Church St Stroll

On a balmy 66 degree night, we welcomed in the holiday season down on Church St.  The highlight was Santa riding in on a vintage fire truck.  At which point Taffe said, "Is Santa a fireman?"

Boys & I in front of the caboose

 The street was closed to traffic and instead there were caroling groups singing Christmas songs.  The boys loved it!

caroling group

A petting zoo (random?) and marshmallow pits were packed with little ones up past their bedtimes.  Have I learned nothing in my almost 3 years of parenting? Staying up late is risky business. big brother's meltdown at departure time was monumental, but baby brother was ready to party on!

Marshmallow!  Taffe roasted his marshmallow for about 3 seconds.



Party animal Kingston (check out my cute teeth!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for all of family!

Making Stuffing

cousins

grandma & grandpa

sharing pie

Let's Go Hoos!

Wa-hoo-wa!

Sitting Handsome



...and one handsome boy running away!

Dad's Day

Taffe and Daddy

Taffe's preschool holds a Dad's Day in which all the children get to show dad what school is all about.  Taffe was beyond excited and wore a "work shirt with squares"... just like daddy. The morning consisted of Christopher getting to see Taffe do puzzles, make a craft, listen to a story and play Bingo.  Taffe optionally chose not to sing songs as he was "just listening."  A great day for C to get a peek into Taffe's school life.

8 Months

Our sweet baby Kingston is 8 months old!

Sitting Tall!

Kingston has a nice covering of blondish hair, is great at grabbing everything in my hands, and loves his big brother to pieces!

He looks just like Daddy too, dontcha think?

Risky Business

Harvest Party

Kingston and I attended Taffe's Harvest Party at school last week.  Wow.  Ten 2 year olds and all the moms... it was crazy! As soon as we showed up Taffe went and got his bag so that we could leave... hard concept that K&I were going to stay at his school for a bit.

Taffe and Ryan getting leaf tatoos.

 It was definitely neat to see him in his school environment.  He knows where to put things and he sits and eats snack with his friends.  And when his brother was there, he was very excited to play with him.

Taffe "bobbed" for this apple and shared it with his brother.

King of the playground!

The Daily Debate

A previous discussion takes place determine that Taffe needs a new diaper and he refuses the diaper change. In an attempt to cajole him into the change,  I offer choices.

Me: Do you want your diaper changed in 1 minute of 2 minutes?
Taffe: Not.
Me: Not?
Taffe: Not one minute, not two minutes.

Evidently choice aren't working...
Me: Ok. How many minutes until we change your diaper?
Taffe: Two minutes.

Right.  Now 2 minutes is acceptable. Got it.
 

Fall into Fun!

A gorgeous fall afternoon, and my 2 boys:

 Once all the kids got home from daycare and school we ventured out to the big pile in the circle.  According to our 6 year old neighbor Maeve, this is the best leaf pile ever!

Kingston & Garrett

Maeve, Taffe and Colin

It's a Jungle out there!

Halloween is no joke around our 'hood. This year we took it very seriously and dressed as a jungle themed family. The cowboy is an added bonus. ;)

 We practice the idea of trick-or-treating with Taffe for a few weeks.  He was prepared and super excited to see this whole gimmick actually worked!

 Best part about the night was walking around with good friends!  the brother/sister duo of Ryan and Katy made the night even more fun!

 Good friends Michelle and Colin added to the good times too! The kids all loved giving and receiving the treats!

 And I have to mention my next door neighbor's house... it's spook-tacular at night!  This house draws in lots of kids... I estimate around 130 trick or treaters due to the amount of candy we went through.

 Hanging out by their graveyard.  All the decor is definitely creepy, but we just keep telling Taffe it's silly!

 Great times on a great night! Happy Halloween!

Halloween, round 1

Marathon one day, Halloween party the next, cause why not?  It was very fun and enjoyable for me especially since I had extra help from Christopher and Tim.  I think they were both a little shocked ate the mayhem of the playgroup... isn't this how everyone's Monday mornnings go?

16 cuties... and all very content due to some snacks handed out at picture time! ;)

MCM 2011

It finally arrived... marathon day!  Christopher trained for months and we were all excited and a little nervous! It was an early start, but Taffe was ready for the "merry-thon."

Team "C. Mack Run"... Get it?

 The MCM is a great spectator course.  We saw Christopher multiple times and jumped in and out of the race with him.  Notice Farley snapping photos of C and Tim running alongside.

It was at this spot that Taffe noticed the Washington Monument.  See the little hand pointing?  He was very excited since Clifford climbs on the Monument in one of his books. :)

At this spot Papa just jumped out and I jumped in!  Good friends Farley and Marriott ran several miles with C!

One of the biggest highlights for our train enthusiast was riding the metro.  I totally forgot to tell Taffe we'd be riding a train, so he was thrilled when we did it over and over again!

Best part of the race... the finish!

Way to go, Christopher!  Another great marathon... we are so proud of you!