Field Trip II

Evelyn's preschool class just finished up a few weeks of learning about farm animals with a field trip to Round Hill Park and Exhibit Farm to see some real farm animals up close.

Well, not too close...

Evy almost got within a few feet of a giant pig, a brand new lamb, and a boisterous chicken.

After the farm tour was over all of the kids went up to the playground. Even Brandon was allowed to get in on the fun.



Everyone had a great morning at the farm!

Paleontological Exploration

In other words - we visited the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.



Evelyn had a great time researching prehistoric life. She saw huge dinosaur skeletons, excavated fossils, touched a snakeskin, and held a baby apatosaurus skull. She even crawled inside a life-size replica of a whale's heart. It had a TV in it.

Brandon wore a dinosaur sweatshirt while he rode around in his stroller and smiled at everyone.

More from our paleontology day is on Flickr.

Spring Break

We took advantage of a break in Evy's preschool schedule and did some visiting. The kids had fun hanging out with family and friends, hitting the playground and taking a train ride. A real train ride.

We finished out the week with a special day for Brandon. He was baptized in the same church as Steph and Evelyn.

More Spring Break pictures are on Flickr.

Opening Day

Today was opening day in Pittsburgh and the smallest fans were ready to root, root, root for the home team.





The Pirates beat the Dodgers this afternoon and are tied with St. Louis atop the NL Central. For now. They only need 81 more victories this year to break their active streak of 17 seasons without a winning record!

The kids don't care about about all the losing (although, of course, it's a shame). They just want to dress up in black and gold and wear a baseball glove around the house.

Let's go Bucs!

Happy Easter!

Brandon's first Easter was filled with marshmallow peeps, chocolate bunnies and jelly beans - for Evy. He did like playing with the plastic eggs, though. And getting dressed up with his big sister.



More Easter pictures on Flickr.

Thinking Spring

We marked the first official day of spring with a trip to the park (along with everyone else in the tri-state area).

Still, it doesn't get much better than a bike ride, two playgrounds and a cookout to start the season off right. Remember that we had almost three feet of snow on the ground a month ago...

We also marked Brandon's seven month birthday today. He celebrated by watching the bike ride, two playgrounds and the cookout.



He was fine with the plan.

We're all looking forward to many more bright and sunny spring days.

Birthday Weekend

Evelyn turned four on Friday and she was able to extend her birthday celebration through the entire weekend. She didn't even let a stuffy nose dampen her fun.



Evy enjoyed the birthday song at the restaurant, her new "Stuffed Lightning," the princess castle birthday cake, and making a frog at Build-A-Bear.

More fourth birthday fun is on Flickr.

Brandon's Thoughts About Squash

Sometimes

"Most of the time Evy and I are best buds."



"But sometimes she just talks too much..."



"She is a usually a great big sister. Her singing calms me down and her antics make me laugh. I could use fewer hugs in a row, but overall I'm not complaining."

Dueling Pianos Update

Now they sometimes rock the dueling drums instead...