Christmas 2009

This year was Brandon's first Christmas, and we were able to celebrate three different times across the state of Pennsylvania.



Happy Holidays to everyone! More from Christmas on Flickr.

Still Crazy

They're up to 260,000 animated lights over at the crazy lights house. We had to go take a look.

We watched. We danced. We took pictures. We went home and turned on all 300 of our lights on the front porch railing.

And we can't wait for next year.

Snow Weekend

It started snowing on Friday night and didn't stop until Sunday morning. We didn't have anything scheduled, so Evelyn decided to call it a snow weekend and do some fun things without leaving home. Things like making paper snowflakes...



baking cookies...

and playing in the snow.

More of our snow weekend activities are on Flickr.

Christmas Is Coming

There are only two weeks until Christmas. The decorations are up and the kids are ready...

We are not.

More Christmas prep is on Flickr.

Evy Bakes A Cake

Evelyn was very excited about my birthday. Every morning she would remind me how many days were left until I turned 34. She wanted to pick out my present and even bake and decorate my birthday cake by herself.



Evy did a great job. Then, of course, she wanted to help me blow out the candles.



More photos of Evy celebrating my birthday are on Flickr. Since she was so happy for me it was easy to have fun getting older. Plus I still have one year left in the all-important entertainment and advertising target demographic...

Brandon's First Road Trip

For Thanksgiving we jammed the car full of stuff and took Brandon on his first road trip. Just like Evy's first time on the turnpike, Brandon slept most of the way. The only difference is the color of the neck wings.



More pics from Thanksgiving are on Flickr.

Air Traffic Control

We took advantage of some mild November weather and visited the county airport this weekend. Evelyn had a great time showing the planes and helicopters which way they should land and takeoff. I'm sure the air traffic control team in the tower appreciated her help.



She wore ear protectors the whole time even though the runway wasn't very loud. I think she just liked not being able to hear her parents.



Evy has already talked to a pilot and she knows that you have to be 16 years old before you can fly solo. Well, she's not allowed to drive a car until she's 25, so she might actually have a better chance of flying a plane first...

More from the county airport on Flickr.

Snow White and the Eighth Dwarf

Evelyn came up with several costume ideas before deciding on Snow White. She didn't really know the story, but she knew that the costume was made for her Aunt Julie in 1986.



Here is Evy in 2009.



It's like Snow White was restored for re-release on DVD and Blu-ray.

Since Brandon couldn't voice his opinion about a costume, he became an accessory for Evelyn. She even helped to sew his "dorf" hat.



Evy only trick-or-treated at nine houses. It could have been because her sparkly shoes were a bit too big and hard to walk in. It could have been because she had more fun giving out candy to the "customers" that came to our door. It also could have been that her parents made her wear a winter coat over her costume. What? It was cold out there.

Evelyn asked if she could sleep in her costume. We said no.
It needs to be saved so that someone else in the family can wear it in 2032.

More Halloween fun is on Flickr.

A Day At The Parks

Evelyn enjoyed the recent heat wave and managed to get in a little more outside fun before the return of the cold weather. After preschool she went to the park for a picnic lunch and some climbing on the playground apparatus.



Later in the day she went leaves jumping at a different park.



Let's do it again in May.

Behind the Scenes

You may have seen a few of Brandon's Thursday pictures. Since he was born on a Thursday, we're taking a photo of him every week to watch him grow.

What you haven't seen is what's happening in the background while these pictures are being taken...



Big sister Evy loves to be around her little brother. She talks to him and gives him kisses and tries to make sure he's happy. Brandon loves it too. He smiles and coos at her whenever she's around.



Which, as you can tell, is a majority of the time. We know that she just wants to show affection to the little guy. But we're going to have to get him a suit of armor (or bubble wrap) at some point.