Me and My Baby McGee

Seamus: Three Months

2012-02-04T13:03:00.002-05:00

The big guy just keeps getting bigger! At three months, Seamus is 16 pounds and filling out his 6 month clothes. And, after a week of exploding diapers, I realized it was time to move him up to size 3 already!

This picture is to demonstrate that he is so stinkin' cute. I love three months... the smiles, the laughs, the frantic attempts to make their hands do something, anything, oh-there-we-go-in-the-mouth.

The boy continues to eat well and is sporting some pretty hefty rolls. He's sleeping well too. For the most part, we'll put him down for the night around 10 and he'll go to morning with only one feeding between 3-4.

He's not rolling yet (which is FINE by me!) but is kicking up a storm on his back so I think it's not far off. He's got a strong neck and great balance... maybe he'll sit before he rolls! We put him in the Bumbo seat for the first time this week and he did great.

He's a talker. The girls love making him say "goo" and he loves words with "uh" sounds. Bubba Gubba always gets a smile from him.

Seamus LOVES his mobile and is my first baby who likes the baby swing. Which are good things because its crazy around here and being able to put him down happily means the world.

Love you, Seamus!

Rewind: Christmas 2011

2012-02-04T13:02:00.011-05:00

It started as a Top Ten list but I ended up with...

Top Thirteen Things I'll Remember About Christmas 2011:

1. Seamus' first trip to see Santa

2. Our annual Hershey Park day with Marty and Stefanie

3. A new tradition: Cookie Decorating Party

4. Shannon's Christmas Show at St. John's.

5. Early Christmas in Ohio

6. The girls learned Jingle Bells, Batman Smells.

7 . Christmas Eve... chaotic but cute

8. Watching the Nutcracker with Seamus during his late night awake period

9. Christmas morning smiles

10. Christmas Day with the McGee's including Colorado cousins Veva and Dev

11. Playing with the new toys... lots of store with the cash register!

12. NYC trip to see Angelina Ballerina's Christmas Musical and having a blast with Just Dance)

13. Being so sad when "the crazy house" took its decorations down.

Seamus: Two Months

2012-01-18T09:45:00.002-05:00

Well, it's taken me a few weeks to blog about it, but the picture was actually taken within a few days of being two months. Mr. Seamus continues to grow and grow and grow. At two months, he was just starting to flash us real smiles and beginning to settle into a nice daily rhythm.

By the way, this is what these photo shoots look like when Kelly's around.

Kelly continues to be our over-achieving big sister. There is no way that she can be too close to her little brother or kiss/hug/love on him enough during the day. We have to keep a constant vigil because she is convinced that she can pick him up and I find myself saying things like "babies don't like to wear headbands" quite often. But, at the end of the day, we're thrilled that both of our girls are so happy to have this guy around.

Seamus has become known as Mr. Hungryface around here thanks to the bedtime stories that Daddy invented (and Mommy crashed and introduced the Mr. Hungryface character into). He also gets called Buddy (as in "I know, Buddy, I know, I know, I know") and mister mister.

Gymnastics

2011-12-13T23:50:00.007-05:00

Not only did we get a new brother this fall, we started gymnastics! Kelly's tiny size and freakish strength & endurance for a 2 year old combined with her love of climbing e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g and being upside down made us think that she would like it.

We were right.

Kelly started in September and found her little bit of heaven on earth at Kehler's Gym. They have amazing equipment, the staff is awesome and the every class has the kids rotating through different "obstacle courses" incorporating different skills and apparatus.

We were so smitten with the place that we signed Shannon up for the next session and now both girls go on Saturday mornings. Shannon and Kelly LOVE the trampolines.

Kelly is a great "spider Kelly" (walking along the parallel bars) and is always the most fearless kid when it comes to flipping on the uneven bars, climbing or jumping into the foam pit.

Shannon enjoys being old enough to be in a class with just kids (no parent helpers) and is really practicing her backwards rolls.

Christmas Tree 2011

2011-12-13T22:58:00.008-05:00

We headed out to Linvilla on a sunny Sunday afternoon to chop down our Christmas tree. Hard to believe that we're four years into this family tradition.

Some things were the same:

The day was gorgeous

Kelly loved the little trees

Shannon loved the stumps

It was just as much about the hot chocolate as the tree

One notable difference:

Seamus: One Month

2011-12-04T20:10:00.003-05:00

He's big! At 2.5 weeks Seamus weighed in at 11 pounds and as "experienced parents" we don't got back for an official weigh in until 6 weeks. Until then, we'll just measure his cuteness.

Super Cute.

Seamus is a pretty chill guy and doing a good job of being a baby. Eat, sleep, pee, poop, repeat. He is a night owl but once we get him down around midnight, he gives us 3-4 hour stretches at night. Days are filled lots of snoozing, tummy time with his big sisters and man time with Daddy while Mommy gets her early evening nap in. Current nicknames are Boo Boo Chicken, Buddy and Seamo (with Shanno and Kello already in the house, I think this one might stick).

Seamus had his first bottle this week. It was a family affair.

Kelly, my little assistant and lover of all things baby, was sooo excited to give him the bottle. (She has been asking about it daily since he came home from the hospital.) She took over the feeding after the first ounce or so.

Love you, mister!

Seamus Meets the Elephant

2011-11-11T18:28:00.003-05:00

Here's our little guy at one week. As everyone keeps saying, "you're so little but so big!"

Just like his sisters he's a good eater. At his first trip to the pediatrician he was almost back up to his birth weight.

So far, he's been a pretty laid back dude. Still sleeping a lot, but so sweet and content when he is awake.

Meet Seamus

2011-11-06T08:19:00.006-05:00

It's a boy!

Seamus Christopher McGee was born on Nov 3, 2011 at 5:06 pm.

He's a big guy: 9 pounds, 3 ounces and 22 inches long.

His sisters are the teensiest, tiniest bit excited.

But then again, so are we.

Love you cutie pie!

Thank You Rosie!

2011-10-25T21:24:00.003-04:00

Catching up on summer pics... here are the adorable outfits that Rosie made for the girls. They were very excited to find heart pockets and even more excited to find dollar bills hidden in the heart pockets!

Better Late Than Never!

2011-10-15T07:41:00.006-04:00

Way back in July we got to go to the Phillies stadium for a special season ticket holders day at the ballpark. It was so fun! First, we got painted up! The Phanatic for Shannon and a baseball for Kelly.

Then down to the field. A little homage to our favorite player Shane Victorino...

...some practice swings in the on deck circle...

...Shannon and Daddy threw some pitches in the bullpen...

...and then down to the underbelly of the stadium. We were busy down there. The girls did a quick press conference...

...took some batting practice...

... and saw the Phanatic's locker room (it was locked, oh man).

Fun fact: All doors in Citizen's Bank Park have braille on them except for one!

And then we got to go inside the locker room. Kelly was so excited she did a somersault (hello, random!). We were very excited to see that Shane Victorino keeps all of his stuff in a cubby just like the girls do at school.

Then we chowed down on free ballpark food and headed home. Great day!

Belly Pic

2011-10-11T09:44:00.003-04:00

Oh, poor neglected blog... I'm so sorry that I haven't posted ANYTHING good in so long. Perhaps I will go on a pre-baby spree and put a bunch of pics from the summer. (Perhaps...) At least I can promise that their will soon be lots of new baby pics here.

Here's Baby McGee 3 at 37 weeks pregnant. We're all getting excited to meet you!

Kelly Loves...

2011-08-17T21:35:00.000-04:00

We're ready for college football season!

Rainbows and Pirates

2011-07-16T22:39:00.004-04:00

Sometime in the spring, Shannon announced that for her birthday she wanted a Rainbow Pirate party. Um, okay...

What exactly is a Rainbow Pirate Party?

I learned over time that people would come dressed in their rainbow clothes or as pirates, there would be rainbow decorations and we would give out treasure boxes.

And, we would need a cool cake.

I was super excited to find a rainbow cake recipe online and Chris worked the magic on the exterior of the cake. It appears the many hours we've all spent watching Cake Boss as a family have really paid off!

We had a beautiful day and a great time celebrating with our friends at the pool today. Happy Birthday, Shannon!

Disney Favorites

2011-06-08T22:31:00.005-04:00

We had such a good trip. Highlights: meeting the characters, lunch with the princesses, opening the park 3 days in a row, Shannon and Daddy riding the big rides, Kelly and Mommy riding a lot of trains, Kelly's bear, dancing outside of the castle, the girls going crazy at parades, gigantic family nap on Monday afternoon, nighttime swimming at the hotel pool, 2 very good girls!

Zoom in on the front row!

I wanna go back!

Class Pictures

2011-05-13T12:55:00.003-04:00

Little kid school pictures crack me up. I wanted to quickly post these, so forgive the crappy quality (picture of a picture) and sideways-ness (I have no idea).

Room 1 aka "The Little Guys"

Room 5

Vacation in Tuscany

2011-04-30T09:17:00.010-04:00

Chris and I were lucky enough to spend a fabulous week in Tuscany with my family. It was a family reunion of sorts. My parents organized trip as a wonderful Christmas present and a way to spend time with their three kids: globe-trotting Mike & Hanna, study abroad students Pat & Amy and boring old Jodi & Chris.

I'm posting just a few of the many pics from the week here. Mike and Hanna were much more timely and thorough travel bloggers. If you want to see lots more photos (including some snazzy ones of me), head over to 80 Liters and work your way through the week.

Let's start by saying this was home for the week:

Romitorio di Serelle was an amazingly restored villa set on a hilltop in the middle of a vineyard in the heart of Chianti country. If you can handle driving serpentine mountain roads, I'd highly recommend it. Al fresco meals on the terrace, great rooms, spectacular views, pool, bocce court, 2 friendly cats and great wireless which enabled us to Skype with the girls every night.

(The girls stayed behind this time with Aunt Kathy and Grandma & Grandpa...thank you, thank you, thank you!)

We did quite a bit of sight seeing: small villages like Castellina in Chiante & Radda, the medieval town of San Giminiano, Florence, Sienna. Favorite memories for me are climbing the Duomo in Florence, the Sienna cathedral and gelato everywhere.

On top of the Duomo

"Little car" is the girls' favorite pic from the trip

Zebra cathedral in Siena

Gelato in San G

Chris finds his favorite Euro candy in a market

Amazing art

We also did a lot of relaxing. We slept in almost everyday (have we not slept past 7:30 since 2007?!?!), ate well, had some fierce bocce competition, went through a lot of wine and enjoyed the time together.

Taking a break from the stress of backpacking

Lunch

My twin and one of the 3 best friends that anyone ever had

Thanks Mom and Dad!

See you soon Tuscany!

And Happy Birthday Daddy!

2011-04-30T08:42:00.006-04:00

We just kept the birthday train rolling and celebrated our favorite April Fool. Daddy's weekend of birthday fun included a pizza party on Friday night.

Elmo jammies from Kelly and a cheese grater from Shannon (Daddy makes some mean pasta with parmesan cheese)

To show Kelly that Daddy was not 2 like her, we put all of his candles on!

On Saturday we went to our first Phillies game of the season and surprised Daddy with his name on the scoreboard and a ballpark serenade.

And on Sunday we made our debut trip to the Adventure Aquarium to see the hippos. Because Daddy loves hippos.

Didn't get to see them swim because they were eating breakfast

BYOH

Shark tunnel was super cool

Kelly pet a stingray

Happy Birthday Chris! We love you!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kelly!

2011-04-30T08:05:00.009-04:00

When you celebrate for a month, you have like 2 months to blog about it, right? (That's what I'm telling myself...)

Kelly had a great birthday. She was so into it this year. She was most excited about balloons and "cupcakes" which is Kelly's term for any and all dessert. We had lots of "cupcakes..."

The official cake

Cookie cake to celebrate on the big day itself; sadness that the candle blew out on its own

School cupcakes

Yum. Chris brilliantly suggested peanut butter frosting is skin tone...
so Caillou was chocolate-PB perfection.

Kelly had fun opening her own presents (much to Shannon's dismay!) but I think she liked testing them out even more.

Shoes and accessories! Kelly's favorites!

Outfitted for this Phillies season

And of course.... babies, babies, babies!

Thank you family and friends for making it a fun birthday!

Shannon's First Dance Recital

2011-02-26T21:05:00.003-05:00

The recital did not disappoint. Just watch:

I think I've watched it about 30 times now and still laugh out loud. It just never gets old.

When you put Shannon and Natalie together, they totally feed off of each other. Let's just say that they were ready to be stars on recital day.

Charlie's Angels

Self-initiated pageant entrance. Kid you not, they were Miss America waving to the crowd.

Shannon and Natalie crept from the group line to center stage by the time the song was over.

Kelly spent most of the performance trying to escape to the other side of the gym.
Thank God for Aunt Kathy.

Quirky

2011-02-13T00:22:00.000-05:00

Sorry for lack of pictures... I "lost" the battery charger for the camera awhile back but Chris "found" it today. Umm, 6 inches from the outlet it is normally kept in. Proof I am losing it.

So, in lieu of adorable photos, let me tell me about the weirdos.

My favorite Kelly quirk these days is that she insists on putting on a fresh pair of socks before nap and before bed. (But she's falling asleep on her own like a champ again, so guess who gets a fresh pair of socks before nap and before bed everytime?) Keeping with the foot theme, she's also in love with her "pippers" (aka slippers) and there is a whole practiced exchange about not wearing them to school, church, Target, library, etc that we go through on a daily basis.

Shannon is going through a phase of not liking foods mixed together. She'll eat a tortilla, black beans and cheddar on their own, but give her a quesadilla and she refuses it with her signature "what on earth are you thinking? stare. She's very into being big enough to take classes; case in point, as we drove by a bowling alley today and we were explaining/asking her if she'd like to go some time, she replied, "I think I want to take bowling lessons."

Ballet BFFs

2011-01-25T23:10:00.005-05:00

What's better than your very first ballet class?

Your very first ballet class with your BFF.

Shannon and Natalie are taking a ballet/tap class at the Y this session and it is definitely a weekly highlight (for the girls and the mommies & daddies).

There's a rumor that they might even have an official recital. And if there is, I promise video. Until then, there will just be lots and lots of photos.

Merry Christmas!: Part 2 (Cleveland Trip)

2011-01-20T22:36:00.000-05:00

After a few (too short!) days of relaxing at home, we packed everyone up and headed to Cleveland for a visit at Grammy and Papa's house.

We came prepared to play in the snow. And sure did!

Walking up to the Green

Snow football (my girls love to tackle)

Our big, big snowman!

We had a pretty wild New Year's Eve pajama party.

Pretty sad when you Grandma & Great Aunt party later than you.

But then, again... these ladies are pretty special.

And we celebrated New Year's Day with the Nally's. Shannon decked everyone out with stickers...

...found another book lover in Aunt Teri to help her devour the massive stack of Berenstain Bear books my mom has kept...

...and Kelly discovered pie. (Which she called "cupcakes" as she does all dessert)

Merry Christmas!: Part 1 (Christmas Eve and Morning)

2011-01-16T17:15:00.009-05:00

Finally getting around to posting our pictures from Christmas. Here's Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Our fancy girls on Christmas Eve.

The official family shot.

Grandpa and the world's classiest game of Hi Ho Cherry-o.

Christmas morning: matching jammies! (Yep, Mommy can still fit into kid's sizes so she got a pair too.)

Santa delivered. She wanted a "mouse and a computer and a princess game."

Kelly learning to play harmonica. We've heard a lot of harmonica.

Snuggling with their new loot.

Later that day the McGee family came over. The highlight was definitely the first annual cousin's Christmas pageant. There was a big dispute over who would be Mary, the donkey was a huge stuffed turtle, two performances took place with cast members coming and going in each rendition and the total "on stage" time was about 3 minutes (remembering, that this included two performances).

Stayed tuned for a snowy week at home and a trip to Cleveland for New Year's.

Hershey, the Sweetest Place on Earth

2010-12-21T23:14:00.005-05:00

Another great Christmas tradition: our annual visit to Hershey with Marty and Stefanie. We've got it down now. First a visit to Chocolate World for the ride. Kelly loved the singing cows.

Then bundling up to head into the park to see all of the lights and ride the rides. A new stop this year: Shannon riding a kiddie ride by herself. This was her highlight. She wants to ride it again next year with the same random little girl.

Back into our groove: the carousel, followed by hot chocolate and a train ride.

Finally, visiting Santa's reindeer, the light show and spending way too much in the gift shop (I believe Marty is the proud owner of the world's largest kiss and the world's largest peanut butter cup).

Shannon's already asking to go back and sings the Christmas at Hershey jingle as obsessively as Chris does!

O Christmas Tree

2010-12-18T22:22:00.003-05:00

Another great Christmas tree cutting adventure at Linvilla Orchards. It was a beautiful sunny December day (too sunny for Kelly's taste, she spent a good part of the outing digging through my purse looking for her sunglasses despite me telling her 75 times that I didn't have any sunglasses).

Kelly liked the little trees,

Shannon liked the hot chocolate,

and Daddy did a good job cutting down this beauty.

We love this family tradition!

Oops

2010-12-10T20:46:00.004-05:00

Sorta skipped November on the blog. Why? We were WAY too busy!

Both girls started swimming lessons. Kelly and Daddy are swimmin' buds and Shannon is taking her first kid-only lessons in the big pool.

Mommy and Daddy spent a fabulous week in Italy.

A gelato a day...

And we celebrated Thanksgiving with cousins.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:03:00.006-04:00

We had a fun weekend filled with Halloween fun. Cinderella and our little pumpkin got to don their costumes three times:

Friday night we went to the Y for "Trunk or Treat" in the parking lot. I'm not sure what they liked better, getting lots of candy or hanging out with Natalie the Pink Dragon.

Saturday afternoon we wore costumes to Andy's birthday party. Nicest weather for our princess and more candy!

And finally on Sunday night we dressed up for trick or treating. The daddies took the kids out in the Batmobile (umm, I want a Batmobile!) and came back with MORE candy.

It was Kelly's second Halloween, but her first fun one. She loved pumpkins. She wanted to hug them all of the time and even liked eating the raw pumpkin we scooped out to carve our jack-o-lanterns. She quickly caught on to "trick or treat" and "hap hal'ween."

Fall 2010

2010-10-17T15:46:00.013-04:00

Oh my... It has been crazy around here (but then again, when is it not?).

This fall we've been cheering for our teams

Go Phils!
(Chris and the girls got to see Halladay's no-hitter)

Go Irish (or more importantly, chips and dip)

Chris and I made an adult-only trip in mid-September to Vail, CO for Kristin and Brian's wedding. We thoroughly enjoyed the vacation and even hiked down Vail Mountain.

At the top of Vail Mountain

Our fabulous hotel and fabulous CO weather.

The mountains inspired us to get outside more at home. So we took the whole fam camping. We knew that 2 adults, 2 kids and 2 dogs in a tent had the makings of crazy trip, but everyone did great and we had fun.

French Creek State Park

The girls L-O-V-E-D the tent

Our chefs whipping up some pancake batter

We've also made a few trips to Linvilla for apple picking, hayrides and pumpkins.

Copycatting me squatting to snap the photo

Somebody loves her big sister

Hayride buddies

And between regular check ups and a few boo-boos, we've been to the doctor's, dentist's, and vet's office ELEVEN times in the last 30 days. It's a good reminder of how lucky we are to be healthy!

Winston: 4 eye drops, 1 ear drop, 2 antibiotics, 1 pain med. Sadie: 3 eye meds, 1 antibiotic, 1 pain med. We've gone through a lot of cream cheese this month!

Ever Wonder?

2010-10-17T15:38:00.002-04:00

Ever wonder where kids get their crazy expressions from?

Oh yeah.

5 second update

2010-10-15T10:38:00.004-04:00

Shannon
Loves: Watching Caillou, wearing tights, singing ev-er-y-THIIIIING
Doesn't Like: Cookie Monster (been having nightmares about him)
Funny Phrase: Starting stories with "Soooo....," This one is yours and this one is mines"

Kelly
Loves: Playing outside in the "house" and bikes, climbing on everything (she can put herself in her high chair now- yikes)
Doesn't Like: Getting into her carseat
Funny Phrase: "where go?" "eeese, ee-sa! & daahhhhhn" (her teachers, Miss Elyse, Miss Lisa and Mr. Don)

Summer Yum

2010-09-11T22:49:00.002-04:00

After eating our "Garden Dinner" tonight featuring lots of the cherry tomatoes we're harvesting right now, I realized that I this post had slipped through the cracks.

We've been blessed this summer by a neighbor with connections to a family farm who has started a micro-CSA movement in our neighborhood. She sends out an email when she's headed out to the farm and if you're interested that week, you just need to let her know and leave your payment taped to the door.

This is just what one week's box was filled with. It's been a delicious summer.

The Beach

2010-09-03T14:58:00.010-04:00

The third annual McGee-Silvestro Beach Trip was a blast! Our newbie this year was baby Cole.

Shannon and Addie were old pros at the beach. They were both really into digging holes and seashells this year. (And they got to fly the great kite Steve brought.)

That's one of the few photos I have of Shannon at the beach because she spent most of her time out in the big waves with Daddy.

Kelly wished that she could be out there with them, but kept me on my toes in the the shallow water and the great "kiddie ocean" a sandbar created. She really wanted to go full-on swimming!

Back at the beach house, we had lots of fun too:

Yummy breakfasts

Magic carpet rides

Matching shirts!

Other fun: Mommies doing a Zumba class on the beach, naps, late-night (aka 10:00) grownup time on the balcony

Our family stayed a few extra nights so we also got to enjoy...

Playground time (and Kelly's British mod look)

Surrey ride

Playing games on the boardwalk

Listening to the music from the waterfront restaurants while watching the sun set

MORE PICTURES over on Monica's blog

Beach Faves

2010-09-03T14:49:00.004-04:00

Sharing two favorites from our recent trip to the beach. More to come soon!

More than 80 Liters

2010-08-17T14:06:00.002-04:00

My brother Mike and my sister-in-law Hanna quit their jobs and are traveling the globe for a year. (I know, I'm jealous too.) You can follow their adventures on their blog: www.80liters.com.

80 liters is a reference to the fact that they are traveling for a year in 2 40-liter backpacks. By comparison, here's what it takes for us to get out the door. For a day.

Wuh-wuh, Wuh-wuh, Wuh-wuh

2010-08-05T21:49:00.002-04:00

That's "color, color, color" for those of you not yet fluent in Kelly-speak. The language lightbulb has gone off for her and she has become so much more verbal in the last few weeks. But you have to know what you're listening for in order to understand her. This gem of a conversation took place last week:

(Shannon and Kelly are in the family room, Jodi is in the hallway)

Kelly: Wuh-wuh, wuh-wuh, wuh-wuh.
Shannon: (funny fake "be nice to babies" voice) What you want, Kello?
Kelly: Wuh-wuh, wuh-wuh, wuh-wuh
Shannon: No wuh-wuh. I say, what you want?
Kelly: Wuh-wuh, wuh-wuh, wuh-wuh
Shannon: Kelly. My name Shannon, not wuh-wuh. Shan-non (she was very careful to enunciate)
Kelly: Wuh-wuh, wuh-wuh, wuh-wuh
Shannon: (mad) Kelly! My name Shannon, not wuh-wuh!
Jodi: (shouting) Shannon, she wants to color! She's saying "color"
Shannon: (shouting back) No, Mommy, she saying "wuh-wuh."

C is for cookie

2010-07-28T10:33:00.002-04:00

This girl has such a sweet tooth. We walked by the bakery in the grocery store yesterday and when Kelly saw the baker dipping eclairs in melty chocolate, she started nodding emphatically and flashed me her best smile. We settled on a chocolate chip cookie. (And a bath!)

Raise your hand if you were really excited about turning 3

2010-07-24T21:27:00.007-04:00

Shannon was very into her birthday this year. So we decided to have a big old princess pool party to celebrate.

Birthday cakes have become a hobby around here, and this one was really fun to create. Five boxes of cake mix and one trip to the Wilton aisle at Michael's later...

My favorite part was the Cinderella cupcake and her sparkly dress. Shannon's too.

After an afternoon of eating and swimming, we headed back home and opened some presents.

Disney princesses and girly-girl stuff have taken over. Shannon has had a blast playing dress-up,

reading princess books,

and making some important calls on her Cinderella phone. (She also sends emails from her phone, welcome to 2010.)

Happy Birthday, big girl!

Return of the Blog

2010-07-13T16:54:00.005-04:00

Hi, remember us? Mama's trying to get back on track with the blog so stay tuned!

Kelly is hi-LAR-ious right now. She has figured out she can make us laugh by being silly and boy, does she make us laugh. She loves dogs and purses and babies and pushing things around. She knows our routines and likes to bring everyone their shoes. She's babbling a ton and I've caught her singing "row your boat" to herself a few times (my clue was the rowing arms and rocking head). She loves to dance and copy Shannon. She's learning body parts and can recognize characters like Elmo and Dora. She moved up to the toddler room at school. She's saying lots of "words" including Philly Phanatic (but refuses to even attempt "mama"). She's also testing boundaries and is fond of using her chompers if she doesn't get her way. Kelly's favorite foods these days are watermelon and bananas.

And then there's...

Shannon is such a sweetie these days. She is so excited about her upcoming birthday and is more than happy to tell just about anyone that she's almost three. We've been taking her to lots of Phillies games. Her favorite player is Shane Victorino and usually gets a laugh from the section because she cheers so loud when he's up. She is obsessed with Disney princess stories (Cinderella is the still the favorite). Our bedtime routine is "2 books and one story from your mouth." She's getting really good at counting and she likes tracing letters. She moved classrooms at school and is very excited that her new room has computers in it. She's doing great with using the potty and has been waking up dry at night more and more. She's got ideas out the wazoo, some which I'm amazed at the connections/logic she's using and others can't even attempt to understand (see below!).

Love you girlies!

Daddy and Dora

2010-06-01T19:54:00.003-04:00

Turns out that if you've spent your whole life watching just about every kind of sporting event on TV, you're REALLY good at watching Dora. You know, because she actually asks you to yell at the screen.

I think between the two of them, Shannon and Chris might have scared off Swiper for good.

Spain Reunion

2010-05-24T14:55:00.007-04:00

Spain girls are on a roll! We got together for our Fourth Annual Cinco de Mayo reunion last weekend. This year we met at Monica and Steve's new house outside of DC. We were excited about another girl trip and were joined by Alexandra and Brette from New York and Cheryl all the way from Shanghai.

I love getting together with these girls because we never plan on doing anything but hanging out and catching up. And that what we did. Here's what I'll remember about this year's visit.

Meeting Baby Cole! Who is a such sweet little guy. Umm, scratch that. Sweet big guy.

Dress up! Addie's got the best box of dress-up clothes. Everyone got in on the action (blackmail photos on Monica's blog). Shannon's philosophy: More.

Watching Shannon and Addie play so well together.

Cooking breakfast

Playing "Kelly says"

Having someone to share the drama of being 2 1/2 years old with. (This meltdown was over the rubber duckie.)

Hanging out in Monica's great backyard on a perfect day.

A great dinner and sitting around the table reminiscing about our days in Madrid.

Mixing up all parts of life: old friends and new kiddos.

See you next year!

Weebies and Hulups

2010-04-30T16:42:00.002-04:00

Shannon's imagination has gone wild.

She loves pretend games. We play tea party, restaurant, dentist, doctor, office and vet quite regularly. (Sidenote: Kelly has a pet lion that looks an awful lot like my pillow.)

She loves hearing stories. When it comes to classics, Goldilocks and Cinderella are the favorites. She also likes originals such as "Shannon being born" and hearing explanations about how things work over and over. The "story about how roots give water to flowers" is a mild obsession right now.

And she's become a little kid with her own language. Here's a glossary to Shannon-speak:

Chatcha: definitely an adjective, but I have no idea what it means.

Hee-hees: soft, furry imaginary animals that are blue and brown that live in Philadelphia.

Hulup: another imaginary friend

Ooka, mooka, booka: Mommy, Winston and Sadie respectively. Used only to refer to the group (usually going up or down stairs) never individually.

Weebie: an imaginary animal that has green and yellow feathers and lives in New York. I once pretended to be allergic so now I must sneeze and cough dramatically every time she hands me one.

Girl Trip to Cleveland

2010-04-22T14:57:00.012-04:00

One of the mental posts I made to the blog a few weeks back (but never got around to actually posting) was a poll:

I'm packing up the girls and driving by myself from Philly to Cleveland to visit my parents for a week. It's a 7 hour drive without a potty-training 2.5 year old or sorta-but-not-quite able to entertain myself 1 year old. Am I:
a. Brave
b. Crazy

We had been planning our "girl trip" for a long time and despite voting that I was b) crazy, I was excited. Thankfully, the girls were great travelers (both ways!) and we had a blast.
The girls loved hanging out with Grammy and Papa.

Fun outings like feeding the ducks in Chagrin and a rainy-trip to the zoo (thank God for the huge indoor rainforest building).

Getting to see lots of family we love.

(My) Papa

Aunt Jo

Aunt Mary

Joan

Aunt Jo, Grandma Marge and Grammy Rose

Uncle Pat

Abby-dog. Kelly was a big fan.

(Sorry Aunt Teri, Uncle John, Uncle Lou, Mike & Hanna... don't have any good shots of you!)

And celebrating Kelly's first birthday.

With improvised party hats since I forgot them and someone insisted on hats...

And little lambies this time!

The time flew by and we can't wait to see everyone again

Go Phillies!

2010-04-22T14:38:00.005-04:00

We took the plunge and became season ticket holders this year. (Chris promised me that we'd sell the popular games at a profit, a bunch of other games to break even, and that I wouldn't have to coordinate anything. I was sold.)

We've been to a few games so far. Hard to say what part Shannon likes best... wearing her Phillies gear, hanging out at the seats, playing at all the fun spots through the park, looking for the Phanatic or ball park food.

Kelly has been to one game and is clear about her favorite part:

Go Phils!

UPDATE: Shannon's big into pretending these days. Here is she is being the beer man. Yep. It took awhile to figure out what she was talking about because she first told me "I put wine on my head" but after several very curious minutes we figured out what was going through that crazy brain of hers!

Happy Easter

2010-04-22T12:59:00.005-04:00

My backlog of posts begins with Easter. Here we go...

Master decorators

The Bunny Trail

Both girls hunted for their baskets and eggs. They were quite pleased with their Easter loot.

They looked pretty cute all dressed up in their Easter finest.

This one cracks me up. (For the record, Shannon was 8 months in that picture when she fit into this dress.)

We finished off the day with dinner at the McGee's and lots of cousin time. It was a happy Easter indeed.

Kelly's 1st Birthday

2010-03-30T20:24:00.005-04:00

Look who is one!

So far we've celebrated with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kathy. Our lamb cake had a choice of two flavors: sweet or really sweet.

Shannon is obsessed with birthdays and LOVED that Kelly needed a helper to open her presents, blow out her candles and test out the new toys.

Kelly, on the other hand, simply LOVED cake.

Looking forward to continuing the celebration next week in Cleveland.

Poconos Vacation

2010-03-08T14:55:00.007-05:00

We were thinking we'd be able to make it out to Colorado this year for a ski vacation. Those plans feel through and we were left itching to ski. So we decided to check out some local skiing in the Poconos.

Chris found us a deal at the Great Wolf Lodge... and it became the perfect early spring trip: a chance to say goodbye to winter with one last hurrah in the snow and start thinking about summer as we put on bathing suits and played at the huge indoor waterpark.

Outside, Chris and Shannon went snowtubing while Kelly and Mommy bounced around in empty tubes at the bottom.

Remember these people? After a 4 year hiatus, we were back on skis. And it sure felt good!

Where were the girls while we were on the slopes? Grandma and Grandpa joined us for part of the trip. Thanks again for watching them while we had fun!

Did somebody mention a waterpark?

Oh man, this place was fun. Both girls enjoyed splashing around in the little pools and fountains. Shannon was big enough to go on some of the water slides. Daddy taught her how to scream the whole way down. I hope she stays this adventurous and fun at amusement parks because watching her have so much fun made the trip.

Other highlights at the hotel were the ridiculous amounts of food they served up...

...and the nightly pajama story time. Shannon announced to every one she met in the l-o-n-g hallway and elevator down to the lobby that "I wearing my jammies and my Elmo slippers" and made sure to get a front row seat to listen to the book. (That's Wiley the Wolf on the left, BTW.)

On our way home, we stopped at the Crayola Factory. We learned about how crayons were made (anybody else remember that segment on Sesame Street?) which mesmerized Kelly,

colored and "project-ed" it up all over the place,

and saw the

And then we went home, were exhausted and felt like we needed a vacation. :) Luckily, we planned a restful weekend to just relax so it truly was the break we needed. And now we're ready for the next one!

Kelly: Eleven Months

2010-03-08T07:04:00.003-05:00

I'm in total denial that Kelly is about to turn one. But try as I may to halt time (that's what this belated post is, BTW) the big day is coming. So here's what Kelly is like in her final days of "being x months old."

Kelly LOVES food. She was slower to warm up to eating than Shannon was but man, she chows with passion now. As you can see, blueberries and bananas are big favorites. Other foods you'll find on Kelly's tray these days... yogurt, chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes, peaches (LOTS of peaches), rice, peas, pretzel rods, beans, and oranges. She is pretty much eating table food all of the time now and I've been giving her whole milk here and there. She's good at her sippy cup, better at stealing Shannon's.

Kelly loves water. "Two girls in a tub" is a favorite game these days. She's also been in the pool at the YMCA once (twice?) and loved it, but she's had a bunch of ear infections this winter, we've kept her out to be safe.

The girl has no fear. She loves being upside down and this is a favorite game with Daddy right now. She is a climber and I'm pretty sure she's heard, "No, Kelly. Get down" enough to know what it means.

She definitely can walk and can go 10-15 steps at a time. But she knows she's fastest by crawling or "knee walking." It's bizarre to come into a room and find her standing in the center of it.

She babbles a ton and we're pretty sure that she says (and means) mama, dada, naana (for Shannon) and boo (when playing peekaboo). We're signing with her and she's starting to use milk and all done.

And that grin is second only to the giggle. Love you, Kelly!

Friendship Dance

2010-02-28T07:40:00.005-05:00

Shannon's class celebrated Valentine's Day with a Friendship Dance. Everyone was encouraged to "dress fancy." Shannon was so excited to go to school in her party dress and shiny shoes.

Things only got better when her BFF Natalie arrived. These two are joined at the hip when they are together and are so cute watch. They love playing shopping, dress up, birthday cake and reading books in their classroom.

Get used to this adorable face... Shannon is going to marry Natalie and they are going to live in the Phillies stadium with the Philly Phanatic. When he comes over for dinner, they are going to make him mashed potatoes and chicken.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T08:26:00.002-05:00

Here we're celebrating Philly-style.... heart-shaped soft pretzels.

Kelly's true love is these days?

FOOD!

Blizzard 2010

2010-02-14T05:39:00.000-05:00

Last week we got slammed with two big snow storms. Fri-Sat's snow brought about two feet and Tues-Wed's storm added another foot. These pictures were taken after the first snowfall... imagine even more on top!

It was the first time we took Kelly out in snow. She loved it! (For the whole 4 minutes she was out there.)

Shannon's class has been talking about bears and hibernating so she really enjoyed the snow cave Daddy made for her.

And speaking of Daddy... thank you for all of the shoveling you've been doing!

Train Ride

2010-02-06T15:23:00.004-05:00

Shannon is obsessed with trains right now so we decided to take a ride into the city. We live 5 minutes from a stop on the local commuter rail so she was really excited about riding the train that we see many days as we go to and from school.

(All of that pretending train on dining room chairs paid off, she knew just what to do with the tickets.)

Both girls liked the dark, dark tunnel as we got into the city. Shannon confirmed her Nally genes by insisting that we look at the "map."

Our destination was the Reading Terminal Market in "Philly Delphia." We had some yummy breakfast (shown here on Shannon's face), looked at the "lots of kinds of foods" and bought some cheese and produce to take home.

Yum. We need to do this trip again soon.

Kelly: Ten(ish) Months

2010-02-06T14:43:00.004-05:00

So as long as she's not eleven months yet, it still counts as a ten month photo, right?

Here the shots that give a more accurate report of what Kelly looks like these days:

Standing on her own! And she's taken her first steps this month. Still prefers to crawl but if you are less than 3 feet away and encourage her to come to you, she'll give walking a try, cracking up with each step.

Other firsts this month... first tooth (yesterday, bottom left), first ambulance ride and first trip to the ER.

We had quite a scare last weekend. Kelly had a febrile seizure as we were on our way home from the Please Touch Museum last Saturday. She's totally fine (minus two ear infections which caused the high fever which caused the seizure) and the good news about febrile seizures is that while they are horribly scary to watch your kid go through the medical community describes them as harmless.

Kelly continues to be a big old goofball. In these next photos, she was just having a ball in her crib with Lamby.

She's also got a new trick. If you say, "Awwww, Kelly" she'll assume the official Aww, Kelly Pose.

She's also a dance machine (loves Wheels on the Bus, Row Row Row Your Boat and is one of the babies mesmerized by Beyonce's Single Ladies-- just the song though, she hasn't seen the video).

Her hair is getting long and curls when its wet. I can't even begin to imagine her with a fro like Shannon's.

Kel, you crack us up.

Dear Blog,

2010-02-03T01:17:00.004-05:00

I'm so very sorry for neglecting you. Is it really February already?

Love,

Jodi

Kelly Plays Peekaboo

2010-01-09T22:51:00.002-05:00

Finally! I've been dying to capture Kelly's giggle on video for awhile now. Guaranteed to make you smile.

And lest you think she's just a lay-there-all-cute-and-adorable-like-a-BABY, the end of the video shows how very close she is to walking. (Eek!)

Merry Christmas!

2010-01-04T14:10:00.013-05:00

We had a great Christmas. Here are some of the favorite pics and memories from the last few weeks.

Opening presents on Christmas morning

Santa scored big by bringing "Thomas" and a new bike.

Kelly's First Christmas

Witnessing Shannon's complete joy and obsession with all things Christmas

Our pre-Christmas snowstorm

We did a lot of baking this year

(Oh, that silly Daddy...)

Our 2nd annual trip to Hersheypark with Marty and Stefanie

A full house...We got to see lots of family and friends... we hosted the McGee's on Christmas Day, a Christmas visit from Grammy & Papa and Mike & Pat, Addie stopped by (seriously, no pics? Mon, send some please!), Marty & Stefanie part 2, a cousin sleepover, hanging out with Kaelyn and Andy... man, no wonder I always feel like I need a vacation after a vacation. We stayed busy!

I think Winston's got modeling potential. Look at that paw placement. Must be because he is so happy with his gift.

It's been a sweet time of year. Happy 2010!

Christmas Card Blooper Reel

2009-12-23T19:47:00.006-05:00

This is why:
a) we didn't include a shot of all four of them together
b) we didn't even attempt a photo with us in it too
c) we love digital photography (and the 100+ snaps that went into this year's card!)
d) all of the above

Kelly: Eight Months and Nine Months

2009-12-16T13:31:00.001-05:00

Kelly-Belly, you're just too cute. Your smile is so big and so bright. You love to laugh and we love to make you giggle because its so sweet.

You are into everything these days. Somewhere back in October you started pulling up on things and now you are a serious cruiser. You can climb a full flight of stairs. You are FAST. You wait for the second I turn my back and grab whatever it is you've scheming about... plates, paper, Shannon's stuff. Oh, and the bowl of dog water is a daily mission.

You are suddenly an eating machine. You love munching on graham crackers and crackers and can pick up cereal and puffs. You still are enjoying the purees I make you (and even share your "squished up" pears and peas with your sis sometimes).

You recently learning how to wave (see the second elephant photo up top) and can sign milk. You babble mama and dada, but I think I've heard you really SAY dada a few times.

Your latest trick is shaking your head no (is that because you hear mommy use that word about 400 times a day?). Which has inspired "the Kelly dance" at our dance parties.

But as fast as you're growing up, you're still a sweet little baby.

Christmas Came Early

2009-12-12T21:35:00.006-05:00

Last Sunday, Shannon woke up from her nap to find this:

Let me make sure I'm not still dreaming...

Yep...it's a PUPPY!!!!!

We named him Winston (despite Shannon's multiple suggestions of the oh-so-clever "puppy-puppy"). So far, he's fitting in quite nicely.

For the record, he's this big.

Apple Picking

2009-12-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

Wait, isn't it December? Yep, but our recent visit to Linvilla reminded me that I never finished my pre-Halloween post about our last trip there: to pick apples and find a pumpkin.

We had a great time in the orchard. Daddy was our best picker (see above), but Shannon gave him a run for his money.

Kelly sized up the crop (almost like she knew that many of them would become apple puree for her).

Since we had walked a long way out and it was a gorgeous day, we decided to take a snack break before heading in. Something about these shots felt like they came from a simpler time to me, so I had fun playing around with the vintage effect.

After our snack, it was time to head over to Pumpkinland and pick out a winner. And try to get a cute shot of the girls in the sea of pumpkins. Kelly got the idea right away!

And we had to see how everyone measured up.

The Perfect Christmas Tree

2009-12-04T15:34:00.005-05:00

I'll confess, my expectations for our second annual Christmas tree cutting adventure at Linvilla were pretty high since last year was so much fun.

About 15 minutes in, it wasn't shaping up to be quite the quality family outing I remembered.

But soon things started looking up. Kelly passed out and we found the perfect tree. In keeping with tradition, Daddy did all of the work while Shannon and I drank hot chocolate.

The hayride back was peaceful and sunny.

Shannon cracked us up when the wagon with the trees arrived. She literally was jumping and squealing with glee, "My Christmas tree here! My Christmas tree here!"

And here is today, all decked out.

Thanksgiving in NYC

2009-12-02T12:44:00.010-05:00

We had a great Thanksgiving in New York with Uncle Mike, Aunt Hanna and Uncle Pat this year. Mike and Hanna's new apartment is just block away from Central Park and right where the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade gets started.

On Thanksgiving Eve, we went to see the balloons being inflated. Here's Mickey under the nets

Kelly taking it all in from the pack. (Aside: The Ergo is my favorite piece of baby gear this time around.)

Around 8:30 we strolled down the street and found a spot. It was jammed packed.

Kelly was fussy and ready for a nap, so she and I headed back soon after seeing Spiderman.

Shannon LOVED Abby Cadabby and the Sesame Street float.

She held Mike's hand whenever they saw clowns (for Mike has a clown phobia and Shannon is currently obsessed with talking about other people's fears).

Can you guess what balloon is coming?

Horton, the elephant!

When the big guy wrapped things up, Shannon delighted the people around her by repeatedly screaming, "I being a good girl! I being a good girl!"

The rest of our Turkey Day was spent cooking and relaxing.

Shannon made some pretty snazzy placecards and Kelly was our centerpiece. We squeezed in and enjoyed our feast.

Gobble, gobble!

Marathon Man

2009-11-22T15:35:00.006-05:00

Chris ran the Philadelphia Marathon today and accomplished one of his three goals: finish the race! He ran it in 4:10 which is impressive when you consider squeezing training in around everything else we've got going on.

The girls and I went in to watch. We saw Chris 4 times during the race and at the finish. I sorta felt like it was my own "mom marathon." I mean, we had our gear, we started off cold and ended up sweaty, we went through lots of water and snacks, we covered some serious terrain today, my legs and arms feel like jelly right now...

Shannon and I made special signs last night with glitter. She loved cheering for the runners and shaking her cow bell. Believe it or not, we found Chris out of the 10,000+ runners with relative ease each time.

But each sighting was followed by a meltdown. "I want Daddy! I want see Daddy! I want Daddy more!" Horrible picture, but check out the crocodile tear rolling down her cheek. :(

Fortunately, she's easily distracted. Playing "runnners I spy" usually did the trick and when desperate times called for desperate measure, I let Shannon run in the race just like Daddy.

Can you find Chris in this pack half-way up on the left?

We missed him crossing the finish, but it was a happy reunion at the end of the race.

Way to go, Chris! You're amazing!

Sisters: Fall Edition

2009-11-15T21:21:00.001-05:00

These two continue to be so fun to watch together. It's a mutual admiration society. Shannon dotes on Kelly and if Shannon is in the room, Kelly's got an eye on her.

Kelly is big enough now that they even play "together."

Favorite games include "I wanna be your hat" (in which the adult present holds Kelly and chases Shannon, trying to plop Kelly on Shannon's head), "Boo-yah Kelly!" (in which Shannon runs up to Kelly and screams "Boo-yah Kelly!") and "play in Kelly's crib."

Shannon also likes making Kelly do things "like-a me" and setting herself up "like-a Kelly." (In other news, Shannon is sounding like a little, old Italian lady these days... all sorts of extra syllables "throwna inna".)

And, as a little sister, you run the danger of randomness like this.

Love you, cutie-pies!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T21:59:00.004-05:00

It's a good thing the Phillies made it to the World Series again... Shannon was the Phillie Phanatic and Kelly was a Phillies ball girl.

Click here if you need to get up to speed on who exactly the Phanatic is.

That's right... the costume that was 12 months in the making was finished in time to trick or treat. (Just barely, we were sewing and glueing late Friday night.)

The girls were excited to get out there.

We went to the Waltman's first where we met up with Andy and Makayla.

Shannon LOVES candy, so trick or treating was a big hit.

The "Philly 'Attic" taking a break.

Here's hoping the Phillies continue to make it to the post-season (and we can get some more use out of this costume!).

Kelly: Seven Months

2009-10-18T21:16:00.000-04:00

Oh, Kelly Belly, you're getting too big too fast! I mean, you're too little to be doing this...

And this...

And most definitely this!

You're turning into a good little eater. So far you've liked but not loved most of the foods you've tried: sweet potatoes, peas, beans, bananas, pears, apples, carrots, avocados. I think sweet potatoes are your favorite. You LOVE to feed yourself with the "food bag" and always want a spoon in your own hand when we feed you.

You've gotten ticklish. You laugh when we get you under your chin and zerbert your belly.

You love to dance and definitely recognize the ABC song and Sesame Street's "Sunny Days."

And you're babbling up a storm. Ba-ba-ba-ba-BA!

Grammy's House

2009-10-14T21:19:00.005-04:00

Well, nearly A MONTH ago, we made a trip to Cleveland to visit Grammy and Papa. Don't let the s-l-o-w-n-e-s-s of getting pictures posted fool you; we had a great time!

Shannon had a blast just playing at "Nammy's House." She really liked the cool wooden toy that you sent marbles cascading down... although I think my mom's grin was bigger. (I'm pretty sure she plays with it even when Shannon isn't there.)

Kelly on the other hand thought Abby was the best toy. She chased her all weekend. And succeeded in getting a huge handful of tail once. Thank goodness Abby is just about the sweetest dog ever.

Shannon also got to see a bit of Mommy's hometown, Chagrin Falls. Papa took her to feed the ducks, we went out to lunch at Yours Truly, and on Saturday morning we went to Mommy's favorite playground ever.

(I'm chuckling because I envisioned doing a separate post of the playground shots... that was when I wasn't six posts behind on this blog! Maybe someday...)

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Grandma Rose and Aunt Jo (out of town and sick, respectively) but we squeezed a quick visit with my cousin Joanna and her two cuties in on Friday night.

On Saturday we drove to Youngstown to visit Grandma Marge and "other Papa" (as Shannon dubbed him...I didn't have the heart to break it to her that he was the original). Papa was recovering from a nasty fall earlier in the week so we went to see him at the rehab center. We watched the first half of the ND nail-biter with him and the second half back at their house after a delicious dinner.

Thanks, Mom and Dad. All the "hanging out" was fun!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

2009-10-14T21:18:00.005-04:00

So for those of you who haven't heard, I had the BEST birthday ever. Chris organized a massive surprise weekend full of twists and turns, special guests and various stops along the East Coast.

I didn't know anything until a few days before we left. And then, all I knew was that Chris and I were going somewhere for the weekend without the kids.

First stop: New York City. We met Mike and Hanna for dinner, saw Wicked, met Alexandra for drinks (going out at 11pm! when was the last time I did that?), drank coffee leisurely, strolled around Central Park, and enjoyed Mike and Hanna's new apartment in the Upper West Side.

(This isn't actually their apt, but it is the ONLY pic I took in New York)

I was shocked when Chris told me to pack up after lunch because we were headed out. (BTW, I had the world biggest suitcase because he would give me no clues about what kind of clothes/shoes I would need so we packed everything.)

Next stop: Boston. For years we've been talking about taking a trip but are always too busy with life, new babies, family obligations and not nearly enough vacation time. So this was a treat. Friday we spent poking around Back Bay and the South End, napping (for as long as we wanted!!!!!) and dining al fresco under twinkly lights in perfect weather.

After breakfast and a nice morning walk, we went back and got ready for the day. I was surprised by two knocks on our door: first, by Mike and Hanna and then, Monica. Chris had been coordinating with them for months. So we spent the weekend as a happy little group of five enjoying Boston's sights and fare.

We became a group of six for dinner on Saturday night. Samantha (one of my book club friends and currently a Bostonian) greeted us a the door... another great surprise Chris arranged! (Oops, no pictures with Samantha.) Another delicious meal with lots of laughing. Back at the hotel over a bottle of wine and dessert, Hanna dazzled us with her knowledge of all the Dugger children.

More walking and eating on Sunday, including finding 3 out of 5 of our names on signs...

...and a quick visit to the bar from Cheers.

(Mon comparing bellies with Norm)

We checked out of the hotel and said our goodbyes. And then, Chris revealed his final surprise. We weren't headed home because... we had tickets to see U2 at Foxborough that night. Wow! It was an awesome show.

If I knew turning 30 was going to be this fun, I would have done it years ago!

And as I've said many times already, THANK YOU CHRIS for planning such an awesome weekend!

Drumming

2009-09-28T22:05:00.003-04:00

Mike, Hanna and Hanna's brother Karl visited this weekend. Karl was in town to record a segment for NPR's Echoes program and had a giant duffel bag full of drums and instruments. Needless to say, he was a big hit with the dancing queen.

PS. Sorry for the delay... blogger wasn't liking video last week

Kelly: Six Months

2009-09-24T10:05:00.007-04:00

Oh, man... I love this age. Especially because Kelly is a happy, happy girl.

She soooo close to crawling. And without being an official crawler yet, she sure can get around. She's got a funny sideways scootch and loves to push herself up on her hands and tiptoes (think downward facing dog).

UPDATE- Kelly IS crawling! She figured out how to move her arms and now she is moving all over the place!

Since she's so happy on her tummy and moving, we done less sitting practice. So she's started it on her own. More and more often she goes from hands and tiptoes to plopping into a sideways bulldog-esque leaning sit.

Been slowly adding solids. Kelly's had rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas and pears.

Her sleeping habits vary. She's taking at least 2 naps during the day (sometimes a catnap around dinner as well). Her nighttime habits switch about every 2 weeks. Sometime she sleeps like a champ (7:30 to 6:30 or later) and other time she wakes up twice. Who knows...

No teeth yet, but they are coming. Kelly is a big fan of teethers.

PS. Shannon is obsessed with cameras and picture-taking right now. Since we had the elephant out, she thought you might like to see how big the rest of us are. Shannon "pushed button" on these, impressed?

Chincoteague 2009

2009-09-14T21:31:00.001-04:00

Remember the great beach house and the "beach trip with Addie" from last year? We had so much fun on that trip to Chincoteague, we decided to go back for a long Labor Day vacation.

Addie and Monica (sans Steve-o who just started a new job and is studying for the boards) joined us for the beginning of the trip and Grandma and Grandpa McGee came down for the second half.

Unfortunately, we had tons of rain (and forgot to take the camera to beach on the sunny days) so the "beach" part of our beach vacation was a little sad.

Despite the gloomy weather, we still had a good time. Highlights included:

Making playdoh

Playing with Kelly

Morning runs (and stretching afterward)

Going for ice cream (which apparently made Kelly hungry too!)

Playing "game" with "monies"

"Dancin' on the crab"

Random two-year-old fun

Hanging out on the porch

(Uh-oh...this doesn't look like good parenting, does it?)

Good-bye, summer! We had fun!

Phillies Game

2009-09-01T20:50:00.000-04:00

Goooooooo Phillies! We had a great night at the ballpark. First we played on the h-u-g-e playground near the 1st base gate. For the record, Citizen's Bank Park is awesome.

Then we found our seats. Woo-hoo! Seats!

It was Kelly's first game and Shannon's third. Apparently, game 3 is when you discover the joys of ballpark food.

peanuts

ice cream

What I will remember most is Shannon deciding that she was through with her hair being pulled back and also didn't want her hat. And I quote, "No ponytail! Crazy hair!"

Crazy hair indeed.

Kelly did great. We got her into jammies and she snoozed through a Phillies win!

Silly Shannon

2009-09-01T10:10:00.006-04:00

My goodness, this girl cracks us up. Here's a handful of funny things about Shannon these days.

1. She gets "Amen" and "The end" mixed up. So when she finished a book, she closes it and says, amen.

2. Sometimes we do meals in the family room, sometimes while watching Elmo. (You do what you gotta do.) Shannon doesn't let this casual meal plan interfere with her standards... note the "table cloth" and coaster she set her table with.

3. Her hair. It's long enough to get into a ponytail but is so curly that it can grow/shrink by six inches, depending on if its newly washed (and humid) or has been through a few naps/bedtimes. At least once a week, someone asks me if she got a haircut when it's in "short mode."

4. She is really putting sentences together now and mimics things she hears us saying. Hearing her say things like, "oops, Shannon messed up" make me smile.

5. Loves playing hide-and-seek. Or "hideSEEEEEK!" as it's known around here. Again, more funny phrases: oh, no!, Shannon lost, hideseek, Shannon hidin', no see Shannon!

6. Little Miss Bossy telling mommy and daddy not to raise their voices at each other by shouting, "NO YELLIN' !!!" And laughing and getting louder each time she says it. I swear, she gets the irony.

7. Cracking herself up. We have a Sesame Street book where Cookie is eating soap. She loves looking at this page and saying, "Cookie, no eat soap. Eat cookies." And doing her forehead-bonking, head-shaking laugh afterward.

8. Speaking of Cookie Monster, she and Daddy do a pretty mean "C is for Cookie" duet.

9. Really into toddler songs right now. Favorite include Five Little Monkeys and Eensy-Weensy Spider, which she insists/prefers to sing as The Big, Big Spider. Every time. No idea where this comes from.

Love you, little weirdo!

Baptism Pictures... finally!

2009-08-31T22:06:00.009-04:00

We have two holy little girls now. We baptized Kelly on August 9, 2009.

Miss Alexandra (Mommy's college friend) is her Godmother and Uncle Mike (Daddy's brother) is her Godfather.

Deacon Ray performed the sacrament again at St. John's...

She liked the water!

...and then we went back to our house to celebrate.

We celebrated Kelly-Belly's special day as well as the slew of July and August birthday's. In our sweet tooth world, two celebrations=two cakes. (Can I get an amen?)

We had a nice full house for the weekend and our girls got to spend lots of time with their extended family.

(Kelly was sleeping, but here's Shannon with her 2 grandmas and 3 great-grandmas.)

Thank you to everyone who traveled, helped us get ready, brought food, and sent cards & presents. You made the day special!

Kelly: Five Months

2009-08-31T21:40:00.004-04:00

Kelly is a happy five month old girl. Here's the biggest news:

Not quite crawling yet, but she's getting closer every day. She can quickly get up onto all fours and can really rock up a storm. She also helicopters around and those little legs alone can get her pretty far. When she figures out how to move her arms while she's up, she's gonna take off.

She seems like she might be working on a first tooth and is a big fan of cool teething rings, blankets and (as you can see in the first photo) pretty much anything she can get to her mouth.

Oh my goodness, Shannon can make her laugh. We all like to zerbert her and do funny noises, but Kelly cracks up at Shannon. Thank goodness, because Kelly also gets "loved on" pretty hard by her big sister.

Kelly HATES being strapped into her carseat. She has some Incredible Hulk-like moves... once you undo the clasp, be ready because she's able to push herself out in a few seconds.

She LOVES music, looking out the car window, being held up really high and jumping.

Thanks, Erin!

2009-08-05T11:07:00.002-04:00

Remember our recent trip to visit with book club friends?

While we were there Erin graciously offered to do a mini-session with my girls. To say that I was thrilled is putting it mildly!

So...

1. Go check out the Erin Cobb Photography blog to see pics of Shannon and Kelly.

2. Begin contemplating a move to Huntsville so that you can become one of her clients.

BOGO Post

2009-08-03T21:55:00.003-04:00

Two posts in one sitting!

Don't miss the next post down, but I tried to turn off the computer without posting this photo and couldn't. I just love it too much.

Look closely, Shannon is holding Kelly's hand as they grin at themselves in the mirror.

Kelly Chows Down

2009-08-03T21:38:00.005-04:00

Guess who got her first taste of solid week this week? Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm... rice cereal.

To say that she liked it is a bit of an understatement.

Mushy bliss.

Book Club Babies

2009-07-27T13:23:00.004-04:00

Some of my closest friends are the 8 women I met out in Colorado known fondly as my Book Club girls. We're now scattered across the U.S. (as far as Maui!) and mainly get to watch each other's kids grow up online on their blogs.

Sunday was a treat because we got 4 families in one location. The Clarks, the Cobbs and the Shertzers were inseparable when they lived together in Colorado and decided to take a vacation together. Lucky for the McGee's, they picked the Poconos as their vacation spot which is less than 2 hours away. Since we're turned into professional day-trippers recently, we loaded into our car after church and spent the day with them.

All 8 kiddos!

I was mostly too busy gabbing to take photos, but here are a few pics of the kids playing together. We had fun!

PS. When we first became friends in 2006, we had 3 kids between the 9 of us. Miss Kelly was number 16, Baby Ben came along in May, and Liz's newest is coming soon. Crazy, huh?

Happy Birthday Shannon!

2009-07-20T22:45:00.006-04:00

We've been doing lots of celebrating around here (and we've still got more to do!). Here are some of my favorite pics from birthday number 2!

We made a special zoo visit with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kathy. Guess what? Shannon shares a birthday with a penguin named Shawn!

Happy Birthday, you Elmo-loving maniac!

Kelly: Four Months

2009-07-18T22:23:00.000-04:00

Where is my little girl going?!?!? All of a sudden, Kelly seems so, so BIG!

She is our little acrobat. She is a master roller. She flips from her back to belly about 2 seconds after you put her down and can spin herself like a helicopter. Give her a few minutes and she'll even scootch a few inches (mostly backward).

She's found her feet and loves to chew on her toes.

When she's not busy chewing on her toes, she's trying to grab anything and everything in the hopes that it might be tasty. Including Sadie.

She is still the happiest baby ever... smiley and giggly all of the time. You can make her laugh by just looking at her, although she seems to really like it when I talk about "diamonds and rubies and gold" (she was trying to eat my ring one night which is what prompted these words the first time).

Jet Set

2009-07-14T21:53:00.002-04:00

What a busy weekend we had: New York on Saturday and Baltimore on Sunday!

Our Saturday jaunt to NYC was to see Uncle Mike and Aunt Hanna. We've been good about getting up there to see them in the fall and winter, but hadn't been to see them during the summer. We had absolutely p-e-r-f-e-c-t weather which made for a great afternoon in Central Park and on the ferry.

(see the teeny Statue of Liberty?)

Then on Sunday, we made an impromtu trip to Baltimore. Grammy and Papa were in town for a wedding. We met up with them for breakfast and a quick visit before they had to catch their flight home.

(I need the SJA paparazzi to send pics... our camera battery was dead from the day before!)

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-05T21:59:00.004-04:00

Hope you had a great 4th... we did! The whole McGee crew came over to our place. The weather was perfect for...

...swimming! Shannon is a huge fan of getting wet and it didn't hurt that her super-cool big cousin Amy wanted to go in too.

...celebrating birthdays. Grandpa is a Yankee Doodle Dandy ("born on the fourth of July") and Aunt Kathy's was last week. Shannon helped put the sprinkles on the patriotic cupcakes we baked.

...making s'mores. Yum!

We're old... didn't go to see any fireworks but watched the Boston Pops on TV. Hey, compared to the last couple years, I'm proud that I was awake to even see fireworks on TV!

Shannon's Animals

2009-07-01T21:36:00.000-04:00

Been meaning to get Shannon on camera doing her animal sounds for awhile now. Here she is!

Quack!

2009-06-24T21:21:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, we headed into the city to go on the Philly Duck Tour as a Father's Day Treat. Hanna started the obsession with the ducks and we decided it was about time we check them out for ourselves. (Strangely enough, the Clarks celebrated the same way in Boston last week.)

Even before we got moving, the whole thing was a hit with Shannon!

We started by cruising around the streets of Old City and got to see some of the historic sites like Independence Hall.

"Umm, don't you think this is a bit ridiculous?"

Then we splashed into the Delaware River and got a view of the city and to see some less historic sites like Will Smith's dad's waterfront condo.

The rule was: Be quiet and listen while your guide shares the history, but quack all you want while the music is playing. Shannon liked the music!

And guess who else had fun?

Philly Duck Tour is officially endorsed by the McGee's!

Kelly: Three Months

2009-06-19T20:46:00.001-04:00

Look at me! I'm three months old and loving life!

The biggest update this month is that Kelly has started school because Mommy is back to work. So far, things are going great. She's in the same room Shannon was in as an infant so we know already know her teachers. It took her a little bit to get used to bottles during the day, but she's doing well. And she'll have her pick of boyfriends...she's one of only 2 girls in her room right now.

Tricks... this girl is s-t-r-o-n-g. She's holding her head really well, can roll from front to back (first did this at 3 weeks!), and is getting close to going from back to front too. She loves being on her feet.

She can grab objects now and likes to eat her shirt. Shannon has also learned the hard way that Kelly likes to pull and eat hair. "Mommy! Help! Baby! Hair!"

Fake sneezes are guaranteed to get a smile and Kelly can hold her own in a baby conversation.

PS. Thanks Liz for the reminder phone call. The post might be late, but the picture was taken on time!