Cute squared

With the unfortunate exception of this photo of me, I'm a big fan of these new pictures. Our reading ritual is shown in the first and because it's time that's so dear to us, I had to post the photo and swallow any sense of vanity I have left.








The ones of Elena are of her field trip to Apple Hill a couple of weeks ago and of her eating the s'mores while Daddy was on his trip. Both were quite a hit.

Michael is... well, lounging. He's very good at the lounging. He fits into this household so well.

Mom and the Bug

The photo quality is terrible, but it means the same... Sweet little buggy.

Go, Michael!

Big news...Michael rolled over today! He tried for a good 20 minutes and with a final, "Go Michael!" he did it. He rolled from his back to his tummy and following this giant accomplishment, he slept.

My sweet baby...

We had a very big weekend since Daddy and Uncle Corey were gone at Corey's bachelor party all weekend. We packed the days with entertainment, including s'mores and sleeping bags in the living room, followed by a 3D movie in the park the next night. Elena and I even slept together those nights to keep each other company. My goal was to have some fun bonding time and wear them out. I think I succeeded, as the picture below illustrates. I think this is my favorite brotherly-sisterly photo to date.
Daddy and Corey (and company) arrived home yesterday a little worse for the wear, but with lots of stories to tell and lots more I'm sure we'll never hear. They had a great time and "Uncy C" enjoyed meeting Michael and seeing Elena. He even played with her until he went to the airport, which was very sweet, considering his sleepless weekend. She loved seeing him and we eagerly await the wedding in a couple of weeks.

Though I'm still mostly working from home, I am slowly re-engaging in work and because Keri is heading out on maternity leave, I will take on more than usual. I remain very sad to leave my kids for any amount of time and a little anxious about the workload and balancing. This sweet family is my life and the thought of missing any firsts (or seconds, thirds...) is heartbreaking. But for now, I'll head off to bed and dream about their faces when we're all together.

Brotherly love

Just another day in the lives

At this moment, Elena is wandering around our home wearing nothing but Daddy's heart rate monitor. Just another day in the lives...

Those crazy kids

Oh, the Michael... what a little doll. He coos and giggles when you kiss him. He grabs his toes and stays awake so much longer than he did. We're obsessed with him, as we are with our Ms. Elena, who has become a little social butterfly, partying it up with her friends from the neighborhood and beyond. We just sent out Elena's 4th birthday party invitations and ooooh boy, it's going to be quite the event with her own petting zoo and as previously mentioned in the blog, adopted goat. Though Sara Rallens no longer seems to be the chosen name - we eagerly await her choice.

Baby, baby

We just love these pictures of our babies... Michael isn't so sure.

We are enjoying some downtime this week... Elena just got to take home preschool's stuffed dog, Smokey. The kids take turns taking him home and when we play with Smokey, we write our activities in a book so Ms. Cindy (Elena's teacher) can share Smokey's stories at school when we return him. We decided to bake him dog biscuits, give him a flea bath and make him a bed and doghouse so he'd feel at home. Elena was a big fan of Smokey's field trip to our house and keeps mentioning how she'd love a real dog (fabulous). Michael has a touch of a cold and is having a little trouble at night. I remember Elena getting her first cold at three months too. It is pretty slight, as was hers, but we still hate to hear that little cough from either of our beautiful babies.