Dedication Weekend

We went to York last weekend to not only visit with Aunt Erin and family, but also to celebrate the dedication of the gazebo at Normandie Ridge for Great Grandpa. We were so excited that Mommy's cousin Shannon and her kids Dillon, Gilbey, and Anneke, along with Great Aunt Ellen and Great Uncle Jim came down from Rhode Island too! It was awesome to have so much family together. Here are a few photos from the weekend...

Cutie-pie Augustin:



Liam and Pierre (or Pier, as Liam calls him), tossing the old pigskin:



Crabfest 2011!



The kids loved the slip-and-slide in the backyard!



Baby parking: Anneke, Augustin, and Joergen



For reasons unknown, the kids decided to hang out in the back of Shannon's Sienna, where they invented a little game, which we'll just refer to as "Screaming." Gilbey would ride up on his little bike, and the boys would all just scream at each other. It was random and hilarious! (But also got a little old after awhile...)





My favorite pic of the weekend: Gilbey screaming, Anneke terrified, and Liam hiding under his hat.



Nana and all her grandbabies (wait! no! Grandbaby #6 was born that morning, so I retract!)



Augustin and Joergen catching flies:



Grandpa playing with Pierre and Joergen:



Pierre, Gilbey, Sarah, and Liam at the park, getting their see-saw on:



Sunday Brunch at Off Center at the Yorktowne-- Daddy getting some time with little Augustin:



And finally, the dedication! It was just beautiful, and such a special way to remember Great Grandpa.

Next stop, the Poconos!

PS- Joergen rolled over from his back to his belly this morning! AND slept through the night again!

The Newest Cousin

So this is a little late, but we're SO excited to welcome the newest member of the G-willie family, Colin Edward! He arrived 2 and a half weeks early-- on Aunt Jackie's birthday!-- and is a healthy, happy little boy. Liam and Joergen can't wait to meet their new cousin. Congratulations Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie!!

They're Here!!

Guess who's back in the USA!



Liam, Joergen, and I waited (and waited and waited) for them with Nana and Grandpa at the Philly Airport on Wednesday. When they finally got through customs, it was a very happy reunion! And the best part was getting to meet little Augustin, who is now almost 7 months old. So great to have Joergen and Augustin together!



Everyone came back to our house for a little dinner before heading out to Nana and Grandpa's house, and we loved having the chance to spend some time together before the weekend. Once they got reacquainted, Liam and Pierre were having so much fun!

Aunt Erin and I holding our new nephews:

Heading to York in a couple of hours for a long weekend with everyone, and as an added bonus, we found out that Shannon, Dillon, Gilbey, and Anneke are coming too! Looking forward to having all these kiddos together!

Special Delivery!

Saint Doreen

Text message received on Monday from Miss Doreen:

"Liam put craisin up nose. he finally sneezed it out 30 min later!"

My reply:

"Seriously?"

Her reply:

"Yes i got flashlight and saw it up there, thank god he started sneezing"


Although I thank God every day for Miss Doreen, that day I thanked Him for two things in particular:
1. That Miss Doreen loves my kids, and
2. That Miss Doreen has a sense of humor!

Some Favorite Things of Summer

We're loving the summer!

Ice cream mustaches...



Softball games...

...and Carnivals! So we hit up the Greek Carnival last month, and this month it was La Grande Festa Italiana, otherwise known as "the feast", when Bridgeport turns into a mini-Little Italy. Pre-kids, we would go for the beer garden. These days, it's all about the rides.

I can remember going down the "big yellow slide" at the Fireman's Carnival with my Dad when I was a kid, so it's especially fun doing this with Liam now. And although Joergen is too little for the rides, he seemed to be having fun anyway!

And what Italian carnival would be complete without an Italian water ice? No surprise that he picked mango!

Next up is the MDP carnival in August. Liam is counting the days!

In other news, we've had some exciting events to celebrate this week... such as Jen and Pete's engagement (yay!!) and the arrival of Marc and Cathleen's beautiful baby girl, Julianne. We got to visit them on Saturday and were happy that the boys kept their chaos to a minimum. Joergen is such a chilled-out kid! For now, anyway! He was excited to meet his newest gal pal:



How cute are they?! Seeing them together made me realize just how much our baby boy has grown in just 3 short months.

SO excited for Aunt Erin, Uncle Thomas, Sarah, Pierre, and Augustin to arrive on Wednesday! It has been a year since we've seen them (and we have yet to meet little Augustin!), so we can't wait!! Safe trip, guys!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th, everyone, and Happy Birthday to Nana!!

We celebrated by grilling with some friends at our house. Liam was thrilled when Miss Doreen, Uncle Sam, and their oldest (and Liam's favorite) daughter Theresa arrived-- and just kept saying, "Deen. Sammy. Teesa. EE-am's house!" Liam even asked Theresa to sit on his lap! What a flirt!



Liam loves him some corn on the cob:



He also loved sparklers! Miss Doreen stayed close by to make sure he didn't love them too much:



KoP shoots off their fireworks at the park right down the street, so we have a great view from the yard.



Liam had a blast (pun intended!) with those fireworks! This picture says it all!

Hearty cheering and clapping literally followed every. single. firework. It was pretty awesome. And somehow, little Joergen slept through it all! I couldn't believe it!

Now, you may be wondering what exactly Liam is sporting on his wrists. Well, those would obviously be his batting gloves. Which he fashioned on his own out of beer koozies. Creative little bugger, isn't he?

Here's a little video of our slugger getting batting practice in the basement (which is slightly under construction). Watch for his "slide" at the end, which he has added to his batting practice ever since seeing Daddy slide into home at a baseball game. He will often also add a pretend boo-boo on his leg from sliding...

Liam has also been into somersaults (especially on our bed, which is probably not the best idea!). Short video-- with a little bit of Joergen at the end:

The Tale of Two Beans

Setting: Eat-in Kitchen.

Mommy is tired but it's time to make dinner. Wanting to make something she knows everyone will like, she decides to make mac and cheese. Wanting to make something remotely healthy, she ditches the bright orange stuff in the blue box and makes mac and cheese from scratch. She calls the boys to dinner and proudly puts her creation in front of them.

Mommy: Dig in, everybody!
Daddy: Hey, this is good!
Liam: (scrunching up nose) D'ike it
translation- I don't like it
Mommy: But you love mac and cheese!
Liam: D'ike it
Mommy: Just a few bites.
Liam: (insistently) D'IKE IT!!
Mommy: Well fine then, what would you like?
Liam: Green beans
Mommy: Green beans? Thinking to herself, "He wants to swap mac and cheese for green beans? Now that's a nutritional win!"
Liam: Yeah! Green beans!
Mommy: Okay! I will gladly make you some green beans!
Liam: (clapping) Green beans!!

Mommy pulls out some frozen green beans and heats up a little plate of them for Liam. She gives him the plate, trying to conceal her grin. "I really got away with this one," she thinks. Liam eats a bean.

Liam: No, no. Green beans.
Mommy: Right. These are green beans.
Liam: No! Green beans!
Mommy: But these are green beans!
Liam: (pointing to the top of the refrigerator) NO! GREEN BEANS!

Mommy is stumped. She picks Liam up and asks him to show her the "green beans." Liam points to a bag on top of the refrigerator where Mommy keeps little treats. A wave of realization rushes over her.

JELLY beans.

Doh!!