Summit, NJ

It had been a long 6 months or so since we went to visit the O'Neils and Reynolds in Summit, so we felt we were due. Not to mention, Dallas turns 2 in a few short weeks so we had to get a trip in before I have to pay for a ticket for him!

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Scotty was in Asia so it was a girls (plus Jake and Dallas) week! Jake and Em came over every night to hang out and get some quality time with 2 of their sissies and all the fun little ones! We had their typical friday night dinner at RANDAZZO'S in Summit, and it did not disappoint! Then it was off to ricky's for some treats before the big

BRAYTON

THEATER WEEK

PERFORMANCE!!!

For all Dallas knew Alexa was seriously peforming on Broadway...he had tunnel vision the whole time and very excitedly clapped everytime she did something or the song ended. When it was over he ran to find her and just clap, clap, clapped!

On Saturday we had a sitter and Lisa, Jake, Em and I went to a movie (won't even mention the name due to sheer embarrassment) and rosa mexicana for dinner. The guac was amazing and made-to-order at our table. It was second to only one Scott O'Neil's guacamole.

During the week we did Lisa's and the girls' busy (but fun!) day-to-day stuff with a few shoppping trips and lunches thrown in. No trip to Summit would be complete without hitting Short Hills Mall!!!

Dallas was SOOO excited waiting for our flight!

nothing like ricky's for treats after dinner.

they were so nice and even custom made chocolate-covered cinnamon bears for me -my FAVE!!

Alexa and the 4th graders acting from Charlotte's Web, dancing from Itsy-bitsy Spider and singing from Alice in Wonderland!

Dallas was SOO proud of Alexa and couldn't wait to give her props

then of course the 2 little wild ones had to hop up on stage for a little attention of their own...
cutest ELIZA, KIRA and DALLAS
Dallas had his first slurpee while we were there
needless to say, he thought it was pretty great!

Kira is always so sweet to Dallas and let him hold her hand all the way home from school :)
these two munchkins had so much fun together!
swinging...
playing following the leader...
playing in the barbie house...


watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse...
playing on the swingset...
and playing in the tub!

but if Dallas was napping, Eliza found some fun on her own-doing dishes!

She is her mothers daughter-Lisa ALWAYS loved to clean the kitchen growing up!

crazy and fun uncle jake wrestling with the kids!

those O'Neils can throw down-I heard them say they totally support bringing UFC to Madison Square Garden!!!

poor Eliza was outside playing with the 'big girls' and kept coming up to the back door with the saddest look on her face! But then she would just turn around and go play again.

Dallas with his funnest Aunt Emy and Uncle Jake

Second to being in Ireland, NYC is apparently the place to be for St. Patty's!!!

It was ever-present in the little town of Summit, NJ though with the CLOVER-SHAPED pizzas!

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We had SOOO much fun with you all and always love coming to hang out and play and experience your fun and busy lives! We can't wait to see the O'Neils next week and Jake and Em in August in Newport. You are all the best and we love you so, so much! Thanks for yet another great trip :)

Goodbye, RUBY TUESDAY?!?!?!

The Rolling Stones put it quite eloquently...

Goodbye, ruby tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When you change with every new day

Still Im gonna miss you...

It's inevitable. Teag is ADAMANT that Rubes is hittin' the door, and I mean for good. Not just the hiatus she had with Pete for a month or two, we're talking FOREVER!

It is so hard...I LOOOOOOVE and adore Ruby so much, but she is just so high maintenance and hasn't received the love and attention she deserves since Dallas came along. Cooper, on the other hand, is so low-maintenance and 'f'ree-spirited' that it isn't an issue with him. Plus, Ruby has snapped at Dallas a couple times now and that is one thing I said I would never put up with.

SO, I think we have found her a new home. April, Teag's friend at work, knows the situation and has come over to meet Ruby a few times. April took her to her fiances house to make sure she was comfortable there and she said it was great! I keep putting off giving up the little bitch because I KNOW I will be sad and I KNOW I am going to miss her! And, today on the plane ride home Dallas was talking about Ruby and Cooper non-stop so I know he would miss her too.

What to do, what to do? My guilt will kill me!!!

Advice welcome!!!

we're so glad when daddy comes home...

Teag has been traveling a lot for work and Dallas MISSES HIM!!!

They are best buddies when they are together - always smiling, laughing and giving loves!

There is nothing that makes me happier than seeing these 2 sweet boys together.
(and they are pretty sweet to the mommy too!)

-If I am on the phone and say "I love you", regardless if its my mom, dad, a sibling, whoever, Dallas always assumes it is Teag and yells "DADDY!"

-whenever we pull up to the house Dal gives me this look, eyebrows raised, serious face and says "Daddy?" Depending on my answer he either starts kicking and clapping or kicking and screaming.

- he copies Teag like crazy! whether it is stretching, cooking, tickling mom, telling the dogs "no" or "down", Dallas is Teag's little shadow.

I love Dallas and Teag so much! I miss, miss, miss Teag when he travels for work!! I appreciate Teag and all he does for our family and how hard he works for us! He is such a hard worker and I love watching him succeed. He is so patient with me and really does try to understand where I'm coming from with some of my kooky ideas :) He also knows when to do something just to humor me, which helps! I am really missing Teag right now and I am so excited for him to get home friday!!!

Dallas is the greatest little buddy to have when Teag is gone though...he snuggles with me in the morning while I have my DC and he has his milk and we watch 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse', he will randomly give me loves all throughout the day, he laughs when I am being RIDICULOUS trying to entertain him, we read an extra 5 or so books before bed if dad is gone (to help the time go by) and he sits on my lap and snuggles the whole time, he is pretty good at letting me drag him around on errands-however I have already noticed things in my bags I KNOW I didn't put in the cart...we color together, he wants to eat all the same things as me and he tries to play with the dogs for me at night.

I love these boys and am so grateful to have them!

fun with Dallas!

Teag had Presidents Day off and is traveling a lot for work over the next little while, so we thought we would take the little man to POJO'S for some quality family time and fun! It is a Chuck E. Cheese-ish place with lots of games, little rides, etc. Dallas was content with going down the slide 100+ times, riding the carousel, playing hoops and running around. I think we ended up spending more on my DC than games because he just wasn't that interested!

Dallie couldn't quite make the shots so his nicest daddy lifted him over so he could dunk it. Being the paranoid mom and person that I usually am, I was worried we were going to get in trouble or get kicked out of the place. Teag assured me it was cool. No one said a word or even looked twice when Dallas took the ball from the game and carried it around with him for the next hour...
I know, I know, I need to chill out!

my two cutest boys!

the little man getting ready to go down the slide

there were some other kids wanting to go down the slide too, but Dallie kind of dominated it (as usual) and pushed them out of the way if they were taking too long. All Teag and I could really do is laugh and apologize!

Only in Idaho, I guess.
This is a real game where you get points for squeezing the lit-up udder.
Huh?!?!



Our cutest neighbors, the Kneiters, gave Dallas these awesome 'cars' pj's and slippers for Christmas. He can't get over them and still FREAKS OUT over the car slippers, pointing to them every 2 minutes or so.

We have our little night-time routine that Dallas makes sure we always stick to:

bath, pj's, reading, into his crib, prayers, family hug, throw the binkies behind the crib, dad gets them, music on, "love you's" and lights out!

picking out books - we still read about 50 per day!
not our normal position for reading stories (that is in the rocking chair), but last night Dallas thought this was pretty great!
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We love our little man more than ever! He is so sweet, silly and loving! He wants to be JUST like his dad and copies everything Teag does. He has more and more personality by the minute, which also means more defiance. He keeps us laughing constantly though. Every day is so much fun and we feel so lucky and blessed to have such a great little family :)