Grandma Toni

"The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been,

but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.

Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you.

Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you.

There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too."

---Frederick Buechner

ABC's

A little Michigan...

French fry lunch with Danny 

 Tyrrell's Casa de Fun!

 Cuddle time with Luke (pronounced Wook by Kellan)

 First Oreo...it's milk's favorite cookie, who stands a chance?

 ahhhh...the most special beach around.

 Blueberry pickin'...Kellan ate his whole day's labor.

A Real Guy Workout

The sound a fire truck makes...

General Cuteness

Beating Mommy at Chess



Mulberry Picking



Soaking up cool mornings with "Anca" (Bianca our neighbor)

Splash pad addiction

When not visiting said splash pad...

Tee time?

Blowing Daddy kisses

Gelato and the Pope

Gelato was a sure way to get Kellan to go into another church or art gallery... 

Passed out waiting for the Papal Audience

 Time out from pigeons for a pic with Mommy

Catalog shot from the Villa Borghese...maybe these two should model golf-wear?

Falling asleep with Tiramisu still in his mouth... 

Italian women soon beat out gelato for top spot!

Cruising the Venice canals

Last dinner in Italy...Mom and Dad SHARED this order but you wouldn't suspect it by the size of the portions!

"Simple" Lessons

Kellan brought me a dying bee today. I struggled at first to get him to drop it without scaring him or making the bee sting him.

When he finally dropped it I could see the bee stretching his legs and struggling to get to his belly...

Kellan imitated the bee with his hands and looked up at me curious.

So I told him the bee was dying.

Kellan pointed down and said, "Bee."

Then he leaned down to get a closer look and said, "Bye Bye."

And that was that.

Remember when...

I find myself in the middle of the day trying to catch that instance I know I will look back on.

I remember this moment very clearly...Kellan was 7 weeks here and we had just had a morning bath after he pooped all over me.

I remember my back aching leaning over the tub...trying to clean him before he put his hand in his mouth...I remember 5 minutes after it all happened thinking how funny it was but how I was glad it was over.

Until I took this picture.

Somehow when you look in reverse, you forget what got you into something and only remember the space you occupied once you were there.

As it should be.

General Cuteness

Here is what we've been up to the last few weeks...

Having movie night and eating popcorn with Daddy is a new favorite...


Trying to get the hang of self-feeding yogurt. Need to keep practicing that one...

Remodeling the big boy room...no more crib!

showing Mom that letting cows lick you isn't half bad...

Getting pecked by a rooster...it will be awhile before we go back to that farm!

The iPhone lets you flip the camera so now Mommy and me can have our picture taken together!

Great Grandma Jean

"...Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I've got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

-George Bernard Shaw

DUNK IT!

Kellan got a bball hoop for Christmas and learned how to dunk and cheer from his cousin Danny.
Here he is displaying his skills.

Very First Passport...

For those that haven't heard yet, the 3 of us Cooneys are going to Italy in April (yes, the baby is coming and we couldn't be more excited to share this adventure all together!)

We got Kellan's first passport photo taken which he got a kick out of.

Baboons and Zoo Lights