A Boy and His Trains

There is some unnatural connection between boys and trains. Charlie loves them. His daddy loves them. We just recently learned that my grandfather used to have his own model train. Charlie's collection has grown and I think he has a special love for each and every piece...

him and his newest Thomas

(you can never have enough Thomases)

he is so intent...

Brought Charlie to the library for the first time a few

weeks ago and what should we find - - a huge table full

of Thomas and friends. Needless to say, he was not too

interested in books and we are in search of a

new library to frequent...

Picnic in the Park

Our parish picnic was a couple weeks ago and we made it to mass in the park and the picnic with two boys in tow! We were impressed with ourselves to say the least. This is the first time we have gone to our parish picnic and we had a great time. It is a huge parish, so it is hard to feel a real sense of belonging sometimes, but this was a good day,

the boys sitting together during mass

finally getting to hit up the playground after being

very well behaved through the whole mass

big boy needs to do it all on his own!

:-)

Hard to tell who enjoys the swings more -

Charlie or Grandma and Grandpa

Such cuties!

heading towards the lake to check out the ducks

Special Times in Saratoga

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Saratoga with Charlie's GG and Poppop. It was a great family weekend and as an added bonus Uncle Will and Aunt Priscilla surprised us with a visit while we were there! It was so good to see them, as they are not around that often!

Charlie and Aunt Priscilla

Celebrating the Gemini birthdays

(mommy and Aunt Priscilla)

We found a playground nearby on a VERY hot afternoon

Isn't my goddaughter, Brianna, super cute?? :-)

family picture

Will and Priscilla, my Uncle Charlie and two of his daughters

(Brianna and Kimmy), my Nana and Poppop with their dog KC, and us

Strawberries...

We added some strawberry plants to our garden adventure for this summer. We have no experience with strawberries and were more than a little surprised when we opened our little paper bag from the garden store. They were an after thought, so they are in pots instead of an actual garden bed for this year. They are growing and have some flowers on them, so we will wait and see what comes of this effort!

The rest of our garden is actually progressing really well! (Considering any plant we touch tends to whither and die...) We have zucchinis starting and flowers on our tomato plants. Peppers are hanging in there. The mistake we made and realize now is that we planted 6 tomato plants and 2 zucchini plants in one bed and 6 pepper plants and 2 zucchini plants in the other bed. Zucchini plants should have all been on their own and away from the other plants because they are bordering on smothering the tomatoes and peppers. We are learning as we go! I will have to take and post some garden pictures soon to show off what we have going on! :-)

May Rewind - visiting with Kayla Mae

Last month our favorite little girl, Kayla, was in town for surgery to repair her patch and diaphragm again. Poor thing was such a trooper and didn't let much of the ordeal hold her down. And her mommy and daddy made it through relatively unscathed as well (in all honesty, it was probably harder on them than it was on Kayla and I don't know how they held it together so well!)

While we obviously wish the circumstances had been different, we LOVED being able to go and visit (almost) daily and spend some quality time with the Olmsteads. It is too bad that we live so far from each other. At the beginning of their stay, Charlie and Kayla didn't really want much to do with each other and were content doing their own thing. But by the time Kayla was discharged and went home, the two of them were best of friends, sharing hugs and kisses and enjoying their time together. So cute!!

Kayla is doing great now. She had her check up with Dr Ratner today and he is very pleased. She is a rock star!!! (and darn cute too!)

The day the Olmsteads got into town we met up at the playground for some fun and then took them out to dinner and ice cream. Its so nice to be "normal" with people who we started a relationship with by being NICU neighbors!

Look at that hair!

Charlie got soaked throwing rocks in the water

Charlie's first visit to see Kayla a few days after surgery

(He had not been allowed in the ICU where she was initally)

riding in style

The children's hospital in Syracuse just opened last year and this was our first time seeing it in person. It is amazing and it is so good to know that we have such a nice facility right here if we are ever to need it.

They LOVED the playroom!

playing house :-)

(They make such a cute little couple!)

serious Kayla rocking in the solarium

not sure what this was called, but it had sticks you used to

hit metal pipes with to make "music" - fun stuff!

I caught a smile!!!

(Probably because she was rocking like crazy and

knew she was giving her mama a heart attack!)

Love those smiles!!

Not sure if they were having a business meeting or what,

but I am willing to bet this is a sign of things to come!

so sweet!!