You May Have Heard...

...it's been raining here in the Northeast - a lot, as in every day, every day straight for a month give or take maybe 4 days of sunshine. Even on the sunny days, we seem to have a rain shower. It's getting old. I've realized I haven't blogged since Father's Day and that is mostly because we aren't doing anything! We're indoors every day, lots of trips to the library, running errands, watching movies, reading books. Laina asks me daily if we can go to the playground and all she ever hears is "not today, too much rain". Poor kid. But, we have kept ourselves busy with this great hand art project book that Auntie Renee gave to Laina last year for her birthday. We pull it out every now and again and Laina likes making her creations.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

My Joe, the man who was born to be a Daddy - Happy Father's Day! We had a nice day today. We got up and gave Joe his cards and presents, which I'm sure was the highlight of Laina's day - she loves gifts! We had a nice homemade french toast breakfast. Then Laina and I headed out to do some errands so that Daddy could have some "down time" and when we got back, we watched 101 Dalmatians together as a family. For dinner it was Daddy's choice and I made stuffed peppers. Overall a nice, relaxing family weekend. The two downsides - - - it hasn't stopped raining for days and today was no exception and yesterday Joe smashed his foot and likely broke or sprained his toe. He's all black and blue, swollen and limping around. Poor Daddy.

Right before opening presents. Joe is wearing the shirt that Laina made for him at school. She gave it to him on Thursday at the Father's Day ice cream social!

Joe's first present - a wind chime that Laina painted herself.

Daddy's new shirt!

"Love Hands" framed for Joe, from me. Hanging on the wall in our mudroom.
Excuse the glare from the flash!

The framed "I Heart U" picture from Laina and I

Laina and Daddy dancing to Loudon Wainright's "Daughter". We explained to Laina today that if it weren't for her, we wouldn't be able to celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day!

a little of this, and a little of that!

Laina caught a bit of a cold and on top of it, the weather has been wet and dreary and so we've been indoors for the past two days watching lots of movies and pretty much going out of our minds. Good times. Here are some of the cute moments though...

Laina's new activity - hand feeding Cooper

And a little rest after breakfast

Who needs nail polish?

Proud of herself or what?

More hand feeding - this time its dinner - and yes, she's sitting in his bed

Once again, proud of herself

Laina and Cooper looking for Daddy outside the window

The Stanley Cup Trophy that Laina made for Daddy

We also spent the day working on a little Father's Day surprise for Daddy, but shhhhhhh.....more on that later. The big question - - - can Laina keep it quiet until Father's Day? We shall see!

A few more dance pictures

When the big show started, I was back stage watching from the big screen TV they had set up...and my camera was with me. So Joe wasn't able to get any pictures of Laina out on stage. The one picture from my previous post was actually taken at the full dress rehearsal the night before. These pictures were taken by Laina's friend Ellie's family. Ellie is at the far right and Laina is right next to her so I was able to snag some live action shots from them!

Laina's Dance Recital

Laina's dance recital was today and she and all the kids did a wonderful job! They danced to "The Candyman", sung by the Fisher Price Little People - does it get any cuter? You can definitely tell the difference between last year and this year, in how much she has grown in her abilities. She had a wonderful time up on the enormous stage at the Merrill. We are so proud!

Laina's professional dance picture

Family photo before heading up to the big show

Laina and her best buddy, Ellie backstage

The whole crew

My tiny dancer, up on the big stage

Today Was A Good Day

My Sweet Laina,
Some days with you can be so trying. Age three is a hard age for mommy & daddy! You are learning so much about yourself and your world and you assert your strong independent self all the time. There are constant struggles and battles and arguments. But then along comes a day like today that renews my energy! You were an angel today. You were kind, cooperative, jovial, sweet, loving and delightful. Don't get me wrong, little one - even a hard day with you is still a pleasure because overall you are a great kid - but some days are harder than others - and today was an easy one. Thanks for giving mommy a break!
Love, Mommy

Here's what we did today...

Who Needs A License Anyway?