The past four months have been jam-packed with fun, trips and learning to say "NO!" Both Liam and Oliver say "Noh-noh, noh- noh." It was totally adorable the first few hundred times, and now is feeling a tad terrible-twoish. Even though our rug rats are still quite small, they are learning new words and animal sounds everyday. They enjoy giving each other hugs and fish kisses, and like to climb. At parks, they run in different directions; although, if Liam is on the swings, Oliver needs to be right next to Liam. They have decided to fall in love with Sesame Street, and can name most characters.Oliver is very interested in where Liam is at all times- he says "Miam?" whenever the child in question is out of the room. He calls himself "Ah-vah." Also, the boys are in love with their father and ask for him ad nauseum. When I get up to get the boys out of bed in the morning, they cringe from me and say "noh-noh, Da-da." Whenever the dog starts barking to announce a visitor, the boys run to the door screaming "DA-DA!" Oliver and Liam have taken to calling me Amy rather than just Mom from time to time, thanks to Tia Lu.
Daycare is finally over for the year and I am home on summer holiday, so we are at long last getting back to a sleep schedule that works for everyone and making summer fun running around Main Street, coffee shops, lakes and the backyard.
Many exciting events took place in the last four months. I was able to go on a ridiculous senior trip to the Bahamas (see large absurd Cruise Ship and imagine 53 seniors on a floating bed in international waters. Super fun.)
We celebrated Easter at the Gambill's house with the Brent/Scherer families and had a fun and relaxing spring break filled with Vampire books, salt mine tours and spring swimming lessons for the boys. The boys also had their first ever hair cut, given by Gammy Scherer. All were happy that the hockey-mullets were gone except for me.
We also had a big ole party for Chris "Ivy" Ivers, who turned 35 in April. We went to Swan's German Market for lunch (what is birthday lunch without cured meat and pitchers of beer?), his mates took him to a brewery tour in Rochester, and then we spent the evening at Lauren and Erik's eating more pork and possibly sampling some of the brewery's wares.
May was when teaching + momming became a little too frantic a pace for a mere mortal like me. I believe in the last blog I raved about how all of my worry about returning to work was for naught. I was wrong, once again. Luckily, the weather was improving and Liam and Oliver started to be able to run around on the outside of the world. We were able to visit with Chris, Cat and Logan Brent at the Conesus cottage, Aunt Nancy came to babysit, the Ivers came over for a relaxing Mother's Day (my new favorite holiday), my students had their Renaissance Festival at school (thanks to Grandpa Scherer for babysitting!), Kim McGann moved into her new home, Andy Scherer turned 2, and we were able to celebrate Tony Jones' bday with another brewery tour- this time the Southern Tier brewery. We also had another two pot-lucks, one at our home and one at Dori and Justin's. Good food, good company- new babies!
June brought the Keuka triathlon in which Lauren, Erik, Scott "Gorgeous" Giorgis, Chris and I participated. We kicked serious arse. Many loving fans came to watch this hilarious race- Jen, Kim, Michelle, Ben and Nancy- and then tailgate with us afterward. What is the point of doing a triathlon if you can't drink beer and eat junk-food after? Thanks to Gammy and Grandpa Scherer for watching the boys!
Also during June we had a fabulous time at the Bailey-Jones potluck, celebrated Ben's birthday (before he took off to Utah and Nevada for his NSF grant work- Congrats!), enjoyed the APOG beer and wine tasting, visited the Geneseo Art Stroll, and went to the Strong Museum for an afternoon of fun with the characters of Sesame Street and Tia Lu.
We took two weekend trips: the first to Pittsburgh and the second to the Catskills. We were able to spend another fantastic weekend with Uncle Joe, Aunt Katie, cousins Johnny and Andy, and Grandpa and Gammy Scherer, Aunt Sarah and Aunt Nancy. We went to the Carnegie Science Museum (see photos) and the boys fell in love with the water table. We also got to swim at the hotel, and in general relax and hang out with the darling Johnny and Andy boys. Happy 5th Birthday, Johnny!
We brought Tania, Scott and Dominick to the Catskills and were able to visit there with Grampy and Babcia, Zio Jonathan, Aunt Pat, Aunt Judy and Marty. Happy Birthday Grampy! The weather was beautiful, the lake was warm, the food was phenomenal. The funniest part came when the boys were walking down to the beach and Oliver ran right into the water, socks, shoes and all. Do you know how much water a diaper can absorb? About 5 pounds. It's quite shocking, really. The boys subsequently went swimming and we ended up with a baby-nudist colony at the Ivers cottage.
So far, July has brought chillaxing wonderment. Megan and her wonderful friend Eric (from Sconnie) came into town for a visit. The boys loved Aunt Moo and her Boo and Chris and I loved seeing both of them! We went to the Brent cottage for the annual 3rd of July Ring Of Fire- Thanks Uncle Art and Margi! We had a great time swimming, jumping on the trampoline, eating junk food and not sleeping. Oliver was up forever saying "Miam, Miam? Dada? Fish, fish (kissing noise), Nigh-Night? NO-NO!!"
You may notice photos of boys standing on a beautiful table- Grampy Ivers made this for Liam and Oliver. Thanks!You may also notice that Liam and Oliver both posed for a photo shoot in a cop car. Is it freaky to anyone else how comfortable Oliver seems? At least Liam had the good sense to appear unhappy.
One of the boys new favorite games is playing in Chris' new car. Please (for the love of everything good) ask Chris about cars. I don't want to hear about them any longer. Why can't the boys want to talk about turbo-charged engines and cylinders yet?????
Happy Birthday to just about everyone! There were a lot of birthdays these past months- hope you all enjoyed!
We wish you all a wonderful summer!
