James's Nursery School Graduation 2015

James had his first move-up ceremony! On the one hand, I feel that wistful my-little-boy-is-growing-up feeling. On the other hand, it's only nursery school. He goes to preschool next year, and Kevin and I both started school in preschool. I'm really glad he got a little school this year though because he was home a lot with me before that and he needed some socialization with other kids. He's come a long way with sharing and cooperating. Plus we really enjoyed that he went to a nature and science nursery school with a lot of outdoors time and worm-handling and gardening.

Same sign as first day.

One of his friends, Celia.

The move-up ceremony was really quick. Like don't-blink-quick. The kids walked out, sang a butterfly song (which James did not seem familiar with, perhaps because he didn't actually attend school this week), and then they called their names for certificates. They also got a little gift bag with a book, their art projects and their final report card. James got his first perfect report card with improvements in sharing and caring and whatnot. 

Ready to perform a song about a butterfly before "graduating"

Close up! James, ?, Peyton, Riley, and Micah

Future Class Clown? What he did when he saw I was taking A LOT of pictures.

With his teachers Ms. Sue and Miss Andrea standing right there no less!

Getting his certificate (15 seconds)

Posing with his certificate. Ready for summer then PreSchool!

My own report on his progress is that he definitely communicates like a toddler now and tells little stories about what happened. He been able to read and write all the letters since before he started nursery school, but now he can sight-read some words. I'm not sure if he knows about sounding stuff out or not, but I think I might clue him into that this summer. He can also do a little simple addition. I'd also really like him to focus on Spanish this summer. Honestly, the hard part is making myself focus on it when it's so much easier to just stick to English.

Then they all got to play a while because they're 4 years old.

With his best school friends Elena and Sabina

He trusts Dada will catch him.

We told him we were proud of him for working so hard and being good in class. Then we took him for ice cream.

Good job, buddy!

Post-graduation ice cream treat! (J picked cotton candy and M shared lemon with Dada)

• James's First Day of Nursery School- September 2014
• James's Nursery School Video- Fall 2014
• James's Nursery School Holiday Party 2014
• Reading at James's School- March and April 2015

Cape Cod- June 2015

The kids were extremely excited to go to the Cape. Specifically, James was very excited to go see Grandma and his "best friend" Ellen. Miranda didn't totally understand what was going on, but she knows that suitcases mean someone is going somewhere, so she decided to spend the entire day sitting in the suitcase so that no one could leave without her. In an act of solidarity, James joined her.

M and J's reaction to a suitcase.

I wish Miranda's enthusiasm had carried over to the actual car ride though. She cried so much in one leg of the trip that we had to pull over to pacify her. And then she thanked us like this:

Smart ass.

But at last we made it! This was a big trip because my mom also joined us, and together we went to Truro for my Grandmother Catherine's very belated memorial service. She passed away in December, but the family agreed it was best to do the service over the summer. We had a full Catholic mass, I did the eulogy, and her other three grandkids Graham, Rachel, and Griffin did some bible readings. Afterwards we went to the cemetery to place her in the family plot with Grandpa Jim, and Uncle Kevin.

Our contingent before we left for Truro

Grandma Catherine's family: Maura, Rachel, Graham, me Richard, mom, Elaine and Griffin

That took the better part of Saturday but we had until Monday at dinner to enjoy the Cape. Aunt Nesie, Aunt Mary, and Great Great-grandma Ruth babysat for us, we had lunch with my mom, hiking with Kevin's mom, and the kids spent lots of time at the pond.

Aunt Nesie showing Miranda how to pet Harry

Aunt Mary snuggling the kids

Great Grandma Ruth attacks with a teddy bear!

A little quality time with Nana on the deck

Hiking with Grandma

Lots of time at the pond on different days:

James and Ellen sitting on the water (adorable)

Miranda rocking her new bathing suit

Drying off at the pond

We also got to visit with Uncle Steve, Uncle Chris, and a few of Grandma's friends on the Cape. And James got to play with Ellen every day we were there. A very busy trip!

Uncle Chris entertaining Miranda

Miranda, James, and Ellen playing with Grandma's mini iPad

Playing doctor

Happy Juneteenth 2015!

Happy 150 since slavery finally ended in the United States, on June 19, 1865!

Mom's Birthday 2015

My beautiful mom's birthday was last week and I sent flowers to her office on the day of, but we waited until this weekend to celebrate. We were in Cape Cod for Grandma Shute's much-belated memorial service, so we took the opportunity to have some lobster rolls at one of our favorite places there, Sesuit Harbor. We had planned on getting ice cream too, but we were stuffed out of our minds, so that part didn't work out. It was a beautiful day to sit on the harbor though, and lobster rolls definitely taste better with my mom. Love you, mami!

Me and mom at Sesuit

Watching the boats come in

Kevin was there too


And Bob!

 

We left the kids with Aunt Mary, but here's the girls' picture before lunch

Birthday flowers at work

Casey Visits- June 2015

Casey visited last week. He and Kevin did the tour of bars in our neighborhood on Monday night, and he and Kevin went to visit Jon in Hoboken on Tuesday night. Except for Kevin's disastrous experience with the Path, good times all around.

Monday night bedtime at Daddy Day Care

Tuesday night bedtime at Daddy Day Care

Tuesday morning competitive Pac Man

Tuesday night drinks in Hoboken (not pictured: Jon)

Our 6th Wedding Anniversary 2015

We gambled our anniversary date on a horse. In 2011, we went to the Belmont Stakes with our friends. The best part was that we could just walk over from our house in about 20 minutes. I tried to go again a few years ago when one of the horses won at the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the first two legs of the Triple Crown. But when that horse scratched before Belmont, I lost motivation.

Still, I love horse races (Gold Cup and Foxfields being my most frequent horse races) and the fact that we live so close to Belmont, called me to the Belmont Stakes every year. Plus, it's a really big deal in our town. They have a town celebration in honor of it the day after every year. One main problem with going has been that it's always on the same weekend which is also our anniversary, my mother's birthday, and Great-Grandma Ruth's birthday so we never have a lot of motivation or a readily available babysitter.

A few things happened this year to motivate me. One is that the race fell exactly on our anniversary and we weren't sure what to do for anniversary anyway. We just went to a fancy night our for our 5th anniversary (6 months late) and a big trip isn't in our budget or time allowance right now. The second thing that happened was that American Pharoah won the first two races. It was at least theoretically possible that we could have a Triple Crown win on our anniversary. The third thing was that our kids had gotten used to a hired babysitter over the last 8 months. So we knew who to call so we could go to Belmont for a little while.

But Kevin was concerned. While we had a really good time in 2011, Kevin was less than impressed with the actual horse track facilities. He was worried that our anniversary wouldn't "be nice enough." I thought this was a little strange considering he loves dive bars. My counter-point: what if it's the Triple Crown? So off to the races we went.

In front of the ivy-covered windows of Belmont Park

While we were emotionally betting on American Pharoah to win, we did not actually bet on American Pharaoh to win because the payout would be pretty low. We'd have to bet a lot to gain anything if he won, and that would mean we'd lose a lot if he lost. So we bet on some less likely horses #6 (my pick because 6th anniversary yo!) and #8 (Kevin's pick). Then we did a trifecta bet that American pharoah would win, #6 would be second (my choice again), and #8 would be third. The trifecta bet had a least a chance of having a nice payout for our very little $10 bet.

In line to place our trifecta bet!

YAY!! TRIPLE CROWN!!

American Pharoah became the first triple crown winner in 37 years! Oh but the horses came in 5, 6, 7. Oh well. Still totally worth it. I will post a video of everyone running out of the stands cheering as soon as I get caught up on videos.

Also, I often post something about our actual marriage in my anniversary posts. This is my thought this year. Each spouse has the responsibility of being the best spouse they can be- not as the temptation drives many- to make the other person be the best spouse they can be. In other words, as a wife, my job is to be the best wife I can be, not to make Kevin be a better husband. He's a great husband any way, and yes, I can talk to him about whatever problem I have, but my main focus is to be more loving to him in the way that he would most appreciate me showing him love. For me, love is very "showy": words, kisses, hugs. For him, love is very action-based. I can love him best when I do things to support him at home, in his career, his mental state, etc. He is awesome at doing these things for me probably in part because he feels they're so important for him. So that's what I'm working on. I hope that my effort is itself a show of love on my way to actually achieving what he wants.

Visiting Sarah and Lio- June 2015

I went to go see Sarah and my newest little buddy, Lio, last week. We had lunch, talked about babies, and went for a long walk around Astoria. I think it was more of a treat for me than it was for Sarah.

And of course, I got to snuggle Lio.

So beautiful!!

Baby-selfie!

Bronx Zoo 2015

It seems crazy that it's been 3 years since we went to the Bronx Zoo. On Wednesdays it's free! (If you go another day of the week it's pretty pricey, but you can get 10% off by buying online.) You can park on the street for free if you find a space along Southern Boulevard, but I wouldn't recommend actively trying to do that because all the Bronx Zoo signs lead you to the parking lot, and it is easier to fly out of a black hole than to find a free spot after you've seen the parking lot. (Alternatively, next time, I might try the subway #2 train to Pelham Parkway then go west to the Bronx River -Gate B.)

In any case, we made it! And we saw animals!

Giraffes in the distance

Checking out the lions and learning which one is the male and which is the female

Lazy bones lions

Looking at the peacock

A gorgeous peacock

Polar bear!

Family picture with polar bear

Predictably the duck pond was their favorite thing. We could just have taken them to a duck pond.

Oh look! Ducks! Let's stay in this one spot all day then!

Oh but this IS cute.

The following conversation happened after the ducks:
Me: "The tiger exhibit was kind of disappointing."
Kevin: "You're only saying that because there were no tigers."

I don't think these fish are an exhibit, I think they're tiger food.

Seals!

James got a good view of the seals.

Miranda, Kevin, and a rhino.

• Trip to the National Zoo 2014
• Bronx Zoo with friends 2012
• Bronx Zoo 2011