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

It’s hard to believe, but these boys have been with us for nine amazing months. Both have learned how to sit up really well and are babbling constantly (we think Alex will learn to speak first). Zach is crawling all over the place, and Alex appears to be on the verge of figuring that out. Zach has even figured out how to pull himself to a stand!

Their 9-month checkup went well. Alex is 19 lb 4.8 oz and 28 in long. Zach is 17 lb 14.6 oz and 27.5 in long, although the length measurement isn’t real exact.

The boys looked awfully cute in their Halloween costumes, little sweatsuits that Grandma Pat bought for them. Zach was a cow, complete with ears on his hood and a tail on his butt, and Alex was a smiling pumpkin with a stem on his head. Joe, with Debbie’s help, brought them to his office and to Karen’s office. They, of course, charmed everyone they met.

Lots of new pictures have been added to both the Sept-Oct album and the new Nov-Dec album. Also, Cole’s baseball portraits finally got scanned and added to the May-June album (better late then never, right?).

Tags: Alex, checkup, Halloween, milestones, Zach