The Veggies are Coming!

We picked our first tomatoes today and boy, were they good!! This season, Elizabeth has been very into picking vegetables, but not so into eating them. Emily, on the other hand, is chowing down. This afternoon, she had four or five pieces of tomato and at least one cucumber. I love it. I wonder what will make my dad more excited - the fact that Elizabeth likes lobsters or that fact that Emily loves tomatoes?

First two tomatoes!!
More cukes
Mmmm, this is a good tomato.
Was this your cucumber, Mommy?

What a Difference a Year Makes

Last summer, Elizabeth would sit on the ladder at Peter and Lisa's pool, refusing to come off of it for any reason. And if we did manage to pry her off of the ladder, she would scream bloody murder. This summer, she just hangs out on the ladder to catch her breath from all the "swimming" she does. It's great that she has so much confidence. Now we just need to get her trying to swim without her bubble more often.

Pure happiness.

Doing what she does best - pushing Emily around.

Celebrating Elizabeth's Birthday

Much like Emily, Elizabeth's birthday turned into a week-long celebration, with everyone bringing gifts to her while we were at the beach. Last Sunday, we spent the afternoon at Peter and Lisa's pool and then brought Elizabeth's birthday cake over to share with everyone. She loved having everyone sing to her and really loved opening all of her presents.

Singing Happy Birthday

She blew out the candles on her first try!

Opening presents!

Reading "Walter the Farting Dog," Elizabeth's new favorite.

"No Faces, Only Fesses"

It's been just over a week since we returned from our vacation and I've finally been able to get through all of our vacation pictures. I took over a thousand pictures (yes, you read that correctly) but was able to narrow down the final album to just about 200 or so, which is still outrageous, I know. The title of this post was the theme of our vacation. Almost every picture that I took was off the girls' rear ends, because they were always examining the water, the sand, some creature that little found, etc. It was so hard to get any pictures where they were looking into the camera. On Tuesday, Lee coined the phrase "no faces, only fesses" (French slang for rear end) and we pretty much said it the rest of the week. We had a such a great week - it was so hard to see it end. We are already looking forward to next year - 50 weeks to go....!!!!

The girls played really well together all week.

Emily napped at the beach only one day, but it was a good one.

"Emily at the Beach."

Busy Saturday

Today was such a busy day for us. After spending the morning working around the house, we went to Wasserstock this afternoon to watch our friend Mr. Harris' band play. Elizabeth got to see Mr. Harris' guitar first hand - she even used his pick on the strings! On Saturday night, we went to a party in honor of Miss Jen (Elizabeth's dance instructor) and Mr. Sal and their baby Tavio, who we hope to meet soon. After dinner, the girls were cutting a rug on the dance floor so they were exhausted by the time we got home.

Mr. Harris shows Elizabeth how to use a guitar.

Mr. Sal and Miss Jen
All the kids, hanging out on the dance floor.

Baby Birdie

When we heard some extra loud bird chatter coming from our front porch the other day, we went outside and found a baby cardinal hanging out in one of our floor pots - it's parents were flying back and forth and trying to encourage it to fly.

Mystery Vegetable

The vegetables are starting to come in fast and furious. We are steadily picking yellow beans and enough cucumbers each day to have to give some away to our friends and neighbors. Considering how much I love cukes (and wouldn't give them away unless they were going to spoil), we must be getting a lot!! We also have a ton of green tomatoes, but are still waiting for our first red one. Because we compost everything we can directly into the garden, it's not unusual for us to have random things growing during the off-season. This year, when Lee noticed a few odd plants, he decided to let them grow to see what would happen. Based on the leaves of plant below, we originally thought that it would be a watermelon, although not necessarily an edible one. Now, we're starting to think that it might be a pumpkin. Any ideas??

We've had perfect growing weather, so everything is starting to come in like crazy.
Even the beans look good - and before today's rain, not a single rust spot.

Our First Nephew

We are proud to announce the arrival of our first nephew, Felix (middle name to be determined) LeBlanc. He was born at 11:48 p.m. on Monday, July 21st, weighing in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces and measuring 22 inches long. Mom, Dad and baby are resting comfortably at the hospital. Since hearing the news, Elizabeth has been talking non-stop about going to Santa Fe ("can we go today?") to meet Baby Felix. She'll have to wait until September, but we are all looking forward to it. Congratulations to Michael and Kelly and welcome to the wonderful world of parenthood!!

Melissa's Bridal Shower

Saturday afternoon, we celebrated at a bridal shower for my long time friend Melissa. Melissa stood up for Lee and I when we married almost seven years ago and I was honored when she asked me to be a bridesmaid at her upcoming wedding in September. Melissa's shower was amazing - people from far and near attended and she got so many beautiful gifts. Melissa has obviously had an impact on many people's lives and so many of those people came together on Saturday to celebrate with her. Click here to see more pictures from the lovely event.

Maureen and Melissa


The wedding ring quilt, stitched by Melissa's mother.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!! It hardly seems possible that four years have passed since our little sweetheart was born. When she was just a little tiny baby, we used to swaddle her tight and call her our little bean burrito. Now, we can hardly scoop her up for a hug and a kiss, she's always on the go! She's made amazing strides over the last year - successfully made it through preschool, star of the show at dance class (again), huge language development, and loving sister. She is so amazing with Emily - gentle, defensive, instructive, and oh so caring. Except when they fight... She is doing a great job showing Emily how to successfully navigate through life. Elizabeth loves all things Disney, especially all things Disney princesses, especially Ariel (although that is subject to change at any time). She loves books - loves, loves, loves to be read to. Loves playing in the yard, running around, playing in the water. Elizabeth has boundless energy and a never ending supply of words - talk, talk, talk. She still looks like a mini-Lee; her hair grows longer and blonder every day; but she has a stubborn, talkative personality like me. Favorite word is "why"; favorite food is pizza; favorite snack is pretzels (just like her daddy); favorite treat is ice cream, followed closely by M&Ms (just like her mommy). She continues to amaze us, exasperate us, and surprise us every day. She fills us with love.

Friends Forever, Forever Friends

Today, my long time friend Janet joined us at the beach with her son Ethan. Janet and I have known each other since 7th grade; our bridal showers, weddings, baby showers and due dates were two weeks apart and Ethan is only ten days older than Elizabeth. They were first introduced before they were a month old and although they don't see each other that often, every time they do, they pick up right where they left off and today was no exception. It was amazing to see the two little friends play in the water and in the sand, non-stop for more than four hours. They both had such a good time and were completely exhausted by the end of the day. We are so glad that they were able to make it down for the day and miss them already. I hope that Ethan and Elizabeth grow up to be good friends and friends forever.

Ethan and Elizabeth

Maureen and Janet

A Family Tradition

Yesterday, Grammy and Grandpa visited us at the beach for the day. At the end of the day, we met Auntie Kathy and Uncle Peter for a lobster dinner at Brown's. The girls loved looking at the lobsters in the tank and the adults loved eating steamers and lots and lots of lobsters. Elizabeth and Emily both ate some lobster and Grandpa was so tickled he could barely contain himself!!

Grandpa and Elizabeth playing in the water.

Grammy almost swooned when she saw this picture of Grandpa swimming...

This was the only way to accurately capture our dinner at Brown's.

From the Lake to the Shore

Today, Grammy and Grampy made the trip from the lake to the beach to visit with us. We had breakfast at The Golden Egg, spent a few hours at the beach, and then went out for ice cream. It was great and we had so much fun!!! Click here to see the best of Grammy's beach pictures.

Grammy, Elizabeth and Emily build a cool sandcastle with a moat.
Grammy and Elizabeth

Daddy and Elizabeth playing in the waves.

Emily and Grampy share a snack.

Here is Grammy, unsuccessfully trying to get Emily to put her feet in the water.

A Glimpse of Elizabeth and Emily at the Beach

Whether playing in the sand or in the water, Emily and Elizabeth just love being at the beach!! Considering how much time Lee and I have spent here over the years and how much we look forward to this vacation every year, they are probably going to get more and more attached as time goes on.

Go Fly A Kite

Today, we did a lot of great stuff - look for crabs and snails, play in the water, play on the beach, do some sight-seeing in Portsmouth - but the thing the girls love most of all was flying the kite. We brought a kite down to the beach with us when we were there in the early morning (very foggy today!) and with no one around, Elizabeth ran up and down the beach flying it. She just loved it and although Emily didn't really get in on the flying action, she loved chasing Elizabeth and just watching it fly.

Ocean Rose

Today was our first official day of vacation. We started the morning bright and early, making it down to the beach before 7 a.m. After playing in the water and chasing seagulls for a while, we headed back to the Ocean Rose to relax and have a snack. Then Auntie Kathy and Uncle Peter showed up and we went back to the beach and played even more. Although the sun was out and it was a pretty hot day, it was very windy on the beach - windy enough that we wrapped ourselves in blankets to stay warm! We left early in the afternoon and headed back to the cottage. After the girls had baths to get rid of all the sand, we headed out for an early dinner. I hope that everyone is tired enough for a long and restful night of sleep!!

Morning at Wallis Sands
Elizabeth playing on the rocks and water.

Emily and Elizabeth running in the sand.
Emily playing.