"Cousins"

One of the many reasons I love being home is that I am closer to my BFF's from high school and their children.

Erica just had her son Jacob and Erin and I made the trip to Oakland to visit.  It was so great to see Erica in "Mommy mode".  She looks like a pro and is only 10 days into the job.  And that Jacob sure is a cutie.....

Kevin and Jacob

Another day Erin, Lauren and I got together at Lauren's house for a day-long playdate :)  The kids had a great time with each other-----they practically covered every room in the house (we left quite a mess!) but they had a great time.  We are up to seven kids now (including baby Jacob who couldn't join us just yet) and soon-to-be eight with Baby Scialabba on his way! 

Kaylie is the oldest of the pack and I love her to pieces.  At one point I made a reference to Mikey about "playing with his friends".  Kaylie quickly corrected me and said, "We call you Aunt Alli so technically that means we are cousins!".  Love her.  Mikey is lucky to have such amazing "cousins" to play with!

Kaylie, Kevin, Jimmy, Mady, Emmalynn, and Mikey!

Thanks for the fun day, everyone!  We love you and can't wait to see you soon!  Maybe when Baby Scialabba is born?!?!

Brothers of the Sun Tour

This week marked our second vacation of the summer with Mommy and Mikey visiting New Jersey for the week.  (Thanks for sharing us, Daddy!)

We kicked off the week at the Brothers of the Sun tour with Mandy, Scott, Michelle (my cousin) and her hubby, Kyle.  Mikey stayed home with Grandma Anita and Grandpa Bob while Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the concert (our Christmas gift from Mimi and Grandpa Fred!  Thank you!!).

We were there as the parking lot was opening (at 11:30am!) and set up our tailgate spot.  This year Mandy and Scott went all out----they got us our own personal potty complete with privacy tent!  It was great!  It was quite the conversation starter with our fellow concert-goers!  In addition to the potty and tent, Mandy organized a great tailgate with tons of food and snacks.  Thanks for all of your hard work, Mandy & Scott!  We had a great time!

 Potty and Privacy Tent

 Tailgate spot

Michelle, Mandy, & Allison 

 Alli 22 weeks, Michelle 28 weeks

 

 View from our FLOOR seats!

That same evening, Grandma Anita had a wedding for a colleague of hers.  Grandpa "Bob" stayed home with Mikey.  "Bob" made hot dogs for dinner and then took Mikey to the "ice cream store" for dessert.  Mikey told me the next morning that he had "chocolate ice cream with sprinkles" and made a gesture rubbing his fingers together when he said sprinkles.  So cute.

Beach Day!

Bob and Katie were nice enough to invite us to the beach on Sunday.  They have a beach pass to Duxbury Beach in which you can drive your car directly on the beach and just park there for the day.  It was heaven.

 Mikey and Ellie had a great time digging in the sand and collecting rocks.  The water temp was a little chilly (62 degrees!) but Ellie had no problems going in.  Mikey was a little more cautious and just stayed on the shoreline.

(I love this picture!)

 And then there was Oliver---he just ate and slept like a perfect little baby!

Thanks for the great day, Perniola family!  We had a great time!  Maybe one of these years we will FINALLY get our own beach pass!

Olympics!

My sister and I LOVE watching the Olympics together.  We were so happy that Mandy and Scott were able to take time away from their busy schedules to come up to Boston to visit and watch some of the Olympics together.  Mandy got us all matching Olympic t-shirts (Mikey has been wearing his ALL WEEKEND---3 days in a row now) and Mikey and I made a festive cake!  Friday and Saturday night we spent watching the Opening Ceremony (yawn!) and some of the events.  Saturday during the day we hung out by the pool.  Unfortunately the heavy rain washed away our hopes for a BBQ dinner at night but we made the best of it and had a great time.  On Sunday when it was time to go, Mikey climbed into the backseat of Scott's car and said "Bye Mommy!".  He was ready to go home with the Roth's!  He was so sad and cried when they pulled away.  :(  

Thanks for coming guys!  See you in 2 weeks!

Mikey wearing a special Angelo Scialabba apron prior to making our chocolate cake 

 

He couldn't resist the cake batter

 Ready for the oven

Consuming the most amount of M&M's in one sitting in his life thus far

 

The finished product

Visit with Grandma

Grandma Anita came to visit!  She took the train on Monday and Grandpa "Bob" came later in the week when he was done with work on Friday.  Mikey and Grandma had a great time together.  They literally played with EVERYTHING in the house.  They played cars, painted Mikey's dinosaurs, colored, read books, I could go on and on.  They also spent a lot of time at the pool.  Mikey showed Grandma all of his tricks---glides, jumping in from the side, blowing bubbles, even his twist and turn moves!  They were pretty much attached to the hip for a week!  Mikey even introduced "Gramma" (as he pronounces Grandma) to Eva, Margeaux (his speech pathologist) and the girls that work at My Gym.  This week he also got another big boy haircut.  He just gets more handsome by the day!

Thanks so much for coming to visit with us, Grandma and Grandpa.  We all really enjoyed your visit and were sad to see you leave.  The next day Mikey asked "Where'd Gramma go?" ALL DAY LONG.  I know we are both looking forward to our visit in New Jersey in a few weeks.  Thanks again!

The fish (AKA: Mikey)

 

 Mikey enjoying his lunch poolside :)

 

 The rain didn't stop Grandma and Mikey from playing baseball!  They played in the garage--complete with running the bases, too!

Mikey showed Grandma what a big boy he was while he got his haircut at "Snip Its"

Checking out the boats in Scituate Harbor

In Cohasset after dinner

It's a...........

Little Hand

BOY!!!!!!

Everything is looking great!  It was such an amazing experience to see Baby Scialabba in the 4D pictures.  He looks like he has Mikey's cute button nose.  Hooray for baby boys!!

Weekend with the Casey's

The Casey's came back to town for their annual summer visit with the addition of 6 week old baby Kevin!  Friday we spent the afternoon and evening hanging out by the pool and had a BBQ for dinner.  The weather was perfect and it was so great to catch up.  Saturday morning Mikey and I met Erin and the kids for breakfast while Mike and Sean hit the gym.  That night we got together for a pajama party and a movie (Cars) while the Dad's went to a grown-up movie in the theater.  Sunday we spent the morning at Drumlin farm checking out the animals and of course, the tractor ride.  That night we hung out at the house, went for ice cream and played outside.  Monday morning Mikey and I went back to the hotel to say goodbye to our best friends from New Jersey.

Thank you so much for making the trip, Casey family!  We loved having you here and can't wait to see you in New Jersey in a few weeks!

xoxo

 

 Mikey couldn't wait to hold baby Kevin!  He's getting practice for when he becomes a big brother!

 

Giddy up!

 

 Tractor Ride!

 

Erin and Alli

 

 

Chalk on the driveway never gets old

We had to relocate the baseball game to the front of the apartment since we got surprised with the sprinkler system in the backyard!