Pumpkin Picking 2008

We had our annual pumpkin carving contest so of course we needed to go pick out some pumpkin's. We are looking forward to taking Ellie to Cox Farms Fall Festival so we can really enjoy this time of year, but in the meantime we had some fun going to the pumpkin patch...

Ohio

Unfortunately we had to make a sad trip up to Ohio at the end of August, as Ellie's great grandma passed away. The day of the service was beautiful and it would have been exactly what Grandma would have wanted. Still, it was difficult to say good-bye. She will be missed terribly. We had a nice time visiting with our cousins and thier kids, as always.

Anniversary Trip to the beach

The past couple of years we have gone up to the beach to celebrate. This year was no exception, but this year we did things a little differently. Instead of going up to Rehoboth, we went to Ocean City. I haven't stayed in Ocean City since my Senior year in high school. We stayed with the Brophy family at a family friends house. We had a great time exploring Ocean City and taking Ellie to the rides on the boardwalk.

Mary's Birthday Party

On the 14th, we were invited to Mary Jones birthday party at Reston Zoo. There were some old friends we hadn't seen in a long time and it was great to see them!

Playdate, Playdate, Playdate

We had lots of playdates in August. First we had dinner with Kelan Brophy, and her mommy and daddy. The brophy's came over and we hung out and had some dinner. Kelan is still a little too small to play, but at least we got to spend time with the new family!

Next, we had a visitor all the way from California! Matthew and his mommy Marie! Matthew, Marie and one of Ellie's best friends, Charlotte and her mommy, Kelly all came over.

The kids played with Ellie's toys while the mommy's got to catch up! Marie brought some yummy dinner over too. When Ellie was a baby she hated her carsear, but for some reason, she wanted to hang out in Charlottes...

The following weekend we got to meet another friend from California, Shane and his friend from Virginia Sam. The kids had a ball together, there was lots of running around, stair races and Ellie and Shane each had thier first kiss : )

Beach Break

We were in some need of some fun in the sun, so on the first weekend of August we headed up to Rehoboth. I got to do a little bit of shopping, and we even got to go out for a date night, while Ellie hung out at home. We spent all day Sunday at the beach, it was a beautiful day! Later that afternoon we took Ellie to FunLand and she rode on the little boats and the fire engines all by herself!! We just couldn't bring ourselves to drive home that day...so we left the next morning, and I went straight to work.

Here is Ellie's very first solo ride...

Baltimore

Ted and I decided it might be nice to go away on a little mini staycation, so we packed Ellie up and headed up to Balitmore. Ellie was a little under the weather, but as always she was a trooper. We got a hotel right in the Inner Harbor. After checking in we walked around through the innner harbor and explored the Maryland Science Museum.

We had a great dinner in Little Italy and then headed back to the hotel. On Sunday we hit the Aquarium. We were supposed to go see a Dolphin Show, but that morning one of the dolphins gave birth!

After the Aquarium we had a wonderful meal at The Rusty Scupper. When we are in Maynard, visting our family we eat at "The Scupper" so it reminded me of Ellie's Great Grandpa.

Ellie's has another best friend!

We are so excited for the Brophy family, they welcomed a beautiful little girl on Saturday morning, named Kelan. We are so thrilled for them. We went over to the hospital today and got to spend a little time with the new family. Kelan is beautiful!!! Congrats to the Brophy's, we look forward to many, many years of happy celebrations with you all!

4th of July

We headed to the beach again for the 4th of July. We took off around noon on Thursday and then came home Monday night. It was wonderful having a nice long weekend up there. Aunt Jen came down from NYC, so it was great to spend lots of time with her. Ellie had a ball hanging out on the beach and even swimming in the ocean. The ocean was freezing, but Ellie did not seem to notice at all, each time we would take her out of the water she would go running right back in. One passerby even commented that she "had no fear".

We also visited FunLand (twice) and rode on some of the rides.

Father's Day

I was uploading some pictures to the computer today and realized I hadn't posted any pics from our Father's Day. Ellie and I took Ted to the Old Town Waterfront Festival. It was so hot, but we still managed to have a great time. We saw Ralph's World perform and took Ellie on a few rides. After the Festival we went to Union Street for some lunch and to cool off.

Where to start

So it has been about 2 months since I have written last, and I don't really know where to begin. First off, Ellie's Great Grandpa past away. He was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in early May. I was very happy that I got the opportunity to see him once last time. I am very sadden by the fact that he never got to meet Ellie, but I know that he will always look after her. My grandmother passed away 9 years ago, and I think our whole family finds peace knowing they are together again.

Our little Ellie has now officially entered the world of being a Toddler. She turned 1 in May and we had a party for her at Monkey Business. With her being such a big girl now, she is trying all kinds of new foods, her favorite is still cheese.

Boston & New York

The past two weekends I was away...the first weekend I was in Massachusetts for two nights. Ellie's great grandpa is very ill and I went up to see him. He seemed to be having a couple of good days, which was encouraging. The most important thing at this point is for him to be comfortable and surrounded be the people that love him.

This past weekend we took Ellie up to the big apple for the first time. It was Aunt Jen's birthday celebration. We had a wonderful time and the weekend FLEW by. We can't wait to go back up there for a weekend of good food, good shopping and great company.

Unfortunately, I have no pics from either weekend, but I should be getting some from my trip to NYC soon.

First Beach Trip of the Year

So we went to the beach for the first time this year the weekend of the 5th. We went with Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jonny and little Charlotte. It was the first time Charlotte went away and we were thrilled it was with us : ) Friday night Kelly and I made dinner, if you can call it that! We attempted goat cheese ravioli, and lets just say my Italian family would want to disown me. Saturday Kelly and did a little shopping and of course our kids made out like bandits. Saturday night we ate at The Cultured Pearl, it was a great time.

Friday was gorgeous up there and we hit the beach to take some pictures. Ellie was quite the princess and didn't want her hands to touch the sand.

Baptised

We had a big day on Saturday, Ellie was baptised! It was a wonderful ceremony with Father Escalante at Saint Luke's in McLean. There were about 30 people there, and after the ceremony we had a nice reception at Washington Golf Country Club. Aunt Jen, Grandpa and Nana Mary came in town. Aunt Jen and Christos Gougoufkas are Ellie's godparents, and we feel honored to have them both!

Ellie's First Easter

Sunday was Ellie's first Easter, and we had a great weekend celebrating! On Saturday we took her to see the Easter Bunny and then Reston Zoo, we feed a baby lamb and saw camels, goats, a monkey etc. Sunday we had a great brunch in Reston at the Hyatt Regency, they had a cookie decorating station, an egg hunt, a band and a lot more. Ellie was a little young to fully enjoy it, but it was great to see all the little kids in thier new Easter outfits!

It's been a while...

since I have written. This weekend was a little hectic. I went and got some crabs with my girlfriends on Friday night and then Saturday morning Ellie and I went with Auntie Kerry to help Kerry pick out some of Ellie's favorite must-have items. Kerry is expecting a playmate for Ellie in July : )

Saturday night I went downtown to celebrate Shelly's 30th birthday, and let's just say that I recovered ALL DAY Sunday...

This weekend we are going to go to the Reston Zoo so Ellie can go Easter Egg hunting, and then we are going to have a nice Easter Brunch!

Auntie Amanda

Today we went to Grandma's and Ellie saw her Auntie Amanda again (the first time was when Ellie was about a week old). We had dinner at Mama Lucia's...it was great catching up with Amanda!

Sunday Funday

We ad a full day today. We went to church, Babies R Us, the mall and then over to the Brophy's for dinner. Ellie has fallen in love with dogs. Buko and Chela (the Brophy's dogs) were giving Ellie kisses and she thought it was the best thing ever. She started crawling after Buko, and each time Buko would bark Ellie would laugh hysterically. I honestly have never heard her laugh like that. It honestly was just like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY

Kerry made an awesome dinner and as always the company was fantastic.

Ellie's sleep patterns have gotten a little crazy over the past week or so. I think it is just some separation anxiety. As tired as I am, I feel so incredibly blessed to have Bean in my life and I find myself falling in love with her more and more each day. Over the past few days or so, I have been following a blog of a family who recently lost their 3 month old, and only imagining what that family must be going through makes me realize just how lucky I am to be getting up with Ellie in the middle of the night.

Ellie and Charlotte

Today Ellie met her new best friend Charlotte for the first time! Charlotte was born on Valentine's Day and she is beautiful! Kelly (Charlotte's mom) brought Charlotte over for the first of many playdates.

She didn't want Charlotte to leave...

Ellie is 9 months old now, and she is getting so big. She is sweet as can be, and is all smiles and giggles. She is standing up on her own and I imagine she will be walking before we know it.

We took Ellie to go see Mr. Knick Knack http://www.mrknickknack.com/ today and then we had a great lunch with Grandma at McKeever's in McLean.

Tommorrow we are headed to church, we have a bunch of errands to do and then we are going over to the Brophy's for a family Italian dinner.

First post

So I decided to start a blog, thinking it would be a great way to keep our friends and family updated on whats happening with us!