Good Luck Charms

Good Sunday Morning! Last night was the Redskins second preseason game (against the Jets starring their "new" qback Brett Favre) - and they WON!!! We think it helped that the boys were in their Skins garb:

Daddy bought Tyler the #26 Clinton Portis jersey yesterday. He wears it well, don't you think :)?


Evan got in on the action too - wearing a pair of Redskins pj's:

Let's hope the Redskins can keep it up and have a good regular season. I don't care so much myself, but it makes Mitch happy so I'm all for it. And I suspect at some point it will be the be-all and end-all for Tyler and Evan too! So GO SKINS!!!!!

Evan's blog...

Today is a very big day for me! I'm sitting up:

And I'm almost crawling!

I love Saturdays!! I can't wait for Daddy and Tyler to get back from the pool so I can show them my new skills!

The Return of the Lump...

So, Tyler took a spill today. Went headfirst into the banister post:

I say "return of the lump" because when we were up in Vermont, he took a spill in the hotel room and hit his head on the leg of a chair. He got a nice big lump and bruise in the middle of his forehead, and also a nice cut about 1/4 of an inch from his right eye (if you look closely, you can probably see the bruise in the picture of him eating the ice cream in the previous post about the trip). Well, today he hit his head in almost the exact same spot - when the previous bruise had just barely gone away! Thankfully this time there is not cut near the eye.

This fall was obviously just an accident, but the kid is a daredevil to the nth degree! He'll climb on anything, pull chairs and tables over - we've had to remove half the furniture from our living/dining room area. We finally had to gate off the kitchen because he can climb up onto our counter high kitchen table and chairs, and he was scaling the front of the stove! But this evening was the kicker. I looked up from making dinner in the kitchen and saw him standing on the arm of the rocking chair, ready to launch himself over the railing of the stairs (going down)! So now, we've had to remove the rocking chair from the room. Sorry Mimi... Pretty soon, the room will just be filled with pillows. I imagine he'll find some way to make that dangerous too...

That's what little boys are made of....

Here's one...

Ok, here is a little video that isn't too big to upload!

Happy boy!!

Some time with Evan.

Ok, these are pictures that I just have to share because I think they're so cute.

Saturday was the beginning of preseason football, so here is Evan in his hand-me-down Redskins garb! But since he is older (and significantly bigger) than Tyler was at this time last year, these clothes won't fit him for long and we'll have to get him some new ones. Tyler will get some new things too. Since the Skins have signed Clinton Portis to a new contract, I'll probably finally splurge on that #26 jersey for Tyler...

Here he is sitting in his big brother's armchair, looking pretty chubby and sporting a decent "fauxhawk"! He seemed to really enjoy sitting in the chair, and he'll probably get his own for his 1st birthday (of course I'll buy it for him and he'll want nothing to do with it!). I have some good video of this that I've been trying to upload, but it appears that it is too big :(

That's all for now!

Graduation!!

This morning was Tyler's last "Baby and Me" swim class!! Though he is certainly not yet a master of the water, I think he is doing remarkably well for his age (as evidenced by last week's dip in Lake Champlain!). Here is a picture of Tyler with Daddy holding the certificate that was earned after the 8 week class:

So proud!!!

What a weekend!!

Sorry it has taken me so long to write about our trip to Vermont, but I've been recovering! Seems I'm getting to old for all that staying out late drinking...

We started out at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, hitting the road with a loaded car and two awake babies.

Within 10 minutes, we thought we were going to have it pretty easy...

I'd like to tell you that that nap lasted a solid 3 hours, but I think it only lasted about 20 minutes! Not to worry though. With an ample suppy of toys and snacks, and lots of stops along the way for stretching, the 12 hour drive wasn't too terrible! (BTW, I only have pictures of Tyler from the car because Evan sits behind me in a rear facing seat so it would take some fancy - and dangerous - contortions to get those shots!)

We arrived in Burlington around 6:00 p.m. and checked into our hotel. My mom, sister, and brother-in-law all came over because they couldn't wait to see the kids. We hung out and ate pizza and a fair amount of wine and beer was also consumed... let the weekend begin!!

Here is a picture of Evan with Uncle Andy, who had never met either boys. Andy has always loved the babies - and the babies always love him!!

On Friday, we met up again with Mom, Kathy, my nephews Jared & Jordan, and my Aunt Lynda (my father's sister) and Uncle See-See for lunch. Lynda and See-See had not yet met the boys either. I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of them at lunch... but here are some shots of Evan (there are no pictures of Tyler from lunch because he was not in the mood to sit so Daddy had to walk him around the mall the entire time we were there!)

It was a very nice visit and I was thrilled to introduce my boys to more family!

On Friday evening, the reunion started with a dinner/dancing at the hotel where we were staying. Mom and Kath came over to babysit for us. It was great! A lot of people showed up and it was so nice to see everyone! Some people hadn't changed, and some were unrecognizable! Here are some shots:

Me and Melissa!!! We hadn't seen each other for about 12 years. Melissa is married to a great guy named Scott and she owns her own business. No kids - she is "allergic" to them :)!


This is Jen. She is a one year (so far!) breast cancer survivor. Yay Jen!!! She is doing the 3-day walk in Boston this coming weekend - GOOD LUCK!!!


Me with Kara and Melissa. They were my two best friends in high school. Kara is married and has one son named Brendan.

Trish and Tracy - they were high school sweethearts and are still married and have 2 kids.

The Boys (from left to right): Todd (married, 5 kids), Liam (divorced, 3 kids), Paul (divorced, 3 kids), Steve (not sure - didn't get to talk to him much!), and Robert (married, 2 kids).


The Class of '88!! Those of us who showed up anyway!!


The next day was a family gathering at the Sandbar State Park. More time to chat with old friends, and I brought the rest of the family along too. Mitch and everyone else watched the boys most of the afternoon. On the one hand, I felt guilty passing off my kids, on the other hand, it was nice to have a chance to catch up with people unencumbered! But still, most of the pictures I have from that day are of the boys!


Evan just chillin' on the blanket.


Here's Tyler enjoying some ice cream that Uncle Andy bought him. No wonder the babies love him!!!

Here he is in Lake Champlain!! And no, he isn't wearing the life jacket... but he was surrounded at all times!

Look at him go!!! The water was very cold and when he came out he had purple feet! But he didn't seem to mind...

Saturday evening, we decided to keep it low key. Mom came back to the hotel and had dinner with us, and then we made it an early night. The next morning, we didn't didn't get on the road until nearly 8:00 a.m. - we had planned for 6:30!!

But the main goal was to make it home before dark, which we did, a solid 12 hours later.

It was a great trip and I'm so glad we went. The roadtrip was so much better than we anticipated, and it was well worth it. I've promised the boys that the next roadtrip will only be half as far - when we head to the Outer Banks in October!!