Rebecca's baby shower

 I can't believe in a little over two months my little sister is going to have a baby! Wow! It was great seeing both sisters this past weekend. 

 Mom and Aunt Kristen. 

 The adorable monkey cake! The other food on the menu, included a green salad with many toppings, assorted fruit, zucchini and blueberry breads, cheese and crackers and a champagne punch. 

 Mrs. Corina and Theo. Theo didn't sleep most of the day, there was too much excitement going on.  Mrs. Corina was a great help and went for a long walk with us after the shower.

 Rebecca opening her gifts. She got some great items!

 It was wonderful to see Omi and Opa. This is the best group shot I could get!

We have a truly wonderful family!

p.s. This same weekend was also Gianna's baptism, I'll post about that on another day. It was a jam packed weekend.

New Beginnings!

Jacob started Pre-K 3 this week at Christ the King School. Here are some of his many faces!

 Cool dude look.

 A sad look, although he was thrilled to start school!

 His mischievous look.

 Mommy and Jacob. It was a beautiful September morning.

 Raphael cried most of the morning. He visited Jacob's school last week and really wanted to go again.

Your turn will come buddy, just wait a year!

P.S. Jacob's first day last year. 

The gift of baptism

 Here is Theo the morning of his baptism.  We had a great weekend with family celebrating this joyous event.  Aunt Laura and Uncle Jim were the godparents.

Great grandma made the hat and booties he's wearing

 The boys did great during mass, but were super antsy during the baptism.  They spent most of it in the vestibule of the church or upstairs in the balcony.

 Theo is receiving the chrism oil.

 Theo received the light of Christ.  All the mothers also were given a red rose, very sweet.

 This is as close as we got to a group photo.  Everyone was tired and hungry and ready to leave after being in church for over 2 hours.  I'm sad that we did not get more group photos, but what can you do.

Grandma and Poppa with little Theo.

Our family.

 This cake was excellent!

 After the baptism we enjoyed a meal of strip steak, salad, bread and shrimp.  We had a couple of incidents involving wine glasses.  One wine glass was shattered across a room and another glass of wine was spilled all over a rug.  It was actually quite comical...

 As a result Poppy ended up drinking out of a sippy cup.

 The day of the baptism was rainy and cool, but the day before was hot! Here's Raphael wearing Theo's shorts.

 Aunt Rebecca enjoying the afternoon.

Theo!

Thank you to everyone for making the trip up to Buffalo. We had a wonderful weekend and we're excited that Theo is now part of God's church.

A weekend in Ithaca

Two weekends ago we spent a beautiful few days in Ithaca. We were able to go out on Dad's boat and relax together as a family, Jay included!

We headed out to the gorgeous Cayuga Lake around 10 a.m. We took the boat out at Taughannock Falls State Park and enjoyed a picnic lunch and the lake.  Poppy took Raphael out on the boat, Jacob refused to go (he's going through a little phase where he is scared of lakes).  Jay and I went tubing, which was loads of fun!

  

Jay, Poppy and Raphael out on the boat!

The playground at Taughannock was great!

Theo spent the morning and afternoon sleeping and smiling!

We hung out by the shore. The boys enjoyed skipping rocks and looking at the other boaters.

Relaxing on a beautiful afternoon!

I absolutely love this picture of Raphael wearing Poppy's glasses. It looks like he's on the boat all alone, do not worry he's not!

Back at the house Gianna and Aunt Laura came over for dinner.

Aunt Laura and Theo bonding.

The beautiful little Gianna!

Thanks Poppy for taking us all out on the boat. We would certainly like to make a tradition out of it!

The cottage

 I decided to make the five hour trip to the cottage with the boys even though Jay was busy with work (thanks for letting us go hon).   I met up with Rebecca and Jim in Syracuse (the half way point) and then we headed over the Thousand Island bridge and onto the cottage.  Luckily we had no troubles at the border.  We had an absolutely perfect week!

 The boys loved trying on these goggles. Raphael went swimming a couple of times. Jacob, unfortunately, would not go swimming since he said there were sharks and whales in the water! I'm hoping this is just a phase.

 Here's Theo and Poppa sitting in the shade. 

 Rebecca looks great for being six months pregnant!

 Jacob is sitting on the bench overlooking Bass Lake.

 Uncle Jim and Raphael have a special bond.

 All three boys together.

 Since the boys got antsy we went into Smith Falls and spent some time at the playground and the wading pool.  Smith Falls, also has a couple of locks that are part of the Canadian Rideau Canal system. 

 The boys enjoyed watching the boats go up and down through the locks.  We also watched a bridge move so that the  boats could get through, they had to hand crank it in order for the bridge to move.  It is amazing that this system of canals is still in working order.  There were many house boats and regular boats that go through the canal all summer long. 

 Mom made us dinners every night and was great at helping us keep the busy boys entertained. Jacob and Grandma had quite the game of war together.

 Aunt Rebecca and Raphael swimming together. The water was perfect.  Everyday the clouds were amazing and the sunsets were gorgeous.

 Uncle Jim was very patient with the boys.  Jacob enjoyed watching Jim fish and go boating.  The boys also woke everyone else up earlier then they probably would have liked, although the boys are great about not waking up in the night and still slept in until 8 a.m. every day!

Theo was a perfect baby.  He slept well (he never work anyone up) and was very easy going.  We are very blest since both Jacob and Raphael keep us on our toes all day long. We are all looking forward to going to the cottage again next year and we're hoping that Jay will make the trip with us next year.