1). I’ve been offered another FREE 16×20 Canvas from a company that does INCREDIBLE work! The only problem . . . I have NO clue which photo to choose!?!? Any suggestions? Leave us a comment and let us know which photo on the blog is your favorite! Help us choose which shot to turn into an incredible canvas!!!

2). Last Saturday Grandma came with us to Stepping Stones Children Museum while Daddy had to go to work! We had a FANTASTIC time - again! Shane loved showing Grandma all his favorite things to do at the museum! By the time we left we were all so beat that we all ended up napping once we got home! I have a few cute shots from the museum that I’ll be posting the early part of next week - so stay tuned!

3). One of Shane’s FAVORITE things to do is to play outside. He goes nuts out in the backyard. He’s all over the swings and the slide, he’s in and out of his many cars, he’s chasing the dogs around the yard with sand from the sandbox and he’s always busy splashing in his water table. We’re going to be in a TON of trouble once the weather changes and we’re stuck inside a lot more! Here are a few snapshots from this past weekend of Shane doing what he loves to do!

He’s getting SO big

4). With Chris working 12 hour days this week, Shane hasn’t seen too much of his Daddy lately - and he’s missing him BIG time! Last night Grandma and I were sitting on the couch in the playroom coloring with Shane when Daddy got home from work. He ran over to his Daddy and a few minutes later Shane had grabbed hold of one of Chris’s fingers and was leading him into the playroom. He walked Chris right on over to the couch, stopped and stood there for a few seconds, and then grabbed hold of Grandma’s finger . . . so that he could PULL HER UP FROM THE COUCH!!!!!!! All so his Daddy could have a place to sit and play with him! Poor Grandma! It’s a good thing she found it cute and not rude!!!! Poor little guy! He LOVES having his Grandma around, so that just shows how much he’s been missing Chris!!

5). Long, holiday weekend ahead of us and we’re looking forward to it! GramZ and Grandpa are coming up for the weekend and we’re going to have ourselves a little BBQ out in the backyard tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be fantastic and we couldn’t be more thrilled!

That’s what we are around here!!!

Work is busy, home is busy, Shane is busy!

Chris and I have pretty much been FALLING into bed at night at (GASP!) 9pm! It’s just about all we can do to hold out until then!

We had a busy weekend and another busy weekend coming up! I do have some photos from this past weekend which I hope to be able to upload and edit tonight, so keep your fingers crossed for a few new shots of our favorite toddler tomorrow!

1). Shane had his 2nd haircut EVER last Saturday! It went as “well” as the first one did. He sat on Chris’s lap and basically had to be restrained by Chris and by me. The poor hairdresser just kept moving around trying to get to the areas that she hadn’t gotten to yet! It was quite the sight! She actually even told us, numerous times, that she’s seen MUCH worse! I have no idea how that’s even possible! Aside from the fact that he now looks older (which I hate!!) I think we’re all pretty happy with the cut! At least his hair is manageable now! Here’s a few shots of Shane coloring and sporting his new ‘do!

2). Thanks to his love for Elmo, Shane says “Cheese” now when he sees the camera!!! One of the Elmo’s World episodes is about cameras and taking pictures. By the time the episode was over Shane walked out of our room saying “Cheese!!” “Cheese!!” How cute is that?! Thanks, Elmo!!!

5). Little bugger LOVES to read in his crib! We had to replace our old baby monitor and we ended up upgrading to a video monitor and it’s so friggin cute to sit there and watch him “read” in his crib! He just sits there turning the pages and when he gets to a picture or part of a story that he recognizes he gets all excited and starts “reading” out loud! Very cute! The other benefit here is that his new-found love for books keeps him busy until he’s tired enough to go to sleep!

On Sunday Shane and I headed up to West Hartford to spend some time with some of my girlfriends from UConn.

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but there is truly nothing better than getting together with your girlfriends and it’s so great to know that 8+ years after leaving college we can still get together and pick up just where we left off. Greater still is that our kids now have the opportunity to grow up together and become the greatest of friends - just like their Mommy’s!

We’ve been through a lot together and we’ve got a lot of living ahead of us still! I, for one, am looking forward to sharing it with this group of gals!

A VERY pregnant Katie!!
Donovan (one of the twins):
Olivia. The only girl in our group of boys and SO dang cute!!! It’s too bad her beautiful eyes are closed in this shot.
Shane. My “pantsless wonder”. 1/2 of all diaper changes result in a refusal to put his pants back on. This was one of those times.
Aside from Jeanette’s twins (who own all these toys!) the kids were amazed at the new stuff that was surrounding them! They all had the best time going through all the toys and playing with everything they could get their hands on! Poor Jeanette! I’m sure you can all imagine what her house looked like by the time we left!
Matthew (one of the twins) being a cutie-patootie!
Shannon and Olivia (who’s hiding behind the ball!)

Sigh. The last of our Cape Cod vacation pictures. The last of our vacation pictures from 2008. Onward and upward I suppose! Here’s to Ocean City, MD - August 2009!!

Our FIRST day at the beach (order isn’t everything you know!)

My handsome husband coming in from the water -
Our little surfer dude . . .


Notice that in this picture he’s placing the sand INSIDE my bag. The same bag that until about 3 minutes prior had held my precious camera!

Enjoying a popsicle in the courtyard outside our hotel room
Enjoying the beach from the “safety” of the boardwalk! This was actually a really nice area of the resort. This boardwalk overlooked the beach and was lined with lounge chairs. Talk about relaxing! Too bad we were vacationing with a 2 year old and “relaxing” was never a part of our vocabulary! Finally fell asleep - 20 minutes from home! He does this to us all the time!!!
So long Cape Cod! You were good to us and we’ll miss you!!!

His new favorite saying. Multiple times a day. Every day. For the last 2 or 3 days. Everything he does (or doesn’t do!) gets an “Oh-no”!

Last night Aunt Kate brought Shane a chocolate shake (his favorite!) as a treat. He dropped it on the floor in the playroom (tell me again why I chose to carpet this room???!?!) and his reaction - “Oh No!!!” I think the reaction had more to do with the loss of some of his precious shake than the fact that there was now a mess on the carpet!

What will he come up with next?!

Enjoying the courtyard:
Walking on the beach with Daddy:
My cutie beach bum!
He’s getting to be such a big boy! He insists on doing these things himself now:

With Mommy on the sand dunes:

My boys on the ‘dunes. I LOVE this shot!

And again in B&W; - because I ADORE black and white!
A few more Cape pictures still to come!

1). No vacation planned for this weekend! While it’ll be nice to be around home, it was also nice to get away for the last two weekends. Vacation may be a lot of work (before and after) but it sure is a lot of fun, too!

2). Chris the is proud owner of a brand new cell phone! New phone number, too - so if you’re trying to reach him, call the house! His old cell phone ended up playing with trains in the bath tub. Chris swears it wasn’t him and, well, Shane isn’t talking!!!

3). Our girls (Kylee and Zoe - in case there was any doubt!) are the proud new owners of brand new dog beds!!! Both of their old beds ended up with a chocolate shake spilled all over them! Chris swears this wasn’t him either and, well, Shane still isn’t talking! Before getting the new beds, the girls didn’t know whether they should go to sleep or try to eat their old ones! Thanks for picking them up, Grandma!

4). Shane has been BIG into trains lately! He gets so excited if we go under a train track, or if we happen to see a train (in person or in a book - doesn’t matter) and he’s REALLY started playing with his little train set a lot, too.

5). As big as the trains have become in our house, in NO way do they overtake his love of all things truck related! Trucks (and buses) are still his first love! I don’t know how most toddlers pass the time on long road trips, but on the way up to the Cape, Shane spent most of his time waving and saying “Bye, Gee” or “Bye, bus” to each and every passing truck/bus on the highway! How tired do you think his little arm was by the time we finally sat down for lunch at The Skipper?!

During both of our days up at the Cape we spent some time at the beach.

These shots are actually from our SECOND day at the beach (I know, I know - I edit what I can - they’re not necessarily in order!) It was rather overcast for much of the day that Saturday, though the sun would peek out occasionally.

Only the first few shots are in color. With the overcast weather, I felt these images looked better (and felt better) in good old black ‘n white. Not to worry!! Our first day at the beach was bright and sunny and I’ll be posting lots of pictures from that day - IN COLOR!!

Despite the fact that Shane HATES walking in sand in anything other than socks and sneakers, he actually had a great time playing in the sand with all of his beach toys - but when he was ready to go, he was ready to go!! I think we only managed to get an hour out of him each day. But at least it was an hour that Chris and I got to actually sit down, relax and really enjoy our vacation! That’s the beauty of the beach - Shane wouldn’t step foot off the Neat Sheet and towels we had laid down for him!

He LOVES fish. Like infatuated with them!!
My Beach Baby!
Busy. Busy. Busy.
First you have to make sure that EVERY LAST TOY is out of the bag!
Then you can start playing in the sand!
Look - “It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Superman!” (It’s actually just a plane!) And we’re STILL amazed by it!
“Boy this vacation stuff is exhausting”!!!!! My other beach bum!
Have I mentioned how much I love these two???

We got back from our weekend on the Cape on Sunday and already we’re missing vacation!

Vacation with a toddler is tough (especially a toddler who doesn’t know how to sit down!) but it was still vacation and it was nice to be away. It’s always rough to come home and get back into the swing of things.

We stayed at the Blue Water Resort in South Yarmouth and aside from going into Hyannis on Saturday, we didn’t venture too far from the resort!

We took Shane on his very first boat ride (he LOVES boats) and took a cruise around Hyannis Port - it was a great hour long ride and we got to see lots of great sights, lots of great views and lots of boats!!! We had a fantastic time.

After our boat ride we walked down Main St in the center of Hyannis and checked out some of the shops. Chris checked out the JFK Museum and Shane and I hung around and watched people climb onto and off of the big “Duck Tour” boats/trucks - he didn’t know what to make of those!

Taking in his very first boat ride:
Checking out the sites with Daddy:
Oohhhhhh!!!
“Hi Daddy!” Blowing Daddy kisses:

Some views from our cruise around Lewis Bay into Hyannis Port:


The Kennedy Compound. If you click on the picture (to make it larger), you’ll see the large white house in the front. This was owned by the Kennedy Family and was sold to Senator Edward Kennedy for $1 by his mother just before she died. The house to the left (and slightly behind) the Kennedy Family home was the home of Robert Kennedy and the house behind the Kennedy Family Home was owned by JFK. Both homes are now owned by Edward Kennedy as well.

A few snapshots from our time walking around Hyannis. Shane rode the carousel with Chris and the whole time he moved his arm up and down, up and down, up and down, just like the horses were doing! Apparently they were going “up” in this shot!

Playing skee ball! What you don’t see here is that everytime Shane threw the ball it would only go half way up the ramp. He’d start clapping getting all excited and then he would climb up the ramp to chase after it! HYSTERICAL!!!
Beach pictures to come soon!!!

Our little risk taker. We may never let him out of the house once he hits the teenage years!!!

And one that’s not so risky! Just swinging away with Aunt Kate:
We had a fantastic time at Cape Cod and are busy planning our vacation for next summer already! I’ll be blogging about our Cape vacation in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Finally, as promised, the parade pictures from Sesame Place!

The parade (along with the 2 shows we saw) were hands down Shane’s favorite part of the day. He got a kick out of seeing all of these guys walk down the street in front of him (close, but not too close!) We loved seeing his reaction and his smiles as he saw the characters he recognized. Cookie Monster got the biggest reaction by far, closely followed by Elmo and Big Bird. He’s a big fan of Bert and Ernie, too!

The Count:
The Big Bird Float:
Zoe (you can also see Shane sitting on my shoulder in this picture - he’s wearing the blue shirt with white sleeves):

Bert & Ernie:
Oscar:
Big Bird (and Elmo’s back - again you can see Shane on my shoulder):
Rosita:

Cookie!!!!!

Elmo!!!!
Grover:
The Elmo Float:
The Snuffie Float:

As I mentioned yesterday, things around our house have been a little crazy! Unfortunately, the parade pictures from Sesame Place are still sitting on my desktop in Photoshop waiting to be edited! So I thought I’d share these cute (and edited!) pictures of our little guy instead!

Remember that ride-on that we got Shane for his 2nd birthday, the one he was afraid of??? Well . . . he’s not afraid of it anymore!!!!!

So cute and adorable, right?!?!

Now if only we can teach him about avoiding objects in his path! If this is any indication, Shane will NEVER be allowed to get his drivers license!!
We are off to the Cape for a long weekend, but I promise to post those parade pictures during the early part of next week along with the images from our beach get-a-way!

Things around our neck of the woods have been crazy these last few weeks!

Since our summer party and Rich and Lauren’s departure just 1.5 weeks ago, we’ve had the following going on:

Wed, July 30 - Shane spikes a fever in the morning, I take the afternoon off to take him to the pediatrician. Diagnosis: ear infection. Go to Target to fill the prescription and the little guy throws up all over himself and all over his carseat. We fore-go the prescription and go home to get cleaned up and Shane takes a nap.

Thursday, July 31 - Shane’s temp is down a bit, but he’s still not 100%. Chris takes the day off from work so we can keep Shane home.

Friday, August 1 - Shane’s temp is normal in the morning, but GramZ drives up from Long Island to spend the day with Shane so we can keep him home again. By the time I get home from work Shane has a little rash on one of his wrists/arm. After dinner the rash has spread to both knees and legs. GramZ and I take Shane back to the pediatrician. Diagnosis: coxsacki virus! Blisters in his throat confirm the diagnosis. Blisters weren’t present on Wednesday and the coxsacki symptoms mirrored those of an ear infection, viral sore throat. Shane is taken off the antibiotics and is cleared for going to Sesame Place the following day.

Saturday, August 2 - Grandpa comes up from Long Island to spend the weekend with GramZ and our girls while we go away. We leave for Sesame Place.

Sunday, August 3 - Fun-filled, family day at Sesame Place! We return home that night.

Monday, August 4 - I had the day off and GramZ is still in CT with us. Daycare is closed this week because of vacation. GramZ and I spend the day with Shane and we venture into New Haven to find Lighthouse Point and to ride the carousel. That night Chris calls at 10pm to say he’s on his way home - he’s got a fever and a sore throat! He gets home and is shivering. Fever is at 100.6. He takes a shower and then vomits and goes to bed.

Tuesday, August 5 - Chris wakes up feeling a bit better but heads out to the walk-in clinic anyway. Fever is a bit lower than the previous night. Diagnosis: potential strep throat. Given prescription for an antibiotic and sent home. He feels better by lunch and goes to work. GramZ stays home with Shane in the afternoon while Chris and I are working. By 6pm Chris calls to say his fever is back (this time 102) and he has no sense of balance, he’s very dizzy. He asks that we come pick him up because he doesn’t feel like he could drive home. We leave the house, dinner dishes all over the table and kitchen, just after 6 to go get Chris. We get to Norwalk, GramZ hops in the Civic with Chris and takes him back to the walk-in clinic. 102 temp is confirmed, he’s given a presecription for a pain killer and was told he’d feel worse before he feels better. By the time we all get home, it’s evident that little angels came and cleaned up the house while we were out! Thanks Aunt Kate and Grandma! No vomiting last night, but lots of dry-heaving.

Wednesday, August 6 - Fever is down to under 100, but the same was true yesterday morning as well. Chris will spend the day in bed today, I will bring GramZ to the ferry this afternoon so she can FINALLY go home (poor GramZ!!) and then will take Shane to spend the afternoon at Grandma’s while Daddy sleeps. After I get out of work I’ll go pick Shane up at Grandma’s and head home to see how Daddy is feeling!

And did I mention that we’re supposed to leave for Cape Cod on Friday????!!!!

As you can see, I haven’t had much time for editing photos! Below are a few shots from Shane’s first stay in a hotel, parade pictures from Sesame Place to come tomorrow!

Chilling on the bed and watching LeapFrog Letter Factory (who says TV can’t be educational!):
“What, bedtime already? I don’t think so, Mommy!” And yet Mommy (and/or Daddy) always seems to win (most of the time anyway!): Look at our little guy in a huge king size bed! He looks SO little!

Elmo loves his goldfish, his crayon, too. That’s Elmo’s World!!!!!!!!!!!

We all had a FANTASTIC time at Sesame Place this past weekend and we can’t wait to do it again in another year or two! It’s a great park for small kids and just the right size for a quick one or two day get-away!

We left the house late Saturday morning and stayed over at a hotel about 20 miles from the park. Sunday morning we left our hotel and got to the park just as it was opening! We played and had the best time all day and left around 5pm when our little guy was on the verge of passing out from exhaustion!

Shane loved the rides we went out and was very vocal about the things he didn’t want to do! So we just let him lead the way and we truly did have a fabulous time! His favorite thing of all was seeing the shows and the parade. We made it a point to have our picture taken with Elmo and let’s just say it was a little too “up close and personal” for Shane! He prefers Elmo to be on the other side of his television set for safety, we think!

Waiting to get inside!
Landscaping in the parking lots. Elmo:
Oscar: And we’re in!
“Come on guys!!! Let’s get going!”
With Daddy in front of Bert & Ernie:

With Mommy in front of Bert & Ernie:
It’s Elmo and Dorothy!!!

Going on the “Flying Fish” ride (think Dumbo) with Daddy!!!

Waving “Hi” to Mommy!

And they’re off!

Our favorite furry, red, monster!

Sesame Cafe, where we ate lunch.

EVERY time we went to get our picture taken with Cookie, the “assistant” was always whisking him off for a break!! Every. Single. Time.
One of my infamous “self portrait” shots!
Playing around in “Big Bird’s Nest”
Mr. Hooper’s store: My handsome little boy on the carousel:

My other handsome boy on the carousel:
With his new best friend Cookie Monster:No!!!! I don’t want to leave!!!!
This is what happens when you play at Sesame Place all day!!
Tomorrow we’ll have a few more pictures from Sesame Place, including all the pictures from the Parade! We should also have a few pictures of Shane’s first hotel stay!!!!

1). Shane is getting over a pretty nasty virus/ear infection that had him out of commission for day and a half. He spiked a fever on Wednesday morning which had us at the pediatrician’s office Wednesday afternoon. By 2:30 we had a prescription for Amoxicillin, along with a diagnosis of an ear infection and a viral sore throat. As we pulled into the parking lot at Target to fill the prescription we had just gotten, the poor little guy threw up all over himself and his car seat! Needless to say we turned around and headed home, where I got to not only give Shane his FIRST bath of the day, but I also got to spend 2 hours taking apart, and cleaning, the car seat! The poor kid crawled up in my lap and fell asleep immediately after his bath and we took it easy the rest of the day. Daddy stayed home with him yesterday and GramZ is coming up to spend the afternoon with him today. His fever finally broke yesterday afternoon and he’s back to acting like his old self now, but we opted to keep him home from daycare today for the added reassurance.

2). Yesterday morning when Daddy and Shane were playing out in the backyard, Shane headed over to the swingset so that Daddy could push him on one of the swings. When he got there he noticed that there was a little puddle of water sitting in his swing. The little smarty pants quickly grabbed his Daddy’s finger, led him back into the house and into the kitchen. Once in the kitchen he stood in front of the counter and pointed up towards the roll of paper towels that was sitting there! Once Chris grabbed the paper towels, Shane again grabbed Daddy’s finger and led him back outside and back over to his swing! Once Daddy wiped off the swing Shane was a happy camper as he swung away sitting on his nice, dry, seat! This little boy seriously amazes us sometimes!!!

3). Speaking of swings, until the party last weekend, Shane wouldn’t go near the swings on his playground! The only thing he wanted anything to do with was the slide! How quickly that all changed once he saw all the other kids going on the swings and on the glider! Too bad that hasn’t worked for the pool!!

4). I ran across this goofy picture of Chris and I a few days ago while cleaning out some of my online albums. It’s one of my “famous” do-it-yourself numbers!! I thought I’d post it to switch things up in here during our 5 On Friday! It’s not ALL about the little guy ya know!! (Ok, so maybe it is all about the little guy . . . )

5). And for the exciting news - we’re off to Sesame Place this weekend! That’s right! We’re off for a family fun filled weekend of Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert & Ernie and the rest of the Sesame Street gang! We’re leaving tomorrow afternoon and will spend the night in a hotel about 10 minutes from the park. We’ll hit Sesame Place early Sunday morning and hit the road to head back home that night! GramZ and Grandpa are nice enough to stay at the house for us this weekend so that our girls have some company - thanks, guys!! Plan on seeing LOTS of fun pictures next week!!