Christmas stuff

My mom and step dad came down to celebrate Christmas last weekend since mom has to work on Christmas Day. 

Quinn and Megan loved wearing Grammy's Christmas headband.  Q kept giggling whenever he had it on. 

 Not to be outdone Meg had to wear it too.  Like her outfit?  Can you tell she picked it out herself?

Grammy and Grandpa Tom got Megan a Dora sleeping bag.  And Meg decided to use it as a backpack.  Unfortunately, it's a little big and kept throwing her off balance.  On a side note, Meg loves the sleeping bag and has been sleeping on the floor in it since Sunday.

We went to a local church's tour of Bethlehem.  It was awesome.  They set up the gym as the actual village of Bethlehem.  There were people in costumes, a live nativity complete with animals, and lots of stations for the kids to do.  Here's Megan with the camel.  She kept everyone entertained because she was talking about how cute and cuddly the camel was.

 Megan after visiting the candle making station..  Notice the gold bag.  They filled the bag with gold

Augustus coins that could be used to buy different things people were selling to remind the kids of various traits of Jesus.  Shepperd's hooks, bread, grape juice, etc..  Meg was much more interested in the bag than in buying the trinkets.

Poor Quinn was strapped into the stroller for the trip.  Not very many things are ideal for a 15 month old to get out and run around.

Santa visit take 2

We had breakfast with Santa at a local church.   Here we are with a jolly elf.

This time the kids switched it up a bit.  Megan jumped right on Santa's lap and Quinn refused to go near him.  I couldn't even tempt him with a candy cane or his sippy cup. 

Voila - a picture were all of us are looking at the camera.  Enjoy these are hard to come by!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas is almost upon us.  This year Megan is really into it this year.  She visited with Santa 2x and actually sat on his lap once which is a vast improvement from last year when she we had to use a wide angle lens to get her and Santa in the same shot.

 Grammy, Meg, Uncle Aaron, Nate and Quinn at Wickliffe's tree lighting ceremony.

 Quinn and Megan playing on the lawn at City Hall.

 A family photo.  Hey 3 out of the 4 of us are looking at the camera. 

 Mom's birthday wish was that Aaron, me and her get a photo with Santa.

 Quinn and me

 Grammy and Megan looking at the trains.

The first photo with the kids and Santa.  Quinn was willing to sit on Santa's lap here, but Megan refused.  Quinn refused when we had breakfast with him the next weekend, but Megan sat on his lap with no problems.  Maybe next year we'll get a shot with both kids sitting on Santa's lap? 

Halloween Extravaganza

We had a Halloween extravaganza this year.  We went to a Halloween party, trick or treated, went to Boo at the Zoo, and trunk or treated at church.  Whew... 

 Quinn was very interested in trying to carry the pumpkins around. 

 Meg decided since Quinn wouldn't trick or treat on his own she would do it for him.  I tried to get a picture of both of them, but it's seriously like trying to herd cats to get both of them to sit still long enough to get a good picture.

 Megan insisted hoarding the few pieces of candy she got at the zoo.

 Megan insisted we get our picture taken while sitting on the alligator.

 Hey.  You looking at me?

 My tired little pumpkin.

 Megan loving the manatees at the zoo.  The zookeepers gave them a pumpkin to play with and it was pretty neat to see the manatees playing with the pumpkins.

Trunk or treat!  A bunch of people decorated their cars and parked in the parking lot at church.  Kids went around and went trunk or treating getting candy.

Halloween -take 1

I took the kids to a Halloween party with my mom's club this evening.  We had a a great time - making a craft black cat, playing, eating (Quinn's favorite part), and ended with a costume parade.

 Megan as a lady bug.  A last minute change from her original choice of a bumble bee. 

Quinn the duck.  Despite having to cram him inside it I think it's adorable.

A Little Bit of This

 The kids at a church picnic.  Megan is pensive and Quinn happy and giggling.  That about sums their personalities up.

 Megan the dance class drop out.  I signed her up and she refused to participate-at all.  After a month of refusing we quit.  Oh well, at least I got my little girl in a  pink leotard and a pony tail picture.

 Quinn exploring the fall leaves.  He has become quite an interesting boy.  Happy, but man oh man does he seem to be developing a temper.  I'm secretly hoping it's a toddler thing and not a sign of Q's temperament.

Megan and her beloved swings.  The girl loves to swing.  "Watch me go higher, Mommy."

Quinn's 1st Birthday

Quinn's first birthday was Sept. 7.  I can barely believe my baby is 1.  He's walking, says mom & dada regularly, and ball, bye bye, and up occasionally.  Quinny waves bye bye, blows kisses, and gives high 5s.  I'm working on getting him to give a fist bump. 

Quinny's cake and smash cake.  Adorable.

Megan and Shane were using the t-ball stand to clean the windows.  Hmmm...

Quinn and Gavin.  Sharing this bench was as close to playing together as these 1 year olds get.

And the money shot.  Is it any surprise Q loved cake?  Deny the boy sugar for a year and he can tear into a cake like nobody's business.  He was tinted red from the combo of chocolate cake and brown lion icing.  What an adorable blond haired, blue eyed boy.

Quinn's First Haircut

Poor Quinny had long hair and was being mistaken for a girl a little to often for my taste.  So off we went to Cookie Cutters -a kids' haircut place.  They do a great job with Megan and the kids get to sit in firetrucks, airplanes, race cars, and watch TV.  What's not to love about that?

Quinn - before

The back view of Quinn's hair.  Don't you just love those curls?

Quinn -during.  He was fine as long as he had either his sippy cup or a graham cracker in his hand.

Quinn after.  He looks like such a big boy.  Still eating graham crackers though.

Quinny and me.  He's becoming such a big boy.  It's a little hard this time around for some reason.  On Tuesday, he'll be 1 for goodness sakes.  Every day he's looking more and more like a big boy and less and less like a baby.

Guess whose walking?

That's right Quinny took his first steps. Quinn and I were up early hanging out downstairs waiting for Nathan and Megan to wake up - as usual. He was holding onto the ottoman, let go and took a couple of steps towards me before falling on me giggling. I covered his face in kisses and put him down. And he did it again. And of course I grabbed him and covered him in kisses..again. Quinn was so proud of himself he spent the next 30 mins. cruising around the furniture with the biggest smile on his face. He would look at me and just giggle. Quinn's done it once or twice a day since then and he gets just as excited as he did the first time. It won't be long now before I have 2 little ones running in opposite directions!

Q loves his walker.  Of course, anything he can push becomes s a walker -chairs, stools,  large toys.

Quinn has discovered how much fun the dishwasher can be. 

Who knew?

Here's a picture of Quinn today at the park  Notice Ms. Attitude in the back.

Vacation pictures

One sleepy little girl

Megan and I are flying high

Quinn having fun

Hershey Park roller coaster

Nathan and the kids after our buggy ride

Dutch Wunderland fun

This is how Quinn spent the first half of every trip.  Napping

Meg participated in a show at Hershey Park.

Don't you love this picture?  Walking in Hershey Gardens

A nice family picture taken on the trolley tour of Hershey.

the Crayola factory

playing with glasses at the 3D show

Smiley happy Quinn.  Love those teeth

Megan's first real roller coaster.  I was shocked she loved it so much.

Quinny and I on the Amish tour