Signing Off

Hi Guys.
I think I'm retired from blogging. I started graduate school in January and just have a lot going on that I have to give up some things. And the blog is one of them.  So thanks for following. And if you want to catch up with the Copes, feel free to call. Like we used to do in the old days. Or email or Skype. Like we do these days.
Ciao for now!

Children of Technology

I'm blogging from my (semi) new smart phone, so I'm not sure how the format will be affected. But I just snapped this photo of Ella playing on the iPad while Caleb is happy to sit and watch her. And by the way, he knows how to swipe and play some games. It's pretty unbelievable.

Some photos from around town (on my phone)

I tend to take a bunch of pictures on my phone but then never really upload them to the blog. Here are a few recent ones. Ella on her birthday after we picked up the balloons for her party.

 
A HUGE limo we saw on our walk home through Ft. Tryon Park.  This belonged to a bride&groom that got married in the park.  There was a hot tub inside and of course a bar and plenty of seating.  The girls were astounded.

And on another day we ran into a mermaid coming home from the annual Mermaid Parade at Coney Island. 

Look Who Lost Her First Tooth!

Not too long ago, Ella and I went to the dentist. While there, the hygeniest noticed that Ella had two wiggly teeth- the front bottom teeth. Since then, Ella has been working on that wiggliness and on June 26th, while eating a snack at her friend Julia's house, she turned to me and said "Mom, my tooth is really loose!" And I said, "Oh really? Should I just pull it out?" And without waiting for her answer, I reached in and pulled it out. I didn't even need to tug because it was so loose- hanging on by a thread, as it were.  She seemed a little stunned at the whole event.  And the tooth fairy didn't have a lot of houses to visit, so she made it to our house the very same night. 

Adventures NYC

Recently we attended a big event in Central Park sponsored by North Face and some other outdoorsy companies, including NYC. We got free bike helmets for the kids, the kids did a sort of scavenger hunt that earned them some cool metal cups from North Face, they met the NYC Birdie, and the most fun of all was the paddle boarding they did!

A few videos of Caleb

This video was taken over Memorial Day weekend at the lake house.  Lexi was spinning on the deck and Caleb wanted to join in the fun.  By the time I got the camera out to document, he wasn't quite as into it, but you can get the idea....




For awhile, Caleb hated grass.  Whenever I set him down, he'd stick his hands straight in the air and just sit there.  He wouldn't want to touch it or crawl or anything.  Here he is sitting on the grass in some shorts and he is trying to balance with a leg in the air-- I can only assume so that less of his body is touching the grass.  It was great while it lasted... I could at least depend on the grass to keep him in one place!




Here is a series of videos of Caleb learning to walk.  He took his first steps on May 20th and then initially walked with his hands straight in the air.  Please try and ignore my silly laugh.




Here is walking a little more steadily.  He learned to walk by the time he was 10 1/2 months old.  What a guy!




And finally, a little funny video of us making fish faces at each other.

A Tribute to The Lion King

Lexi's music/dance/theater class this year put on a production that was a tribute to the Lion King. Here is her class on stage.  They were all flowers, although the boys called themselves bushes.  See all those green clothes?  Another mom and I dyed them all.  It was quite the project!  Lexi is toward the back because she is tall, so you probably can't pick her out in this photo.

Here she is up close with her petal headpiece and her white gloves.

Ella's Birthday- Part 2

Earlier in the day I took cupcakes to Ella's class...

After the festivities with friends, Grandma, Allie and Chris were all able to come over and celebrate some more.  We had dinner (Ella's favorite: orange chicken) and more cupcakes and opened more gifts.  What a busy day!

And now, a little birthday interview.

How old are you? 5
Who is your best friend? Camila (at school) and Julia
What is your favorite thing to do? puzzles
Favorite color: red
favorite food: orange chicken
favorite toy: Littles Pet Shops
what do you like to do with your family? Spend time with it. Doing things.
what do you want to be when you grow up? A builder
what makes you happy? Having fun with Caleb
what makes you sad? When I hurt myself
favorite show? Peep and the Big Wide World
favorite book Peter's Chair by
what do you like to learn about? Spring
where do you like to go? California!
what was the best part of your birthday? Opening presents.
who are your teachers? Ms. Lawrence and Ms. Diaz
what is your favorite treat? candy! All of it!

what was your favorite birthday present? All of them!

Ella's Birthday- Part 1

Well, Ella is 5!  It's hard to believe.  She's finishing up her Pre-K year and will be headed to Kindergarten at Lexi's school in the fall.  She has begun to read.  And she has two wiggly teeth already! She's such a sweet little girl. 

We had a garden party for her birthday.  There is a little garden a couple of blocks from our apartment building, so we took over and invited her friends from church.  The biggest concern was the weather.  It was a gray day and I was so nervous we would get rained out, which was not good as our apartment could most certainly not hold all the little people that would be attending.  We did have a couple of passing sprinkles, but in the end, it was totally tolerable and did not really rain.  The kids had a great time and Ella was as happy as could be.  Alexis was a big help during the party- running some of the games and playing with the younger kids.

First, we had to transport all the party stuff to the garden.  We used our "granny cart" and the stroller and squeezed it all into the elevator.  

Then we decorated the garden

We made clothespin caterpillars and planted some flowers in pots

We played with ladybug bean bags (that I made-everyone took one home) and a big parachute and some duck-duck-goose and "pin the butterfly on the flower" (Lexi made the flower and all the butterflies) and we blew some bubbles, too.

Of course we had cupcakes! The strawberries are supposed to look like butterflies.  And we had some other snacks, like green grape caterpillars on a stick, yogurt, crackers and juice.

And all the while, Caleb sat happily on a blanket on the grass.  He's kind of scared of the grass.  I guess he doesn't like the way it feels or something, but he will not crawl on it.  At all.  It's pretty hilarious.  And pretty great.  It's the one area of the world that can contain him!

Many many thanks to my two photographers: Aprille and Abbie.  I would never have had the great photos without their contributions!