Happy Holidays!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas!



Pictures from all three of our Christmases are on Flickr.

Ready for Santa

The final holiday touches are finished and Evy and Brandon are ready for Christmas! Over the past couple of weeks they have visited Santa, had school & dance class Christmas parties and baked lots of cookies.

More pics from our final Christmas preparations are on Flickr.

Christmas Prep

The Christmas tree is up, the decorations are hung, the Christmas cards are ordered and Daddy's birthday is out of the way.



We're ready for the holiday season! More Christmas preparation photos are on Flickr.

Halloween 2013

Halloween costumes get quite a workout these days. In addition to the school parties/parades and trick-or-treat night, the bee and the fire chief went to a shopping center celebration, dance class, trunk-or-treat and Aunt Julie's birthday party. All of these activities also featured candy.

More Halloween photos are on Flickr, including our picking and carving of pumpkins.

The Start of Autumn

The fall season has gotten off to a busy start.

Brandon kicked things off with his first ever field trip. He and his preschool classmates visited Trax Farms to learn about apples, bees and gourds. They also went on a hayride and sampled some fresh apple cider.



The Hootenanny on the Hill was next. Everybody had fun with friends and family while wearing matching t-shirts.



Pop-pop visited the hill while everyone was in town. The ages of this group of his great grandchildren added together don't even equal half of his age.



Did you hear about the duck? The 40 foot tall rubber duck floating in the Allegheny River near Point State Park in Pittsburgh? Of course we had to go see it.

Evelyn had a chance to visit Heinz Field for Kids Day. At this special event she took a tour of the Steelers locker room, participated in a football skills competition and ran back and forth through the inflatable gauntlet at least 25 times.



Not bad for the first month of autumn. More pictures from fall 2013 are on Flickr.

First Days of School

It's time for school to start again, and Brandon gets to join in the fun this year. He started preschool and had a great time.

Evelyn is now a bus rider and is enjoying second grade.

More back to school pictures are on Flickr.

Summer Fun

We have been busy packing as much fun as possible into the last month of summer. The kids took a ride on the Strasburg Railroad,



created their own virtual ice cream flavor at the Turkey Hill Experience,

stayed up past bedtime celebrating Lauren and Andrew's wedding,



visited the Pittsburgh Zoo with their cousins,

and had a blast at parties, picnics, reunions and playgrounds.

Lots more pictures of our fun summer are on Flickr.

Brandon is Four!

Brandon stretched out his birthday celebration over a good two weeks this year. It was an extravaganza. He started with a birthday party and a biplane cake.



Then there was a celebration (with more cake) while his cousins were in town. Then dinner at Red Robin (with an ice cream sundae).

Finally, we had birthday pancakes on his actual birthday.



That afternoon we topped it all off with a birthday trip to Kennywood.



If you're keeping track he had two cakes, five happy birthday songs (including a reprise), a ton of ice cream and a lot of fun.

More pictures from Brandon's fourth birthday are on Flickr.

Welcome, Ian!

Evelyn and Brandon have a new baby cousin!

Ian Fire arrived earlier today, just in time for a picnic and some fireworks.

Congratulations Aunt Julie, Uncle Tim and Jay!

Beach Week 2013

We made our annual trip to Ocean City, Maryland, for some fun in the sun.



Evy and Brandon played in the ocean, dug in the sand, played mini golf and swam in the HEY YOU GUYS THE POPSICLE TRUCK IS OUTSIDE I CAN HEAR THE MUSIC PLAYING IT'S COMING DOWN THE STREET AND I NEED TO GO ON THE BALCONY RIGHT NOW I'LL BE BACK IN A MINUTE!!

Anyway, a lot more pictures from OCMD are on Flickr.

Dance Magic

Evelyn finished up her year of dance classes with a recital titled Dance Magic. She showed off her jazz, ballet and tap moves on stage and posed with her flowers afterward.

It was magical. More from Evy's dance show is on Flickr.

Children's Museum

Evy and Brandon visited the Children's Museum on the first day of summer vacation.



They made their way through the whole building - painting pictures, splashing in the water, climbing the cargo net and posing with a nine foot tall Clifford statue.

It's going to hard to keep up this pace through June, July and August.

More Children's Museum fun is on Flickr.

The Fountain Returns

Pittsburgh's fountain at Point State Park is back on after four years of repairs and preparation. We had a chance to see it while we were downtown for the Three Rivers Arts Festival this past weekend.

Evy and Brandon enjoyed standing in the mist. They also had fun making crafts, listening to music and looking at all of the booths of artwork. But I'll bet that if you made them pick their favorite activity of the day it would be the trolley ride into the city.

A few more photos of the point are on Flickr.

Last Day of First Grade

Evelyn finished up first grade today.

She's ready for summer!

Tour Guides

Evelyn and Brandon were the tour guides for their cousins' visit to Pittsburgh last weekend. They started out with a cruise on the three rivers.

The boat ride included balloon swords, pirate training and a little bit of face paint.

After lunch at Station Square and an appropriate amount of dancing in front of the fountains, we all headed up Mount Washington on the Duquesne Incline.



The kids had fun showing the city to their cousins from various perspectives. And they were excited that there was time left for a cookout and a couple of visits to the hotel pool.

More pictures from the tour of Pittsburgh are on Flickr.

Brandon's First Concert

Last weekend we headed out for a road trip to see Evelyn's favorite band - Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players. It was Brandon's first concert.

He was able to sing and dance along with the music and he even met the band after the show. Rock on.

More pictures from Brandon's first concert are on Flickr.

Spring Fun

The weather is starting to get warmer and it's about time. We have a lot of fun activities going on right now.

Evelyn and Brandon are both having a good time at swimming lessons. Brandon also likes MOPS and the library, and Evy participated in the Art & Science Fair and is playing soccer again this year. This season her age group includes a goalie and throw-ins. She enjoys both of these additions.

Go Green Turtles!

More Spring activity pictures are on Flickr.

Happy Easter

The kids enjoyed visits with family, multiple egg hunts and a few marshmallow peeps during our two week long celebration of Easter.

Brandon even put on a button down shirt.

More Easter pictures are on Flickr.

Evelyn is Seven!

Evy turned seven years old this week and celebrated with a party at home and treats at school.



More photos of birthday fun are on Flickr.

More Winter

It's cold. Every now and then there is snow.

We shovel the snow (and sometimes throw it at each other).

Such is wintertime.





More winter pictures are on Flickr.

Winter Fun

Evelyn and Brandon love to play in the snow.



It's even more fun when you add in all of your cousins! More family snow fun is on Flickr.