Shaggy and Daphne

This Fall has been a busy one for the Vandermarks, but it’s been a lot of fun – trips to the zoo, a couple of football games, the circus (and not just the one at our house!) and a couple of Halloween parties.

Joe and I had a great time at our friend’s Halloween party.  The theme was 80′s TV characters, so we went as Shaggy and Daphne.  There were some really great costumes there – the Love Boat, Who’s The Boss, Falcon Crest, the Jetsons, Baywatch and more – even Clara from the Where’s the Beef commercials and the Trix bunny.   We made some Jello shots to share, including a special chocolate-covered cherry one that we chronicled in the photo album (Yum!!).

Zach and Alex went as Thing 1 and Thing 2 this year.  It’s the perfect “twin” costume, and well, it really fits them. They were particularly excited about their blue hair and really loved it when people commented about it.  They got to wear it two days in a row, going to Joe’s company Halloween party and visiting Grandma’s office one day and then to the HallZOOween party at the MN Zoo the next.  Cole reprised his costume from years past as a Roman soldier (why change when it’s a great costume, right?).  Check out the Sept – Oct 2009 album for pictures from zoo, plus other Fall fun, like pumpkin carving and more.

Tags: Alex, circus, Cole, friends, Halloween, Joe, Karen, pumpkins, Zach, zoo

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

After about a week of letting the boys run like manics and a week of sitting in the room for up to an hour at a time to get them to fall asleep, we decided the boys just aren’t ready for beds yet and put the crib fronts back on. Now we’re having fun playing the “put the baby back in the bed” game, complete with the “let’s hide from Mommy to see if she can find us” bonus game. It’s taken as much as 2+ hours to get them to go to sleep, but I think in the long run, this is the right thing. We sure can’t wait until they get the idea that they’re supposed to stay in though!

Some new pics in the Sept-Oct 2007 album include another example of the mess the boys made when they should have been napping, a special breakfast made by Debbie and Cole, and dressing up as Pooh (Zach) and Eeyore (Alex, of course!) for Halloween.

Tags: Alex, chaos, Halloween, holiday, milestones, Zach