Summertime, and the living is easy...mostly.

Well, we are now well past spring and right in the middle of summer. As I expected, this summer has been a very welcome bright spot in our big transition to Ohio. The winter was a bit rough what with Gabriel's eczema issues and the fact that everyone in the world (including me) seems to go into hibernation mode, shutting their families up inside to protect them from the cold. So, needless to say, I was very much looking forward to the weather warming up and getting the kids into different social activities. Elise has enjoyed interacting and playing with other children her age. She has a friend named Defne who she loves. She lives in our neighborhood so they get to see eachother pretty often. I also got her involved with some classes at our local Y. So far she has taken a swimming course and a soccer one as well. Lately she has been begging me to sign her up for swimming again so I think we will give it another go before summer ends. For now she is loving spending time with mommy and daddy outside, especially when it involves the slip n slide.



Now that Gabriel is getting bigger the kids are able to play together more and more. Gabriel is so close to walking, he really wants to be able to run around with his big sister. Of course, there is always jealousy issues, but they both love eachother very much and let eachother know it often, it's really cute. Whenever Gabe is in trouble, Elise is the first one he calls out for. Elise can often be found hugging her "little buddy".



Gabriel turned 1 just yesterday. We let him dig into some cupcakes, he really loved it. I can't believe that a year has passed already since he was born. Time really does fly.






Cutie pie at the zoo


Hiking on Elise's birthday weekend.


Swimming class


Creating a masterpiece together


Elise's third birthday cake

Ready for spring!

It is March 2010 and our first winter in Sylvania is drawing to a close. It has passed by remarkably fast, and the weather was relatively mild. We had a few good snow falls and there is still a couple of inches of snow on the ground but it is melting rapidly and the grass beneath is already green (something strange to eyes that have grown accustomed to witnessing winter's end in Oklahoma territory).

Elise enjoyed the winter though she spent much of it locked inside the warm house. We did take a few occasions for winter walks about our neighborhood with Elise and Gabriel. Daddy and Elise went sledding and Elise got to build a snowman with Mommy. Gabriel is just learning to crawl and is "walking" with the help of his walker. Elise likes to stand on the walker and Gabriel pulls her around like a little ox; they both laugh and he loves it all. Gabriel and Elise are developing a rapport that is beautiful to watch.

Our winter in Sylvania was punctuated by a Christmas visit back to Oklahoma City where Gabriel was baptized. This period was especially memorable because OKC suffered from a Christmas blizzard of epic proportions and Daddy only barely managed to make it into OKC on Christmas morning, in time to open presents with the kids. Definitely Christmas 2009 will become a family legend and subject of many stories told around the dinner table in winters to come.

But now, winter is drawing to a close and we are looking forward to springtime and summer; to planting seeds and growing flowers and veggies. Elise already has a cherished package of watermellon seeds she can't wait to plant. Hopefully we will spend many long summer evenings in our back yard and Daddy can relax on the patio while watching the kids play.