* * * E V A N * N O A H * S H A U N * * *: July 2011

Outdoor Artists

After graduation and our playdate, Grandma and Pop came over for dinner. And dear God, they brought over sidewalk paint! It looked nice painted over the melted marshmallows. (Actually, Jackie picked up all of the marshmallows - thank you!)

Grandma eats dinner innocently while Evan and Noah paint the house and themselves.

And now Evan's scaling the walls. This is what it's like having a house full of boys!

The Boys Do Hard Time

One rainy day we went over to Stone Harbor to visit Aunt Ella at work and the boys got arrested for being too very cute in public.

Sheriffs Cronin & Cronin show off their badges.

We actually met the real sargeant and one of the officers showed us around, like where they process criminals, fingerprint, etc. Check out Evan when he first went.

Mugshots were taken.

The officer took photos and printed out the mugshots for us!

Then the boys escape and make their getaway.

And on a sunny day.

Evan Graduates

I know these posts are out of order, but here's Evan's preschool graduation. Also, the photo quality is horrible. I think I know how to fix it, but I've been too lazy to do it.

Half the crowd there was for Evan! We had Olivia, Aunt Wanda, Aunt Genie, Aunt Ella, my mom, me, Noah and Mike. Seriously, are our kids loved or what. Evan's not even moving up to Kindergarten - he's moving up to another preschool! And the graduation was during the work week. He's just very loved.

Afterward, we had pizza and sandwiches at our place. Aunt Wanda's graduation present to Evan was 2 guns that shoot out mini marshmallows. It was hot and we all had melted mini marshmallows stuck to our feet. Jackie and Sydney came over too and got stuck in the stickiness. Next time we have a marshmallow fight, it will be over the Gaglione's house.

Congratulations, my little peanut! You are so smart and funny and you will do splendidly in Big Kid Preschool in September! Mommy, Daddy and Noah love you!

At the Zoo with Amelia

Bob sent me these - thanks Bob! The Cronin boys spent the day with Amelia at the Cape May County Park.

Here's Peter Parker before he turned into Spiderman.

He feeds his hungry little Amelia. It would be awesome if he was this sweet to his little brother.

Holy Cuteness!

Kisses from her momma.

And kisses from her G-Mom. That what you get for being SO CUTE! Thank God for Janice. She helped out so much with the boys and was so patient. AND she made homemade zucchini blueberry bread for us!

We check out the bird "house". Noah loves the birds! He loves the animals. Evan could care less. He's more into the little zoo vehicles that the zoo employees cruise around it.

Becky grooms Evan like a monkey.

Then Peter makes his transition! I tried to convince him to get the little Spiderman on his arm, but no such luck.

He kisses his Mary Jane.

And leaves some Spiderman makeup on her little head.

Noah takes over the playground.

Evan and Noah at 14 months

Noah at 14 months.

Evan at 14 months.

I thought it would be neat to put them side by side - so similar, yet so different!

We've been having so much fun this summer. It's the very best time of year to be a stay-at-home mom. Winter I'm pretty much pulling my hair out from being indoors, but I've never been a big fan of winter, working or not. One big thing we did was join the Wetlands Institute. Maybe that along with the library will help keep us busy all winter long. We've been there a couple of times so far. One day I took my little mother's helper, Olivia, with us.

Last week was super busy. Now get ready for over a week of summer fun...

Wednesday, we spent the day at the beach with Marti, Tim and their adorable kids John, Jude, Maggie and Charlotte. Charlotte, the world's happiest baby! She seriously is.

The kids and I met Becky, Amelia and Janice at the zoo the next day. That evening when Mike got off work, we met Marti (who was staying at North Wildwood) and her family and Janna and her family at the beach - then back to Marti's condo for drinks, pizza and to let the kids run around. By that time I was completely soaked because all the kids were in the ocean. I wasn't dressed in a bathing suit since it was turning dark. After sunset Evan actually took off his clothes on the beach and danced naked in front of everyone. That's my boy!

Then Friday night was girls' night! Becky, Chris and Amelia came over to spend the night. Chris dropped me and Becky off in Cape May where we met up with 2 of her friends, then Mike picked us up at the end of the night. The next day we all hung out, Mike and Chris took a bike ride, then Marti and the kids came over for a bit. I then dropped off Mike back in North Wildwood for mantime fishing with his friend and then the boys and I headed to Aunt Genie's pool for a swim.

The next day was the Big 4th of July Party at my parents' (even though it was only July 3) complete with fireworks, volleyball, pickled shrimp (my favorite), bbq and ice cream sandwiches made with homemade chocolate chip cookies and much, MUCH, MUCH more food. We left at 11:15 pm, but I heard the party actually ended way after we left - at 2am!

The next day - July 4th - we went to the beach with Brittany, my mom, Becky, Chris & Amelia and that's when everything came to a screeching halt. We pulled up to the beach and Noah threw up all over the car. I thought he was just carsick since we just switched him to a front-facing car seat. But no, he was feverish, shivering and listless the whole day. I felt so bad for him. We ended up missing the fireworks!!! It was the very first time I missed the 4th of July fireworks in my entire 34 years. We could hear them from our house, either Stone Harbor's or Middle's. I couldn't tell. Meanwhile, my mom had everyone over for leftovers and everyone walked to Upper's fireworks. We just couldn't swing it with the kids - especially Noah. So Mike and I just had a few drinks, just us, once the kids were in bed.

So then the next day, my parents had us over for dinner for my birthday. Noah was feeling much better and rode around next to Evan in his jeep - and we saw Aunt Ella for a little bit. Then the next day Evan got sick! I was home with Noah so he could nap and my mom and sister took Evan to Stone Harbor to the beach. It started raining so they packed up the beach stuff and just walked around the shops. Noah and I met them around 3:30 after he woke up and Evan was shivering with fever. He was so sick that he couldn't even look at toys at Hoy's, so home we went - where Mike grilled steak and veggies so we could celebrate my mom's birthday. Evan dozed on the couch. Mom and Brittany left early for AC so Brittany could get on a bus to go back to NYC and my dad stayed to watch the Philly's game outside at the garage with Mike. Woohoo we're busy little Cronins!

So now it's Friday and Evan is really sick and we've been in the house for the past 2 days. Imagine that! I think we got Amelia sick too and so we had to postpone our blueberry picking in Belleplain with Becky. Fun times can't last forever with exhausted kids and I'm sure that Mike and I are next to get sick, but we really did have fun. Yay summer!