Ice Skating

We took Andrew to a rink in front of Philadelphia City Hall for his first foray into ice skating.  Ice skating is trickier than I remember.  But he did pretty good!  And he enjoyed watching the Zamboni and having some hot chocolate afterward.  Graham enjoyed the view from his stroller.

 

Photos from early November

 

Andrew adding a very large leaf to his leaf collection.  He collects leaves, rocks, sticks, shells, seed pods.  Some of these collections he maintains outside at his mother's insistence.

We're Still Here!!

Here is a catch-up post for anyone who is still checking this blog.  It was a busy month moving and unpacking.

Andrew still likes his Sunday morning pancakes, now served in a new kitchen.

He mastered the monkey bars this month

And we found that our new neighborhood is not as well-suited to our rainy day puddle walks.  Too many hills and apparently better drainage too.  Except for this one spot across the street from the park....

As for Graham, he is crawling and cruising around and enjoying the new house, especially the stairs.  Below he is engaging in one of his favorite activities -- playing with the top of someone's head.  He thinks it's hilarious.  He also does this cute thing where he bangs on the top of Andrew's head a couple of times, then snuggles it with his own head.  This goes on for as long as Andrew permits.

If left to his own devices for more than a couple of seconds, Graham usually manages to find some cords.  Or he makes a beeline for the stairs.

Graham likes burritos and eats them with impeccable manners. 

Here are some fall photo ops taken at a some sort of pumpkin festival that we went to:

Typical outtake from Graham:

And lastly here are a few scenes leading up to Halloween.  Last weekend we decorated pumpkins at the park with our two little bats.  Andrew decided last Halloween that he was going to be a bat this Halloween and has never wavered.  And Graham didn't fit into any of Andrew's old Halloween costumes, so he got his own bat suit too.

We also carved our jack-o-lanterns last weekend.  Andrew designed the one on the right.  Anytime he wants to draw something scary he includes a "belly with teeth," which is what that jagged beard-looking thing is at the bottom of his pumpkin. Graham's was styled with two teeth to match his own mouth, but in the 5 days since we've carved them Graham has sprouted two additional teeth, so it's no longer an exact match. 

Happy Halloween!

Graham's First Birthday

Graham turns one today!  We celebrated on Saturday.  Andrew and I decorated his cupcakes.

We posed for some family pictures to mark the occasion.

And then the fun began.  We covered Graham's presents with little blankets so that he could unwrap them.  True to the cliche, Graham had just as much fun with the blankets as the toys themselves.  The leaves scattered around the deck were a pretty big hit too.

Graham seemed to understand that his cupcake was something to be excited about...though he greets most food that way.

He polished it off quite thoroughly.

Then took it a step further.

Happy Birthday little guy!

Andrew Selfies

My photo stream is completely overrun with photos like this.

If Andrew gets his hands on my phone, his first move is to take 5-6 pictures of himself.

And this week I taught him the word "selfie," so now he jubilantly announces "I'm taking a selfie!" with every photo.

Phone Booths and Ball Pits

 

Amusing anecdote unrelated to this ball pit photo:

Andrew has spent a lot of time recently working on these "look and find" books in the vein of Where's Waldo. One of the items he had to find was a phone booth.  I asked him if he knew what a phone booth was and he replied, "Sure, it's where policemen live."  I knew immediately that he was thinking of the policeman from Make Way for Ducklings, who hangs out in some sort of booth by the Charles River.  All sorts of cross-generational confusion happening here... 

First day of Pre-K

Last bit of summer

Andrew's first day of school is tomorrow, but the boys got in a few more summer moments this weekend.

Asheville, NC

Last week we took a road trip Asheville, NC to attend Greg's stepbrother's wedding.  I think Waffle House might be a requisite stop on any southern road trip, but I don't think we will be rushing back anytime soon.  Here is Graham perusing his options.  He settled on eggs, sausage, and waffles.  The boy can eat.

 And he knows how to relax too.  Graham is built for vacations.

We had a great time hanging out with family in the mountains and spent an afternoon in Asheville.  Here is Andrew with the remains of his first s'more:

And here he is posing with a statue at the Mellow Mushroom pizzeria in Asheville.

Then we all cleaned up to attend the wedding.

Peach Picking

Graham's Latest Doings

Graham is now 10 months old.  Still adorably toothless.  Still can't crawl, though he scoots around a lot.  Still eats his weight in anything he can get his hands on.  Here is his latest (poorly framed) picture with Chompers the alligator.

He has come a long way!  Here is a comparison shot from 5 months.

Below Graham is pictured engaging in two of his favorite activities.  Playing with his sunscreen and peeling back the rugs.

Water balloons by the dozen

We bought a special nozzle that helps easily fill and tie water balloons, so Andrew's favorite summertime activity is no longer the bane of my (and perhaps his Uncle Neil's) existence. We've been having a lot of fun playing a game called "Toss the Water Balloon into a Bucket and Win a Nickle."  Unfortunately Andrew is getting a little too good at it.  I might have to roll back the prize money.

Dutch Wonderland

Andrew never forgot how much fun he had at Dutch Wonderland last year and he could barely contain his excitement for this year's trip.  All week he told anyone he talked to that he was going to "Wonderland."  Or sometimes "Alice in Wonderland."

This purple dinosaur/dragon fellow is one of the mascots of the park.  He surprised us in a shady tent where we were regrouping and feeding Graham.  Andrew's expression when he turned around and saw this thing was pretty funny.  (The photo below was taken a minute later.)  The dino-dragon patiently waited for Greg to move Graham and his stroller out of the way.