Random fun...

A few of our recent adventures!

At the Pittsburgh International Children's Festival. We saw three wonderful performances of children's theater. Parents, if a show from Russia called AGA BOOM ever comes your way, don't miss it with your kids of all ages!! Both Will and Ella were mesmerized and laughing out loud!
Playing some tennis on the lawn between shows.

Benjamin and Jennifer taking a turn! (Congrats to the Powell's on the super exciting news that they are expecting Baby #2!!) We can't wait for him or her to get here!

Ella trying out the hula hoop.

Ben giving it a shot!

Daddy's girl...


Adventures in eating...
Will and Ella just LOVE to cheers with their milk. Sometimes this makes meals extremely long as it can go on for quite a while. They are adorable though...

Ella LOVES to eat. And she can surely pack it away!! Here she is sharing her snack!


Spaghetti night. Will, spotless (and would have been at Ella's age too).

Ella. No more need be said.



Playing some corn hole at our neighborhood block party. We have so much fun shutting down the cul-de-sac, rolling out the grills and coolers, and playing the evening away with our dear neighbors!

Will has a serious obsession with red clothes at the moment. Some days he won't wear anything else. I have decided this is a battle I'm not going to pick. I had the cutest outfit picked out for him for the block party, but he insisted on his red Elmo t-shirt and red Nike shorts... oh well, I just do laundry frequently :-)

Ella playing in the Pirate ship with Gracie at the block party. The kids LOVE this water table from Auntie Lynn and Uncle Dave!!!

Ella the dancing queen!

I apologize that this is sideways, I have no idea why and can't seem to fix it... You'll get the picture though!

Ella loves music. So much so, that a minute of quiet in our house is hard to come by. As soon as she finishes her breakfast she walks over to the cabinet where the stereo is and starts bouncing up and down and pointing. Cue the music!! Lately, she's loving Dan Zanes and his folky kid tunes! Enjoy!

Slugger...

Here is a video of Will playing baseball in the house (thanks, Joe). The boys have decided that playing with the baseball tee is for "little kids" and Will is a "big kid" so he's going straight for swinging at the pitch. Left handed no-less. Our little slugger! Enjoy! Video of talking, dancing Ella soon to come!

Living Treasures...

We love our little animal park Living Treasures! Last year Will was too timid to feed the animals. This year, he jumped right in and forked over the carrots to all of them! His new favorite phrase since visiting for the first time this year, is to call everyone an alpaca! "Oh, you're just an alpaca!" What a goof...

My little animals...


We all loved this Momma kangaroo and her Joey in the pouch!!

This series cracks me up... Poor Nan trying to wrestle the kids into the picture!
Ella, no Will.

Will, no Ella.

Finally!

Where'd this little blue-eyed girl come from???


Will loved this horse! Giving him the rest of the bucket of feed.

Dr. Joe!

Although Joe successfully defended his dissertation months ago, his official graduation was two weeks ago. We are so proud of him and all his hard work. Check out those stripes on his gown!!!! Thankfully the ceremony was in the Pitt field house so the kids were able to run the track with their grandparents without disruption! Along with getting his doctorate, he also was promoted to Director of Curriculum for his school district this week. There's no stopping him now!!

Giving Will a high-five on his way to the stage.

Proud Dad, proud Kiddos!

Extremely proud parents...

One happy family!

Will's first foray into photography. Taking Pop-Pop's picture!

Ella running amok during the ceremony.

Ella and her Nan...

Some silliness...

Everybody loves oatmeal with strawberries and blueberries! I was trying to take a picture of Ella feeding herself and of course Will wanted in on the action. You'll notice no more high chairs or bottles in our kitchen, for now :-) We're down to cups and booster seats. Bittersweet...


They decided to have a parade with my shoes on one morning... Will refused a picture, but here's Ella!

Sailing our boat (or baby bathtub, also now in the attic...)

Trip to Boston!

I know this blog is about the Guarino family, and most often the Guarino children, but I was able to share an awesome experience with a close member of my "family" from Notre Dame recently. A couple of weekends ago my friend Kelly ran the Boston Marathon in an incredible time and I was lucky enough to be there to see it! Stef, my dear friend and roommate in Baltimore, lives in Boston so the weekend was doubly special!! Thanks to Stef for putting me up, showing me around, and to Kelly for running like the wind!! What a special trip...
Running shoes in the flower boxes in Beacon Hill.

The gratuitous self portrait...

After a fabulous dinner in the North End. You'd never know she was carbo-loading!

Ann's (Kelly's running friend) husband and Kelly's mom along the marathon route. Cheering on their girls!

Stef's boyfriend Jim was SO GREAT in mapping out a route for us to maximize our sightings of Kelly and Ann. The Blackberry's and iPhones were going nuts as we tracked their progress!

Here they come!! Going strong at mile 22 just after Heartbreak Hill!


Off they go to the finish line!