Yippee -- Anna likes to go underwater!

Yesterday in the lake, Anna timidly got her face wet, all on her own (HUGE breakthrough; I'll explain later), and we got all excited about it. Before we knew it, she was swimming, underwater, between me and my mom, as we kept getting further and further apart! She was ASKING if she could get her face wet again, and swim underwater, over and over! Normally, at swimming lessons, she chooses to just be thrown in, in order to avoid bobs (dipping her head in the water at the side of the pool, in and out, 5x, and the beginning of each lesson). She had never even done a single bob before in the pool! She was so excited for "swim camp" this week and when I mentioned it to her this morning she was still excited about it, saying Miss Brianne (her instructor) was going to be so impressed and that she wanted to do 15 or 19 bobs, and swim underwater in the deep end! She said she keeps her eyes closed so they don't get wet, but "it's kinda cool with my eyes open because I can see all around under the water :)" She has been progressing really well all winter with her lessons, swim/treading water all over the deep end on her own, but still avoiding getting her head wet at all costs. So this is SOOOO exciting!!! We are so proud of her! The picture is actually from her second lesson as an underwater swimmer -- she wanted to try goggles since her eyes were stinging from all the chlorine, and they worked out really well!

Aunt Maribeth's 5th of July Party!

Sand, sprinkler, and picnicking fun at at home and THEN off to another 4th of July celebration!

Happy Birthday to Violetta, Carla, and the USA!

Thank goodness for "Uncle Bob's lake" (Lake Erie) on this toasty day! The birthday girls and everybody had a wonderful day!

Fast forward to July!

I guess I didn't take any pictures in the last week or so of June until today! We had the chance to enjoy some "Carla time" while Anna was having a sleepover at Grandma M's! Thanks Mom:) Both the girls also stayed over at Aunt Maribeth's last week and had a ball! I'm sure we did lots of other fun stuff too during the rest of June -- but I can't remember! I gotta remember that camera!

I could just eat her up!

Happy Father's Day!

What a beautiful day! Thank God that Anna and Carla have the very BEST dad ever!!! The sand and water and weather were awesome, and the cherries were also quite a highlight for the Grossner girls (including me) -- aren't they beautiful? Strange not having cousins there at Uncle Bob's lake, but we will see them soon -- in a week, they'll return from their trip to Italy and cruise all over the place!

Sleepover party!

Tonight, Ben, Lisa, David, Erica, and EVEN their dog! came to spend the night at our house. It was lots of fun -- both the big (adults) and little kids had so much fun playing together! Thank you guys for dinner! ...Lisa, you're a sneaky one!

Our cutie :)

This morning Carla was marching around giggling, saying over and over "Caween (Colleen), Mama, Caween, Mama...!" It's the first time she said my name. I have a video, but here's just a cute pic of our lovely lovey :)

Red, ripe, juicy strawberries - Yum!

We started the day inside playing dress-up, but then braved the rain for some berry picking, and it was awesome! Actually a lot more comfortable weather compared with picking in the hot, hot sun! And no sun block - yeah!

Roomie Reunion

What a fabulous day! 6 lovely ladies, 6 sweet husbands, 14 little darlings, and 2 more on the way! Good luck Alex! Thanks Jocie for your initiative, and everyone for all your yummy eats!

Sand Castle Masterpiece!

Thanks for building with us Grandma M! Have a great trip to Ireland!

Loving the new sandbox!

Thank you Dad!

Playground and Picnic

Another fun day with special friends :)

Happy Birthday Uncle Billy!

Anna was so proud of her new "invention". She latched a new Little Tykes wheel barrow cart to the back of Carla's tricycle - pretty cute. They were giving each other lots of rides; Carla is so strong - I can't believe she could pull Anna along - she sure was making an effort!

Our mystery hole

Check out this hole Mike found in the yard during the sandbox project -- pictures to follow of our new toy! About the hole, see the red in the grass? That's the end of that long shovel Mike is holding - he stuffed it in and there was enough space to fit in the whole shovel! He has filled 4 or 5 wheel barrows of dirt in there and it is still taking more dirt!

Happy Memorial Day!

Fun in the sun at the beach, in the sand, in the lake, and at the park with cousins! Here are some favorites from the day! And below is a slide show of lots more!

Depot Princesses

Nice to meet you Baby Jadyn!

We were so happy to spend time with my cousin Holly who lives in Chicago and her son, Mason, and new daughter, sweet baby Jadyn. As you can see, she is just beautiful, and sweet as can be. She lets everybody hold her (just like Anna did). I hope our new baby is the same way! Anna and Carla were both so sweet touching and trying to take care of Jadyn :)

Remember: you can click on this collage to enlarge it :)

Yippee -- I passed!!!!!

Today I became a certified as a Clinical Exercise Specialist through American College of Sports Medicine -- what a relief! Thank you everyone for all of your help, especially Mike and our moms, and Aunt Maribeth, and to the girls for their patience :) Never again will Carla have to worry about "Mommy's cards" (flash cards) and Anna is excited because "Now Mommy can play with us more!" (so sad about the last few weeks, and happy about from now on!) We had a fun evening celebrating out in the sun playing in the water.

We sure are having amazing spring weather!!!

Here is the result of Anna having some photo-editing fun!

Bright eyes :)

Daddy's Girls

Anna and Carla are SO in love with Daddy :)

New Sink and Old Friends!

Our new sink arrived (to be installed along with new kitchen counter tops in June - yeah!) and the box provided lots of early morning fun!


Then our friends Aubrey and Dane came to play, and everyone got along so well together! We've missed our Donovan buddies :)


PS- How funny is Carla with the pacie?! It was her first time trying one and she's almost 2! Same sort of thing with the dolly's baby bottle!

Horsie Rides

What an awesome, awesome day!

Back from a great trip, and oh, the beautiful weather! Anna probably multiplied her biking miles by 100 with our trip to the park! Usually, she just rides at the top of the driveway, and I don't think she's ever ridden past the sidewalk right in front of our house. She rode the whole way there (more than a mile!) and back (another mile!)! And Carla walked! Though Carla, sweet thing, didn't quite make it back. I gave her a ride for the last probably quarter mile, and as you can see, she fell asleep on my shoulders! Precious :) Taking that photo was a tricky challenge :) Carla was so cute helping Anna with her bike, pulling her! -- or as Anna was saying "helping a lending hand" ...or something like that (I think she was going for "Carla's lending a helping hand"). They had a great time at the park too, so much to look forward to for sweet summer days! Thank you God for the blessing of this gorgeous day!

Big Sister

Anna is really becoming quite the big sister. I think she will be genuinely helpful when our newest baby arrives in July. The Grossner girls always need "a story" when they are going to be going potty for a while. Thanks for your help Anna!

Our Trip to Lexington, KY

Funky focus seemed just right!

All she needed were two fingers up making the peace sign!

Had to get out the camera--

When I saw Carla with Anna's shirt around her waist, some cute too-big boots, and Daddy's leather glove pointing at me, I knew I had to delay getting ready to go to out for a minute to take a few pics! Anna with that flower in her hair was a bonus :)

A QUICK, wet, and windy Edgewater walk with Gramma!

Anna had a sleepover at Gramma's tonight. So fun for Anna! But Carla was truly lost without her big sister! It was really surprising and sweet.

Artistic Anna

Anna's drawing is really coming along! So exciting! Here she drew a lovely portrait of yours truly (Colleen) on Carla's Glow-Doodle (awesome toy!), but unfortunately it doesn't come out in photos.

Who knows?

Just playing around :)

Our sweet baby monkey requested "time out" and we couldn't resist letting her sit side by side with Anna for Anna's time out. It's so cute how Carla stands and sits exactly right beside Anna all the time to do exactly what Anna is doing, I guess this even goes for time outs :)

Indoor and Outdoor Fun!

Thank you Pilumeli's for the soccer goal (and soccer cleats!)! Thank you Gramma M for the finger paints!

Happy to head home!

We had a great visit to Chicago (the swimming was a great highlight!) and miraculously the girls slept well in the hotel, but it's always nice to go home, and just in time to miss some forecasted snow in Chicago!

Here are some favorites:



We took a quick swim before we left, and took a video of Carla jumping in!

Chicago Children's Museum and Rainforest Cafe

Fun times at the museum (it's HUGE!) and at dinner (very cool place!)! But the night ended early with Anna falling asleep at the table! And then Carla getting horrified by a kind frog character visiting the table!

Lincoln Park Zoo

We walked the whole way back to the hotel -- 2 miles -- it took us 3 HOURS! We were going at a leisurely pace to say the least! The horse carriage was a fun surprise to see on our walk back!

Chicago-bound!

Anna unpacked the whole suitcase - what a helper!

Carla dancing!

Happy Easter!

Morning fun with Easter Bunny deliveries :)



And food festivities and an egg hunt in the afternoon at Zia's!

Anna's 4th Birthday Party!

Thank you everyone for celebrating and sharing your gifts (especially the beautiful handmade gifts from the Pilumeli cousins!!) and yummy food! It was a lovely day :)

Birthday visit to the Zoo!

I think everyone in Cleveland came to celebrate Anna's birthday at the zoo! No really, it was a summer-like beautiful day, a Friday, Good Friday, and I think it was the busiest day EVER at the zoo! It took like an hour to drive in (going 0-5 mph once off the exit) and then it was create your-own-parking-space all the way back in the excess parking! Once everyone made it in, it was a great zoo visit, and great birthday for Anna! Happy birthday to the happy 4-yr-old! We love you Anna!

April Fools!

Today we went to lunch at Rocky River Brewery and Anna got a birthday treat and was confused when everyone was singing to her because "It's not my birthday!" We also had some playground fun and then went back to Grandma and Pas' for an Easter egg hunt with Joey and Tyler (happened too fast to take pictures!), and the girls were enjoying Joey's rocket toy as much as they were enjoying the flowers and eggs!