Come Out Little Baby!

Just a couple weeks left and you can tell! My belly is already measuring 40 weeks at 37 weeks - yup, we make em big. That's fine - the lack of sleep and mobility is just a way to get me ready for after the baby is born! Ha!
At any rate, we have a couple of siblings that are very excited to meet their new baby brother or sister. They are sweet and kind to my belly - giving it kisses and love pats (most of the time). Heidi has been asking the baby to come out (so has mommy). Wait until they realize what they have asked for...heh heh heh
Good times ahead....

Justin & Lindsay Wed

Yah! A beautiful wedding and a happy couple. Congratulations - hope your honeymoon diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is fun! (damn you!)

Learning to Releve

Excuse the lack of an accent over my last 'e' on releve - its a french word for a ballet movement where you go up on your tippy toes. Heidi is the third girl from the left - the one with her arms going up in the air (like her mommy taught her) but with the toes awkwardly about to cross over each other...hehee She did a fantastic job at her first class - listened well and followed instructions. After spending the whole class in a closet watching her and taking numerous pictures, she told me that I should just drop her off at the next class because all my picture taking distracted her. Heavy Sigh, ....soon I will be told to drop her off around the corner.... well, atleast I have this memory.

Ballet Box

Oh my goodness - how sweet. She was given the choice of activities this fall - soccer, gymnastics or dance? or soccer? or maybe you would like soccer? how about soccer? heehee

Just kidding - I took dance for 8 years and loved it too, so I was thrilled when she said she wanted to be a ballerina. And let me tell you, she is a ballerina - just check her out. Little black leotard, light pink tights, hair in a bun and an awesome retro ballet box (courtesy of Mom who bought it probably 3 years ago at a garage sale because she knew this day would come) that she loves. Only two classes so far, but man is she loving it.

First Homework Assignment

Is it strange to be so proud of a first homework assignment? Ahh, who cares - I am. I know there will be many, many, many more of these, but it was super cute to be able to help my OWN child with her homework, for once. So, here it is - a collage of Heidi's favorite things all pasted onto a picture of her Daddy. He was in Texas that week (thankfully came home right before Hurricane Ike hit Houston) so we made sure to get a picture of her fabulous masterpiece. Notice the cut out of cereal that Heidi pasted on top of his head to represent hair and the chest made of waffles...hehee

First Day - 2nd yr at Preschool

Well, another year of preschool if upon us and just look at this fresh and clean little school girl. What a little beauty - she was so excited to see her new classroom and new teacher and see her friends from last year and meet some new ones. I think Erik was actually excited for her too - he is a very supportive and loving little brother - let's hope that lasts...:-)

Easy Picken's Orchard

A beautiful day at the local u-pick farm. We picked some apples (and ate some) and we even picked green beans - that was a blast for Heidi.....and they were tasty for Erik!

Heidi helped me make a peach cobbler that afternoon - she wouldn't try it, though.......that was ok with me. heheheee

Rocky Neck Beach

Rocky Neck Beach in CT. A lovely and cheap state park - very nice sand, small waves and shallow waters. Perfect for kids. We had a bunch of fun here - a place we plan to come back to, for sure.

Here is a picture of Andy and Erik gathering buckets of water to pour on top of the sandcastle that we are "building". Erik loved getting the water and pouring it on the sand - destroying the structure we had built - just call him Erik-zilla!!

Thats My Girl - Seaweed

My family knows how much I love the ocean and all the critters that dwell in it. I have always been the girl who liked to pick up the hermit crabs and jellyfish and touch all the fish. Well, when my daughter came along, I was thrilled to be able to teach her all about those fun and slimy things when she was old enough. You never can tell what your child will be interested in and you certainly can't control it. So, when I saw her becoming a pink poodle kind of little girl, I thought I may never be able to get her to catch hermit crabs with me. Well, this video made me so proud - silly, it may seem, but it does.... Someday I think we will make hermit crab homes together and maybe even snorkel around catching all the gooey and mysterious creatures that live in the ocean.

Heidi's Shell-Decorated Sand Castle

Wow! We made a trip down to Watch Hill Beach in Rhode Island for the day - neat little yacht club town, gorgeous houses, a fabulous old fashioned hanging carousel. I wouldn't recommend the beach. It was tiny and expensive. But, we made the most of it - it took us over an hour to get there, so what else can you do. The water was fabulous and the kids just loved the low waves. Heidi was very proud of her beautiful sand castle all covered with shells. Lovely.

Some Parmiters came to visit!

"Hey - are ya doing anything this weekend?

Heck no - what do we do?

Can we visit?

Please!"

My Uncle Bruce and two of my cousins, Bob and Dave came to crash at our place while on a weekend trip to see the Red Sox and the Yankees play. Heidi and Erik had fun playing with all three of them - hopefully they will come again....

Yummy Corn!

After a ridiculous amount of convincing Heidi that she loved corn on the cob last year, she finally tried it again this year - it may have been tough to get her to try (what isn't with this little girl - ugh) but she finally succumbed to the pressure and now her favorite veggie is corn. Go figure. Keep a look out to see if we do this all over again next summer.....

Playground!

Yahhhhhhh it is finally completed! Its been a long summer with Andy away for work for much of it, so the playground build was delayed for quite sometime. With one last push and some birthday party deadlines - we got it done - we will probably add a rope ladder, some flower boxes, a pulley system and maybe even a rock wall at some point, but who knows. That's whats so nice about doing your own design - we can figure it out as they grow! Even Heidi and Erik helped us - great work everyone!

High Heels...

Dress up has never been a regular activity in our household - but we have some costumes around if it ever makes a comeback. Erik just recently decided that he looks best in purple high heels - what a smile. He was actually quite good at walking in them too....

Swimming!

Our pool may be a pain to take care of, but it sure is worth it when the whole family gets right in and has some fun. Heidi is already a fantastic swimmer (thanks to starting out at the YMCA at 6 months old) and Erik is your typical little boy - very daring - jumping and splashing. Here are our two water babies chilling with daddy in the pool. Should be fun next year too!

Erik and Hannah

Erik is a busy little boy and he adores his big sister (much to her dismay sometimes) Well, along came Hannah, one of Heidi's classmates little sisters. Even though Erik is sometimes quite shy and quiet around other people, the only name that Erik will say besides Mom and Dad is Hannah. He won't even say Heidi. Young love....

Pink Poodles in Paris

Pink Poodles were Heidi's birthday party theme this year, she is a huge fan of the cuddley little puppy. Andy and I kept telling her that we are "cat people" so she said that she was a "puppy person". I told her she can be a puppy person when she moves into her own home.... until then - we are only accepting the fluffy, stuffed kind of puppy in our house.

Happy 4th Birthday, Heidi!

What a day and what a cake! It was a yummy and enormous cake....atleast she was able to blow out the candle!

Birthday Chaos

Heidi had a lovely outdoor picnic party for her 4th Birthday this year. Lots of kids, lots of fun, lots of bubbles, lots of presents and lots of chaos!

Angie & Hans Wedding

Here they are - all wed and happy. What a lovely ceremony and a beautiful reception. The food was amazing - Now it's time to party!

Bounce House Smiles

Here's a sweet smile from and obviously happy little girl. We went to a friend's 30th Birthday Party and they had this set up for all the little ones - what a great idea.

Swings

We finally got the swings up on our playground and they are very popular - sometimes when you are in the middle of something else, you just have to stop what you are doing and just swing.....

Bathtime Fun

Bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles.....are we getting clean?
Who cares...

Puddle Jumping

New raincoats are a surefire way to get your kids outside on a rainy day. There are always puddles in our driveway when we get a little rain, so hopefully, we will be seeing more of this kind of fun....

Helping Daddy Dig

We put in a new fence just along the side yard where our pool is located for a little more privacy. In true Ranz fashion, it was done impeccably - probably more level than the fence company would do....luckily, we have some other little Ranzes-in-training to keep up the tradition of excellent workmanship.

Cool Refreshing Water

Some nice cool water in early July is always a treat - especially for our water babies.

Heidi'd Fish

What weekend in Brewerton would be complete without a fish on a line? Here is Heidi reeling one in...

Birthday Boys!

Well, another year gone by - 32 and 2 years old! Wow! We celebrated with some yummy ice cream cake and lots of gifts....Andy even got a gift too. heehee

The Countess

Heehee - I had a lovely weekend in NJ at my longtime friend, Angie's Shower/Bachelorette party. Here she is looking fabulous as always - can't wait for the wedding!

Brooklyn - Waterfalls

We were lucky enough to see the Waterfalls exhibit on the river while we were visiting. It was quite spectacular....and so were the big soft pretzels on the way.

Brooklyn - Carousel

What is more fun than an old fashioned merry-go-round? I think we ALL enjoyed this ride...

Brooklyn - Prospect Park Zoo

Check out the very cool octopus sculpture - awesome. The zoo was lots of fun - just right for little ones....we'll have to visit again.

Brooklyn - Subway

Wow! The subway was a great time and both kids enjoyed it immensely. We still talk about it today....

Walking and walking and walking...

We finally took the kids to go visit Aunt t and Uncle d in Brooklyn - Heidi was very excited. We had a jam packed couple of days, but boy, was it fun. Here we are walking around the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

Sheepride

Luckily we found the "kids playground" at Old Sturbridge Village - it was an instant hit and just made the day (after going in and out of sooooo many old buildings....)

Old Sturbridge Village

We tagged along when Nana and Carl went to visit Sturbridge Village. The kids were fantastic - Heidi was quoted later that day saying, "..what kind of fun can you have going in and out of old buildings?" Even so, she had a great time. What a beautiful place...

Happy Father's Day

Andy had a special day at Heidi's school for fathers day - he even got a beautiful handprint. It was a very special day....