Summer is over, and after months of not blogging I am committed to at least posting twice a month, and hopefully more. I apologize for the delays in Menu family updates for the scant few readers we have, but it has been a wild summer, full of ups and downs, beaches and The City and too many paid writing assignments to keep up with my beloved blog. Starting it today is merely a way to procrastinate the six stories I have to churn out  open the door to blogging in honor of my father’s impending visit to hang with Ms. Ella.

As I wrote before, it has been a crazy summer. Ella, in turn, has sprouted a full blown dictionary of words in her vocabulary, in the span of two months became terrified of the water and so enamored of it we have trouble doing anything but swimming in the surf once we are beach-side, spent loads of time with her sweet cousins and has developed a Sesame Street obsession, largely to do with Elmo and most recently the Harry Potter rip off character sweet little fairy named Abby. Murray and Ernie, who Ella insists is actually Bert, are also high on the priority list.

Ella is most certainly a Daddy’s girl, but mostly is thrilled when the three of us are together as a family – moments we share in the morning over coffee and milk for Ella, and during her dinner, which is still a little too early for it to be a family affair, but the girl likes to sleep like her father and keeping her up past 6:30 is often a challenge of Herculean proportions.

Family, family, family was the name of the game this summer, which was great for Ella who loved being with her California cousins Zora, Maya and Gideon (pictured left), as well as her cousins Jack, Lily and Hudson – the latter two who spent the whole summer on the East End with us. Fun was had by all, and Ella still asks for her “Cakey,” (aka Hudson) when ever we visit her Grammy-pie (Susan)’s house.

It has also been the summer of Ancho, otherwise known as Aunt Johnna, who has been with us on the East End while she prepares for a move to California. Ella will certainly miss the ample cuddling and love provided by Ancho and cannot wait to see her again later this fall when we go west to celebrate the life of a very special woman.

That, my dear friends, was the hardest part of this summer. While certainly in a better place, we lost my dear grandmother Marjorie this August.

As many who know Gavin and I understand, cuisine and the celebration of food is a big part of our lives. We love nothing more than tagging along to the organic farm my mother has a share at, picking fresh vegetables (Ella is a master potato farmer) and coming home to create a spectacular feast for the body and soul.

Gavin’s passion for this was born of his parents, who owned two restaurants in Colorado, and mine was born wearing a denim apron with my twin sister in a kitchen in Southern California.

Children of divorce, my twin and I summered with our father in the desert and a working dad, we spent a majority of our days at our grandparents house in Rancho Mirage, swimming in their pool, napping in “the Butterfly room,” playing dress up in my grandmother’s clothes and trying on her perfume and jewelry. Cooking was also a big part of our day, which usually began with her undeniably delicious pancakes, followed by an afternoon of homemade cookie baking, throughout the day watching as she prepared lunch and dinner for my grandfather, who would come home mid-day from work to share a beer with his wife, the smell of pot roast wafting through the house at least once a week.

I miss her terribly, will honor her always and am grateful for all she gave me and my sister. In her memory, Ella and I will begin a weekly (I hope) task of learning to bake homemade bread so that she, like I, can experience the wonder of growing up in a kitchen alive with the smell of homemade food, family memories and lots of laughter.

Things have been a little on the crazy side around here, hence my lack of posts, but here is a photo to tide you readers over and a new post will be up soon.

We had a lovely Father’s Day weekend and Ella is truly enjoying summer!

We have been spending quite a bit of time with our good friends David, Rachel and their gorgeous daughters Britton and Brynley. Ella has really started to feel comfortable with them and we are watching her engage in a lot of parallel play leading into actual playtime with the girls. It’s great to have her socialize in so many ways during the week!

These photos were taken about three weeks ago at an informal party for Gavin’s birthday. It was a lot of fun getting our families together, along with the kids, Rachel and Dave for a little BBQ and cake action.

As you can see, Ella enjoyed the tiramisu cake we delved into in honor of Gavin.

This week we celebrate Johnna and I’s birthday, as well as Moms and hopefully the new addition to my older sister Emily’s family. May is a great month!!

Promise to post video soon. She has changed so much since the last video we posted!

Gavin’s birthday is this week and Ella and I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate our favorite guy (sorry Dads!). Every day I feel so lucky to have such a giving, funny, and let’s face it, just plain handsome husband to experience all of this with. Ella is a lucky girl to have him in her life, and I know she knows it. You rule, Menu!

The last few weeks have been very busy. Ella is very quickly developing an extensive vocabulary, mostly around the names of animals. “Duck Duck” is the new favorite. I thought she might just explode with excitement when I presented her with her new ducky wash cloth last night. She must have flapped her little arms for about 10 minutes – breathing was fast paces and baby talk abundant. It was pretty cute.

Last weekend we were able to spend a lot of time with Aunt Shana, Uncle Ashley and cousins Lily and Hudson, which is always an absolute pleasure. We are thrilled they will be here for the summer.

Lily and Ella had some pretty great bonding time, flopping around in a bed with teddy bears and giggling throughout. Such a joy!

Since last we checked in with our family and friends, the Menus had the most lovely trip to North Carolina where we spent a glorious five days at Aunt Johnna and Uncle Josh’s dream house, which is now our dream house!

Whether it was the amazing company, the acres of land to run around on, the delicious (and affordable – gasp!) cuisine, horseys and cats that wanted to play, Ella thrived in North Carolina. We swear her vocabulary went from Di (dog), dada and mama to include Scat (cat, and more specifically their cat Scat), peas, cheese and piggy.

Ella also developed an enormous crush on uncle Josh and truly enjoyed having two mommies, with aunt Johnna around.

Our days were spent chasing Ella around, exploring Duke Gardens, eating world class BBQ and mexican cuisine, and simply enjoying being close with our incredible family. It was heaven on earth and I have a feeling North Carolina has not seen the last of us!

After Ella would fall asleep (and boy did she sleep well in the Carolinas!) the four of us enjoyed many a home cooked dinner on the Moore’s picturesque front porch, which we adored.

And on top of all of that, Ella got to ride her first tractor!

This weekend, our family packed up and headed into New York City for some much needed sunshine and a little change of pace. It was glorious!

We spent a majority of our time in Central Park, enjoying temperatures above 70 (FINALLY!!), with Ella tooling around on her new found walking legs.

Crawling is most certainly for babies, according to Ella.

Gavin and I have always had a fond spot in our hearts for Central Park, preferring it to virtually every part of the city, save downtown during dinner time. This weekend was especially good for people watching as it seemed the weather brought the entire island of Manhattan into the park on Saturday.

After walking to the west side and back, we settled in with an exhausted little one for an early night in and a movie after Ella was fast asleep. Waking up bright and early, as most toddler parents do, we found our way to The Plaza, where Ella starred in amazement at the large flags (Flags and dogs are current favorites). Then it was back into the park for Ella’s first visit at the Central Park Zoo.

Admittedly, the zoo was a little much for Ella – who adores animals and can’t get enough of dogs.

That being said, the zoo’s polar bears did perk her up and were in quite the playful mood, giving us several vantage points for Ella to stare at them while pointing with wonder.

While Gavin and I both have issues with zoos in general, we did admit Ella is going to love them and until we can afford a safari, it will have to suffice and we will have to put those feelings aside.

All in all, it was a great trip, and we couldn’t be more grateful to Ella’s aunt and uncle who made it all possible. Thanks Ash and Shana!!

I admit, I have been horrible about keeping up with this blog lately, despite repeated calls from Ella’s Aunt Johnna to get on it and post some new material. I promise to make up for it this week for the scant readers I may have left with a post today and throughout the end of the week when Gavin will be skiing in Colorado and in dire need of daily Ella fixes.

It has been snow, snow and more snow in East Hampton – but sadly the kind of cold, frozen snow that doesn’t allow for much playtime outdoors. We did manage to get Ella out into the winter wonderland on a few occasions, but Ella actually playing in the snow will likely have to wait till next year.

Regardless, the Menu clan has kept busy. Ella has continued to be quite the little champ during the work week, allowing me time to write while she thumbs through her favorite animal books next to me. Reading or looking at pictures and pointing at objects in wonder are favorite pastimes.

She also loves looking at pictures of our family, which we hope will help her remember those near and far. Aunt Shana and Uncle Ashley’s family photo, located on our fridge, remains a favorite.

In other Ella news, she has begun to walk, much to the devastation of our cocker spaniel Marley who likely perceives this development as a possible threat (soon she will run, dreads Marley). Only able to take a handful of steps at a time, Ella thinks walking is very funny, her giggles often toppling her over.

Ella also loves her new, monogrammed chair, bought with love by “Grammy-pie” Susan. It is the perfect addition to our living room.

We continue to adore our music class, as well as Saturday puppet shows at Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre, with our good friends the Lys girls. Ella will also begin swim lessons with her father soon, an important development as outside of her bath our daughter has always been a little nervous about water.

Lots of love to our family still checking in on Ella! I promise to be better about posting.

For all you East End moms that have yet to check out Goat on a Boat, it comes highly recommended. For more information, you can visit www.goatonaboat.org.

After the show, the lot of us headed over to Conca D’oro in Sag Harbor for a yummy slice of pizza before heading home.

Otherwise things are moving along steadily, and happily. We are both working very hard and Ella continues to remain the utter light of our lives. Despite our busy schedules, we have continued to see Ella’s grandma Susan and grandma Mimi and grandpa Jack regularly and are thrilled Gavin’s sister and her family are considering a trip out east soon. Otherwise, the only other thing (we can fit) into the busy schedule is some time for me to write some thank you cards. I have made a solemn promise to myself that I will get them done this week or will go without facebook for two weeks (gasp!).

I leave you with a photo of Ella, wearing some new duds she got on her birthday. At the tender age of one, Ella is assured to always have a more fashionable (and expensive) wardrobe than Gavin and I would ever have for ourselves!

This past Saturday, we celebrated Ella’s first birthday surrounded by family and friends. It could not have been a more perfect weekend.

Gavin and I are so grateful to everyone who came to Ella’s birthday party. We even had Ella’s Aunt Johnna fly in and surprise us on Friday night, which was very special as Johnna was with us when Ella came into our lives. Ella’s Aunty Emily, Unca Bunca (aka Uncle Anderson) and cousin Jack also surprised us, on Saturday, by making the drive up from Washington DC. We also had a host of family from upIsland, including Aunt Kitty and Aunt Georgie and Gavin’s sister not only drove out from Manhattan with her clan, but also made the most beautiful snowflake cookies as parting gifts for our guests. She is just wonderful!

This is our favorite picture of Unca Bunca and cousin Jack – taken at lunch on Sunday afternoon.

We also love this picture of Aunt Johnna and Ella working on some birthday cake.

We really could not have had a better time and give big thanks to Ella’s grandma Susan, who let us celebrate at her home and made delicious chicken chili and Ella’s grandma Mary who brought veggie chili to round out the spread Gavin laid out.

It is amazing to us that our little angel is one. She is so beautiful, funny and engaging. Gavin and I could not feel luckier as parents.

Ella’s first Christmas celebration continued after our trip home from Anguilla, when we drove straight into New York City for two fun filled days in the Big Apple thanks to Ella’s Aunt Shana and Uncle Ashley who lent us their beautiful apartment while they were away.

The first evening, exhausted from our day of travel, Ella knocked out pretty quickly and Susan, Gavin and I enjoyed some New York City pizza before tucking in for the evening. Christmas Eve began with Ella’s utter excitement to be in a kid friendly apartment with toys everywhere (she only had a bag full of small toys in Anguilla). She was thrilled and Gavin and I named Shana and Ashley’s apartment “Santa’s workshop.”

After a morning relaxing and planning for dinner, we headed out for lunch at Isabella’s (good call Susan!) before taking Ella for her first visit to the Natural History Museum.

The Natural History Museum is one of our favorite places in New York and we were so excited to take Ella there and show her the Blue Whale. She was pretty much blown away, furiously pointing this way and that and making her excited “woosh” sound at each new sight.

After a lovely Christmas Eve dinner with our friends Scott and Elizabeth we woke up on Christmas with a few presents to open. Frankly, Ella enjoyed the wrapping paper more than the actual presents, but it was great fun regardless.

Ella adored her Good Night New York City book from Grandma Susan. It has become a favorite in our household.

Now we are home, gearing up for Ella’s first birthday (this Saturday). A new post will follow on Sunday.

Happy New Year and lots of love from the Menu clan!