Parish Picnic

We had an enjoyable afternoon at our parish picnic today.  There were tons of activities for Grace and Andrew including: face painting, balloon animals, coloring, and jumping around in the Bounce House. We had a great time catching up with friends and listening to some live music.

Grace had a pink and purple butterfly painted on her face.

Andrew enjoyed playing with balloons.

Grace had fun tapping Andrew on the head with her flower balloon.

Grace liked the Bounce House... especially the slide!

We even made it to the park!

Fall into Autumn

Although it still feels like Summer outside, we are fully embracing Autumn!  I've been enjoying my Pumpkin Spiced Lattes.  Dan can't get enough football.  Bernadette Grace made a beautiful "Fall Apple" at school this week, and today Grace and Andrew welcomed the first full day of Autumn by visiting DePiero's Farm.  We checked out all the pumpkins, walked through the hay maze, and bought some apple cider donuts and pumpkin sugar cookies:-)

Bernadette Grace and her teacher, Miss Nicole.  Check out Grace's fabulous apple creation!

"Wow, look at all these pumpkins!"

Cutest pumpkins in the patch:-)

Andrew had so much fun running through the hay maze!

Park Playdates

The weather has been beautiful the last few days, and we have enjoyed spending time with friends at our 2 favorite parks! Yesterday, our playgroup met at Presentation Church's park, and we went to Memorial Park this afternoon.

Andrew and his buddies, Britton and Cayden.  They are all going to be in the same class at JW Tumbles.

Grace and her friend, Madelyn, have been friends ever since they were 9 months old.  They attended JW Tumbles together, and now they're in the same class at Lollipop School!

Celebratory Cupcakes

Happy 38th Anniversary, Nana and Grandpa! We had fun celebrating with you today:-)

Football and Friends

* 1st entry written by Dan the Man:-) ...
We woke up excited for our family day that lay ahead of us. We were going to the St. Joe's vs. St. Peter's football game at 1pm then to a BBQ with some friends. All morning Dee baked chocolate chip cookies and brownies for the party and the house smelled great. I could not resist the cookies and I snuck a few before we left for the game. When we got to the game we had a quick chat with St. Joe's principal, Barry Donnelly. It was nice to see my old high school English teacher. He then allowed us to watch the game from the field and I got to see a bunch of my old teammates. The game turned out to be one of the best high school football games I have ever seen. There were more then 3,000 people at the game to watch St. Joe's (#9 ranked team in the State) and St. Peter's (#1 ranked team). Needless to say, St. Joe's were big underdogs. Grace and Andrew loved watching the game. Grace really enjoyed watching in the cheerleaders and Dee got to catch up with her old cheerleading coach Mrs. P. The Green Knights were down 17 to 6 at halftime, but stormed back to win 21 to 17 in the last minute of the game. The fans went crazy and the students stormed the field. After the game we headed to our friends house for a BBQ. Grace and Andrew saw a lot of their friends and had a great time playing.
Andrew and Daddy watched the game from the sidelines
Bernadette Grace enjoyed watching the cheerleaders
Andrew was happy to pose for a picture with Pop Klein (who always seems to have an endless supply of lollipops in his pockets!)

Andrew's 1st Tumbles Class

Andrew and I had a very special morning! Although he has been to JW Tumbles countless times, this was our first Mommy and Me class:-) It was nice to have some bonding time with my little man. He was all smiles! He had so much fun and made some new friends today.
This is such a fabulous class, and we have our favorite teachers... Julie and Brian!
Bubbles!
Making music!
He even did some coloring at the end of class:-)

Grace's 1st day at Lollipop School

Our morning was filled with mixed emotion as our baby girl began her first day of preschool. We dropped her off a little before nine and thought she would be excited to see her friends and play. However, she was nervous and became a "stage 4 clinger." The two and a half hours of her first day felt like forever. We didn't know how she would do, but to our delight, she was calm and happy. We hope that Grace continues to get comfortable and enjoys her first year at Lollipop School.
Preschool Rocks!
Modeling her 1st day of school outfit
Showing off her new personalized backpack

Sesame Place

Danny and I have been looking forward to taking the kids to Sesame Place all summer! As soon as we arrived at the park, we headed straight for the Elmo Rocks show. Andrew instantly began clapping to the music, and Grace wore a smile from ear to ear as she watched all of her Sesame Street friends on stage! Our day was filled with fun activities which included: 3 shows, a parade, rides, slides, and ice cream! We had such a memorable day! It felt so good to see the genuine excitement in Grace and Andrew's faces today! We love being their parents:-)

Preschool Visit

I can't believe our baby girl is starting preschool on Tuesday! In order to make the morning transition go smoothly, I decided to take Grace to visit her classroom today. She instantly made herself at home and played in the kitchen. Andrew enjoyed the tour, too (there are tons of Thomas trains). When it was time to leave, Grace received her first lollipop from Lollipop School!
Grace was happy to find out that she's sharing a cubby with her friend, Madelyn, from JW Tumbles:-)

Labor Day

What an eventful day! We had so much fun at the Park Ridge Pool. Grace and Andrew enjoyed playing with their cousins, eating ice-cream, and watching raft races. They even entered the Penny Toss competition in the baby pool... Grace and Daddy found the winning penny!!! She was awarded a huge watermelon that we shared with family and friends:-) After we left the pool, we headed to Peppercorns for a celebratory dinner in honor of Shane's 3rd birthday, and we went to Denis and Mary's for some delicious ice cream cake! It has been a wonderful summer, and we're sad to see it come to an end!
Grace was happy to show off the gigantic watermelon that she won:-)
Grace loves chasing her cousins!

Hilton Head

We've just returned from a heavenly week in Hilton Head, SC!
Family date night at Skull Creek Boathouse. The seafood was delicious, the view was fabulous, and the kids were exhausted!
Little man had fun playing in the sand and breaking our sandcastles.
Grace and Andrew wore smiles all week long! They spent a lot of time together in the stroller while we walked along the beach.