A quick catch up

So, it has been a CRAZY long time since my last post. I hope to get a bit better about posting in the future, but won't promise much in the next two months. :) Here are just a few pictures over the past couple of months. Dinner at the Gottshalls. Joey and Annie will be two in May. It was so fun to see the kids together and catch up with Todd and Melissa.



Todd made a wonderful minestrone soup which was perfect for a rainy weekend.



The kids had pasta, bread and fruits.

 

Daddy and Joshua reading some books.

 

Annie and her Mommy, Melissa chillin' on the couch.

 

Joey and his Daddy, Todd having some snacks.

 

As is our tradition on Saturday mornings, we all get up, get dressed and head for the coffee house. Joshua is now as into these outings as we are. He typically says "Bye, bye, coffee Mommy" Or "Daddy, I have scone." Dave and I typically are wearing baseball caps and on this morning, he wanted his hat too.



Here are some pictures of Joshua's second birthday. The birthday boy enjoyed his raspberry cupcake. However, I think he enjoyed the birthday song a lot more and made us sing it about 10 times.



Joshua's birthday dinner at McCovey's in Walnut Creek.

 

Periodically, Joshua and I have the fun opportunity to hang out with our neighbors, the Leaches. The girls, Gemma (5) and Vivi (2.5) are so wonderful with Joshua while mom, Emily, and I catch up. Here Joshua found two of Vivi's dolls and was carrying them around. Joshua definitely likes to say that his Mommy is carrying two babies. Let's hope he continues to be as excited about the two babies when they are here to stay. :)



Here is a picture from Christmas with Joshua and cousin Ellye.



Daddies and kiddos.

 

Debbie, Diego and Ellye on Christmas Day.

 

Until next time.......

A fun summer

Here are some pictures of some fun events we have been up to the last two months.

Joshua and I met Alla, Joyce and Tyler for brunch and then a baby "sprinkle" for the upcoming birth of Alla's baby girl.
The boys eating some grub at Stacks.

Here is the very cute prego Alla enjoying her maternity leave.


Joshua has discovered he loves going to the park. Going through the tunnel is really fun.

We love to practice the walking whenever possible.

Sliding down and jumping up with Daddy is a blast.

Here Joshua is watching the other kids in the water feature and deciding if he is going to join them.

A few weeks ago, we ventured to Redwood City to help Todd and Kevin celebrate their 40th birthdays.

The Gottshalls - Melissa, Joey, Annika and Todd

Joshua and Daddy hanging at the BBQ

One of the highlights of the day was riding around in the wagon. Here Todd's Mom is working up a sweat.

Joshua seemed perfectly happy to ride the afternoon away.

Joshua, Annika and Joey taking a turn.

Yup, still didn't want to get out.

Joshua got a little bored on the drive home, so Daddy forked over his blackberry. So crazy how this kid already knows exactly what to do with it.

He even knows how to express himself rather loudly while on the cell phone.

Joshua continues to practice using his own spoon. Believe it or not, quite a bit does actually make it into the mouth.

Besides, eating by yourself is fun.

On a nice sunny afternoon, the Caughlins and Megan came over for a BBQ. Sadly, I only got this one picture. At least I captured Baby Stella and her mom, Michaela.

Joshua's Grandma came to visit for a few weeks in early August. Joshua had a great time spending time with her.

A couple weeks ago, Dave, Joshua and myself traveled to Las Vegas to see Joshua's Tutu and G.G. I also didn't pull my camera out a lot on this trip.

It all looks perfectly innocent in this picture, but Joshua decided that Daddy needed to walk all over the restaurant with him and that climbing in empty booths was really fun.

Joshua went to go visit his Great-Grammy J.

We use this booster seat when we got out and about such as at coffee houses and places without highchairs. We had brought it in the house for some reason and Joshua decided that he really needed to sit in it and chill.

We finally had Rebecca, Kevin, Jamie and Tim over for a BBQ a couple of weeks ago. The intention had been for everyone to go in the pool. It was just a bit chilly for that. However, we all had a great time hanging out outside, eating some good food and playing some corn hole.

Dave, Joshua, Kevin, Rebecca, Tim and Jamie

Joshua is getting braver and really likes to climb up (with help) into the big chair and rock.

The little ham continues to love the camera

Last Friday, I was able to travel to Belmont to meet Alla's baby Julia. Here Julia is two days old.

She is a beautiful little angel.

Joyce and Tyler joined us at Alla's house for lunch. Mr. T is happily exhibiting his combat crawling. What a cutie.

This Labor Day weekend was a quiet one around the McEwen household. We took several trips to the park including this one on Monday.

Joshua was too busy watching other kids to even notice the camera.

The play structure is getting to be more and more fun as his walking and balance improves.

Joshua is quicking getting the whole walking thing down and proudly struts around the house, with and without his plane.

Avon walk and a visit from the Carlsons

No time like the present to start on a series of catch up blogs.

Megan and I finished our 4th Avon walk on the weekend of July 9 and 10th. We spent Friday night at the Weston on Union Square and rose around 4:30 am to catch the shuttle to the start to the walk. The route was different this year from our previous walks. The good thing about that was that the organizers put a lot of effort into walking more in the city and hitting most every neighborhood. The not so good thing is that they miss marked the route the first day and we actually walked close to 29 miles versus the 26.2 it was supposed to be. Megan and I had a good walk and were pleased that even with our decreased training this time around, our bodies faired pretty well. We completed the 39.3...make that 42 miles and were so glad to be a part of such an important event. The event raised 5.5 million dollars. We met some interesting and inspiring women (and men too) along the way. Great weekend!

Dave and Joshua joined us at the closing ceremony, bringing us flowers and taking both of us home.

Mid July, my friend and college roommate, Wendy came up from southern California with her Mom, Carol, for a visit. It was great to see them both and spend some time together. Unfortunately, Joshua was sick and running fevers during the visit, so we weren't as active as we might have been. However, we did get some nice hang out and catch up time.

Auntie Wendy and Joshua with the present Wendy and Carol brought for him.

Joshua loved his present of trucks that he is able to push and they run down the hall.

The fastest way to make Joshua your friend is to read to him. This kid LOVES books.

On Saturday, we took a picnic to Tilden park and took a nice walk.

On Saturday night, Carol treated Wendy and I to a lovely dinner in Lafayette where we sat outside on the patio at Yankee Pier. Wendy and I both had seared ahi. YUM!

On Sunday morning, we had brunch outside. After brunch, Dave and Joshua stuck their feet in the pool for a bit.

Photo op before Carol and Wendy went on to Monterey.

A smile with Auntie Wendy.