Bree gave Norah some binoculars for birdwatching....so she was doing that instead of posing for this photo with Nonna and Jeri. It's better than nothing, I guess!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
A-Mazing!
When Norah first got to Nonna's (on the fourth of July weekend), she would hover by the ladder of the pool and scream whenever anyone splashed her. By the time she left, she was "swimming" in the pool with no swimmies, and even perfecting her floating technique, seen here. She can jump in the pool, get to the ladder, bob underwater, "swim" underwater, and more! I predict she will be full-on swimming next summer!
Nonna and Luca
Nonna and Luca relaxing by the pool. Notice Luke has a shovel. He always needs to be holding a shovel, or some other similar object.
Bensons and Hemsleys
Our friends from Iowa, the Bensons, were in MI for a family reunion. They came over one day to hang out and swim. Here are all the kids together!
Foggy but nice
Norah, Luke, Nonna and I went on a river walk one morning. When I took my camera out to take this picture, the lens fogged up because it was SO HUMID! But, it's still a good photo of the kids and the Grand River.
3 Little Ducks
Don't the kids look like little ducks following Nonna out into the lake. Norah has a perpetual wedgie as my sister did when she was little!
The next step
Luca was comfortable shoveling sand, but how would he feel about the water? He loved it!
Luca and his shovel
Luca's security object at the beach (and other times, too) is a shovel. He quickly learned that the shovel has a practical use, and started moving sand around. He tried to eat some once, but after tasting the sand in his mouth, he didn't try THAT again!
Little Tent
Luca wasn't so sure of the sand at first, so he stayed by his little tent. As the day went on, he became more and more adventurous, as you will see in the next posts.
At the beach
We had a wonderful day at the beach at Lake Michigan with Nonna, Jeri, Bree, and me and the kids. We got there so early, there was hardly anyone there. It was great!
Lucy Lou
Lucia was pleased as punch that her parents threw her a birthday party. She would have liked some more streamers, but the two kinds of cake made up for that. Doesn't she look happy in this photo? :-)
Lucia's birthday
Lucia turned 1 on the 30th of July, but we had a pre-birthday party to celebrate. Here are all the kids. Why is it so difficult to get a good picture of young children? Because they have the attention span of sparrows, that's why!
Norah and Bree
Norah had so much fun playing with Bree, Jeri's granddaughter. They played animals, horses, and lots of other games while Norah was visiting.
Intrepid Explorers
Don't Norah and Luke look like they are on a ship in the ocean, scouting for dry land? That might be how Luke felt, surrounded by the sea of green grass that he hated so much. By the end of our visit in MI, he was happy to walk on grass just like other normal children!
Michigan!
The kids and I (and James on weekends) spent some time in MI in July. It was a good thing, too; that heat wave was just barely bearable with the pool at my mom's house!
Here's Luca and Lucia giving each other a "kiss" in the playpen by the pool. They had fun together, until Lucy figured out how to pull Luke's hair.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
First.......
We decided to give Luca his first haircut because his hair was always in his eyes. So, we put him in his highchair, James tried (but was not successful) to distract him, and I tried to (quickly) cut the hair. It's a little crooked, and maybe shorter than I had intended, but at least it's out of his face!
Now he can see the keys as he composes music on the piano!
The Little Pianist
Here's Luca playing the piano, which he loves to do. I love how he stands on his tippies to play!
Bacio!
Luca loves to give "Baci", kisses, to anyone of us who ask politely. He prefers open mouth....it's usually a pretty messy affair!
Inside looking out
I put my camera in the box to get a shot of him coming in, but he was too smart for me!
The box
You know how kids love to play in boxes? We set this one up right next to Luca's cage (uh....blanket on the grass.....) and he wouldn't go into it. That is, until James started throwing sticks into it to lure him in farther and farther. I swear, sometimes we treat Luca like an animal. I shake "puffs" containers to get him all excited for snacks, I tell him to "come here" a lot, and now we are throwing sticks for him to retrieve.....is there something wrong with that?
The Explorers
James' mom got us a great book for Christmas called "Walking Chicago" and we took one of the walks outlined in the book this past weekend. We explored Lincoln Park, and made our way to the Lake Michigan. It was a hot day, and the walk was long, but we had a great time.
Don't Luke and James look like explorers coming upon a new city?
A visit from Uncle Nick and Aunt Sunny
Sunny and Nick and baby Ivana came to visit earlier this month. We took them to the Botanic Garden and walked around. Ivana slept the whole time in her stroller, so Nick couldn't take any photos of her....so here they are posing with Norah instead!
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