Yep.

My Favorite Thing?

That these two are each other's favorite things. 

Spicing Things Up

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

Enamored

With his big sis. Can you blame him?

What I've Been Up To

In addition to Cool Globes, I worked on bringing the Waterkeeper Alliance conference to Chicago. We began work on this over a year ago, and the conference ended last night with a fantastic event at Park West. It's been such an inspiration to meet the Waterkeepers and hear their stories.  They have been described as eco-heros, and I couldn't agree more. 

Ham.

If we were to buy Leo's birthday gifts solely off of what he's into these days, it would be cars, dog toys and flags. 

Grace + Olivia

A Jam Sesh - Always a Treat

A hot humid day and aggressive mosquitos? No thanks. Uncle Michael helped matters greatly by playing some tunes for the kids - all of them loved the music, and Emmett loved the guitar. 

A Kong For My Pal

 This dog toy is the ultimate for Leo's gums. 

Leo and Grampie - Father's Day 2011

Set Me Free, Woman!

Timid On Both Fronts

Oh Ignatius! Don't worry, Olivia has had a lot of practice lately holding babies. You'll be just fine. 

6th Annual Greek Fest

 These two!

 Putting on some sweet moves for Leo. 

Our sweet girl was so excited to ride the rides.  

 Advertised as "world famous" these bumper cars were anything but. 

 We took a quick trip up to St. Nicholas for their annual Greek Fest. What a gorgeous night!

Ignatius

Woot! A new family blog! iggyfrankandfriends.blogspot.com

Leo's Tip

Want some good acoustics? Sing in the bathtub. Sounds great every time. 

Obsessed

With all things phone-related. 

Yummer Summer

Leo loves to eat - but he tends to favor the savory over the sweet.  He did enjoy a few bites of this watermelon, though. 

An Evening Full of Delight

 My tired tink. 

Olivia and I went to see Peter Pan - what a wonderful, magical show. Olivia was on the edge of her seat the entire time, with a smile ear to ear. I believe the show runs for a few more weeks, I'd highly recommend to anyone. 

He Gets it from His Auntie

Pardon my loud, v. off key singing -  Leo prefers duets. 

Traveling Lemonade Stand

An enterprising young girl and an unwieldy 11 month old were the inspiration behind our lemonade stand. Olivia decided to donate her profits to those less fortunate. Specifically, the "poor, sick and lonely." 

Pals at the Park

Bubblegum bubblegum in a dish...

Crafty

 Dreary and bleary outside? How about a craft project? 

 Look at Esme's tongue peeking out in concentration.

Such a cute thing to see - the kids sat so nicely and painted birdhouses, and Esme is giving Leo such a sweet smile! 

Waiting...

Olivia was so excited for her cousins to come over on Saturday. I probably shouldn't have told her they were coming until they pulled down our street, though. We spent a good hour out front -wagon rides, cloud watching, to make sure we spotted them asap. 

T-Ball

 Olivia bends down to give Miss Smooch a smooch

A new (and dangerous) habit: whipping the bat to run to first base. You can see it in mid-air. 

Checking His Fantasy Scores

Cooler Babes

Ugh.

 It was a really good thing that Olivia and Leo were already at Durkins when we saw this. 

 And then when the window burst open, and even more water came in? We're lucky Durkins is a few blocks away. 

Heartbreaking. Having gone through this twice last Summer, we had the foresight to get most everything up off the ground. But still - ruined desk, play kitchen, numerous toys, pictures, baby gear. A huge thank you to Steve (on his birthday, no less) and his Dad who worked tirelessly all day. One of the most frustrating things about this is that it was avoidable, as this water is due to grading issues and an ill-placed and unapproved window well. Our contractor has been mostly unresponsive to this issue - and when we do hear from him, he's petulant and pleads ignorance. Need a good contractor recommendation? Because we most certainly don't have one. Thank goodness I took a lot of pictures as evidence.