Our Trip Up North

In September we took a trip up north to see Chris' family. We visited with Nonni & Poppy first, then went to Jamestown to see Grammy Hayes, Great Grammie Long, Aunt Colleen, Uncle Brian, and the cousins! Raleigh had a great time playing with her cousins! Here are all the kids together (above) - this is the LAST shot of many, they are all pretty much looking at the camera. I think that's a miracle! Raleigh and Aiden with Grammy Hayes and Great Grammie Long...

What a happy little man!

We visited the Aquarium while we were in Niagara Falls. After we walked over to a little look out on the American Side. It was a really beautiful day.

They threw a little birthday bash for me since my birthday was just a week before our trip...

We had a great trip!!!

Guess Who's 3?

Well, not officially until next Saturday....But Raleigh did have the "Little Einstein's Party" she's been waiting so patiently for this weekend...

The party was at Grammy's house, in the art studio. The Little Einstein's decorations are impossible to find, so we had to had paint the backdrops and table decorations. Table cloths and plates were about all we could find. I think everything turned out really cute though! Raleigh only wanted Little Einsteins and LOTS of balloons! She was thrilled.

We played Einsteins BINGO and did some art projects with the kids...

Katie and her mom above...

Ellie and her dad below...

Christian and his mom above...

Hannah and her dad below...

Raleigh and Christian were SO cute playing through the glass windows as Christian left....

Oh! And I got my hair cut! Still trying to adjust to the new look.

Raleigh's friend Jasmine (well, her mom is my friend, so that makes them friends by default, right?)

Oh and Aiden made a new friend at the party too. This is Dillan - he's two months older than Aiden. His family lives down the street from Grammy and Grandpa.

Raleigh's presents!
Raleigh finally opens her own presents (what a relief)

Awwwwww.....

Overall the party was a success. Started out a little slow, we had a few late comers (I was afraid they weren't coming and Raleigh was going to have the smallest birthday party on record) but everything worked out OK . Most importantly, Raleigh had the BEST time! She wanted to know if we could have the party again. Definitely not....once was plenty!

Next Saturday, on her actual birthday we'll do something special.

Hopefully I can get a picture of her finished art project and the playhouse she received from mommy and daddy. Grammy, Grandpa, Great Mimi & Great Papa helped with the playhouse accessories. Perhaps tomorrow those pictures will get posted!

Life is good

These are Aiden's 7 month pictures. I'm so late in updating that this weekend he'll be 8 months already! So there will be another round of pictures coming. We actually managed to perform the miracle of getting both of them in a picture together this go round!

Aiden is sitting up, and has just started crawling a little. I'm sad to say that I think his days in the 6-12 month clothes are drawing to a close. Shorts still fit, but shirts are getting small and short. I guess when I had him in at 6 months (well really closer to 7 months since I was late with the appointment) and he was around 22 pounds and 29 1/2 inches long - I should have figured this day wasn't far off. He's just growing SO fast, I don't remember Raleigh growing so quickly!

We are getting ready for our trip up north in September. Raleigh got a new hat and gloves (they have little dollies on the fingers) which she is just in love with. While I was gone one day, Daddy let her play "NEW YORK" which means putting on her hat and gloves. I guess she added a few other accessories to her pajamas to complete the look.

Last wednesday I met one of my friends and her daughter at Busch Gardens (Hi M!) and the girls had an absolute blast in the water! It was hot, but fun!

Aiden had his little swim trunks on too! He sat and splashed around in the water the entire time! he really likes it!

Raleigh is anxiously awaiting her birthday party August 23rd! All her little friends have birthdays before her...so she keeps wondering if the next party will be hers. FINALLY, we can say that the very next party is her party. Now she just has to try and wait almost two weeks! Hard to believe she'll be three! Where did that time go?

Thunderstorms

It is rainy season in Florida so I guess the thunderstorms are to be expected. This is what the sky looked like for a fair portion of yesterday (and seems this morning too!) Didn't bother Raleigh one bit, she still wanted to go to the beach. We did let her, but when it started thundering and lightening, we headed in.
While Raleigh swam quickly in the pool, Aiden slept. So cute!
We came in, changed our clothes and headed away from the rain....to John's Pass. We had a nice lunch and bought Raleigh a couple little things (oh how she loves her surprises! Grammy dosen't mind buying them either!) We had ice cream too!

Guess someone caught a shark....what a wierd sight this was out on the boardwalk.
I guess it's a good thing we don't live on the beach. Apparently the pressure to keep up a good beach worthy body is even affecting the birds. They have made a switch to calorie free sweetner - and don't they look so svelt? Good choice birds, good choice.
Today, since it is raining, we are heading off somewhere to do some shopping. Hopefully this afternoon the weather will be a little clearer and Raleigh can hit the beach again!

Beach Update Tuesday...

More fun today! Raleigh swam like a fish for most of the day. We are teaching her how to be a bathing beauty as you can see! Little man Aiden went in the pool too. He kicked his feet and seemed to enjoy it. After he took a nice snooze in the shade. What a life, right??

Beachin it!

We've been taking Raleigh out each night to collect sea shells. The weather is really nice in the evenings and no risk of sunburn. Raleigh of course thinks every seashell is BEAUTIFUL even the broken ones. We have a whole bag of her treasures collected so far. We discovered these little "baby clams" that burrow down into the sand when the waves come in. Raleigh thought those were wonderful. She exclaimed "I LUUUUV BABY CLAMS!" SOOOOO cute.
Here we are under our "tent"....Raleigh giving kisses.
And of course we tried, yet again, to get a cute pic of the two of them. Let me tell you I have at least 40 pictures of the two of them.