The League

Are you ready for some football?  Are you?  Really? Are you sure?  Because we are.

After last year's um...shall we shall we say piss poor season?  Yes, I think that's appropriate.  After my and Brian's piss poor season last year, it's time to lick our wounds and start all over.  (Seriously we won exactly ONE GAME last year.  It takes dedication to be that terrible.)  But, it's Fantasy Football Season again, people...and we had the party to prove it.

Aunt Bess and Betty.  Last year Uncle Todd came darn close to winning the whole thing, despite his abiding ignorance of football.

Bess C and Bailey.  They're moving to Nashville, but nothing will keep them out of the league.

Aunt Becky and Dori.  We're thrilled they (and Uncle John) are joining us this year.

This is what parties at our house look like lately.

The kids found the Cheetos!

Uncle Rob filling in for Uncle Mike and accepting the victory trophy.

It's okay, daddy.  I know you came in last and brought everlasting shame to our family...but I still love you.

More chips!

Uncle Rob had to sit and take a breather during the game to determine draft order.  It's called endurance, Rob.  Work on it.

Vanna White (I mean Becky) and Dori replacing beers for the draft game.

David and his folks stayed with us all weekend.  On Monday morning Ellie told me she hopes "David can live in our basement forever."  Me too, kid.  Me too.

Rob and Mike.  Look at them...colluding already.

Cousin Nancy is brand new to this game, but look at her...I think we may be in trouble.

Seriously, draft day is exhausting.

Uncle Todd shares a giggle.

And then there was a clam boil.  Oh my god, so much seafood.  So much goodness.

So Fantasy Football 2013 is off to a roaring start.  Here's hoping we win TWO GAMES this year!

Funny Faces

I took the kids to the Bronx Zoo this morning and realized we have fully entered Ellie's "make funny faces in pictures" phase.  As Todd pointed out, it never really ends.  A few more masterpieces:

Tot Lot

We took a trip to the Tot Lot in Cold Spring today to visit with Maggie and Will.  And I finally brought my camera with me.  I'm not sure entirely what's been going on with me and my camera lately.  I haven't been satisfied with my pictures, and I think I've been using her bulk as an excuse not to bust her out, because I've been frustrated.  But I need to get over it. So I'm promising to take more pictures and not to rely on my iPhone all the time.  The iPhone is great and all, but the pictures rarely make it out of my phone, and when they do it's just to Facebook and then the poor blog gets neglected.

Gabe, where are your hands?!

Oh, there they are!

Ellie, riding around like a big kid.

She drew a heart in the sand and then asked me to take a picture of it.  Gladly, kid.  Gladly.

Singing Happy Birthday with a cake made out of sand.

Snail! No, Gabe, it's a worm.

The family across the street had a party last week, and I ended up talking with a neighbor who's garden I greatly admire.  Incredibly, she offered to come over the next morning and help me make some sense of our overgrown front yard.  Her rules?  She'll give advice, and help prune and pull stuff out, but she won't clean up.  Sounds fair to me!

She spent several hours working with me, and taught me that what I thought was honeysuckle sweetly entwined with our butterfly bush was actually a noxious choke-weed slowly suffocating one of my favorite plants.  Oops!  She also encouraged me to go ahead and pull some hostas that I just wasn't fond of.  No offense to hostas in general, but they often leave me with an "overly manicured industrial park" kind of feeling.  Plus these particular hostas just weren't doing well in this location.  I had often thought of pulling them, but couldn't quite pull the trigger.  Now, though?  Those hostas are gone.  And replaced with some black-eyed susans, pink cone flowers, and something else I can't pronounce.  I've still got a long way to go making the garden my own, but we're off to a start.

New Friends

"Can Ellie come out to play?"

This is Ellie and her new friend, L.  L lives at the end of the block, but somehow we didn't get to meet her and her family until recently.  But now her and E are thick as thieves.  This photo captures the very first time someone has come over to see if Ellie can come out to play.  The suburbs are awesome.

Holding Hands

The kids still like to hold hands in their car seats and it absolutely kills me every time.

Uncle Mike the Rock Star

As soon as Uncle Mike picked up the guitar Ellie sat herself down and declared "I'm the audience."  She's such a little groupie.