Buy me some peanuts

Top 5 Things About A Baseball Game, by Gabriel Welsh 1. Crackerjacks 2. Hot Dogs 3. Moon bounce 4. Dog show 5. Rockie (scary mascot) Notice something missing from that list? Like, the actual sport of baseball? Yep, tonight we took Gabe and Riley to see the Blue Rocks. It is absolutely perfect weather for it and lucky for us they have plenty of things to keep kids occupied since baseball is, let's face it, America's most boring pasttime. Especially if you're 2. (Or in my case, 33). I guess that's why they have moon bounces and beer!

We also went to Gabriella's third birthday party today, which was held at First State Gymnastics where Gabe had a BLAST. Lots of cute pictures so I have to narrow it down considerably before posting! But I will upload a couple from yesterday: one of Gabe playing with his buddies Ethan and Max in the backyard and one of Gabe raiding my lipstick stash. ("Stash" - ha ha - as if I own more than one tube!)

Hot Hot Hot

After a weak start, the June temperatures are hitting nearly 90 every day now - which I love! We're spending a ton of time outside and at the pool and even Riley is getting in on the action. The best was the new "fountain" in our yard for Gabe to play in. Some might call it a broken spinkler, but they aren't 2. Anyway I tried my darndest to get a picture of him in it, but he was too fast!

Happy Fathers Day!

This weekend my not-so-tiny baby turned 4 months old...oh, and it was Father's Day too! (But I suspect that happened everywhere, not just in our house.) I'm very lucky to have such a wonderful husband who also happens to be a top-notch dad! We had a fun weekend starting with a GNO (playing Bunco for the first time since Chicago!) on Friday and a laid back rainy day on Saturday, which ended playing in a very muddy backyard at our friends' house for a cookout. For Father's Day we took a church skip day, then hit the gym and lunch out before taking a looong nap (all of us!). The afternoon was finally sunny, so we played outside and went for a walk. All in all, a perfect weekend.

Something about turning 4 months old makes folks ask the age-old "how's she sleeping?" question with a little more edge. Anything less than sleeping through the night is somehow a huge failure at this juncture, I guess. Well, with Riley, its a little hit and miss. Every night she goes to bed at 9:30pm and wakes up at 8:30am. But whether there's a midnight snack in there somewhere depends on the night, so we just never know. But the consistency of a bedtime/wakeup time is a good first step. Next stop: a solid 12 hours!

The other big news is that Gabe has started going #2 in the potty today. He's been going #1 for a long time now, but otherwise - watch the carpet! I didn't pull a Kate Gosselin and take any pictures and even better, am not subjecting you to them (seriously, who would EVER want to see that?) but its definitely a big deal around here!

And with that, Happy Belated Father's Day to all you dads...a shout out of congrats to Pauline on the birth of her beautiful daughter Claire...and we are very thankful for Mara Ana's successful surgery. Have a great week!

Just a Teeny Tiny Bit

So summer is in full swing around here, with the JCC summer camp starting and Gabe being trilled thrilled thrilled to get to go to the pool every day. We have also spent many hours, dollars, and cholesterol points over the past week at the Italian Festival - I think we went every day that it didn't rain. Throw in a couple of parties and a rainy day playdate and we are just TIRED. Well, at least 2 of us.

Little Riley is doing just great these days - laughing and giggling and generally just a happy baby. But, she has some digestion issues, to say the least, so between that and Gabe's slow-going potty training, poop is the hot topic in our house. TMI? Hey, you're the one reading my blog!

Gabe continues to impress us with his ability to carry on long and winding conversations. We're past "why, why, why" about everything and have moved on to hilariously funny synapses in his rapidly expanding brain. An example is when we were at a gas station last week:

Gabe: What are we doing here?

Me: We're getting gas for the car

Gabe: Because the car is thirsty!

Me: That's right! The car is thirsty and it needs gasoline to go.

Gabe: Gasoline! Oh, I like that! That's what we put on my cheeks!

Something he has also picked up is the ability to negotiate ANYTHING. Even if you think you've agreed on, say, 1 episode of Dora (obsession du jour), after it's over he'll say: "I know we can only watch one show, but I have an idea. How about just a teeny, tiny bit of a new show? Just a teeny bit? Just a minute? Okay, mama?" Its an ongoing battle, but he keeps us laughing!

Opa!

Greetings! This weekend marked the end of the Greek Festival, an annual event here that is held 2 blocks away. The location is great for easy access to tasty grape leaves and gyros, but bad for parking and the old waistline. Friday we were planning to have some neighbors over to hang on the porch and people watch, but of course the weather conspired against my social life and it was cold, rainy, and generally disgusting out there. So we dug out the vacuum and outsmarted mother nature by having a cocktail party inside instead. Cocktails and kiddies - party on! The rest of the weekend was equally busy. Yesterday I used my Mother's Day gift of a facial and massage to duck out for a few hours. Actually they kicked me out after 2 hours; otherwise my hungover self would've stayed on that table all day. Today we hit the gym, church, and pool before heading over to the second ethnic festival in our 'hood: Italian Festival. Think carnival rides, italian food, wine & beer, and people selling crap - all within stumbling distance of our front door! Doesn't get better than that! I forgot my camera all weekend, so no new cute pics to post. I'll do better!

We've had a busy week so far! My friend Marybeth took off work yesterday and we took the boys (and Riley) to pick strawberries at Linvilla Orchards. Hard work for them, but it paid off for us - I've been eating strawberries nonstop ever since. Its about time these little moochers started earning their keep! Last night we went to a picnic, then tonight the Blowmans came over for Greek food and people-watching on the front porch. And Riley and I fit in a pedicure today as well. Rough life we're leading, I know! On the flip side, Ryan has been out of town all week so I'm on my own...which is especially trying early in the morning. I'll make sure he gets his turn this weekend!