Triptych

Couldn't resist... Click the image for a bigger version.

Pouts and Puppets

Saturday morning I had some errands and appointments to take care of, so Daddy was on Baby Duty. And, as usual, he broke out the camera for some fun pictures of kiddos. Most of the pictures broke down into two categories: Pouts and Puppets. Well, really, Muppets, but it's not alliterative. First, the Pouts....

Colin is a fool for electronics. He loves remotes, phones, computers, cameras, garage door openers, you name it. If it has buttons, he loves it. Somehow he convinced Michael to let him push some buttons on the back of the camera (the nice, big, too-complicated for Mommy, D-SLR camera). However, that just whet his appetite for buttons and he wanted them ALL THE TIME! When he was not allowed to push the buttons, there were pouts, lots of pouts. What to do except document them, right?









So, so, so sad.


And for the Puppets? Well, I've reported on Muppet Face before, but it was very, very active on Saturday. Gillian is just a crazy, happy girl right now. It's pretty darn funny!









Oh, Bean wanted to cuddle with Daddy too.


And Colin got in one last pout at the end of the day after a fun time at Natalie's birthday party (that's why he's all spiffy).

Some Videos from the Park

Here are a couple videos from our trip to the park yesterday:

Swings (you can hear Gillian's nasty left over cough from the TWO WEEKS of illness at our house):


Colin playing in the leaves:

Our Little Corner of the Park

For those of you who don't know, we live in South Park Township. It's named for, oddly enough, South Park, which is a big, public, county run park in Allegheny County. It's really a nice place with trails to hike, a dog park, pavilions, and lots of playgrounds. It also has a wave pool and skateboard park, but we haven't used those yet! We take the kids there a lot, as our back yard is soggy and boring. When they were really little we just took them for walks in the stroller, but now they want OUT.

Late in the summer we discovered this little playground right over the hill from our house that we have been frequenting. It's nice because no one else is ever using it! The kids can toddle all around and we don't have to worry. It's only gotten more fun since the leaves fell and are about a foot deep in places! Colin LOVES leaves.

Since the weather is ridiculously nice for November, we hit our little corner of the park yesterday and finally remembered to take the camera with us!

Daddy and Colin are ready for some fun!


They both really enjoy swinging! Gillian starts laughing and pointing when ever she sees a swing!


And they're OFF!


As I said earlier, Colin LOVES leaves. He dives right in and is right up to his armpits before you know it!




Gillian exploring the leaves on her feet! Come on Daddy!


C&G also really like sliding! Colin has a bad habit of letting his feet down and flipping head first, so he needs a lot of supervision. But, they do enjoy it!


Slides are FUN!


Colin and Mommy having a swing together!


Another fun trip! Not sure we'll make it back before spring, but you never know with this crazy weather!

In which the mullets are shorn....

Yesterday was a big day for Colin and Gillian. It was hair cut day!! They had been needing a trim for some time, but I had it in my head that I wanted to wait until they were one. I made them appointment with Mary Ellen, who cuts my hair. She had been really wanting to meet them since before they were born, so she was happy to see them yesterday.

All in all, they did very well! They sat on my lap and let her trim them. Colin required a few snacks to get into the groove, but they both were great!

Some pictures of the big event! Colin looks a little worried here, but he got over it.


Bye bye mullet!




The finished results! What do you think?






Yay for first haircuts!!

Artists in Residence....

I have been meaning to break out the art supplies with Colin and Gillian for a while now, but really hadn't gotten up my nerve. They received some nice markers and paper for the birthday from Mrs. Kathy and family, and I had gotten them nice fat crayons and paper earlier. On Wednesday, I decided it was finally time!

I tapped some paper to the coffee table and got out two, fat crayons. I broke the crayons in half, since their hands are so little. They did show some interest, and liked it when I scribbled. Gillian eventually made some dot, dot, dots of her own. Colin mostly wanted to take the crayon and run (and then eat it). Hopefully with more exposure, they will be making some real masterpieces soon.

Colin was such a ham for the camera! You can see the beginnings of the nasty cold he has now...


Gillian doing her most recent funny facial expression, we call it "Muppet Face." She was really getting into the coloring!


This is Gillie's other common facial expression right now, the open mouth-stick out tongue face....


Orange crayons taste the best, apparently:


TADA!

Nom, Nom, Nom. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Last week after trick or treating, the kiddos had a yummy dinner that included some saucy noodles and, best of all, BLUEBERRIES. Now, it's November and fresh blueberries are not exactly easy to find, so Colin and Gillian are eating thawed, frozen blueberries. Not what I would call delicious, but, as you can see, they are really enjoying themselves!

(Please pardon the really loud oven timer, it's really annoying!)

Jack O'Lantern Fun

Before the Tricks or Treats fun yesterday, we finally got around to carving our pumpkins. We should have been better parents and let C&G play in the goo, but it wasn't going to happen yesterday. Next year, I promise.

Anyway, Michael and I gutted the pumpkins and then brought them into the living room to carve with the kiddos. Daddy wielded our carver, and later needed some oversight from Gillian:



(It was pajama day in our house yesterday until it was costume time!)


Cut right here Dada!


Colin wasn't so interested in the carving aspect as he was in EATING the pumpkin. Yes, eating the cold, slimy, hard, bumpy gourd. He also LOVED sticking his hands inside and trying to eat the goo he found! (But, yet, he won't eat scrambled eggs or mashed potatoes!)

So darn cute!


Nom nom!


So, we just went with plain old pumpkin faces this year. However, we did replicate each kiddo's current teeth situation in his/her pumpkin. So, Gillian has four teeth (and two more on the way, sigh):


And Colin has one lonely tooth (with another that has been threatening to pop out for two weeks):


Here's the money shot, all lit up! (For our pitiful TWO trick or treaters. Boo.)

Battle Maraca!

Last night Colin and Gillian went on a limited tricks or treating outing. Gillian was a Penn State Cheerleader

and Colin... well, Colin was Originally going to be Joe Paterno as he has some khaki pants that are now a little sort, but I dropped the ball with respect to finding him a black baby wig. With his red hair, it was fairly apparent that he wasn't Joe Paterno, but our friend Ken had a good idea: Colin could be Mike McQueary. So that's who he was:

After getting dressed up, we headed out to visit Miss Amy (she watches Colin and Gillian while Lea works). We visited there for a while and then went over to the Miller's.

Julia was also destined to be a Penn State cheerleader for Halloween, and we had hoped to get some cute pictures of Gillian and Julia together in their outfits... alas, that was not to be. This is as close as we came:

We had also wanted to get a picture of all four kids together and that didn't happen either. It was like herding cats! Though our attempt at a group photo did yield this amusing series of photos in which Colin sees Gillian with some maracas, Colin decides that he wants to have them, they fight over the maracas, and Lea laughs as Julia has now wandered away from our photo area during the maraca battle. You can click on the image below to see a bigger version.