Where did the time go? Lets catch up!

Well we seem to be a bit behind in our posts, so I will catch up in one random blog entry.

We had a visit from the Millers. We had a good time spending time with them, especially since we got a reprieve from reading the same bedtime stories over and over for a few days. We took a hike at Devil's Hopyard.

And threw some rocks in the river. Jack has been working on his reading skills with mommy.

And Ev has been working on his painting skills with Daddy.

And just recently we attended the town Halloween party. Everett was a rock star and stole the show. He is dressed as a "good lion".

Notice the circle of girls around him...

And last but not least, a few videos of Jack eating.

The coming of the Lion

The Miller family took a trip to build-a-bear today to get Everett a new good night protector. He seems to have learned that the dark is scary and for some reason he thinks a lion is going to get him. He cries and tell us "I just soooo scared the lion coming". So we got a new bear to scare the lion away and recorded our voices so he could hear them when he was scared. We shall see if it works...

Take Me Home Country Roads (i.e. West Virginia)

So we made a trip down South to West Virginia for Laurie and Tony's wedding. Here is a pic of me shoved in between the two car seats on our Journey down. Luckily for us, Auntie Katie bought a new car and we got to ride in luxury for the 12 hours each way. Amazingly it wasn't a bad ride.The Heymans also made the trip and the kids had a blast playing in the hotel room. Here are the little ones.





And here are the big ones.
I don't think life gets much cuter than this.

As you can see, the boys clean up pretty nicely.

Even the big one.

Everett didn't find the ceremony very interesting, but did wake up in time for some serious dancing.

Jack was a party animal.

All the Cheshire girls and our kids.

Auntie Katie and Auntie Cindy.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.....

It was a lot of fun, but we had to say good-bye. Good-bye Heymans!

Jack can Crawl

Here it is, just before his 6 month birthday Jack has pulled it off. He can now pull himself across the floor in a combat crawl. This video is pretty bad quality, but we were excited to get it on here. We will keep trying to capture a better video in the next few days.

Bronx Zoo, Part Two

Yesterday we packed up the boys and took them down to New York again to see the Bronx Zoo. It was a fun day.

The zoo has been around for more than a century, this is one of the original zoo building that used to house the lions.

We posed in front of the Buffalo when we first got there hoping we could get a smile from the boys before they were too worn out. No luck.

After that we stopped off to see the lions before heading to the Monorail ride. You can see the lions off of Everett's left shoulder. There are still 3 and the cub is getting quite a bit bigger than the last time we were there.

Once we got on the monorail we decided to take another family picture just like the last time we were at the zoo. It is funny to hold this one up to the last one and see the difference in Jack's growth. When I get some time I will edit this page and put the older picture up as well.

...and here is a picture from the last trip we took:

We were able to catch quite a few of the animals being fed, including the giraffes.

Our favorite exhibit was the gorillas where a small one decided to pound on the glass at me.

The Eagle

After we left the zoo and I took us on an unplanned car tour of the Bronx we ended at Arthur Ave, the Italian section of the borough. There we picked up 2 gallons of Olive Oil, had a great meal, and Everett met some NYC Fire Fighters.

I'm calling it, Jack can sit up!!

Is it sad that I am sooo excited that Jack is sitting up?!! He does the tripod move where he holds himself up by leaning on his belly and arms. When he wants to go somewhere, he just throws his head in the direction of his interest and he is off. Isn't he cute?!

Everett and the ABCs

We just took this video the other night. In it Everett is very excitedly singing his ABCs, he just doesn't know when to stop.

Everett Encounters a Bee

But first...a few shots of the boys together. Everett refers to Jack as "My Jack" or "My bruder." The other day when we were leaving the room he said to me "Take my bruder" so that I would pick Jack up and bring him with us.

Here they are: Everett is 2 yrs, 5 mo and Jack is 5 months.

And then there was the bee incident...Everett loves bees, chases them around, points them out, but he didn't see this one coming. While climbing down the steps he must have put his hand on one and it got him right on the index finger of his right hand. It immediately began to swell up and then half his hand looked like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man's hand. Here are a few pictures.

He took it like a champ though. He cried out a little and then saw something shiny and it was all over. I think I was the one who carried on, you would have thought I was stung.

Bits and pieces of life

Jack is 5 MONTHS OLD!

Still adorable. Guess that wears off around 2....kidding Ev. You are still cute too.To celebrate, Jack asked us to taste of bit of food and we obliged. Here he is taking his first bites of rice cereal. As you can see, he isn't too sure of it.


And he can hold his own bottle. His first tooth just arrived too (bottom left center), so it looks like Jack is almost ready to join the fam at the dinner table.

We also celebrated his almost half a year mark by visiting the Heyman girls in Newport. It was great to go back to the place where we started our adult lives and where the boys were "just a glimmer in our eyes". Not too much has changed, but it was really weird trying to find parks and such for kids. Somehow, even after living there, we had no idea what to do with kids. Apparently they aren't allowed in bars...what!?

Here are Lindsey and Everett on 2nd beach.

'
Everett making the moves on Lindsey.

And despite the beautiful day, there was a half moon on the horizon all afternoon. Weird...

We ate some dinner in an old firehouse and then hit Breton state park, the last bit of land at the end of Newport Harbor (where mommy used to stare when she was leaving port - beautiful). Ev and Lindsey rolled down the hill and watched the kites.

And some more moves from Everett the stud. Apparently he didn't hear the "play" in "playdate" and took Lindsey to watch the sunset hand in hand. awwwwww

Ally-gater turns one!

We visited the Heymans in Jersey for Ally' first birthday party. Here she is in all her glory. Adorable, no!Her awesome cake made by mommy.Jack hamming it up with the older ladies. (on a side note, Jack now loves to stand up and gets pretty mad when you don't help him to do it)After that we decided to play a rousing game of toss the little people. Not sure who had more fun, the adults or kids...Everett

Jonathan

Lindsey. It was hardest to catch her on film because her bathing suit made her superfast!

They all had a great time as did we and we wrapped it up just before the sky opened up. Thank you Heymans for having us down for the party. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLY!!