Wow, it’s crazy how fast a couple months can fly by!  I’ve finally gotten around to posting all the photos from the past couple months.  Some have been up on the site for a while, as you may have seen from the changes in Recent Photos, but I never got around to publishing the links to them.  The highlights:

• Cole’s 14th Birthday: Grandma Pat and Papa Bob came by to celebrate with us, and after having cake and opening presents, we all went bowling, a fun birthday present courtesy of Grandpa Dan and Grandma Marilyn. Even Debbie and Ben joined in the fun.
• Mar – Apr 2009:
  - My birthday, which I celebrated by making a donation to Locks of Love with 11 inches of my hair.  We also spent a day at Mom and Dad’s house.
  - Trip to the Children’s Museum to see the Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit along with the usual fun stuff. It was Cole’s spring break, so he joined us, as did Grandma Pat.
  - Easter: the egg hunt in town, a visit from the Easter Bunny, and special Easter baskets from Grandpa Dan and Grandma Marilyn
  - Baseball: Zach & Alex get their first gloves, and Cole’s first game of the season
  - Alex wears big boy underwear for the first time after staying dry for 2 days!  He was really excited to wear his new Star Wars underwear.

Tags: Alex, baseball, birthday, Cole, Easter, family outing, Grandma Pat, milestones, Papa Bob, potty training, Zach

Our Handy Mannys

Cole the Roman Soldier

This year for Halloween, Zach and Alex dressed up as their favorite character, Handy Manny, complete with their own tools. They were so excited! To celebrate, we went down to Joe’s office to join their Halloween party and then stopped by Grandma Pat’s office to say hello before we picked up Cole on our way home.  After dinner, we went to visit Dar and Gary, Debbie’s parents and two people that Z & A love to visit, for some Halloween treats.  Then Joe and Cole, who wore his Roman soldier costume from a couple years ago, took them out trick-or-treating for the first time; they didn’t go to a lot of houses, but they had a lot of fun!

Check out all the great pics from when Z & A got their new toolboxes and from Halloween itself starting on page 4 of the Sept-Oct 2008 album.

In addition to those pictures, a ton of others from the past few months have been added, pictures that Debbie took with her own camera.  In the July-Aug 2008 album, you’ll find a few trips that Debbie, Cole, Zach and Alex took to the pool, a trip they took to the Children’s Museum, and a visit to a fire station with one of Debbie’s sisters and nephews, as well as some just general playing-around pics.  In the Sept-Oct 2008 album, there are a couple trips to some parks, including a set that Debbie took as a photo shoot to make special Autumn/Halloween present for the boys’ grandparents.  Those pictures are just adorable (OK, so I’m a little biased on the subject matter).

Tags: Alex, Cole, family outing, Halloween, milestones, work event, Zach

The boys pose with their pumpkins

Last weekend we took the family to see the Shrine Circus. This was the first trip to the circus for Zach and Alex (although our house often feels like one).  They really enjoyed it; all week long they’d tell anyone they talked to all about the acrobats, clowns, elephants, the ringmaster, and their favorite part: the boom! (the crazy guy that shoots himself out of a cannon).

On the next day, the three boys had a ton of fun decorating their own pumpkins.  Zach and Alex each had their own little pumpkin that they colored with markers.  Cole carved his own Jack ‘O Lantern all by himself after his brothers helped him clean out the “pumpkin guts.” They all did a great job and were quite proud of their creations as you can see here.

Check out the pics from this weekend plus lots of other great ones from the last couple months in the Sept – Oct 2008 album.

Tags: circus, family outing, pumpkins