September already?

I'm rather behind in posting to the blog and my only excuse is, well - LIFE! July and August were very busy months for the Alvarez family. Lots of things happening!

In July, we attended Reagan's 1st birthday party and Liam's 4th. These children are growing up so fast. We also celebrated our last 4th on Goodrich Avenue with our friends Wendy, Tim and Katie. We had a wonderful afternoon and great weather - before all of this heat came bearing down on CNY. In mid-July we got our official closing date and by July 23, were officially residents of Andover Circle. (Hi "Anna-Mow!") We also had the unique opportunity of meeting the couple who purchased our home. They relocated to Syracuse from Illinois. We will be having them over for dinner later this month. It has been fun connecting with them and helping welcome them to a new city where they don't know many people. And I'm happy to report that thanks to our communications, we haven't lost one piece of mail or package in the move. LOL. And as sappy as it sounds, we are glad that the house has wonderful new owners. At the end of the month, CJ and I had a nice date night starting with dinner with the Martins at yummy Mexican restaurant The Mission and drinks later in Armory Square with the Martins and Erica and Shawn in celebration of our fifth wedding anniversary. Wow, time has flown these past five years.

August was a month filled with parties! We toasted our friend Debbie, who now officially has her Ph.D. We attended a BBQ at my co-worker Kelly's house to celebrate some work-related milestones--administrative assistant Anna's retirement after 23 years, colleague Jemeli started law school and boss Kev's new position. All new and exciting adventures for all of them. At the end of the month, we taught Coop to sing "Happy Birthday" to Poppa Jose.

We've been doing some small projects around the house, hiring CJ's Aunt Di and cousin Amy to repaint our kitchen, entryway and stairwell. They did a fantastic job and Caroline got to hang with Amy's daughter Amelia, who is exactly 4 weeks younger. I also took CJ up on his longstanding offer to build me something and asked for mudroom lockers. Within a week of finding a design I liked, making the plans, getting the materials, building and painting, I now have a fantastic addition to our entryway. They turned out so nice, I am very proud of him! I don't have any photos yet, but I promise to post house pictures once things are more settled. We are hosting our first event at the house this weekend, a Labor Day BBQ.

The kids are doing great. Cooper is 20 months and Cara is 4 months. Coop is really getting more and more into trains and all of the Thomas stuff. His favorite is Percy. We recently picked up a train table from our friends (and now neighbors) Lauren and Ulf. Thanks Jonas for growing up and passing it along to Coop! He is a very active little man and is doing all of the things that toddlers do. Keeping Mom and Dad on our toes. He loves the new house, especially the big back yard that we had fenced in and his new swing set. Cara started rice cereal and seems to like it. She is now rolling over, laughing out loud, has great head control and has been "standing" when we hold onto her. We are working on sitting up on her own. It is all going by so fast! I am trying to take it all in, they really do grow up in a flash.

In new baby news, Mindy and Brandon welcomed Isabella and the Knight Fam welcomed Ethan, both in July. Congrats to all!

Hope everyone is happy and healthy! Have a wonderful long weekend and enjoy the links to new photos.