Summering

Time flies. Fireworks fly. My heart soars.

My baby Ada is now 9 months old. Ahem ...to say she's fat and happy is an understatement. Kathy just came from her 9-month check-up. Drum roll . . . 21 lbs, 14oz. 90th percentile. Marylin was 14 lbs at her 9-month check-up, so let's just say that Ada is a Marylin-and-a-half. I find it all quite amusing, actually, and I'm just happy she's healthy. Ada really is the easiest baby. She's crawling. Pulling herself up on things and trying to stand. This is months ahead of either Jimmy or Marylin. She's ready to start runnin' with the big kids.

Speaking of big kids, my li'l sis is suddenly a big kid. Dana left the world of twentysomethings and joined us thirtysomethings. Trent threw her a party last weekend and it was fun. I mad her a mix CD full of 30-years worth of musical memories. I hope she has as much fun listening to it as I did making it. The picture to the left are all the cousins watching Cars and getting ready for bed.

Marylin turned 4. Ada is 9 months. We learned that Dave & Melissa are adding to the family and the cousin-count. And Vito turned 3. Yankee Doodle Vito really lucks out because the entire country lights fireworks in his honor ...as we did again at Dave & Melissa's for the 4th. As you can see, the kids were half-scared, half-thrilled.

Vegas 2007

Another year and another set of great memories from Vegas. It was a vacation we had been looking forward to for months and it did not disappoint.

I'm pretty sure, even with all the mayhem that comes with 3 grandkids under the age of 4 staying in their 2 bedroom condo, that Grandma Lenny and Grandpa Jimmy had a good time, too.

The kids only took the first two days to adjust to the time-change. Ada handled it the best and did nothing to change my opinion of her as the best baby ever. As I said to Kathy on the plane ride out, "a well trained St. Bernard could babysit Ada."

Some highlights of the week included daily trips to the condo's pool. I'd say we swam 5 out of the 8 days, even though the weather was rather cool when we were there. Of course, it was in the 90s the entire week before we got to Vegas and immediately following our departure, but we've just come to accept that as our Vegas fate. Honestly, I'm not complaining, but it only rains 10 days every year in Vegas and Grandma and Grandpa rarely see clouds - they say. But everytime we go, we have at least one day of rain and this time we had multiple overcast days.

Much to our surprise, Marylin put on her swimmies and jumped right in the pool, swiming all by herself. Much to our chagrin, the floaty-vest we bought for Jimmy didn't float. Oh, well. Next year.

Grandma and Grandpa played the role of well-trained-St.-Bernard and we took Marylin and Jimmy on daily adventures. Although Vegas doesn't actively market it, there really is a great deal of things to do with your family. Highlights included the lion habitat at the MGM, the lions and dolphins at The Mirage, the M&M store on the strip, the midway at the Excaliber (which looks like Disney's Magic Kingdom to my kids, and that was good enough), the Ethel M Factory Tour, and the aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

As always, there was dining out. Our new favorite buffet is at South Point. We ate there twice. Also good was a Mexican restaurant at Mandalay Bay. Otherwise it was ham sandwiches, chicken nuggets, and pancakes back at the condo. And really, who could complain about that?

Grandma and Grandpa also happen to live right along a flight path so we're able to watch airplanes landing from sun-up to sun-down, and for a 2 1/2 year old (and even the 4 year old), this is the best show in town. Grandma and Grandpa's sun porch made the perfect plane-watching outpost.

I'm going to guess that Grandma doesn't typically build forts with all the pillows in the condo, spread toys from one end of the family room to the other, and she probably doesn't watch The Backyardigans and The Wiggles. So, I'm also going to guess that Grandma slept for two straight days after we left. But while we there, she had more than her fair share of floor exercises, games, coloring, Playdough, and children's videos. If she dared seek respite, Jimmy would go running and asking "where hama Lenny" (translation: Where's Grandma Lenny?)

And, even better, on the very last night in Vegas, yours truly was chosen to stay in with the kids while Jimmy, Lenny, and Kathy went to the casino one-last-time, and let's just say Kathy hit enough to pay for the entire trip, again. Woo hoo! Viva Las Vegas.

A Week in the Life

I'm reading a book called "No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog." As you can see from the infrequent posts, I lack for motivation some times. It suggested I take pictures of everything and anything for a week and see what inspires me. The pictures I took this week reminded me of all the little things that happen every day all around us ...and it made me wonder if we truly appreciate them all. Its like the old saying goes ...sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses.

Here are my roses.

Jimmy loves puzzles. Jimmy loves his sister - sometimes too much. He tries to treat Ada like a stuffed animal, but we know its only because he loves her SOOOOO much. He also loves his cousins. A big highlight of last week was the arrival of cousins Jeremiah and Amanda - and of course Uncle Dick and Aunt Isabel, but they weren't nearly as exciting to Jimmy and Marylin as their cousins. If you wanna see hyper kids, bring a 12 and 14 year old cousin around. Jimmy and Marylin were bouncing off the walls. Luckily I got to go to the Pistons game with them and Kathy was left with Jimmy, Marylin and Ada for bedtime. Phew!

Jimmy and Marylin love our birdfeeders. The feeders sit right outside our kitchen window, so its like they have a big screen TV to watch during every meal. Most times we can't keep them in their seats because they prefer a birds eye view (is that a pun?)! The J & M show also have given up on Mom and Dad building them forts, so they've taken matters into their own hands. To the right you'll see a pillow fort courtesy of J & M Construction.


Oh, yes. That other kid. Ada. Good gal. Lots of smiles. Sometimes I really have to lecture her about doing more blog-worthy stuff. Eating solids, holding toys, and lifting her head up ...well ...been there done that. But, for the record, this is what she's doing at 6 months: rolling across rooms, sleeping through the night, waving, trying to crawl, laughing, and reading the newspaper.

In case you can't tell from these pictures, its finally Spring and Easter is here. The neighborhood Easter Egg hunt should be featured in "An Inconvenient Truth, Part II." Ridiculous. We didn't know if the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus would show up.



Here's that other kid I keep mentioning ...Ada. At the mall with the Easter Bunny. After the mall, Kathy and the kids visited my office. Jimmy worked the phones and closed some big deals. A natural salesman. Marylin mostly daydreamed and looked out the window at the cars. We have an appointment with her guidance counselor this week. Jimmy did say he'd give her a weekly allowance as long as she was trying to find work. He's a good kid.

Jimmy and Marylin were kind enough to set the table for Easter and then do a dry run of Easter brunch. They set and blocked the entire day featuring their "buddies." The next day came off without a hitch thanks to their pre-planning efforts.

And every Easter, Marylin kinda double dips. Candy and an Easter surprise in the morning, then Birthday presents and cake that afternoon. Aunt Dana hit another homerun with an incredible Strawberry Shortcake cake. The kids ate cake and ice cream and more ice cream. A milestone was reached ...Barbies officially became a toy in our home. Things will never be the same. Uncle/Grandpa Jerry really liked the new train cars and Ada Louisa. Aunt/Grandma 'Nise was more than happy to help feed Ada. And the rest of the shots just capture another great Easter-slash-Birthday. Oh, and Uncle Dave debuted a new, longer hair-do.

I guess I kinda ended up tellin' ya what I "ate for lunch" after all. Oh, and sorry for the lack of photo compression ...I'll figure it out one of these days.