Welcome Owen

Congratulations to our friends Janet and Kevin on the arrival of their healthy and beautiful son, Owen David. Owen was born on Sunday afternoon, weighing in at 8 pounds, 15 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches long. Special congratulations to their son (and one of Elizabeth's best friends) Ethan, who has assumed the important role of big brother. We can't wait to meet baby Owen!

Earning Their Wings

As many of you know, we just took our first ever plane trip with the girls. Although we certainly do not wear rose colored glasses when it comes to our girls' behavior, Lee and I couldn't be prouder of how well they did during this trip. They handled all four flights like seasoned pros and even with the time change, late nights and little napping, really handled themselves well. On our last flight this afternoon, the pilots gave them "wings," which they proudly wore to bed tonight. Stay tuned for pictures from our trip later this week.

Early, early morning (5:30 am) at Bradley, checking out the planes with Daddy.
Emily snacking (with Lambie) on the flight from Albuquerque this morning.
Elizabeth studies the emergency information sheet.
Showing off their wing pins while waiting for our bag.

Melissa & Mark's Wedding Weekend

We celebrated Melissa and Mark's amazing wedding this weekend. Things kicked off on Friday night with the rehearsal, followed by the rehearsal dinner at Mark's parents' house. It was a great night, topped off with some good old fashioned square dancing! Saturday morning, the ladies met at the salon for hair and makeup and then got ready together at the hotel. After taking photographs at Mark's parents house (with the stunning background of the Connecticut River), we headed off to church to watch Melissa and Mark tie the knot. It was a beautiful and emotional ceremony - simply perfect. Finally, we danced the night away at the reception - great food, great friends, great family, great night. Sunday morning, we said our goodbyes at a post-wedding breakfast hosted by Melissa's mother. Melissa is one of my dearest friends and I was so honored to be part of her wonderful and amazing weekend. We hope that Melissa and Mark are happy for many years to come.

Mark's parents had a pig roast, which was amazing!

Maureen and Melissa

Sunset on the Connecticut River
Let's start square dancing!
Even Lee got in on the dancing
Melissa and her mom, at the salon
Wedding hair

The Connecticut River is an amazing background for the pictures.Terry and Deb sneak off

The reception begins
Oh the anticipation of cutting the cake...

If all of the albums above weren't enough for you, click here to see Jason's album.

There's a First Time for Everything!

Last week was a big week of firsts at our house. Elizabeth started a new school year and a new dance year and Emily had her first ever dance classes. On Monday, Elizabeth started a new year of preschool. Although she is in the same classroom as last year, she goes at a different time, has a different teacher and a lot of new classmates. She's adapting pretty well, although we've had some tears at drop-off. At dance, she's taking ballet, acrobatics and a new class, jazz. We are again amazed at Miss Jen's patience! On Wednesday, Emily had her first dance class - she is taking acrobatics with Elizabeth and ballet all by herself. Last week was completely exhausting for both of them, but we think that they are having fun and are really glad to be back in the swing of things. More pictures here.

Showing off her Ariel (of course) lunchbox.
First day of dance class for Elizabeth - new leotard!
Emily's first day of dance (she loves, loves, loves her leotard!!)

Until Next Year...

I can hardly believe that I'm writing this post, but the front of our house is finally finished!!! It's been a long road since late March but we've actually reached the point where no one seems to be able to remember a time when we had a brick face on our house! Below are some before and after pictures - and if you want to see the work that we did this year from beginning to end, click on the House Renovation album on the sidebar. Again, 99% of the credit for this transformation goes to Lee and Peter - thanks so much!!!

This was late March, the day that Lee removed the aluminum siding. It was still very cold outside!

And below, the after pictures.....

Next year's project - it might be the toughest side of the house, between the utility wires, the propane tank, the chimney flashing and the slope of the lawn.

Bonjour!!

This is perhaps the funniest video I've ever taken, although I'm not quite sure if the hilarity translates well. When Lee drives in the car with the girls, they end up listening to various Disney soundtracks - most recently, "Beauty and the Beast." This is one of the first songs on the CD and in the movie (which the girls have never seen, by the way), Belle is walking through town greeting everyone ("bonjour"). At some point, the baker yells "Marie! The baguettes! Hurry up!" which is what Emily is screaming on this video. Lee and I burst out laughing every time. You can see the actual movie clip they are singing here.

Grammy and Grandpa

We spent last weekend with Grammy and Grandpa in New Hampshire. Here is a glimpse of the quality time the girls shared with their grandparents:

Grammy teaches them scales on the piano (note to my siblings: I suspect that the only time the piano gets any real use is when Elizabeth and Emily visit!).
Grandpa teaches the girls the fine art of cooking swordfish over charcoal.
Grandpa humors the girls by taking them by "plane" (i.e., hammock) to visit Uncle Mike and Auntie Kelly in Santa Fe and Uncle Mike and Auntie Sandra in Chicago. He was wiped out of after an entire weekend of these plane trips!

Skunked!!

Although I was a little bit nervous, I was actually able to get pretty close to this guy. And, more importantly, I didn't get sprayed!!

Teach a Girl to Fish....

Last weekend, we went out on Auntie Kathy and Uncle Peter's boat and the girls had such a great time. Although she caught almost twenty fish (maybe more!), Elizabeth couldn't be satisfied and as soon as they released a fish, she was relentless about going after the next one. Emily, on the other hand, was more than happy to sit back and take it all in - sharing some snacks with Auntie Kathy, of course. Each time Elizabeth caught a fish, she would check it out and pet it (yikes!), but then head back to her seat to watch. Both girls got junior marine badges from the water patrol and both girls were very into the fish, turtles, loons and other boats that we saw. All in all, a successful outing!

Who is more excited about the first catch of the day? Elizabeth or Uncle Peter?

She was so engrossed in the fishing that we all thought that she might fall out of the boat!!
Driving the boat
Snack time.
Boy, it's hot out here when you have to wear a life jacket!!
Getting a better view with Auntie Kathy Elizabeth and Emily with Auntie Kathy.
Elizabeth was so wiped out, she fell asleep on my lap on the way back to the shore.

Bubbles

I'm not quite sure when the "bubble phase" is going to end, but bubbles delight her so much that a small part of me hopes that it never does.