17 Months!!

Hugs...

Kisses...

Tickles...

...and Giggles!

Happy 4th of July!!

Urban Babies (Part Two)

A second edition of Ellie's urban adventures previously described here.

Urban babies know the best way to cool off is to head to the local public sprinkler playground!

Urban babies know the second best way to cool off is to eat a popsicle (in your bathing suit because it'll make a huge mess).

Urban babies know that even if you don' have a driveway, you can still make sidewalk chalk art on the wall.

Urban babies love to hang out and grill in the backyard with friends and family on hot days.

Urban babies know that putting pitted cherries on your fingers before you eat them is a fun summer treat!

Urban babies use squirt bottles full of water to beat the heat (when home from the public sprinklers and have finished your popsicle...hey! squirting yourself with water from the squirt bottle is a great way to clean up after eating the popsicle so mommy will let you back in the house!)

Celebrating my Birthday

A few weeks late, but here is a summary of how we celebrated my birthday.

The weekend before the actual date, we went strawberry picking during a local farm's Strawberry Festival. It wasn't quite as awesome as strawberry picking in previous years partly due to the horrible crop the farmers got this year (early heat wave, lots of rain, a shorter season with smaller berries) and the fact that we went at the end of the day, after the fields had been picked over. That didn't stop Ellie from trying really hard to find the berries (once we explained what she was doing there). She did actually find a few. Nick stopped her from eating the white or green ones. It was also ridiculously hot, like August in St. Louis hot, not middle of June in Boston weather.

On my birthday Aunt Susie came over for a nice dinner of pizza and cake. We did end up eating after Ellie went to bed, but we let her have some cake as her dessert too.

I actually used a mini-bundt cake pan which shapes the cakes as bugs (dragonfly, butterfly, bee, ladybug) that my mom got me for mother's day (thanks mom!). Susie, Nick, and I all decorated our own cakes before we ate them. Definitely a lot of fun.

It was a great birthday. Thanks Everyone!