Congratulations, Happy Father's Day and Fourth of July

We've been on the go, nonstop for the last few weeks. At the end of June, Stephen's sister, Kristen, got married. We are pretty excited (especially Cate) to welcome Kristen's husband, John, to the family. Cate was a flower girl, accompanying her cousin Quentin down the aisle. More photos to come later, but here is a snapshot of Kristen and I after the wedding. That same weekend was Father's Day, so we went out to lunch, then to a cool Lego exhibit at Crown Center in Kansas City. We wrapped up with ice cream, primarily for Cate's benefit. Her ice cream cone was practically as big as her head.

For Independence Day, we decided it was time to host a party at our house. Stephen realized at some point that we hadn't hosted any kind of party since Cate was born, so we thought it was time. We had a Fourth of July brunch with cinnamon rolls, mimosas and bloody marys. Yum. And we invited our friends to bring kids. Let's just say it was little crowded at Chez Martino with about 10 kids and twice as many adults. Our neighborhood also has a little parade, so we loaded the kids up in their brand new red wagon (Keaton's birthday gift from Mimi and Pop Pop) and rolled down to the parade. Both kids got balloons and Cate came home with a sack of candy.

Both kids are growing up so quickly. I heard a friend once say that, at this age, the days are sometimes long, but the years go by quickly. It seems like I blinked and Cate is nearly four years old. We started both kids in new child care this week. I think the move will be good for them both, but dropping Cate off this morning made me realize how big she's getting. She took her backpack in and introduced herself to her new teachers. Mr. Keaton is also growing up. He's up to four words in is vocabulary now: dada, mama, ball and pop pop. Just this last weekend, he began walking in earnest. He goes for a half dozen steps at a time before crashing and he can stand, unassisted, for long periods. When I look at them, and we spend time with our family, I can't help but think how truly lucky we all are.