sprinkler fun

i raced out and bought a kiddie sprinkler today after seeing how much FUN declan had playing in the water at school last week! one of his teachers emailed out these pictures to parents.

they have "water days" every wednesday in the summer so they either play in the sprinklers, kiddie pools or the rain depending on the weather. the teachers told us when we picked him up that he absolutely loved the sprinkler! i always love hearing about his day and what he's into. his two teachers are very special ladies and they take wonderful care of all TEN one-year olds in the Brown classroom, as i said, special ladies!!! i am very thankful that i have a great part-time job that enables him to go to school 3 days a week and do fun things with other kids, and we get the other 2 to have mom-declan days.

should i be worried that he basically commandeered the sprinkler for the entire photo shoot? there were 39 pictures and he was front and center taking charge of the sprinkler in about 36 of them! i don't know why they kept his shirt on with his trunks, perhaps he threw a fit and demanded it stay on, possibility...hmmm.




shoving his arm down into the sprinkler

some of his classmates pictured are max, lucy, mallory, devyn, supriya, ike (yes ike), savannah

first dq!

in the spirit of summer we decided to go out for ice cream last sunday afternoon. it was a beautiful day and i had a feeling declan would be able to enjoy an ice cream treat all by himself this year. last year as a baby he would lean in for a periodic taste of whatever ice cream i was eating but that was the extent.

we have several wonderful local ice cream shops- everything from custard to gelato to cold stone to oberweis and our staple handel's! but i thought dq would be the easiest for d to eat on his own. and lets just say the brownie batter blizzard wasn't exactly a deterrent! i got him a simple kiddie-sized vanilla in a cup, handed him a spoon and he went to town. the funniest thing is how serious he was... i think he was so determined to make sure he was getting ice cream on the spoon! i was expecting some smiles or babbles or excitement but it was all business. ice cream has evolved into some serious business in our family! i inherited it from tim when i was pregnant with declan and it hasn't quite gone away!





my baby is growing up so fast! i can't believe i can hand him a cup of ice cream and a spoon. tomorrow i'll be handing him his lunchbox and jersey.

vacation!

last week we went on vacation with our friends brad, jenna and parker to naples, FL. we were fortunate enough to be able to stay at tim's parents' home. the boys, around 17 months old, are finally beginning to notice each other. i think after 5 days together they know they are buddies and may start high fiving in the hallway at their school this week.

plane ride. ANGEL on the way down! i can't talk about the way home.



they loved climbing up in this chair at the same time all week. parker would screech and pound his fists on the chair and declan would belly laugh so hard he'd double over!

the ol' shampoo mohawk shot


it was great to go on vacation with another family b/c we could take turns going out for dinner at night while the other couple stayed home to watch the boys and put them to bed. we also hired a real babysitter for friday night so the adults could all go out together. we shopped a little and went to campiello for dinner, delicious italian and also a fun scene.


my baywatch babes

he just wanted to be independent and stay near the railing and the top steps all day all by himself


one tired baby after the pool


lots of playing!












last day at the pool. it was sad to come home... but at least we came back to beautiful weather in the 80s. we can go to our own neighborhood pool now this summer.

mother's day

we spent mother's day weekend in chicago this year because tim's mom just came home from being in florida for the winter and she was anxious to see all her grandkids. we haven't seen her since january! we enjoyed a fabulous and very lovely brunch at the union league club downtown chicago with family including tim's sister and her family and also tim's cousin and her family.

best present of all, declan was so well-behaved and happy all day!




tim's mom carol, aka "ceci"

mary kate

mitch and nate




7 cousins, the impossible shot!


he loved rolling around on the floor and looking up at the chandeliers

playing duck duck goose in a ballroom, where else?!

miss caroline

just cute

fun in pj's

around the end of april we had a few really warm days in a row and one morning it was easily 75 degrees out by 8am! i have been waiting all winter to open the front door and let declan just run outside after being cooped up in his highly mobile stage all winter! he was so happy to cruise around the yard in his bears pj's for awhile, and then we took a little walk around our cul-de-sac.



dada was so nice, he did a starbucks run for me and declan joined up to help in the driveway. he is ALL BOY wanting to get in and drive a car already!