Many Fun Things

Ella likes to wear momma's underoos as necklaces.

Ella thought it prudent to dive head first, fully clothed, into a bath.

Ella at the pumpkin patch pointing out the giant Dora. They don't take long, folks, to figure out Dora and/or Elmo.

Ella and a sea of pumpkins at the pumpkin patch!

Ella is clapping for the pumpkins.

We tried for a long while to get everyone to look in one direction.

Ella refuses to look in our direction!

The patch had tigers?

And an owl....he DOES look so smart, right?!

And giraffes. LOVE these guys.

The girls posing.

Ella trying her hand at riding. She looks frightened!

Feeding the goats. Turns out, goats aren't so friendly.

Ella posing on a fake pony.

Ella touching the baby pig. Can we please take one home, daddy?!

Standard Goebbert Farm Picture!

Last warm day in Chicago =( My pretty little lady!

Daddy's Birthday! Enjoying some cake...

Couldn't wait....

YUM

Me and Tiff at DMB!


on the swan boats on the pond in Boston Commons...

My wonderful in laws!

Ella and Daddy enjoying the boat ride.

Chatham Bars Inn. We will see you next time!

The pier in Chatham...

Daddy checking out the fisherman..

Manatees were giving us quite a show!

The beach in Chatham...so pretty!

Houses in Chatham...not a bad place to summer.

The B&B we stayed at- Carriage House Inn.

DELICIOUS dinner at the Wequassett. Already planning a return trip!

Best Cheesecake. Ever.

Ella taking in the sights in Martha's Vineyard.

Momma and Ella at the Black Dog.

Ella and Daddy on a morning walk along the beach in Scituate.

Scituate Beach.

Ella on the couch. Worn Out!

Boston made her sleepy. Clearly.

Momma in Boston.

Daddy in Boston.

Cheers!

We got to hang out with the Hays'. I miss Karen so much. I didn't cry when we left each other this time, though. I was close, however!

Silly little ham bone.


Ella is a ham. And I love her. Deperately!

We have been on the move and our blog has been neglected....again. So sorry!

To start, we ventured to Scituate, Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod a little over 3 weeks ago and we had a blast! We will begin making this a yearly Francis rendezvous. We met up with my wonderful in-laws, Meghan, Tom and Alex in Scituate (where Scott grew up) for a really great family trip. We had a blast. We never get to spend much time with family for days on end and it was so nice. It really makes us sad that we don't live super close to anyone but we are so thankful for our little family unit and that we get to visit family coast-to-coast.

We celebrated Daddy's birthday a little early when I surprised him with a night out on the Cape! We had couples massages at Chatham Bars Inn. Fabbo. We walked around Chatham and had chowda and bloodys. We rested at our B&B, the Carriage House Inn, we went to the most AMAZING dinner at Atlantic 28 at the Wequasset. When I say it was amazing, I mean, seriously, one of the best dinners I have had in years. I cannot wait to go back to the Wequasset. I wish I were the kind of girl who could make summer be a verb, but alas, we will just go back for a long weekend or week long trip. We are not "summering" type of people but boy, if I was, The Wequassett would be my summer destination. Check it out_---> www.wequassett.com

We got back from our trip and went directly to the Dave Matthews concert! We had a blast, felt old, waxed nostalgic and were in bed by 12 am. Yep, we are old. How'd we get so old?! It seemed like only yesterday I was picking up Under the Table and Dreaming DMB CD at Disc-Go-Round and playing it NON STOP in my childhood room in Rex, Ga. My life has already gone by too quickly and taking the time to slow down and listen to music that marked a big part of late adolescence/early adulthood was surreal. We had a great time!

We headed up both the Francis and Vajda families to make the trek to Goebbert's farm. It was a drive but worth it! The kids had a blast, even if Ella looked tee'd off. For the life of me, she would not look at the camera.

Finally, we celebrated Daddy's bday with a cake from...Sweet Mandy B's. I have GOT to find a new place but even if I did, what's the point?! SMBs has the best butter cream frosting in the city.

We are still unwinding from our trip to Grand Rapids, MI for Erica and Ryan's wedding. We had the best time. It was quite the trip; it involved road tripping with friends, to me ending up in the ER, to an allergic reaction to said medication given in the ER, detour to South Haven, MI (which is awesome, btw. Chicagoans, when the weather warms, you must make the trip to South Haven), to touring Grand Rapids, to attending the most beautiful wedding of one of my most dear friends. We ended up having the BEST time this weekend; it's not where you are but who you are with that matters. Yes, shameless line from a DMB song, but so true. I am so lucky and blessed to have some really neat people in my life.

I will post pics from this weekend tomorrow night (fingers crossed!).

XOXO,
Nicole

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!

Desparately Seeking....blog update time!

Fun in the pool with daddy...

Daddy and Ella playing on the deck....so sweet!

Ella just loves helping with the laundry...now, if only she could start pushing a vacccum...

Baby Galbut!

More proof of above referenced helpfulness.

Ahh, I heart Elmo.

Becoming somewhat picky?!

Stupid hand, foot, mouth disease!

Hi All,

It has been brought to my attention, ahem, that I have been negligent in posting. Yes, dear readers, I have been and for this, I am sorry!

Where does one begin? We have had, in the following order:

1. Becky's shower! I still need to post pictures- these pictures are trapped in my mother-in-law's camera. I will post as soon as Peggy masters the uploading process.
2. Birth of Hudson MacKenzie Galbut- our new nephew! He is perfect and precious. Baby and momma are doing well. Momma could use more sleep, honey, I feel your pain! Picture of Hudson below.
3. Impromptu trip to Atlanta for the 4th. We needed to get down south to check on a few things and spend time with Gram and E-Pa. Nice to escape the cit-ay.
4. Double Date this past Saturday- so fun! We got to hang out with the Lonardos on Saturday night and had a blast. Can't wait to do it again.

Nothing to do substantive this weekend which is fabbo. A little R&R is just what we need after a crazy past 2 months! Ella is just getting over hand, foot and mouth disease. Yuck. We are healed and looking forward to laying low.

Loves and kisses,
Nicole and Ella

4 years and counting.....

I married my best friend 4 years ago today. It is amazing to me how I could become so lucky. Scott Francis is the sweetest, most amazing boy I have ever met and the fact that I am married to him and get to spend all of the days of my life with him blow me away.

To the best daddy, friend, love, husband I could ever ask for- Happy 4 years, baby! I can't imagine anyone else I'd rather go on this roller coaster with.

All my love,
Nic

Weekend Festivities...

We really didn't do much of anything this past weekend which was phenomenal seeing as how life has been so flipping busy lately! I am going to make a real effort to slow things down a bit for the rest of the summer.....we will see how this goes...

We went to dinner to our favorite place, Rose Angelis, this past weekend. Ella was so stinking good at dinner. I swear, she is just a sweetie. She flirted and smiled at everyone and is now doing a little beauty pageant wave. It's perfect form which scares me slightly.





She is also getting more and more adventurous, a little more sassy and sweeter by the day. She is into EVERYTHING and is such a thrill seeker. She loves to be a tease us while "walking" only to throw her hands up as if she is on a roller coaster ride and then throw herself into/onto whoever happen to be present. It might be me, Daddy's or Finlay, but our girl is determined to have fun whatever she is doing.

When I stop to think of how innocently and freely children look at life, it really is inspiring. The fact that Ella throws up her hands up to crash into someone or something, all with a huge smile and teethy grin, it makes me stop and think of life and how precious it is. We should look at every opportunity as a chance to throw caution to the wind,throw our hands up and laugh. There are so many things we have to be grateful for....

I will jump off my soapbox now! I hope all of you are having a fabulous week!

We are off to Phoenix for the weekend to help host a baby shower for Aunt Becky! We will have lots of fun pictures to post next week...

xoxo,
Francis Family