Aunt Melinda's Birthday

Aunt Melinda celebrated her 32nd birthday by hosting a cookout lunch for the Galvin clan on Sunday. We feasted on a delicious array of chicken, sausage, fruit salad, homemade salsa from Uncle Bill's garden, and cornbread. Even Princess Picky Eater (Elena) ate.

Birthday Girl with her matching girls and a coordinating Tony

A little after-lunch entertainment

Alex did his best impression of a turtle to make Ellie laugh while Aunt Kathy did her best to keep him in check. Uncle Bill copied Alex with Ellie's tree frog, which led to uncontrollable giggles from Elena.

A Frog Prince?

Alex picked out the birthday cake for Aunt Melinda all by himself. Alex & Mom had a special outing Sunday morning together to the bakery after spin class. Alex told the baker what should be written on the cake, and even helped spell Melinda's name. He was especially excited about all the blue frosting. Frosting is his favorite part of every cake, and often the only part he eats. This cake was no exception.

The other 30 candles were there in spirit

Uncle Bill helped Alex get his fill of frosting by sharing extra with him.

The blue frosting was potent! The "kids" showed off their blue tongues for Elizabeth's ever-present camera.
Alex Elena Uncle Bill

Fortunately no one had tummy aches that afternoon. What a fun party!

Traveling Teddy's Weekend with the Walkers

The 4s class has a tradition of having the "Traveling Teddy" visit each child for a weekend. Alex had the honor of being the first one to take Teddy home, so Teddy was the special guest in the Walker house this weekend. It was a great distraction since Jeff was still away on his golf trip and the kids really missed him.

Saturday morning after we all went to the gym together, Alex announced Teddy wanted ice cream from our favorite place. Alex marched right up to the window at Handels and ordered Cotton Candy with extra sprinkles in a waffle cone. He even shared some with Teddy, who had to take a little bath when we got home.

I am glad you wanted to get ice cream Teddy!

Oh... did you want to try some?

It sure is delicious!

Elena successfully gobbled up her "ice keem" before the hot sunshine melted it. She has worn this pink crystal bracelet that Grandma Sandy gave her when she was baptized all summer long. She is a total girly girl who insists on her hair bows, jewelry, painted toes, and pink elephant purse before leaving the house. As cute as she looks, one of these days she will have to stop wearing white dresses for messy outings like this...

For dinner that night, we packed up the family truckster for a picnic at the Woodbrook Elementary playground. Of course, Teddy joined us.

After dinner, the kids and Teddy literally ran off some of their extra energy. They have been bouncing off the walls all week with Jeff's absence. While Elizabeth was making dinner on Thursday, Elena put on her kitty boots and climbed halfway up the outside of the foyer staircase to get a better view of Alex jumping from the SIX FOOT tall curio cabinet. Thankfully, no one was hurt but Elizabeth's heart was racing the rest of the evening. The playground is much better place to pretend to be a monkey.

This slide looks fun...

You go first.

I'm coming Teddy! - Alex

Elena took a turn with Teddy while Alex did his best to scare Mom on a crazy wobbly toy meant for much older kids. Of course, Alex the Monkey successfully crossed it without any help.

Do you think Teddy can fly? - Alex

Here he comes! Catch Elena! -Alex

Are you kidding me? -Elena

Alex did running laps around the track. Alex has been very interested in running races since spending the summer with Logan, who is now captain of the boys Cross Country Team at Carmel High School, and watching the Olympics. He now has a running hat that he loves to wear to "pretend to be Logan." Alex ran around the track so fast he even beat a bike rider!

After a busy day, Alex and Elena were both great sleepers that night!

First Day of School

The first day of school finally arrived! We have been preparing for this big day for weeks. The kids picked out new backpacks at Pottery Barn Kids, bought new shoes, visited their classrooms, and talked about the friends that would be in their class.Although Alex has been going to the BJE since age 2, he was not happy about going back after the Summer of Fun with Logan. Alex loved going to the pool, playing police officers, riding his bike to the park, playing basketball and doing golf lessons with the coolest playmate ever- one that could drive and did not have to worry about doing laundry. In contrast, Elena was excited about being a big girl who goes to school. Too bad her backpack is almost as big as she is.Thankfully, her happy attitude was contagious! Alex finally agreed to smile for the camera after watching Elena ham it up for Mom.

Time to stop taking pictures and go!

School Orientation Day

Monday was "Meet the Teacher" day at the BJE. Elena and Alex waited patiently watching for Mom to come home from her early morning at work. The whole family went together to see who was in their classes.

Mom's Home! Let's Go!Elena checked out Mrs. Zawadski's classroom, with a little help from Alex. She was very interested in the painting center. Do you think she will bring home some good artwork this year?
Alex was a little apprehensive about Mrs. Goldberg's class, until he discovered some old friends. Seeing Drew brought a big smile to his face. The days Mom goes into work early, the kids will start their mornings playing in the school lobby. Elena tried out the lobby slide about 20 times to make sure this would work for her.

Just One More Time Please!Alex raced around on tricycles with Drew, Gavin and Jake.

Don't Crash!

Looks like it will be a great year!

Golf with Dad

To practice for his upcoming 5-day golf trip, Jeff wanted to go hit balls on Sunday. He invited Alex to join him the night before, which Alex was VERY excited. He ran into our room very early on Sunday morning while we were still sleeping and asked, "Jeff are you ready to go play golf now?" It is still a bit surprising that Alex calls his Dad "Jeff" the majority of the time! Before heading out to the driving range at Brookshire Golf Course, Jeff made Alex a breakfast of champions.

Alex did a great job putting and hitting buckets of balls with his dad. He looks like a natural on the course. The boys had a great time together.

Elena and Mom had some special girl-time together while the boys were out playing. Elizabeth gave herself and mani and pedi, and Elena insisted on also getting her toenails painted. She demonstrated her happiness for this by smiling for the camera!

Playdate with the Robinson Girls

After a busy week getting ready to go back to school, we had a lazy morning at home on Friday. The kids helped to make blueberry muffins and cinnamon rolls from scratch that morning before Aunt Melinda stopped by with her girls. It is so nice having them live just down the street! Ellie was not interested in the baked gods, but had fun tasting some different toys.

Yummy Refrigerator MagnetsElena showed Ellie how she plays mommy with her dolls. Ellie was not too interested in that game, perhaps because she has her own baby with little Maddie at home.

Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the BedThe kids turned on the music in Elena's room, climbed in the crib and danced together.

Babysitter in Training?Elizabeth and Melinda were busy sharing decorating ideas upstairs and lost track of time. Luckily, Alex snuck downstairs and watched over baby Maddie. He is such a good cousin!

The Indiana State Fair

This is the second week that kids have been home without a babysitter waiting for school to start back up. Everyone was well-behaved at Elizabeth's doctor's appointment early on Tuesday morning, so afterwards we headed to the Indiana State Fair.

Moooooo!
Our first stop was the animal barn. Alex jumped right in with feeding, petting and milking the cows, but Elena was a little more hesitant."I heard there were deep-friend snickers bars here somewhere. Why are we wasting time with these cows?" -Elena
We stopped at Pioneer Village, but our bag of popcorn was the only thing that interested them there. Thankfully, the farm equipment and trucks got a better reaction. The kids ran around climbing into the scoop of a bulldozer, touching the diggers, naming all the colors, counting the tractors, and making friends with anyone in a 5-mile radius."Ummm so this is fun and all, but how about those deep-friend snickers bars?" -Elena At another barn, there were lots of baby animals with their moms- chickens, cows, sheep and pigs. We saw a baby cow named Jeffrey, which the kids had a huge laugh about. See any resemblance? After our fun time at the Fair, we surprised Jeff at his office to eat lunch and share our adventures. After running through the office, Alex burst into the conference room filled with the doctors and drug reps and shouted "Where's MY Jeff?" which got a big laugh from everyone. Alex took this photo of his Dad while they were lounging together on the floor after the delicious drug rep lunch from Qdoba.

Nap Time!
After a trip to the bookstore, it was time to head home for a nap. Elena, our little fashionista, settled in for the drive home with her movie star sunglasses and elephant purse on.Of course Alex has sunglasses too, but he insisted on wearing his scuba goggles and snorkel instead. He is definitely in swimming mode after swim lessons last week!