Emma Dances, Video 3

Tyler's Christening

A few weeks ago we celebrated Tyler's Christening day. He looked adorable in his little suit and was so good throughout the entire ceremony and the party afterwards. He even made a friend in Church - I think they were plotting something devilish for the actual Baptism part but somehow their plans got foiled because they were both very good!

Don't they just look like they are up to something?

Tyler and Byron... the Godfather :)!

Jay, Jen, Bryanna and Tyler, with Godparents Byron and Jackie.

Big Sis and Little Bro!

All I want for Christmas...

Yea, yea I get it. It's October. It's 80-some degrees. We haven't even had Halloween yet. But in my house, Christmas talk starts shortly after back-to-school and lasts the full 3 months! Most of you are aware of my shopping habit/addiction/problem and know I start my shopping early anyway. So with Ryan's birthday next month, we've been playing the 'what do you want' game, and added Santa Claus into the mix lest Emma be left out (aka, pitch a fit). So here goes...

RYAN... a digger, dinosaur books, other books because 'they help you learn' (I love this kid), that Cars thing we saw in the Disney Store, Transformers, and my favorite answer 'whatever is cool and whatever you want to pick out, Mom.'

Easy, right? And pretty in-expensive for the most part. Now let's see what the Princess wants.

EMMA... a horsey. A real horsey. A sheep. A baby sheep. And a barn. A real barn.

Seems all she forgot is a new house on 10 acres of land. Oh, and a stable for the horsey. Thankfully 2 yr olds can still be persuaded and I know a few princesses that will do the job quite well.

Introducing Shelly

Compliments of Mom-Mom's friend Lynn, we have welcomed Shelly into our home. Shelly came complete with a cool crab cage & all the hermie necessities - thank you Lynn!!! Emma was thrilled to adopt Shelly and often calls her the baby of the bunch. She is tiny and what I remember hermit crabs as being. Ryan is now adamant that they now share the clan so we have Crabby Daddy, Crabby Boy and Baby Shelly. We have introduced them all into the same home and aside from climbing over each other, they are doing well. We still have the wire cages for time outs and when they desperately need to climb. I just pray that Crabby Daddy does not need a new home in the near future because we have no shell large enough to house him and if I see that thing without a shell, I may pass out.

Here's a few pictures of the kids, hermie and human.

Candid Crabby

Emma and Shelly...

Mom-Mom takes a Hay Ride

We went to visit with MomMom & PopPop last weekend and we did our usual traipsing around... lunch, visit to the toy store, some errands, etc. We also went to a local farm for some fall fun and the kids had a great time. They fed the animals (usually I steer clear of this but there were big shoots that the feed goes down, thus eliminating most of the germs, right?), went on a hay ride, ran through the cornstalk maze and pumpkin patch, saw Clifford and in the end, picked out a punkin'. Ryan even got in his special Pop-Pop time while Emma slept and they ate their favorite, Chinese food and ribs. Emma leaves a shiny bone after her jaws are done... the poor rib doesn't stand a chance!

Here she is after feeding the animals. While her hands didn't directly touch them (see white feed tube in background), they did touch the feed itself and probably the wire fence. This time I wasn't fast enough with the sanitizer... gross.
Mom-Mom said that the last time she was on a hay ride, she was probably Ryan's age. I think she had just as much fun as he did and will be picking hay from her jacket, shoes and purse for months to come. It's kind of like those pesky Christmas tree needles that keep showing up.... in July.

Emma running into the cornstalk maze, trying to keep up with Ryan.

Kids in the Pumpkin Patch - there's the love!

The Boy Ain't Right

So I'm getting the gang ready on Sunday morning for a day out in Horsham, when I look out the window and see this in the back yard. While I appreciate the effort, I also can't help but wonder how this kids internal thermometer works. I mean, just days ago it was 86 degrees and tho the temps have fallen quite a bit, I'm not sure there was a need for gloves, scarf and wool hat (thanks Aunt Loretta!). Yet no jacket. This is also the kid that sweats so much in his sleep that his hair curls up. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Playdate Update, Take II

Happy Happy Joy Joy! A big shout out to the folks at Blogger for whatever it is they did (and hopefully keep doing). Here's some actual pictures, no boxes or X's or error messages, from our play date as described in the previous post.

Here's Gage right before his Eagles tryout...

Construction Worker Emma whistles and says 'football players are HOT!'

Natalie and Nicholas... she's smiling like that because Kim is jumping up and down with a squeaky toy and Natalie thinks she is funny. Kim needs to find a PT job in the photo biz!

Playdate Update

Last week we hosted a play date and had alot of fun! Pam and Natalie, Kim and Gage and Jeannine and Nicholas all came to visit (Shannon, Riley and Shane were in school). Emma and Gage played nicely and the babes, Natalie and Nicholas, were equally well behaved. Since the older kids were in school, Ry was a bit bored with the youngins but quickly found his friends outside and I didn't see him the rest of the day! As usual, we sat around a table filled with food and ate and ate and ate. I guess it was more of a 'Mommy Date' and the kids were just there. Hey, Mommies need their playtime too! And what is a friendly gathering without the traditional hot doggies (not their original name but hey, this is a family blog!), tater tots and candy corn! Here's a few pictures...

What's that? You don't see any pictures? Of course you don't b/c this blog is EVIL! Possessed I tell you! One moment I can't post pictures and I get a cryptic error message. Then my pictures post - supposedly - only they turn out as a box with an X. Then the next day, the X box has magically transformed into my picture. So I post again and now the error message is back! Why, oh Gods of Blogging, won't you let me post and be done with it all! I just want to cross 'update blog with a quadrillion new pictures' off my list!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?

Another update... soon this blog will look like a rainbow. Great News! When I uttered profanities at the computer and went to bed last night, there was still a box with an X. When I checked in this morning, I see Natalie's beautiful smiling face - hooray! Looks like we are back to the blog - stay tuned for further updates.

I am hoping it's a picture of sweet baby Natalie and not the black box with the red X I am currently glaring at....

All Jammed Up

Update... like my pretty fall color? Blogger doesn't like me. It still won't let me post pictures. The error message says they are aware of the problem and working on a fix. Then it tells me to report the code of hieroglyphics at the bottom of the page. I'm not sure some of those symbols even exist on my keyboard. I continue to wait.....

It seems blogger is having technical difficulties. Or maybe it's user error. No, I think it's Blogger. All I know is that I want to blog yet I can't! Sure I can type till my fingers blister, but if I can't post pictures of my wonderfully talented and outrageously good-looking offspring, then what good is it? You just won't get the whole picture if I merely verbalize our day at the farm and surely you need the video of Emma with her new crab Shelly to get the full effect. And words alone can't do justice to what Ryan wore to rake the leaves this weekend. Defeated, I am going to bed. Tomorrow is another day.

Creepy, I mean, Crabby!

What is the world without a devoted Pop-Pop to comfort his young grandchildren? Surely it would be a place with one more hermit crab held in pet store captivity! Folks, I'd like for you to meet Crabby 2... he must've been the Daddy Crabby or possible he is ancient and has been growing at record speed for years now because he is rather large! Let's just say that when Ryan saw Emma's new pet, he quickly announced 'How about we share the crabs?' Yellow Crabby... what Yellow Crabby?

UPDATE: Since prior posting, I have learned that the Crabby Newby's are now expecting a third... Crabby, that is! Mom-Mom's good friend Lynn (and faithful reader of the blog) felt bad for Emma and returned from the beach this weekend with Crabby 3. We haven't met him just yet but I hear he is small (thank you!) and has a pretty pink shell. Now we have a Daddy Crabby, a Mommy Crabby and a Baby Crabby - our Crabby Family is complete! Thank you Lynn, for thinking of Emma (and for always reading) - it was so thoughtful of you!

Riding for a Cause

Last week was the Annual St. Jude Trike-A-Thon at Ryan's school. This is his 3rd year participating and while he loves being 'King of the Trike,' I like that it teaches him about helping others. This year he gave $2 from his own wallet towards the cause and was excited to help raise money for the kids who are sick. It is something I will miss next year when he leaves pre-school since it is the one 'fundraiser' I am adamant about participating in and supporting. Of course Miss Emma would have been a force to reckon with had she been made to stand there and watch all of the other kids strap on their helmets and race around the course. Everyone was nice enough to include her and she got to ride with the 2 yr old class. Thanks to everyone who helped support Ryan and St. Jude's - he raised over $100 again this year! Below we have Emma making herself right at home and inching her way to the front of the line.. as if she actually belonged there!

C is for Crabby...

Mom-Mom & Pop-Pop went to the beach a few weeks ago, and couldn't resist bringing home a (live) souvenir for Ryan and Emmy. Crabby and Crabby (tho Emma decided hers should be named 'Princess' but then changed it to copy Ryan) came to live with us, complete with a Hermit Crab Condo filled to the max with all the latest in crab amenities! I have to add here that they have done wonders to the world of hermit crabs since I used to own them, many moons ago. Now they have all sorts of 'must haves' and a rules sheet, and their shells are painted in all sorts of cool colors and designs.

Anyway... Ryan's Crabby has the orange shell and Emma's has, oops, I mean had, the yellow shell. Crabby (Orange) was very full of life and enjoyed the occasional run through the grass and across the driveway. Crabby (Yellow) was more calm and liked to observe... he never tried to escape while playing outside and was happy and content just hanging out inside his fluorescent home. The kids adored their crabs and it was a good thing Emma was paired with the calmer one, as she handled that thing like it was a rock she had found on the sidewalk. Ryan is fond of shaking his in attempts to get him to come out and play.

Have you noticed yet, that I am speaking of Crabby and Crabby in two different tenses? That's because this morning Ryan alerted me with screams (from one floor down and over the loud noise of my hairdryer) that Emma's Crabby was dead. Thinking that he was just 'sleeping' as I have seen him do for more than 2 days straight, I went downstairs to find a very strange looking Crabby sitting motionless, sans shell, in the cage. A few pokes later and yep, Crabby had indeed bit the big one. Cue tears from Emma, sobbing for her crabby. Cue tears from Ryan, because he doesn't like Emma to cry. So there I sit, with 1 dead crab and 2 sobbing children. And then Ryan turns on the drama and between sobs gasps "Now Crabby won't have anyone to talk to. He's all alone" and with that, the wailing begins. Poor Ryan. Poor Emma. Poor Crabby. The dead one, that is - c'mon people, I know it's confusing but try to keep up!

So in honor of Crabby, and because I didn't get around to it sooner, we took a few pictures today. You might see the carcass of Crabby hanging out in the cage shot below (Orange Crabby is in the Hermie Hut) and the shell shots, well, that's just a vacant shell now. Poor, poor Crabby.

Eagles Game

About 2 weeks ago Ryan went to the Eagles game with Byron. This was huge for him! While it wasn't his first game - he's been to many - it was his first regular season game. A day game, complete with tailgating (he had juice boxes and snacks) and the wild and crazy Eagles regulars! Much different from the pre-season games he's been to in the past. It was the perfect game for him - high scoring and action packed, the Eagles beat the Lions 56-21!


Here's Ryan all ready to go with his 'Eye Spy's' (that's binoculars to you and me).


While it may look like he is being mischievous and peeing in my fireplace (and I wouldn't put it past him some days), he is actually showing the back of his jersey - DAWKINS.

Ryan and Daddy before the game.