Corn

I love corn on the cob - particularly in the summer paired with Andy's grilling.  This year we've already consumed dozens of ears, steamed and grilled.  Buttered.  Salted.  Grilled with onion, lime and cilantro.  Left overs mixed with quinoa and salad.  Corn corn corn!
The first time we served it Brenna turned up her nose, as usual.  The second time she tentatively took a bite.  By the third time she was loving it and now she will go from person to person begging for bites from their cobs.  I think now we can say with some certainty that she has embraced the wonderfulness of summer corn.

It has been, in a word, INSANE around these parts.  Summer is in full swing and somehow we have not managed to slow down. 
Addie finished up kindergarten the week before Memorial Day and promptly started a camp marathon. For the first two weeks after school was out Addie attended two different Vacation Bible Schools.
I am sure plenty of you are scratching your heads and thinking Um, What?.  Yes, Vacation Bible School.  The first week was at a non-denominational Christian Church and the second week was at our Catholic parish.  Addie loved both "camps" but found ours to be a little less exciting.  Needless to say two weeks talking about Jesus, God and church raised quite a few question with our little inquisitive lady. She is now the very proud owner of her own bible and yesterday we attended Mass together as a family for the first time, well, ever.  I guess if we are going to be investing in parochial education we might as well start rediscovering the hibernating Catholics that dwell with in us.  I spent most of Mass in the cry room with Brenna, who was more interested in touching the heads of the people in the pew in front of us as opposed to quietly listening to the word of the Lord.  Addie enjoyed church except for all the "standing, kneeling, and sitting". 
Last week little Miss Holy participated in soccer camp through the local high school.  Camp was all week from 12-2 p.m.  I was a bit nervous about how Addie would do in a middle of the day, hot as hades, sport camp - but she hung in there.  Each day when I picked her up, her little cheeks were as red as can be and her hair was soaked with sweat.  The coaches at camp were high school girls - many of whom wore sports bras under their tee shirts that had the sides cut out.  Addie asked if she could cut the sides out of her soccer tee shirt and wear it like her coaches - um, no.  At the end of camp Addie informed me that she really had fun playing soccer, except for the running and sweating.

Brenna is chatting up a storm these days - making sense and speaking English about 40 percent of the time.  She continues to be an absolute menace in the best kind of way and is a very busy, busy body.

Two weeks ago today my mom took ownership of her new house in Cincinnati - in true Kathy fashion it already looks and feels like home.  Having her move here has been such a gift and is deserving of its own post, someday in my extra time. 
My few minutes of solitude have ended, as I hear Brenna calling my name over the monitor.  Hopefully someday soon I will spend a few more moments here - until then a few pictures from our Father's Day photo shoot ought to bring you a smile...
Happy first week of summer, friends!

Weekend

Last weekend was one of little intentional plans, but ended up being quite full of fun. Along with our foray into bowling, Addie and I headed to the fourth birthday party of her pal Max.

Max, and his 1st grade big brother Jake, live a little over a mile away and are quintessential boys. They love basketball and football and polliwogs and dogs. They both are rough and tumble, but also incredibly sweet and fun loving. Addie and Max are about a month a part in age, and met through my exercise class when they were only a year old.

They shared strollers while us mommies ran laps. They play dolls and cars together and, before Nicholas, Max was her original prince. While they are not in the same classroom this year, they will be across the hall from each other at preschool and I am sure that I will get daily updates about Max when I pick her up from school.

I snapped this picture on Addie's 2nd birthday of the two playmates:

And this over the weekend celebrating Max's 4th birthday:

My how they've grown! They continue to be wonderful friends to each other and all night Saturday Andy and I were told time and time again how fun the party was at Max's.

Sunday was a lazish day - Andy made a delicious breakfast, we lounged around and drank coffee. Soccer was watched, naps were taken, books were read. Late in the afternoon we headed off to a church festival - a hallmark of summer in Cincinnati.

Church festivals here aren't picnics with potato sack races and egg tosses. No, church festivals in Cincinnati include beer tents, gambling, carnival games and ears of corn drowning in melted butter. One of the last festivals of the season is the St. Ignatius Fest, just a few miles from our house. Before Andy's volleyball game, and a scrumptious dinner of steak, potatoes and blueberry dump cake, we headed off to our first, and probably last, festival of the season.

With a stack of ride tickets provided by Gramma Patty, Addie and her cousins were in heaven. The spun on the twirling pumpkins, climbed the wizards castle multiple times, flew helicopters and airplanes and raced horses on the carousal. A perfect end to what was unplanned, but not lazy, family weekend

Helicopter pilots

Carousal races

The boys - Ry and Liam

Flying high above Cincinnati

Bowler Babe

A little bit of coaching from Dad

For several years, while we still lived in Chicago, Andy participated in a Sunday night bowling league.  I joined him for a year or two, but it turned out I severely lacked any bowling skills (although I did excel in beer drinking and french fry eating).  I would often go to hang out with the boys and fill in if needed - Andy, however, became quite the bowler.  By the end of one league he had his own shoes, bag, ball and blood blister to prove it.

Since moving to Cincinnati I don't think his bowling bag has even been unzipped.  That all changed this weekend when we headed to Western Bowl with Genna and her clan for a little family bowling night.  We thought Addie might like doing something a little different - we were wrong. 

She didn't like it, she LOVED it.   I think the bright pink ball and the 16 ounce cherry slushie helped solidify her opinion.

Addie approached each frame with impressive four year old concentration and cheered every pin that she knocked down.  My favorite frame was when she stepped over the line, slipped down the alley on her belly and still managed to roll a spare - the girl has raw talent!  On her second game, she even managed to bowl a 92 - a score that I celebrated achieving back in our Chicago league days.

Home from Home



Blueberries picking



And back we are from our week long escape to Gramma Kathy's.   It was good to be home - we sat on the deck and ate our breakfasts.  Addie froliced in Mom's backyard, swinging in the hammock, feeding birds and squirrel hunting.

Pittsfield's Third Thursday

We ate fabulous bagel sandwiches in the park, picked over six pounds of fresh blueberries, spent quality time with Auntie Barb, and made a new friend.  Of course we hit the outlets for some tax-free clothes, and Addie made out like a bandit.  We wandered up to the farm to feed some animals, over to Conneticut to visit family, and down North Street for the Third Thursday festival.  Addie painted Gramma's nails, got a little spoiled, and woke up this morning missing her Gramma when she realized she was stuck all day with just me.

Hugs with new friend Emily

For my part I did a lot of reading and some resting and quite a bit of sitting back while Gramma took over.  I ran into some old faces on the street and missed seeing one of my oldest friends by a few hours.  I reveled in the cooler temperatures and having someone else make my coffee for me.

The goats at Whitney's Farm

Addison traveled, four airplanes and a several hours in the car, like a champ.  By the time we touched down in Indianapolis, she was so sound asleep that she didn't even know we landed.  Daddy got a few extra hugs this morning and the cat is being smothered in with toddler love. 

And for now we are home - no travel plans on the calendar...but we sure are thankful for the wonderful trip "home" we just took.

Happy 4th

It what 4th of July weekend is all about - backyards, sprinklers, laughter and family.
Following a long afternoon nap, the perfect way to end the weekend? A dip in Uncle Ed's pool.

Making an impression

If you want to impress your neighbors you should host the late night portion of the neighborhood party.

If you really want to impress your neighbors you should realize about an hour into hosting that you have had too much to drink - and then slink off for a power nap on the couch.

If you really, really want to impress your neighbors you should wake up out of that nap, pour yourself a drink and rejoin the party.

It's hard being me - and by hard I mean horrifyingly embarrassing.

Nonetheless, this Saturday was our neighborhood deck crawl/golf outing. The golf outing consisted of six couples golfing through the neighborhood yards, bolstered by jell-o shots at each hole and the deck crawl ended with many neighbors imbibing in our backyard.

It was a highly entertaining night, but resulted in two pretty darn useless parents on Sunday. Luckily for us Addie was beyond content cuddling and watching movies - she zonked out about 4:45 and woke back up this morning at 6:45.

Yes, you read that right, that sweet child slept for 14 hours.

She must've known exactly what mommy and daddy needed.

Boys of Summer

"School" ended two weeks ago with a farewell picnic at the park. The kids played until their cheeks were purple and hair was soaked with sweat. They munched on hot dogs and played with balloon animals and hugged their teachers goodbye.

Addison ate lunch with Dominick, played tag with Luke, Jacob and Garrett and slid the slides with Harrison and Nicholas. She made sure to say to hi Connor and inform me that Benjamin was not at the picnic.

Do you sense a theme here?

My girly girl, who insists always on dresses to twirl in, is BFF with all the boys. Cute, rough and tumble dirt covered boys. Sure, she hugged her girlfriend Madison goodbye, but for the most part it was Addie and 'her boys'.

And one of her favorite boys is our adorable little neighbor Nicholas: aka Saint Nicholas. They were in the same class. They're the same age. They live down the street from each other.

They are so stinking sweet together.

A reminder to breathe.

A reminder to revel in the little moments.

A reminder to slow down and take it all in.

Swinging in the front yard tree at the end of the day. Bliss.

Hello Summer

I wait all year for summer to arrive, and I swear, two days in I say to my self: "I can't wait for Fall to arrive."

It's a pathetic cycle of chasing sunshine and warmth, and then remembering that I don't like to sweat or squint. I don't like the stickiness of sunblock, I loathe being unable to sleep in the oppressive heat, and I hate the chilly, iciness of air conditioning.

Nonetheless, it appears that summer has pretty much arrived in the land of 'Nati.

In Chicago the arrival of summer was always marked with trips to O'Donovan's beer garden - slushie lemonades, yum. Or nights at Resi's beer garden - Hoegaarden, yum. Or wandering to the beer gardens of The Long Room or Village Tap or Montrose Saloon. Or beers at Riverview, or martinis at Bowmans or reuben rolls at Brownstone - YUM YUM YUM.

We haven't found that niche here yet, but we have discovered the beauty of margaritas on the patio. I'm not talking about wussy premixed Cuervo in a bottle margaritas. I am talking fresh limes, tequila and triple sec...and to avoid a horrific headache, a splash of beer and a splash of 7-UP (like those make all the difference).

Rock glasses rimmed with salt. The sun setting. Meat on the grill. Addie giggling and playing in the yard.
Ahhh, for right now, welcome summer. Please don't make me long for fall.

Too young to learn the beauty of a well-made margarita?

I think not.

**Her face is the color of mine after a few margaritas, or a few martinis, or too many glasses of wine, or a good work out. Poor kid got the Irish skin. For the record, she didn't have any of the above beverages. She simply had a wrestling/tickling match with her Daddy.

I think she won.

Okay, so blogger.com finally published my video of Addie scarfing down a banana....it posted before the "Splish Splash" entry. I am not savvy enough to figure out how to post it for today.

Here's the first dip in the pool....Gramma thinks the earlier picture shows a baby not having fun, but I can guarantee you, she had a BLAST! Perhaps the whole experience was just a bit perplexing for her....she is awfully little and that pool is awfully big!

Splish Splash

I've been trying all day to upload some videos, but blogger.com is not cooperating...stupid technology.

Quick update of the day...Two big things happened:

1. I got into a bathing suit and did not dehydrate myself crying. The Aunts did not run away screaming covering their eyes. I did, however, avoid full length mirrors at all costs. Oh boy, the beach is going to be painful. Then again, I did push a huge baby out less than a year ago and even before then I was no beach bathing hottie.


2. Addison made it into a swimming pool and her heart did not explode...although I am pretty sure she thought it might.

We went with Aunt Nikki, Aunt Kimmie and Rylan to Andy's Aunt Sue's house to enjoy her pool on the first 90 degree plus day we've had in a while.

I put on Addie's swim diaper. She cried. I put on Addie's bathing suit. She cried harder. I picked her up, she calmed down. I put on Addie's sunhat. She glowered at me. But the real dramatics didn't occur until I put her piggy toes in the pool. Blood curdling, terrified screaming followed by uncontrollable crying.

We decided to sit at the edge of the pool for a bit. Addie slowly sneaked her toes in. I tried swishing her up to her belly twice, she freaked both times. Finally I made the executive decision that Addison was going to be a brave little girl. We walked right into the pool and I plunked her into her new inner tube, as she screamed and cried...for a second and then she realized how AWESOME it is to float in a cool pool on a hot day.

I think she takes after her Daddy...a real water baby. Unfortunately, I also think the has my incredibly burnable skin. I had to reapply her SPF50 while still in the pool as she splashed and giggled.

A special bonus...an hour at the pool equals an exhausted baby who takes a quality afternoon nap. Ahhhh, quietness.