So many fun things and not enough time to post...

naked greeting party.

A dip in the pool, fully clothed!


Momma and Ella dining alfresco. Such a big girl! She fed herself an entire omlet!

Being a little devil at Ryan Milford's bday! Such a devil, we didn't get a chance to take a pic of the bday boy!

Ella trying to lick blue moon off an empty beer bottle. Shame.

Hi all!

We are busily winding down our summer here in Chicago and this brings me such sadness. We had the best summer, ever! We had a colic free summer with hot, hot weather which was much welcomed by this displaced southerner.

Ella is 15 months old. She is amazing. She is so kind! She is my angel. She is so funny. I could go on, obviously. What our little nugget is up to lately....

1. She is counting to 3! Yes, daddy has spent time with her teaching some of her numbers. If you are talking about one ANYTHING, she will follow up with "twooooooooo", "three!" I love it!
2. She is saying "no". A lot. If we ask her something, most times, even if it is "do you want chocolate cake for dinner, Ella?", she'd promptly look at us very seriously and say "nooooooo" with her mouth in an O shape. She is quite the drama queen. Most get that from her daddy, no? Ha.
3. She loves to love the doggies. She rests her head on them and then kisses them. It warms my heart. Finlay is finally letting her love on him for longer periods of time and without us threatening his life to be still.
4. She is RUNNING. She is climbing. She is so curious. She keeps us on our toes.


There are many other Ella-isms to report, but after spending the weekend getting her pictures done (thanks, Laura Couture! You are awesome! lauracouturephotgraphy.com), brunching with Erica and spending the afternoon at the pool with our extended family (The Vajdas, of course), I am wiped out!

We are headed to the Cape in a little over 1.5 weeks! We are so excited. We are renting a place so that the entire Francis and Fiore clan can shack up for the week. We cannot wait to put on some Lilly P and a Red Sox hat and act like east coasters.

We then have the DMB concert the Friday we get back. So many fun plans coming up! We are excited for all the time we are spending with family and those of you who are our family regardless of us not sharing DNA. We love you all! Happy Summer!