Santa Train

A few weeks ago, we all boarded a 1920's train in Walkersville and went for a little ride through the countryside. (Now, when I say ride, I mean crawl. I don't think we went over 10 mph the entire trip. But that was besides the point.) The kids were so excited to just be on the train, but they could barely contain themselves when they found out that SANTA was on the train too!!! They did a great job waiting for Santa to arrive to our car.

Nathan was a natural with Santa. He was all giggles and smiles. And the friendly, strange man dressed in funny clothes did not phase Nathan at all. I was so happy to get such great photos of Nathan and Santa on his first Christmas!!
Now Kate....well as can be expected, she wasn't as cooperative. All morning she couldn't wait to see Santa and sit on his lap and tell him that she wanted a snow globe for Christmas. But when the time came, she wouldn't go near him. UNTIL, Santa noticed the shiny Christmas tree on her tee shirt. She inched closer to show him her shirt, and she swooped her onto his lap for a quick photo. I guess this is an improvement from last year when Kate screamed so much on Santa's lap that no photo was taken!

It was a wonderful morning with family. My only wish is that Josh had not been ill so he could have joined us. We might need to do this again next year, so Daddy can come along too!

Gigi, Papa, and the Gang
(minus Nathan who was too busy eating to be bothered with a photo!)

Nathan and Mommy

Uncle Shaun, Collin and Collin's best buddy, Nathan!

Auntie Debbie and Brenden!

Papa with his little buddy!

This conductor was a riot. He took his job very seriously, and the kids had a lot of fun with him. Not sure what Kate was trying to communicate with this face - probably her pirate face ~ Argh Matie!

Loyes Station Park Photo Shoot

In late October, my sister-in-law, Jecholia, took some fantastic photos of our family at a park up in Thurmont, Maryland. There is a series of covered bridges in that area, and this park has one of my favorites. Jecholia did such a great job! Thank you for capturing these memories for us! Here are a few of our favorites.

Kate LOVES Nathan!! This photo is so special to me!

Highlights from the Outer Banks

Josh' dad came with us to the Outer Banks. It was a lot of fun showing him around a part of the East Coast he had never been to. One place we had to visit was the Wright Brother's Monument. Josh and his dad are big fans of aviation - they once had their pilot's licenses. Here are some pictures from their visit.

Nathan's not so little anymore!

September 2010
Nathan is 5 months old in these pictures. His biggest fan is Kate, and Nathan LOVES his big sister. He looks for her when I bring him into a new room. Tonight she asked me if she could have bunk beds in her room when Nathan gets older so that Nathan could sleep in her room on the bottom bunk, while she sleeps on the top bunk. She has it all planned out. If Nathan would just sleep through the night, I might be open to that idea.

Nathan is such a happy baby! He brings so much joy to all of us.

Daddy's influence on Nathan is starting already!

Kate's First Red Sox Game

September 2, 2010
Well, Josh married into it, and Kate was born into it - but there's no mistake about it, we are all RedSox fans. Kate has cheered on the Red Sox team since she was 2 mos. old and they won the 2007 World Series (in honor of her arrival, I do believe). She knows that Fenway Park is in Massachusetts. She knows who Wally the Green Monster is, and even the names of Yaz, Ted Williams, Varitek and Big Pappy. For about two weeks straight this summer, she asked me every time we got into the van, "Are we going to Massachusetts to see a RedSox game?" So you can imagine my excitement to take Kate to her first Red Sox baseball game. Of course we couldn't drive to Boston on a whim, but Fenway South (a.k.a. Camden Yards) was just fine for this little fan.

Kate: Can you believe that call, Brenden?

No trip to the ball park is complete without lots of concessions! Kate had her fair share!

Kate with some of her favorite people: Brenden, Papa and Gigi

Kate is her Daddy's little girl, but I am very happy that she shares a love for baseball like her Mommy. I hope it continues as she gets older.

Catching Up

Boy oh boy, do we have some catching up to do! I have a boat load of pictures to share with you from our family vacation in the Outer Banks to changes with Nathan and special outings with Kate. We even have a fantastic spread of pictures my sister-in-law, Jecholia, took of our little foursome just this past weekend! So please check in frequently over the next few days and take a few minutes to scroll through to see what we've been up to for the last three months. I'm going to add a few teaser photos from Jecholia's photo shoot just to keep you coming back for more!

Be sure to come on back now, you hear?

Happy Birthday, Josh!!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today, Josh turns the big 40! But forty is just a number with significance assigned by the individual. Youth is a state of mind, and Josh is 40 years YOUNG today. So there will be no black balloons, no over the hill jokes, none of that for this young dad. Instead, he is going to receive the gift of adventure to help celebrate the spirit of youthful zeal, energy and strength. In October, Josh will join the guys and Go Ape! for the day!

Happy Birthday, my love!

A Day at the Fair

The Montgomery County Agricultural Fair was in town on Kate's actual birthday! Josh took the morning off of work, Peggy agreed to watch Nathan, and Mommy, Daddy, and Kate headed off to the fair. What better way to spend a birthday! It was more fun than any of us anticipated (and a lot hotter than we were prepared for).

The first exciting thing was that the shuttle bus to the fairgrounds was a school bus! Kate has wanted to ride a school bus for as long as I can remember! It was just as much fun for me to watch Kate's excitement as it must have been for her to get to ride the bus.


I really wanted Kate to ride a pony. She was a little cautious at first, but she enjoyed the ride.
Mommy wanted the ponies, but Kate wanted the pig race. Here she is on Daddy's shoulders waiting for the pig races to start. She was hot and tired. She still asks about once a week if we can go see another pig race.
We saw lots of fun and unusual sights. This juggler was one of Kate's favorites. There were some fun animals to pet and see too.



But the rides were what Josh was looking forward to taking Kate on. She has no fear and such zeal. She and Daddy had a lot of fun.

Kate technically wasn't tall enough to ride by herself, but this one guy let her slip by on this ride. Does a centimeter or two really make a difference. I bet the guy sensed it was her birthday. Kate was thrilled to go on a ride by herself!

The ride Kate wanted to go on the most was the Ferris Wheel. From the moment she heard we were going to the fair she asked if she could ride the Ferris Wheel. She loved peering over the edge (which made mommy a little nervous). She's a thrill seeker I'm afraid!