Cousins

Friday the weather was beautiful! It was actually hot and what better way to have than to run through a water fountain in your bathing suit. (Well, that is what the kids did.) We were pleasantly suprised how much the girls loved the water, we were at Stony Point for almost 3 hours! Claire and Michael eventually came up and Claire loved the water too. She tried her best to keep up with the big girls. She wants to run as fast as they do! (Monkey see, Monkey do... Monkey get in trouble too.) I think the pictures speak for themselves in regards to how much fun they had!

Stephen, my little sensitive man. He did not like the loud sound that the water made when it shot up in the air... I am sure you can tell from his expression. He liked to watch the girls from a distance, funny little guy.

Abby and Matty

Sunday night we headed over to the Diskin's house for dinner. (When we used to live next door to each other on West Seminary Avenue, the trip was much shorter. However, those were the days of backyard dinners with our first babies, Dixie, Baxter, and Belle.)

Things have changed, just a little. The twins, Abby and Matty are little miracles and continue to amaze us all. Abby is walking! I watched her walk across the kitchen floor with a push toy. Matty is close behind, crawling, cruising, and getting into everything! They both smile and ham it up when they see the camera. They were also quite taken by Stephen. I think Stephen felt "a man down" with twins. So many of our family friends ask me about the Diskin girls and I wanted to share some pictures, so everyone can see just how amazing they really are!

(By the way, Matty is in the foreground in the first picture with Stephen, Abby is with Stephen in pictures 2 & 3, and Matty is left and Abby is right of Stephen in pictures 4 & 5.)

Little Grandmother

Saturday, April 5th was the anniversary of our little Grandmother's passing. Lately I have moments when I think of her and forget that she is not here. One day I was cooking and I had a question, and I thought to myself, I can call Grandma and ask her... Then I was driving to Babies R US and I saw a LOL ( little old lady) in her car and I actually thought, oh I should go over to Morningside and visit Grandma. It is odd to me that you can have a complete thought and feeling about someone so naturally, only then to catch yourself and remember that they are gone. I guess I am either really sleep deprived (which is highly possible) or that I am surrounded by so many things that remind me of her. Even though she is not here, she will never be gone or forgotten. Something everyday reminds me of her... from making banana bread, tulips blooming, or making a white sauce. At Easter we gave Mom a Bradford Pear tree in memory of Grandma. I am sure most of you remember the one blooming outside of her window at Johnston Willis Hospital. Again, I don't think I will be able to see one and not think of her. I guess it has also made me realize how many things I learned from my Grandmother. I love that we live close and that my children will continue to grow up with their Grandparents. I know they will have the same treasured memories as I do.

Feeding Ducks

Some days are just good days. Saturday was one of those days. It was off to a great start because our kids slept in and I think nobody woke up until 9:30, which is very out of the ordinary in our house. We had a "big breakfast" and David cooked. Kate LOVES weekend breakfast because her Daddy cooks her sausage! (Yes, my three year old loves sausage.) This healthy treat is only on weekends and we only let her eat two links. Needless to say, it is the little things in life. For me, it is my good cup of coffee every morning and it always tastes even better when David makes it for me before he leaves for work. Uncle Joe was in town and it was great to see him and check out the new Mercedes Benz. He even let Gene was drive!

Then we headed down to Sunday Park to feed the ducks. I think feeding the ducks is fun no matter your age. The ducks must be very used to this because they came right up to us and I believe we could have fed them right out of our hands. We refrained, just in case. Kate loved throwing the bread and talking to the ducks. I can remember being afraid of feeding the ducks at my Grandparent's house in New York because there were also lots of geese. Mom convinced me that the white ducks were Rebecca and Jemima Puddle Duck from Beatrix Potter, so I would not be afraid. I bought the story and to this day when I see I white duck, that is what I think of. Of course I passed this tradition along to Kate when we saw the white duck, but she is not as familiar with the story and I was at this age. More and more ducks continued to come over and eventually word got out to the Canadian Geese that we were in town. I also realized that I had a right to be afraid of the geese as a child. Feeding geese is a lot different than feeding ducks. They truly have no fear and they get too close for comfort. Kate immediately wanted me to hold her and the "head" goose actually hissed at David. It was funny and yet intimating when you try and walk away and a pack of geese are following too close behind. Should we make a run for it???

We then found a play ground with swings! For some reason they are hard to find, and especially a baby swing. Stephen LOVED it! It was getting cold and late, so we needed to call it a night. It was lots of fun and I am looking forward to going back. This time with more bread.