My boy's first birthday pix!

We took the boys to Lemos Farm for Trevor's first birthday. It's such a fun place for little guys. It's a very lowkey, awesome place for little kids. Trevor and Conner LOVED it!

Grammy and Buddy were able to make it as well as the Nichols cousins (and parents). Thanks for coming, for the wonderful time and for making it special for Trevor and us!

Conner enjoying a ride on a pony.

Conner and Emmer.
My handsome birthday boy!

Grammy and my boys enjoying the train ride through the farm. This was, of course, Conner's favorite part, much to poor Grammy's dismay, although she so willingly obliged and went with him over and over again. Thanks so much Mom!
Then Conner convinced Emmer to go with him a couple times and he just LOVED that!
The cute little Evie dolly.
Buddy and Conner on another train ride, another of Conner's favorites.

Trevor went right away for the cake, grabbed a whole handful...

Isn't he handsome? We had gone to toys r us earlier in the week and mentioned to an associate there that it was his birthday, so she ran and signed him up for the Geoffrey Club, getting him this crown and a helium balloon. And he actually wore the crown as opposed to the normal birthday ones we tried to get him to wear.

Another most precious face...

And then Evan went on with Conner...

Thought this was cute. Conner couldn't wait to give this to Trevor and "share it" with him.

Happy birthday to our little boy!

Mini photoshot of my little boy...

Trevor's about to be one! I can't believe it! And I was lamenting to myself that I haven't gotten portraits of the kids taken this summer and don't have that many pictures of Trevor and since taking portraits can be so stressful, I just decided to snap a few myself in our yard since he was looking so cute. Course they aren't as amazing as a professional and definitely could be better, but I thought they'll do...

What do you think?

I just love this picture of the boys. They are in such a cute stage and even though I have my moments (or lapses of time) where I lose my patience with some of their terrible twos and ones attitudes, one little smile or moment like this one below and all of that is but a memory (for the moment, I'm not that angelic).

Conner has recently really gotten into being the "older brother" and he loves to do things to make Trevor happy, laugh and smile, such as this moment below...it warms my heart.

In other news, I just weaned Trevor -- sob! It was time for it. He did SO well. Didn't have huge fits at night or during the day (about that at least) and has let go of it fairly easily, although he's even more clingy and cuddly now.

So, on to the next battle...pottytraining for Conner. I told him now that Trevor lost his nursies, it's time for him to lose his diapers. He thought about it and said "ok Mommy, will I get snacks?" And promptly went and sat on the toilet and went pee. Hoping this means we're off to a good start.

Pray for us!

Our last day...

We spent again on the beautiful lake Iseo, walking around enjoying the town -- which was so beautiful and built up so prettily -- and then we went on a ferry across the lake to a little Island in the middle of the lake, which was just amazing too.

So here are a few more pix...

We stopped at this little cafe for a cappuccino and gelato and to, of course, enjoy the gorgeous view (and get a little escape from the heat).

The gelato..
The view..
Trevor..
And here's us on the ferry..


I love the way these little villages are built on the edge of the water and cascading down the mountain..
Another one..
And then, the Island..
While walking along the island, we found this enchanting little restaurant, so we had to stop here for lunch..
The menu on a wine barrel...
View from our table..
You could sit inside here..
Or here...we picked here as it was gorgeous and there was the added plus of a nice lawn of grass where the kids could run while we ate and not disturb anyone... every parents dream.
And of course Conner had to climb up on the walls, much to the dismay of the restaurant owner..
A pretty little house or hotel that you could see from the restaurant..
And a picture of us..
Our food..
A little bird that came and wanted to enjoy lunch with us...the kids were thrilled.

And then we stopped for a gelato for the kids and cafe for us (yes, we had to make sure we had our fill before heading home).

Conner LOVED this day...
Waiting for the ferry back.
Some more of the gorgeous scenery, of course, this doesn't really capture it or do it justice, but I'm hoping you get some of the feel at least...

And us on the ferry back..
When we got back to the other side, the boys were exhausted so we found another little cafe with this little bed-swing that the boys fell asleep on while we enjoyed a rare, quite moment and our first aperitif together.
Our aperitif..
And that's about the end of our tales from Italy 2011. After this we went to our hotel by the airport and begun our long, long trip home...none of which is worth blogging about.

It was definitely a trip to remember and one that we feel very grateful for and we're SO thankful we got to meet up with so many of our family, cousins (and so happy our kids got to meet almost all their Vitali cousins -- we are still missing and needing to hook up with you Dora and Kathy) and friends. And to all our friends and family that hosted us and hung out with us and the friendship mades -- we love you and thank you! It was truly memorable. We hope we can do the same sometime for you here and again there. ;) So let us know when you're in town, yes?

Until next time...