S’mores

First Non-Buzz Haircut

The birthday

Climbers

Simon has taken to climbing our one climbable tree of late. He has also taken to falling out of it. As for Ethan, he is pulling himself up on everything these days. A prelude, we hope, to walking. He about way too many pounds too heavy to carry anymore. And he’s, what, 10 years overdue?

In Thanksgiving

Birthday Party

We went to a friend’s surprise 30th birthday party two weeks ago. It was a gorgeous day. The kids had fun playing in the fort all day, and there was even another Easter egg hunt. Lots of fun.

Easter Pics

The first pic is Easter morning. The next two were taken the night before, during an Easter egg hunt at Grams’ house.

My New Employer

Old School, New School: Quaker Chemical Corporation
Location: Conshohocken
Industry: Chemical specialties
Local employees: 117
Revenue: $460 million

This almost 90-year-old chemical company, which supplies products to the steel, auto and construction industries, among others, has a unique culture that blends the best of an old-school workplace with the opportunities of the new economy. “Even though we’re an international company, we’re still small,” says company rep Jan Waldauer. Quaker’s U.S. headquarters in Conshohocken has fewer than 120 employees — which means politics and bureaucracy don’t reign, and there’s a family feeling. On the more progressive side: Quaker operates around the world, allowing some of its employees the opportunity to spend time in its offices in Amsterdam, Shanghai and Rio. Toss in a summer-hours program, an on-site fitness center and generous retirement benefits, and it’s no surprise the company has such a high stickiness factor: The average employee has been here for 14 years. – Philly Magazine

Love this picture

He just looks like such a thug. It was taken a while ago, though. We are, contrary to reason, growing his hair out now for the summer, so he is fast approaching the hedgehog stage. But this hair cut stemmed from me forgetting to put the attachment on the clipper. And then I had to repair the damage by adjusting the rest to match.

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords

“Ladies and gentlemen, uh, we’ve just lost the picture, but what we’ve seen speaks for itself. The Corvair spacecraft has apparently been taken over — ‘conquered’ if you will — by a master race of giant space ants. It’s difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.”

Sun…finally

It was a glorious day yesterday. Well, in the afternoon at least. Until the tornados came. And nothing fell down in the wind this time. So anyway, during those glorious two hours, we were able to prep our vegetable garden for the year. Nothing has been planted yet, but the plot has been tilled. And in the process, uncovered an Alfalfa Leaf-Cutting Bee nest. Apparently they like sandy soil, and the site of the vegetable garden was once a sand pit. Fortunately, they are not very aggressive and contented themselves with flying around low to the ground for a long time. I am hoping the tornados blew them away forever.

And we’re back

From a while back

Guess it was bright outside. Sorry. Haven’t taken any pics in a while.

The bruised birthday boy

Over a month late. We’re so lame around here. Yet even after a month, you can still see a mark there. Hopefully it goes away eventually.

Happy

This is pretty much what he is like most of the time. Except when he’s wet and/or hungry. Or on his changing table.

Snow

A few weeks ago, it snowed.  So we went outside.

Speedy Gonzales:

Lovin’ it:

Mini Gonzales:

These pics are taken before E’s birthday, as the new sled was not yet in our possession.

Birthday Bash

So, you know, our kid turned one a few weeks ago.  And were we on the ball, we would have noted this major milestone.  Except that, well, we’ve been sick since December 24, with the exception of a 5 day span.  Which happpened to coincide with the 5 days leading up to Ethan’s birthday.  As soon as the last guest left, the nastiness resumed.  Heck, Ethan is still coughing up his lungs from RSV.   Anyway, some pics from Dad.  All our pics are still on the camera. This is birthday boy with his pre-birthday bump. Nothing big, just fell out of the kitchen onto the deck, head first. Emergency room and all the good stuff, because he was throwing up. But not, as it turns out, due to his head injury.

In his new sweater:

And his birthday cupcake (which he refused to eat):

You’re 1, duff.  Now we focus on the basketball scholarship.

Second Christmas

So someone had to open everyone’s gifts. And someone else had to eat gifts:

And hats, lots of Christmas hats:


And more eating of toys:

Christmas

Someone had to open everyone’s gifts this year:

As the day progressed, the boys accustomed themselves to some of their new goodies:


And because I like this picture:

Mind you, this was still only the stomach bug/throwing up phase of Christmas. Our plague continued well past Christmas Day, and in fact, is still on-going.

Of trees and sheds

So, some really cool things happened in 2008 (and this and this and this and this too).  But 2008 will be remembered also as The Year of the Doctor in our house, as it seemed like everyone was fighting something at some point.  But in these uncertain times, it’s good to know that 2008 was able to get in one last ass-kicking before the bell tolled.  Behold the latest mess:

That would be our shed no longer quite anchored to the ground (with a lawn mower wheel showing through).  Behold another angle:

This angle reveals a little more of the mess.  I.e., that another one of our trees fell down (thanks to the winds).  Only, joyously, this time the tree’s roots were firmly (or not) planted underneath our shed.  Thus the uprooted roots have uprooted our shed.  I hated the tree and I hated the shed.  But I hadn’t planned on addressing either in 2009.

But apprently 2008 had other ideas.