Florida!

In June we got to go down to FL to visit with Rich's family. Clark and Dex had a BLAST with their Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunt Traci and Uncle Joe. We got to meet sweet baby Bella for the first time and even see her get baptized (Rich is the Godfather). And to make the time even more fun Aunt Joan, Uncle Stan, Cousins Brian and Eileen and their little girl Tory made the trip down from New Jersey, and John, Kristen and Lola came down from the burbs of Chicago. Holy Family. It was so much fun seeing everyone, and we took a ton of pictures, which I'll try to find time to post soon :) Here are a couple from the splash park we went to shortly after we arrived-

Dex walking with Daddy. He even took his first few steps in FL with his Grandma and Grandpa around. I wouldn't say he's "walking" quite yet, but he can take 7 or 8 steps by himself before he falls. It's seriously cute!

Brian, Eileen and Tory. She's such a happy smiley baby!

Tory and Bella

Tory loved the swings

ONE

I can't believe our sweet baby boy is one already. I keep saying it, but time is going by so fast! He goes to the pedi on Friday so I don't have any fun stats to report but here are just some of the things Dex is now doing at the ripe age of one...

Pointing- he loves to point at anything of interest, or he will request toys or food that way too!

Words- he now makes a noise that we *think* is him saying hi. It's pretty darn cute. He says mama and dada too, but I really don't think he knows what he's saying. And the other day I swear he tried to say balloon. "Ba" is what it really sounded like but he was pointing right at the balloon, did it twice, and usually doesn't make that sound. I was excited, haha.

Ear-Piercing screams, seriously. They hurt the ear drums, but he's so happy he can make noises that loud. I think he's the only one that's stoked about that noise though.

Walking- not quite yet, but he will walk with you holding just one hand, and he'll walk behind just about anything that can be pushed along the ground.

And... he's all over anything his brother is doing. If Clark is eating something, Dex needs to be eating the same thing. He even plays cars just like Clark. A big brother is a pretty cool thing to have :)

Yesterday we joined the pool and I think it's safe to say we might just live there this summer. Both boys love it so much, and with the temps in the 90s here it's a nice place to cool off-

We thought Dex would like some pool time on his birthday, and he got his splashing in for sure!

And Clark playing with "squirt" his Nemo turtle pool toy. This pool just opened this year and has all this fun stuff that Clark is all over. There's this fountain area, a lazy river, an entire kids slide play area, and a GIANT water slide that's for adults only, but both boys get really excited when they see it.

After the pool Dex got to open some presents. And, let me say, it's really hard to explain to a 2.5 year old that his little brother is getting presents and he isn't. "I want a birthday too!" is what Clark was whining to me this morning. When I explained that he had one coming in September he was pretty excited about that, but it didn't make the present opening part of the night any easier. And of course he loved everything that Dex got which made it all the more difficult.

lotsa hugs for Lotso, the strawberry scented bear in Toy Story 3. We are all pretty excited to see that soon!

Dexter's 1st Birthday Party

Today was Dexter's first birthday party, and we can't believe that our little dude is almost an entire year old!!! Time is going by way too fast. Today was great though, we had a small gathering of Dex's friends and family at our house this afternoon to enjoy some food, cake and of course watching Dexter smash a delicious cupcake. Since Clark had such an odd first birthday theme (The Godfather) we didn't want to leave baby Dex out, so his party was "Dexter" themed. What little dude wouldn't want a serial killer themed birthday party right? The dining table was wrapped in plastic sheeting Dexter-style although I didn't get a good picture of it. And the cake was red velvet, yum! Here are a couple pictures, mainly of Dex eating cake. It was SO cute!!!

Dexter and Dexter. Thank you Jeremy, you ROCK!

Who is having a birthday? Me?

Dex was not down with his birthday hat...

YUM cake!

Where'd the cake go? Dex was throwing it on the floor-

Thought this was a funny picture...

Dex opening his presents. Clark is now old enough to demonstrate how to play with everything. Which we find pretty cute of course. He was such a good boy the whole day!

I found them!!!

These pics were taken in April! But I just found them and figured I'd post anyway. Here are a couple pics from Grandma & Grandpa's trip to STL. Can't wait to see them in FL this month...

Clark and Grandma checking out his favorite... elephants. or o-phants as he calls them.

having a snack

chillin' on the choo-choo with his Grandpa

Now, when Grandma is in town I usually try to learn at least one recipe. This time I got to make "grandma's meatballs" in homemade sauce, and I've got to say they were pretty damn awesome. I've been able to make them since then too and they were equally as good. One of my favorite recipes I've learned so far!!!

adorable boys!

And this is a usual scene around the house. Clark hugging Dex a tad too tight :)

thirty

Yesterday I turned thirty. Which is a pretty crazy statement since I swear I was in high school yesterday... where has the time gone??? But I guess while time was flying by I somehow landed a pretty amazing husband, and then had two of the cutest boys I've ever laid eyes on. The 20s were good to me. Real good. And I say bring on the 30s... they are the new 20s, right? And, if you want to see more pictures click HERE and it will link you to the pictures I put up on Facebook.

On May 22nd Nicolle & I had a joint dirty-thirty birthday party themed "party like a rockstar" and that's exactly what we did. Rich went as Bruce Springsteen, I went as Karen O (lead singer of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs), Brian went as Slash and Nicolle as Gwen Stefani.

Marc, Dad and I

Lisa & I.

I had to include this hilarious picture of Steve. Rich managed to find a RockBand smoke machine and light kit. Awesome!

And the next afternoon here is Dex as Slash- I've got to thank Gramme for taking the boys to her house that night for a slumber party. If it weren't for her we wouldn't have been able to rock out the way we did!

Rich surprised me with three of our good friends coming in town from Chicago. Here we are the next morning on our way to brunch... And you know you're getting old when we partied until 3am and were ALL up by 9 the next morning- I kind of miss the good old days when I could sleep until noon, haha.

And here are a couple pictures from my actual birthday. The day itself was a little tough (think cranky todder/homeowner issues) but at night we had a babysitter come and we went and grabbed some dinner with my Dad. Wine and yummy Italian food did just the trick!

Playdate Fun

Today we went over to a friend's place for a little fun in the sun. All was good until it was time to leave and both the boys freaked, but I think they were just having so much fun they didn't want to leave... that and it was nap time!

Despite what it looks like Clark did NOT eat :)

Dex wasn't super down with the awesome baby play area at first-

but he warmed up and then loved it! might be in the hunt for one of these this summer.

Clark was jazzed that they were building a new house next door. Workmen galore!

Hugs for Jack- how cute is he??? Look at that face, his momma is going to be in trouble when he's in high school!

Cleveland

Two weekends ago (wow I haven't updated in FOREVER!) I headed to Cleveland for my cousin Drew's wedding. I went solo because we didn't want to mess the boy's schedules up too much with the travel, hotel situation etc.

I've been putting off making a post since I know I have more pictures from when Grandma & Grandpa DiTore were in town but for the life of me I can't find the card they're on anywhere! So, I'll post when I find them :(

Click HERE if you want to see more pictures from the Cleveland weekend and wedding- fun times. I'm linking to my Facebook album since Picasa is being strange for me right now.

Lord, help me

I registered to run a marathon. I've never done one before for a very obvious reason... I've always HATED running. But several months ago I decided to run an 8k with my girlfriends and got hooked. Then I stumbled upon the group Team in Training and knew this would be the way I could train for a marathon and not go crazy, or hurt myself for that matter. So for the next 5 months I'm going to run my heart out and see if I can get ready. If for some reason I'm not there is a half-marathon as well, but I'm going to run like that's not an option!

Through Team in Training I'll be working with a coach and a team of women also training for the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. The marathon draws over 20,000 women from across the world, and the money we raise will go towards the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I'm so excited that I'm getting the opportunity to not only challenge myself physically but also raise awareness and funds for such an important cause. Right now my fundraising goal is $3,500 and I would LOVE help in raising that. SO, if anyone reading this would like to contribute that would be awesome!!! If anyone reading this has any fun fundraising ideas I'd love to hear them. If anyone reading this thinks I'm crazy, you can tell me that too :)

The link I have added to the left side of this page will take you to my secure donation page. If you decide to donate you will receive a confirmation email, and please save that because it's a tax deduction! And I'll be sure to post an update on my training progress... Right now I've only been training for 2 weeks and i've been running an average of 3 miles, 5 times a week. Although, looking at the August & September training schedule I'm a little scared!

Our first 5k

I ran an 8K with my girlfriends this year (and got hooked on running) but had never done a 5K before, so Rich and I ran one last weekend for the first time. It was nice to be able to do one together since most of them fall during Dex's morning nap, we wouldn't get to unless we had sitting- so thanks Grandma & Grandpa! Here's a quick shot from when we got home.

I'm going to do one next month in FL when we're visiting the family, and am signing up for a Halloween 10K this fall with a bunch of friends. The ultimate goal is the Disney half-marathon next year, fingers crossed!

Grandma & Grandpa DiTore are here...

and are sadly leaving already. It's been an awesome two weeks with them in town though and we are missing them already. Clark is obsessed with his Grandpa and they even have their own little phrases they say to each other. I know he's going to be so sad tomorrow morning when he wakes up and can't climb into bed with them! Luckily we get to head down to FL next month for a quick visit...

And for some reason I was NOT good about snapping a ton of pictures, but I'll try to post the ones I did take over the next couple days-