We laughed & cried in the month of July!

Brace yourself- July was a doozy! Once again, there were lots of mixed emotions, lots of highs and lows, lots of fun with some sadness mingled in, and lots of pictures to show for it... Including a slew of sweet pics of our little baby's "photo shoots" over the last couple of months! 

The month included special time with dear friends, lots of enjoyment being closer to Nana & Pop-Pop, and even the extra special treat of seeing Steve's sister, "Aunt Kim," for a few days! And again, this was all in addition to the mundane days of more unpacking/getting settled, missing NYC-living and especially the people that made NYC life worth living, plus the frequent craziness of raising two little ladies who keep us on our toes.

But, to keep this post at a decent length, I will let the pictures tell more of the story of our July happenings.

Independence Day began with a yummy breakfast at our local diner,

then we headed to Nana & Pop-Pop's to drop Lilee off so we could have some special time with Maelee at the National Harbor.

She still LOVES carousel rides!

And especially loves playtime with daddy :)

(Even on a giant foot...)

Our sweet little patriotic lady :)

Time for dessert on the roof!

YUM!!!

Had to include all three :) 

Staying up late to watch fireworks!

We had a super fun 4th and Maelee LOVED "the concert" that she watched of DC's Capitol 4th.  It is hilarious that she knows all the singer's names and songs- from Phillip Phillips to Fankie Valli! 

A big development for Lilee in the month of July was the start of solids!!! 

She didn't seem to have the biggest appetite, but took to it pretty well!

With Maelee's "Buddy" the bunny :)

The second weekend in July, we got to see Aunt Kim!!! We borrowed "Emma" (my folk's SUV) for a road trip down to the adorable little town of Charlottesville, VA, to watch our favorite Hard Knox derby gal in a roller derby bout, before heading back up for a sweet 2-day visit.

These little cheerleaders enjoyed the game and loved supporting their aunt!

Love the matching poses b/t Maelee & Kim!  

And the smiles on all three are the best :)

Special bonding time by our building's pool

River cruise over to the Harbor!

Lilee's first boat ride!

More carousel fun for Maelee!  Even better riding with Aunt Kim!

Such a trouper during the hot day!

It was so great to spend time with Kim and both girls loved it. 

Other fun developments with this sweet little girl were the start of some belly scootching, and our favorite- growling.  Yep, that adorable face growls, and it's hysterical!!!  And not even when she's expressing anger or frustration, it's just part of her babble.  Fun times!

Also discovered this cool playground just up the street

Where Lilee had her first ride in the swings!

Not so sure at first... :)

The July weekend fun continued towards the end of the month with a super fun visit with one of my best pals, Cindy, and her awesome kiddos, TJ & Alli

We met at the gorgeous Centennial Park in Ellicott City, MD and Steve played Super Dad taking these three kiddos out on the paddle boat.  After being scared a wee bit into holding on for dear life (!), they all relaxed and enjoyed the ride:)

 It was so great to see these special friends and we're so excited to get to see them more frequently now that we're only about 1 hour apart vs 4 hours apart!

Another nearby playground where Lilee enjoyed her first trip down the slide!

Back to the "sprayground" playground with our dearest friends from NYC, Desiree with her boys, James & Ethan, who got to have a quick stop-in visit on their way down to Lynchburg.

Oh, how we miss those boys!!!

And how I especially miss their mama!!!

The visit was too short, but still super sweet.  

Missing our NYC friends was definitely cause for tears this month despite lots of joy and laughter.  There is a lot that we are grateful for here and we know it was the right move to relocate, but much of our hearts still remain in the city and it has definitely been tough at times transitioning out of that lifestyle.  Our quick visit back up to NY at the end of July for a friend's wedding didn't really help as it was a bittersweet reminder of what and who we left behind...  We were thankful for the time away- the girls certainly enjoyed their special time with Nana & Pop-Pop and it we loved seeing some sweet friends, but it was almost too soon to go back.  Pics from that trip will be in our special NYC post that will hopefully soon follow.

For now, we are anxious to get plugged into a church home and get back into a routine.  And we are loving being closer to family which has put a lot of smiles into the hard transition of a move. 

And speaking of smiles, what better way to end this post looking back on July, than with our sweet Lilee's 6 month "photo shoots!"  Starts with a few from the 5 month mark, then some sweet 6 month shots we took at home, ending with some outdoor shots from our visit to Centennial Park. 

Our little "butterfly" at 5 months old

And 6 months!

Happy half-birthday, sweet girl!  You are sooo loved.

More pics of Lilee:

And a final slideshow of more July pics:

Summertime- Time to sit back and REWIND!

I have to admit- there's a part of me that's tempted to just skip past the June & July posts since we're already well into August and I'm a bit overwhelmed at the thought of going backwards... but then I look over some of the pics from that time, and especially all that happened with the big highs and lows, and I can't imagine glossing over the first half of this summer.  

There's a super special post (to us, at least!) in the works where I've tried to get lots of photos grouped together of our NYC "family" as a final hurrah to the city and to June (plus May even), so once I get a few last shots from that, I'll get that up.  But for now, this post will focus more on just the girls or the four of us and some of our last outings before the big move.

Both May and June were such a strange mix of stress/packing/sadness, etc, combined with fun outings/friends/joy (including our everyday life of a daddy that works from home on a computer and a mama that works from home caring for two attention needing little girls...), that it's a difficult season of our life to sum up.  

Maelee stayed active with countless playground trips with friends, her last gymnastics classes (where she loved doing the "big girl flips," ie "forward rolls on the bar," after initially fearing them), more time at the Art Farm, and finishing up Fast Track classes where my favorite story of her there was when she asked the teacher's about "Jesus' environment" after learning about the environment of different animals. :)  

Lilee continued to change each day, becoming more and more expressive and chattering more, while also keeping us on our toes with frequent "witching hour" fussies and playing the guessing game of what could be bothering her...  She can be a sensitive little lady, but we sure do adore her sweet spirit and she was definitely a trooper tagging along with us to many of our NYC activities.  She caught quite a few zzz's nestled in the baby carrier and stroller!

The pics are a bit of a hodge podge since the next NYC post of our friends all happened concurrently but I still wanted to keep these separate.  So, here's some of the fun we had enjoying what may be a "busy, dirty, loud, crowded" city to some, but was "cozy, friendly, bustling yet almost small town-like" home to us.

Enjoying some park time

Taking in as many final NYC date nights as we could! 

Yummy UES Italian place

Some of the many sweet expressions of our little Lilee

Celebrating best pal, Ethan, on his birthday

Our little butterfly :)

Blowing raspberries- one of her favorite things to do!

One of our many Saturday morning breakfasts- 

this one at a sentimental favorite, Timmy's, right around the corner

11th Anniversary Date Night at Red Rooster-

Marcus Samuelsson's Harlem restaurant

Silly time with daddy

More sweet expressions :)

June went by fast and we're thankful for the special times as a family we were still able to have in NYC before saying goodbye.  And while we were both focused and distracted by various move responsibilities, these girls just continued with life as usual and we didn't want to miss that!  They were such sweet reminders of all that really matters despite whatever craziness may surround us :)

June Celebrations

How are we already into the middle of summer?  Whew, the last couple of months have flown by.  It has been a whirlwind, filled with lots of changes and mixed emotions.  June especially was a month filled with happy times and sad, but this post will focus on the happy events that celebrated my mom's retirement from 20+ years as an educator, and my Too-dad's 90th birthday.  With the added bonus of my brother's visit from Japan to help celebrate, too! It is a good thing these two parties sandwiched our move from our beloved home of NYC, as they were joyous moments we were able to look forward to.  Once I get some pictures from a friend, I'll have a post that features many of our most special friends from the city as well as some of our final moments there, but for now, we'll stick to pics with some of our super special family.

The weekend before our move into our new VA home, we were able to toast my mom for her many accomplishments as an educator- from a substitute teacher to a Vice Principal, working in Special Education and as a Reading Specialist in between. Co-workers, friends (old & new!), and family gathered to recognize not just her hard work, but also her kind & cheerful heart and spirit.  She has impacted so many lives and we are so proud of her!  And are looking forward to her retirement :)

 

Sweet Lilee had a bit of a rough evening but wouldn't miss being there for her Nana!

A cane!  As one student told my mom she couldn't retire because she wasn't old enough and didn't have a cane! :)

Sharing sweet memories

A proud daddy with his girl

With "Auntie Coop-" a dear family friends and college roommate of my mom's!

It was a special evening and such a treat for me to see so many of my dad's family, as well as old family friends, that I haven't seen in years, and in some cases, decades.  Such a sweet night.

More pics from June in VA:

The following Wednesday was the big day- moving into our new apartment.  Steve was a champ, finishing up the final details in NYC and driving a u-haul down the night before, and Wednesday was crazy.  Somehow, someway, praise the Lord, it got done. It was quite a day, and also the day my brother came in from Japan! So at least the overwhelming task of a move was a bit tempered with the excitement of seeing family! 

Then the next weekend, we had the super sweet pleasure of celebrating my Too-Daddy for his 90th birthday!!!  I still can't believe he is 90.  I am beyond grateful to have this man in my life and it was so special to get to honor him.  His kids, step-kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids were all there to mark the occasion and we had a blast seeing everyone. 

Our sweet little Lilee can be fickle sometimes but did great with her GREAT Too-dad!

And Maelee was SO thrilled to hang out with her Uncle Dan!

Excited to play with "cousin" Caleb :)

Love the joy on those faces!

Fun with fireflies!

Beautiful Thumbelina... :)

The sweet Thumbprint Tree

The oldest & the youngest of the family

So sweet together!

Happy Birthday to one incredible man!

Smallest print...

So grateful for this family!

These sweet great grand-kiddos did so well!

Uncle Dan with his adoring nieces

Sweet, and classic, daddy/daughter moment

There were precious words spoken and happy tears shed as we all reflected on what a gift Too-dad has been in each of our lives. It was one happy weekend, and so needed after a crazy week filled with so many mixed feelings.

More pics from June in DE:

Here we are almost a month after, and we are just about settled into our new home- still missing our old home but adjusting and figuring out the new normal.  It has been wonderful being closer to family and such a blessing to have my mom around so much to help out!  So we continue to just look at the positives.  More posts to follow documenting this eventful summer - stay tuned!