Tonight I was cooking, and suddenly I felt something run into my legs. This is a common thing for Lizzy to do, so it took me a second to turn around. When I finally did, this is how I found her :) Apparently she needed to use her bug net for something other than catching bugs.

Lizzy and I also wanted to show off her toes. Lizzy was having a little trouble learning her colors, but as soon as I put paint on her nails she learned blue, yellow, and she keeps saying her toes are pink. Who knew it only took a little beauty to bring her out :)

I was lucky enough to be invited to the wedding of one of my former students, and I got to go with my good friend and fellow English teacher Christi. Here we are all dressed up, and below I got to pose with one of the prettiest brides I have ever seen. You could just she her happiness and loveliness shine out.

Congratulations Hannah and Drake- Thanks for having me.
And tonight we were blessed to have the Walters family over for dinner. Lizzy has been going to the Walters house since she came home, and now she will be staying home with Daddy full time. We will miss seeing them all the time, and as you can tell Lizzy seems a little attached.

We are so lucky to have found people outside our family who love our little Lizzy, and I know we all feel like they are family now.

Good luck in college this year David, and we should all wish Danny good luck because he has me again this year-poor boy-for three hours a day :)

The family (with the Crowells-of course) at the Doodlebops. Lizzy LOVED it. Later, I learned that we could have had front row tickets if I had only called Lonnie Steele. Lonnie used to be the principal at Washington, and he runs the Porter Co. Fair. Well...there's always next year.

Here is the Lizzy with the prize that she won (with Daddy's help) in a fishing game. She is quite proud.
Okay...so this was our fourth trip to the fair. We HAD to go with Ione, and we had a great time looking at the animals and riding the rides. I love how Lizzy is even smiling perfectly while she lets Ione drive.

We have been going swimming a lot this summer thanks to our friends Natalie and Caden. Yesterday Lizzy talked one of our favorite lifeguards into giving her a lesson, Caden, as you can see did not want to be a part of it :)



Today we tried to go to the fair to see the dog show...it was a disaster. We had to beg for food vendors to give our hot, hot kids some food; the dog show was two hours later than I thought; but luckily Caden had his first ice cream cone-which was a huge success.

This weekend was a weekend where a lot of things changed-some more than others. Lizzy went to her first baseball game. I came armed with the heaviest bag ever full of toys, but I should have known that Caden as all the excitement Lizzy needed. Here there are eating their dinner-french fries. I know-Brittney has nothing on me:)

Also, we, okay me, were excited because this was the first time that Lizzy was able to wear reall pig tails. Prepare to see them everywhere.
We also got to see the Valpo Triathlon up close because the runners come right past our house. Matt caught the three of us watching the race outside Lizzy's playroom. Maggie was as excited as Lizzy was.
Mommy and Daddy go to a wedding. And this is the last big first this weekend. Justin and Melissa spent their first time together as marrieds (do I sound British?). I was part of introducing them a couple of years ago, and we were so excited that my only time matchmaking ended up in a happy ending.

Congratulations to the happy couple and thanks for letting us be a part of it.

Lizzy absolutely loves Caden Crowell, and she talks about him all the time. We have been having such a fun summer getting to see him more, and last night we all got to go to El Salto for some fun, music, and drinks (especially for the mommies).

We were very busy the last couple of days. We headed to Winamac twice to see Aunt Heather and cousins Connor and Chapman who were in from Atlanta. We were lucky enough to catch the county fair in Winamac when we were there. Lizzy needed her pig and cow fix.

Then, on Saturday, we were thrilled to head to Indy for Cousin Bevin's baby shower. Only seven weeks until Baby Boy O'Connor arrives-who can stand the suspense.

I spent most of my childhood dreaming, practicing, okay praying, that I would become a famous actress or writer (it didn't matter...whichever got me on Oprah) and that someday I would give an award speech. Well who knew it would be for my blog that I don't update as much as my mother would like. I think she wants to know what Lizzy is doing second by second:)

So my friend Sara presented me with an Arte y Pico award for my blog. Thanks Sara for the shout-out. I promise, in my speech, to be better about commenting on all of your blogs...I know, I know...it really is the best part.

Translated, it means "Peak of Art" and here, folks, are the rules of the Arte Y Pico award:
1. Choose five blogs you consider deserving of this award based on creativity, design, interesting material, and overall contribution to the blogger community, regardless of the language.
2. Post the name of the author and a link to his/her blog so everyone can view it.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given him/her the award.
4. The award-winner and the presenter should post the link of the "Arte Y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. Please post these rules.

So here are my five. They are really just the five I check the most:

1. Natalie: both Bo and Sam and the Notables...where do you find the time to be so good about this?

2. Jenn: Ione is so great, and I just love that I am getting to watch her get bigger in person and in cyberspace.

3. Jacque: Ty is adorable and his blog just makes me wish we could see him more, and we are super excited about baby #2 joining the blogging world as well!

4. Quinn: Have you seen Avery's blog?!?! I was blown away with the "Over the Rainbow" montage, and I am still speechless.

5. Beth: For a new mom, and all that comes with it, she is great about letting us all know about Baby Alaina. And, I love the title!

Lizzy Lee has been enjoying her time with Josh, here from California. Apparently they are both really tough. I like how she is tormenting him with not only her muscles, but with the Gymboree bubble blower. Take that Josh.
And we all really enjoyed seeing Amy, Rob and all of the Bardons on their yearly visit. Here's hoping you come back to the Chicago area soon!

This weekend we had some quality time with Daddy. We went to the European Market for the afternoon, and Lizzy loved the lemon freeze and her new hat from Abba. (My parents just got back from a trip.

Today we went to the beach with our friends Caden and Natalie. We had a great time until there was a near bird attack...don't ask...okay the seagulls wanted our snacks and they got a little too close for the mommies and Lizzy. Luckily Caden grabbed his bat and yelled "Back birds! Back!"
Good thing we had a man around especially since Lizzy has started saying, "Mommy, Daddy I princess."

Lizzy...this is how she looked when I went to get her this morning.
Later we went to visit Grammy at work, and she let Lizzy destroy her desk and stick post-its all over her. See...the whole family is crazy :)
And here is Lizzy's latest art project from her art class. Yes...I did most of it. That is why it is so good.

Today when I went to get Lizzy this is how I found her. I particularly like that she slept in her boots all night.

Lizzy at the Michigan City Zoo. The farm section was her favorite part.

On Sunday, we celebrated our Father's Day. We did it this way so that the whole day could be just about Matt, not so much running around, etc. Lizzy and I made a scavenger hunt for Daddy so he could find and go to his favorite places. We ended with lunch at a resturant that Matt actually picked...he claims he never gets to pick. We went to Pikk's and it was great. Maybe I should let him pick more often :)

On Monday, Lizzy and I went to the Michigan City Lighthouse Mall to return some things (and yes buy some more) and then we met Matt for lunch. Lizzy LOVED seeing her Daddy in the middle of the day.

Okay, so I went to scrapblog.com and changed the top of the blog. Thanks for the tip on your blog Sara and Tatum...What do you think?

Our Lizzy Lee turned two on Monday, and we couldn't be happier or prouder of our wonderful little girl!

Just a small picture of the madness. This picture doesn't really do it justice.

Angelina...playing so sweetly.
Lizzy and Evan working on their rock band.
Matt usually ends up working as a jungle gym at these parties, and last night was no exception. Don't feel badly...he encourages it and usually gets a couple of kids in trouble.

We decided to buy our new house for the room, for us as a family and to have people over. We have been lucky enough to have had several playdates here and to celebrate Mother's Day here. We wanted this to be a family house, so we pushed it to the limit last night when we invited over my work friends and their families. We had 11 kids here at one point, and it was great. Thanks everyone for coming and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETH! Don't worry...I won't post how old :)