Standing

James is getting pretty good at standing up on his own--check it out!

Frankie's 1st Birthday

Our nephew Frankie turned 1 on July 18th! Here are our favorite shots from his fun birthday bash.


Just digging in...


...and the finale. I think he had a good time!


Sleepy James resting on Papa at the end of the evening

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A day on the boat

We enjoyed a day of boat rides and picnic fun at West Branch State Park last Saturday. What a fun day! Abby enjoyed her time on the boat, but James was not a big fan of the wind or the life jacket squeezing his big cheeks together :) Maybe he'll fare better next time.

Sharing

Bothered by James' lack of clothing yesterday morning, Abby decided to share her shirt. What a nice big sister. (Lucky for us, the camera was close by.)

Yay for Independence Day!

Here are pics of the first ever Village Drive 4th of July Bike Parade. Fun Stuff. Abby was quite excited to decorate her bike, but not so excited to ride it (Mom had to push her the entire 1/2 mile)!

The leaders of the pack


The stragglers

A trip to Cincinnati

Last weekend, we headed down to Cincinnati to attend a friend's wedding (Congrats Matt & Emalee!) and visit some friends. James got to stay back in Youngstown with Nana & Papa for a fun weekend of his own. Here are some of our favorite pics.

Abby, Joe and Jake discovering non-traditional uses for the inflatable pool.


Community tub. We fully intend to embarrass Abby with this photo later in life.


Getting ready for a swim


Breakfast at First Watch...a Cinci tradition



Meanwhile, back in Ytown, James tries to take down his cousin Frankie


Relaxing in his jammies


Happy Birthday Kelly!

9 months!

Hi! Now that I am 9 months old, my mommy thought it was time for me to have my first blog entry. It won't be long, though, because I recently learned how to crawl and I will only sit in the same place for about 30 seconds at a time. Some of the things I like to do are turn the pages of my books, give kisses (I am very selective with this-- I generally only kiss mommy and Aunt Molly's dog, Olive, and I kissed Aunt Kara once.), go outside, go to the pool and float in my baby boat, swing, play with dogs, and yell loudly for no reason. Oh yes, and I like to chew on everything. I love my Baby Bach and Baby Mozart videos--does any one else find those completely mesmerizing, or is it just me? Here are some recent pics of me doing the things I do best. Enjoy!
-James

In the pool

Abby and James enjoy the water while Aunt Kelly and Aunt Kara hang poolside

Belly surfing

The next best thing to crawling!

Katie's Big Birthday

Mom celebrated the big 3-0 last weekend...here I am with my gifts. (Yes, the cantaloupe and pineapple were birthday gifts--Abby's idea, of course.)

Memorial Day festivities

We had what is now our annual barbeque on Sunday with great weather and a great turnout.

Frankie and James in their coordinating Hawaiian shirts. (James was very excited to see his cousin and was flapping his arms up and down in excitement, looking a little possessed.)


A family photo...the first one since October, I think. James was having a rough day, thus the sad face. Abby was overly-excited about all the attention and all her friends being there, so she had no problem giving a big cheesy smile!


The Grillmaster at work. It was a tough job keeping up with 80-ish hungry people, but he handled it well.

A character indeed

Today Abby was hanging out with me in the bathroom while I put my makeup on, rooting through my makeup bag. She found a lipstick she apparently liked and declared that she had to put some on for her wedding. I asked her where she was getting married and she said, "at St. Kilian" (I didn't know she knew the name of our church or even that people get married in churches) but then she changed her mind and said her wedding was going to be "up in heaven." Hmmm. I asked her when she was getting married and she quickly said "12 months from my birthday, Mom, and I'll be 7 months old just like James, or maybe I'll be 1 year old." I have yet to ask her who she is going to marry, but she has recently started to enjoy making up names (yesterday she decided I was her pet dog named Refrigerator, and her fingers were called Pap, Mame, Bame and Coppo) so I'm sure her future husband will have a good one. I'll keep you posted.

Update: Her future husband's name is John.
Here's the blushing bride "dancing like Aunt Kelly" at her wedding

Good times...

Here are some of our favorite pics from the past few weeks.

King James.
A colleague of Craig's gave us the LeBron jersey for James...too cute.



Armed with a spray bottle and a comb, Abby gave her brother this lovely hairdo. This gave mommy about 3 uninterrupted minutes to fold laundry--yay!



Frankie came for a visit and the boys enjoyed staring at each other and pulling each other's hair, ears, noses, etc.



Happy Mother's Day :)

7 months!

James is officially 7 months old (well he was last week--we are a little behind). Here he shows off his two teeth (you have to look very closely at the first picture), sitting up skills, and his newest trick: kissing himself in the mirror in his favorite book.

Girls' trip to Florida

Abby and Katie went to Florida for a few days last week to visit Kara, Kelly, Brian and Reby. We had a great time, and here are some of our favorite pics.

Enjoying the playground and water park...




Beach time. Abby enjoyed the sand quite a bit and she wasn't afraid of the ocean this year.




Posing for the camera



A little bored on the trolley ride


Fun at the candy store