Angelica's Summer

Angelica has had one busy summer. Here are a few of the highlights...

beating her first pinata at her cousin Jeff's 4th birthday party. 

going down the big slide 4 times (at $3.00/ride) at the Beecher carnival with daddy. 

 We converted her crib to a toddler bed on the 4th of July. She did good with it.



 I thought she would get up and run wild around her room, but at the end of naptime, this is how we found her.



 She was seriously THIS excited about the firetrucks blowing their horns in the Beecher 4th of July parade.

 Angelica taking her BFF Rusty for a ride around the kitchen in her wheeled toy crate.

 Wearing daddy's shoes.

She LOVES technology. My cousin Kara's fiance Jeff has a 6 year old daughter named Kendall. They came to stay with us mid-July when I threw Kara's bridal shower. Kendall was happy to share her laptop with Angelica and Angelica was thrilled!



She did good with the toddler bed and thanks to some very generous friends, we got a full size mattress. We converted her crib futher to a full size bed so that we could move the crib mattress to Fiona's room. I was more nervous about this conversion. She did good though. She fell off the foot of the bed the first night, but since then she has been doing great. She has been in the big bed for over a month now and seems to enjoy it.



her room - rearranged and with new bedding to make for a big girl room



sleeping in the big bed



At Brookfield Zoo sharing lunches with her friend ("step-cousin") Olivia.



eating chips at Mi Ranchito in Lowell with her new friend Lucas.



TUB TIME!



Our old childhood neighbors came to visit us at the end of July. Mike, Kim, me, Nikki, Lisa & Angelica.



enjoying a pontoon boat ride on Lake Holiday at my grandma Lannon's cousins family reunion



Her first french braid...I cannot even tell you how long I have been waiting to do this!!!



 Last day of summer gymnastics

Her absolute favorite thing to do at gymnastics, swing from the bar. She is a strong girl!



getting her medal and hand stamp for completing summer gymnastics 

All smiles, getting ready to go to Jack's 1st Birthday party 

Me and my girl - finally I am not behind the camera!



Playing with baby Lucas. I think she will be a good big sister.

Feeding the deer at Deer Forest in Coloma, MI. She wanted to feed them one kernel of corn at a time. The deer were not into that.



At Silver Beach in St. Joe, MI

Awaiting Fiona

The greatest anticipation in our lives right now is awaiting the arrival of our 2nd baby. From the moment we found out she was a girl, we decided to name her Fiona. We have washed and hung all the baby clothes (that's the nice thing about having an older sister - a whole wardrobe, ready to go!), we have purchased and assembled furniture, we have talked to Angelica endlessly about her new little sister. We have watched my belly grow and we have spent late nights talking and wondering what she will be like, what she will look like, and we have tried to wrap our heads around the idea that there will soon be someone else in our house that we will love just as much as Angelica. It is so hard to understand, but I know when she gets here it will all make perfect sense. In the meantime, I daydream about her, about what we will do, about what it will be like to see Fiona and Angelica holding hands, dancing in circles playing ring around the rosey, and making each other laugh. I am lucky in that I have a sister too. I know what Angelica is in for. It won't always be easy, and the teen years might be especially hard, but once they are grown, they will know that they always have each other no matter what. A sister is like a built in best friend. I am so excited for Angelica to have a little sister. Being the older sister myself, I feel like I can relate to Angelica as a big sister. Knowing how much my little sister means to me I feel like I can look at Fiona and know that she holds this special little surprise of being the best gift that Angelica will probably ever receive, even if it takes her decades to figure it out. I am amazed on a daily basis of how wonderful my husband is with Angelica and I know he will be the same with Fiona. He is the perfect dad to have two little girls. He is so patient when it comes to babies - moreso than me. He loves the snuggling and loving and he doesn't think twice about getting up in the middle of the night, even if I am already up. I can see that he truly cherishes every moment he gets with his daughter, even the moments that I don't particularly cherish myself! While it's been tough for me to cut back on work and make soooooo much less money, I feel like we have been given a real sense of what life is all about and I don't think we have ever been as happy as we are right now.

 Little sister's room, full of big sister's outgrown clothes.

 25 weeks pregnant

 Daddy building the crib

 Grandma painting the nursery

The almost finished nursery 

 Just waiting to rock her to sleep while sitting in this chair

30 weeks pregnant

Stephanie & Steve's Wedding

Stephanie is one of my best friends. I met her in 1995 at our first day of summer band as freshmen at Marian. We had both come from public schools and didn't know many people. We became fast friends. Although I am taller than her, Stephanie is someone I have always looked up to. :) She always worked hard, held her ground, spoke her mind, and is one of the kindest most generous people you will ever meet. She did WAY better than me in french class too. We were roommates in college too. Although I was over 100 miles away, the day I called to tell Stephanie that my fiance had dumped me just 3 weeks before the big wedding we had been planning, she was by my side within a couple of hours, giving me a hug. She is that kind of friend. Stephanie deserves the best and that is what she found in Steve. We were very happy to celebrate their wedding with them on July 2nd.

Stephanie and her dad walking down the aisle.



 Stephanie and Steve - Officially Dr. & Mrs. Conti!

Me & Steph at the reception



Den turns 34

As usual, I am behind on blogging. Here is my attempt to catch up! June 30, was Den's 34th birthday. I can't believe how much time flies. He was 25 when we first met. Although he had to work on his birthday this year, we did our best to celebrate at home.

I got up early to make a german apple pancake for breakfast

 And off to work he went

 When he came home, we had one serious dinner - steak, crab legs, sweet potato, asparagus, lobster bisque, and wine (for him) YUM!

 Angelica seriously LOVED the lobster bisque. After eating all of hers, she finished ours too.

 And to top it all off, we had the coffee lovers cake from cold stone! double YUM!

 She must take after me. Dessert makes her seriously happy :)

Happy Birthday to the best husband and daddy I know! :)