouring rain)...

 

and took us to Canada (where it was also kind of gray... but not so rainy).

Zoe totally enjoyed Camp Carnival (again). 

Ana had no trouble sleeping at all.

Our first port of call was St. John.

While we were in St. John we took a tour on a horse-drawn trolley.

We had an delicious lobster lunch.

We saw the Reversing Falls.  We weren't there while the falls were drastically "reversing".  It's supposed to be an amazing site... but it only happens twice a day.

Our next port of call was Halifax... where we woke up to the sounds of bagpipes.  (Doesn't Zoe look thrilled?)

 

We quickly got over the bagpipes and were happy to get off the ship in Halifax.

The weather was still gray... but the rain seemed to stay away.  (Ana is soundly sleeping in the hip carrier here.)

 

We "met" Theodore Tugboat.  (I never heard of Theodore... but he sounded like he was supposed to be as famous as Thomas the Tank.)

  

We visited the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. 

  

We enjoyed some ice cream we bought at Cow's.  The ice cream was REALLY good.  They also had a lot of cute cow themed merchandise.

  

After Halifax we just enjoyed some more time at sea.  

Zoe enjoyed some more camp time.  (She really did enjoy it more than her face shows.  This was taken after 10pm when we picked her up.)

  

While Zoe was at camp Ana enjoyed taking strolls around the casino (while Mommy and Daddy took turns playing the slot machines... and using the stroller cups to hold beer or frozen tropical drinks.)  Everyone loved Ana.  It was funny to hear people say "Hello again Ana!" after they would see us take a few laps.  (This is what Ana looked like at 10pm.  Is there any question about why everyone enjoyed seeing her?)

  

Another day of camp made Zoe into Funship Freddie... er.... Funship Zoe.

  

This is Funship Freddie... the mascot of the Carnival Cruise lines.  (He still freaks us out a little.)

  

It wasn't exactly hot summer weather yet... but we still took a little time in the pools.

  

 

It was a truly fun vacation.  In our opinion... it's tough to beat a cruise.