The Elwell cousins visit Ohio!

Colin & Justin have 10 (+ 1 on the way) Elwell cousins. And they were all at Grandma's house at one point or another over the past week. Holy moly, guacamole.

In summary, Colin & Justin have enjoyed sleepovers, tractor driving, blueberry picking, muffin making, guitar playing, singing, swimming, screaming, laughing, napping (not so much), and just good quality time with family. A few pictures...

Justin (6 mo) & Cousin Chloe (8 mo)
Billy & Monica and Jamie & Jack having a fun and relaxing time at the Jack Johnson concert.
Colin & Cousin Sam having a sleepover at Grandmas. Early morning blueberry muffin making. When he came home, he made me some blueberry muffins in his pretend kitchen.
Colin & Cousin Alex on grandma's tractor mower.
Uncle Matt giving Justin his first taste of a beer can. Oh, Matt....
Aunt Natalie had good quality time with the boys.

Colin, Anthony and Sam watching TV before bedtime at Grandmas. Maybe he'll stop using his binkie after seeing this picture. Or not. (The binkie fairy comes at 3 years old and takes binkies!)

Justin loves his Aunt Evelyn.
Anthony, Sam & Colin enjoying ice cream time.
Justin & I got some quality time while Colin was sleeping over at grandma's. =)

Adventures with Molly

We watched Molly (Dan's dog) for the day...and,oh, what a day!

Justin warmed up to her pretty quickly. Then Jack left for work, and I picked up Colin. The adventures begin when it's just me, Colin, Justin & Molly.

Molly was so excited that she jumped all over Colin when we came home from school. Colin freaked out and begged me to carry him everywhere. When I couldn't carry him any longer, I put both boys in the pack n' play. And Molly had free reign of the house.
Plan B... I made a boat out of the couch, chair and coffee table. And Molly was not allowed on the boat. If you look closely, Colin is pointing his finger down. He's saying "NO MOLLY!" This is where we ate dinner.Then, lots of playing, laughing, and tickling ensued. And we finished the night with 20 minutes of calm watching TV together. Amazing how that happens!

Thankful for good friends

Aarti, Aravindh & Leela offered to watch Colin & Justin for a whole night!!! We took them up on their offer, and got the kids ready for their first sleepover at a friend's house. Colin even packed his own bag -- eeyore and binkies were the first things packed. =) Jack & I were able to celebrate his birthday by enjoying a delicious dinner at Cafe Tandoor, walking the art festival, and sleeping 9 hours! THANK YOU SO MUCH.

I'm a city girl -- never really had close neighbors, and never really thought twice about how different life could be with great neighbors. Well, we have so many awesome neighbors, and I love it! We've been spending lots of time with Sarah and her boys. We absolutely love seeing Evan and Colin play together, and we are looking forward to many more fun days ahead as Drew & Justin get older. I also have Sarah to thank for getting me out on the road again. We went for a speedy 3 mile walk in our neighborhood on Saturday (Everyone knows how fast I like to walk -- and Sarah definitely keeps pace!) I felt so good afterward that I went for a 3 mile run on Sunday. After a 2 month hiatus, I'm back in my running shoes -- now, I just have to keep it up!

And we are also thankful for Megan & Tom. They agreed to come over and babysit Colin & Justin while Jack & I enjoy part 3 of his birthday....seeing Jack Johnson in concert on July 21. More pics to come.

Did I mention that I'm working and working and working? Staff training starts on July 29, and I feel more behind this year than I ever have before -- maybe it was that whole 2.5 month leave I had earlier this year. I just couldn't catch up after returning to work. In any case, I'm trying to stay positive and balanced during this very stressful time... if you see me a bit stressed, please offer me chocolate or tell me to breathe. =)

Okay, enough with the words. Here are pics of the boys!

Evan & Colin playing in the water table.
Colin showing off his snacks. Justin loves to grab for them, so Colin has to play defense.
Jack reading books to the boys.
Justin eating rice cereal.

Love to all!

Grill, birthday & underwear

I have no shame in admitting that I want to be a bbq-ing family, but I don't want to do the work to grill. Luckily Jack plays along, and he agreed to get our first grill. It was a great excuse to have family & friends over to help us enjoy it. Thanks to Pete for actually doing the work of grilling in the 90+ degree day. (check back here again...hopefully I'll get more pics of the afternoon)




Happy Birthday, Jack! You are an amazing dad and partner in crime. Love you!

And lastly, we used this weekend to potty train, and COLIN IS OUT OF DIAPERS!!! Yep, we stayed home (or close to home) for most of the weekend. We were planning to use pull ups at night time, but he woke up with a dry pull up this morning. If it happens again, we're going to underwear 24/7! Yahoo!

Life according to Justin (5 mo)

Hi all,
Life is good at 5 months. My recent life accomplishments include:
...sleeping 10 hours (because mom & dad gave me a whole bowl of rice cereal. I'm still getting used to the taste, but when I eat it, I just get so sleepy.)
...screaming. Colin talks circles around me, so I need to do something to be heard! (I can go for about 20 minutes, but mom only thinks it's cute for the first 2 minutes.)


...playing with Owen. He's the same age as me, and we had fun staring at each other while the mamas talked. =) (our mamas work together at CWRU)...rolling, rolling and rolling. I am so good at knocking Colin's trains off the track.
...holding my own bottle for almost a whole feeding!
...doing the "flamingo-stand" with Colin
...watching Colin enjoy his last days in diapers. Mom & dad "ran out" of his diapers on Friday afternoon, so he had to start wearing underwear. Mom says that Colin is doing great, and she is so proud of him!

In other news...
Evan had us over to celebrate his 2nd birthday. The big boys on the block -- Colin, Evan & Hao-ie.
We all had a great time catching up with friends at the Krenz's BBQ. Thank you for a great afternoon. =) Colin found their drum set...he LOVED it, and drummed for most of the night. It got a bid loud for me, but I still had a great time.


I have to catch up on some sleep. Til next time,
Justin (5 months)