My mom bought the coolest box of dress up clothes. Elliot had a great time trying on all the pretty dresses. My dad took the awesome photo above of our little dancing madrigal. Sooo, yes, dangerously close to a month without a post. But hey, we have been busy. Ben went to Belgium and Brussels, then I went to Panama & Brazil, then we all went to Milwaukee and Wonder Lake for Labor Day. Its been great fun...but really, where did summer go? Some of the trees are turning already. Hopefully, now that we have ourselves a Kassi, I will post again before the first snowfall.
Sammy has taking a liking to somebody's pirate hat. Arrrghn't she pretty?
Spoils of summer dinner - heirloom tomato tart, grilled asparagus, grilled lime chili chicken, and cake! To hear Samantha say "Cake" is the cutest.
Elliot is a girly girl. It happened without us realizing it. Definitely has her own style and is taking a deep interest in dressing herself. I realized when trying to find clothes for their school pictures that they have really great coats, but not so much regular clothes. It was nearly impossible for me to find clothes on picture day that fit my minimum criteria, that were 1) clean 2) not made out of sweats or t-shirt material, 3) did not have words or character photos on them, and 4) were uniquely their own, or at least not obviously previously Charlie's or Alice's or Elliot's for Samantha. Once again, good thing we have a Kassi now...but I digress. I just love these 2 outfits Elliot picked out for herself. Keep in mind it is August and not really all that cold out when these were taken.
The boat! We got to go out on cousin Emily's boat on the Fox River and lakes. It was awesome. The girls LOVED it and were really into the wind in their hair. And into the goldfish too. The ones in the Pepperidge Farm bag that is.
Elliot is mugging it up with Auntie Kassi & Auntie Jessie at the ski show.
Ben took my dad's scull out on the lake before sunset. I switched to video when it became obvious he was a bit tall for the boat and maybe was not going to make it to shore. But, no $10K prize for us. He stayed in the boat.
Oooooh, spooky picture to remind you that Halloween is coming. That is a dewy spiderweb.
And yes, we went back to the 50th Anniversary and reunion for the current and my former Wonder Lake Water Ski Show Team. The first ski show for my new nuclear family...and we all loved it, even if I lost Elliot during intermission and we all had to search for her for 3 scary minutes before finding her and she slept through the second act. Oh, and she wasn't missing for 3 minutes, it was probably more like 10, but we didn't notice for the first 7...thanks for calling me "Mother of the Year" Kassi...noted.
We had a monsoon a couple weekends ago, but it was warm out and we were cooped up, so we went puddle stomping. It was great fun. Until the battle over the umbrella ensued and Samantha had to be carried home, tantruming like a two year old, tucked like a briefcase under my arm as I puddle stomped her back home. But, other than that, it was cool. 
Elliot started ballet classes. We need better pictures. 3 year olds in ballet are adorable. Even if they put their leotards on backwards and nobody notices until the class is over. 
Playing in the spray fountains outside the science center at Harvard U. First time Elliot is topless on a college campus. Hopefully her last too. 
Anyone remember Elliot's first Halloween costume? It was a cow. Made for a 6 month old. We kept it. She loves to try it on still. So, she's grown a little. 
