Catch Up!

It takes forever to upload pictures onto here with dial up so I just never have enough time during the day anymore. So here is the last week...

Some eating....
Carmine sampling a banana! He wasn't so sure about it just like the babyfood. We have tried avacado, banana, rice cereal, mango and apple and he really just doesn't care about any of them. Oh well, I am still nursing 5-6 times in a 24 hour period, so he is getting plenty of food.
And Rece after some yummy corn, just about the only veggie I can get him to eat.
And some playtime...
Beth, Averie and Baylor came down and spent a couple of days with us. We have kind of gone from taking Averie and Rece's picture to taking Baylor and Carmine's. They are a little more cooperative!
A new milestone...

He started doing this on the 10th! He can't fall on his butt gracefully yet, but he stood there long enough for me to take about 7 pictures and then some.

And the state fair...

We rode on 2 rides. This one can spin if you spin the wheel in the center. We ended up riding with 2 boys about 8. So of course they wanted to spin. We let them for a little bit, but I think Rece started feeling it, so we had to put it to a stop. He liked them and wanted more afterwards but we moved on to more eating.
Rece and I shared an elephant ear and of course he loved it.
Then we went into the petting zoo. He really liked feeding the baby goats carrots. Carmine just kinda hung out in the stroller the whole time and was a good sport.

Fireworks!!

We took the boys to see the big fireworks in the city. Carmine just stared at them with very little reaction. Rece kind of whined a little but eventually he loved them and kept asking for more.
We went with Conner and his mommy and daddy. Rece and Conner just loved dancing to the music that was played by a band.

Carmine took a little catnap waiting for all of the festivities to start!

Horseys

That is what Rece now calls the carousel at the zoo. We went there again and he rode it with Grammy this time and loved it. Before he would get on it and the horse would go up once and that was the end of it. But now I bet he will besuper excited to ride the horseys again!!

SWIMMING!!

This is a little late, as it happened last week, but oh well.

First we blew up the baby pool and Rece loved it! Carmine did not have the same love for the pool. We also had the elmo sprinkler on which Rece also liked. This is Rece the first swim.

But then we also went to a local pool to take them swimming. Rece did great! It was shallow enough that he could walk around a little. He didn't really like letting us go but did a couple of times. He even let daddy float him a couple times. He never really relaxed, but we are working on that, and there may be an underlying reason that I will go into later.

Carmine liked the big pool much better, it wasn't quite as cold. He actually kind of enjoyed floating. I didn't dunk anyone today, cause it was way to cold and I didn't even want to go under! I am not that mean!!

And lets not forget about yummy pool pizza!

Oh I am so missing my moms pool this year! I can't possibly go to a public pool by myself so we are stuck waiting until a free day on the weekend which very rarely happens.

And lets not forget the swinging! This was Carmine's first time in a swing and he loved it. Much more than Rece did at that age.

On a totally different note, my little boy is 2 1/2 today! I can't believe how big he is getting. Everyday he makes me laugh and everyday he surprises me. He is a lot of fun right now and he thinks he is the funniest person on the planet. He has got the biggest personality and I can't even convey it to the people who read this blog that don't actually know him. Even the people that don't get to see him often have only seen the surface of that personality. Those of you that will be at Uncle Keith's wedding will get to see it in full bloom. He absolutely LOVES dancing and being the center of attention. So between walking down the aisle as the ring bearer and dancing the night away at the reception he is going to be the life of the party. Aunt Hope already knows this and is ok with it ;) I doubt that he will ever know or understand how much I love him and what it means to me that I get to spend every single day with him. And I get to be the one who shows him all the new adventures and amusements of every day life.

The Park

Yesterday we met halfway between our houses with Averie and Baylor and Beth and Annie! Just like last year The kids had a lot of fun and it was a successful playdate with no hitting! There weren't even any attempts-at least not to my knowledge!!!! We had a picnic lunch and then the kids played on the equipment and on the swings and for Rece in the dirt. Just lots of pictures.....
Annie and Rece playing and is that the profanity you were talking about Annie??

All the kids swinging

Baylor and Carmine Hanging out

Averie is not too sure about Rece

Carmine enjoying the swing!

This is one of the best pictures I have gotten of Rece in a while...actually looking at the camera and smiling!

And my sons crazy hair and enjoying a peach

The end of the stay for Annie

Brandon had to leave right after the surprise party to get home. But Annie stayed longer. On Monday we went to the zoo and had a great time. Rece just really gets into the animals these days. If we lived closer we would probably be there once a week. He gets so excited especially about the monkeys and penguins. And we got to see the penguins eat that day! And Annie's camera caught a reflection and the penguins were chasing it like dogs do. It was pretty funny. It took a while for us to figure out what was doing it. Rece really enjoyed the petting zoo area and was trying to chase the goats. Here he was trying to look at it's eyes!And this was the first time Rece would sit or even get close to the animal statues. He did for the polar bear and the tiger. And last time he wouldn't touch the snake but he did this time! This is what happened on the walk back to the car. He was zonked! But of course as soon as he was in the car he was up and non-stop talking!

And Monday night Annie and I had a girls night. We went to dinner at On The Border and then to see Knocked Up. It was funny but I definitely think when you have already gone through it, you have a different perspective and it is too real to be as funny as other people think it is! But I laughed and had a good time and Annie and I hadn't ever gone out just the girls before so it was about time!

Then on Tuesday we went Strawberry picking. Rece had a blast at least for the first 15 minutes. It got a little old after a while but he loved picking the strawberries and eating them right off the vine. He was a mess!!

And on Wednesday we rested the whole day. It seems as I had developed some food poisoning and was not feeling great from about Tuesday afternoon through Saturday!!!!!!! But then Wednesday night we had gymnastics. Annie was pretty impressed by the whole experience-the place and activites and how well Rece did. She seems to think he will do great in preschool.....we shall see someday ;)

Then Thursday we went and got Carmine's pictures taken (as already posted), then we went and got ice cream-which Rece didn't even want. Then Annie had to leave us! Rece was busy doing something when she left so he didn't even really realize it. But then when he did it was kind of sad because he was walking around yelling "ANNNNNIE, ANNNNIE"

We had a great week!

And now for the Clippers

Rece had an absolute blast at his first baseball game!! He was clapping right on cue and he had his first cotton candy! We bought him his own bell to ring. But he ended up throwing it and hitting a little boy so it was taken away. But overall it went so well and this is the type of thing that daddy can't wait for!!!! Carmine seemed to enjoy it also-at least as much as a 4-month old can. And he sat with the mascot without even freaking out! Does that mean Santa will be easy this year?? Stay tuned tomorrow for yet another post about our week with Annie and Brandon!

A Long Week-Just the Start!

Well, last Tuesday Brandon and Annie came for a little visit! Annie is a teacher so she is off for the summer. And Brandon just decided to take a little vacation. So they got here on Tuesday. That evening we went grocery shopping with Keith and Hope for a party we had on Sunday (more on that later). Then we went to get ice cream. No pictures of this day. No pictures Wednesday either. We had a calm day then had dinner with Joey and Maggie and their parents. But then Thursday we have lots of pictures!! We started out by going to my doctor's appointment. But then we went to the park and played. Rece really just prefers walking around and playing in the dirt. Carmine LOVED laying naked in the grass while getting his diaper changed!!! Then we went to the other side of the park where there is a living Historical Farm to see the animals. Rece really liked the little ducks. He would pet the sheep but not the horses. Too big I guess. Then we went to get snow cones (which Rece now points out every time we drive by them-almost daily!) and sandwiches and hotdogs. Then home for naps. Then we went to a Columbus Clippers baseball game-Rece's first!!! But you will have to stay tuned for those pictures! Dial up only goes so fast on loading pictures people!

The Zoo!

We went to the zoo today with Mandy and Joey and her friend Tara and her little boy Salvatore. Rece was the oldest of all the boys and definitely the most interested in the animals. I know Mandy was a little disappointed in Joey's lack of reaction, but I tried to warn her that Rece was just starting to really get into it! All of the boys did great, Rece was the only one not to fall asleep in the stroller. Of course. He loved "Mumble" or the penguin exhibit. When he saw them, he said "penguin dance!" He kept saying, poor guy was waiting for them to start doing the Happy Feet! But he also really liked the monkeys, all of them. Of course they are some of the most active animals. We got a close up of a couple of Orangutans. He kept saying Hi to them. So cute. And Jungle Jack Hanna was there today, doing some type of TV thing. I felt a little silly taking a picture but I was definitely not the only one. Of course Carmine was perfectly content hanging out in the infant seat. Pretty soon he will want to be sitting up and looking at everything-mostly the other people. And since Rece was so good he got to take home a little "Mumble" of his own. Carmine got one too, but it is a hand puppet and a little smaller. And that was the end of it! We were there for about 3 1/2 hours so for 4 little boys 2 and under they did so great!