Happy 80th, Mama Sue!

I flew in to New Orleans for the weekend to surprise my grandmother for her 80th birthday. Colin got to come with me by default! We spent Friday night in New Orleans & Colin & I both got to meet my cousin's baby, who was born exactly one week after Colin. Best my cousin & I can figure, they weigh almost exactly the same, but Colin is longer, so Miles looks a whole lot chubbier, at least to me! They were very interested in each other & Colin kept trying to bang on Miles' face. It was pretty cute to see.

From Louisiana trip

Here's a picture of me and my three siblings at the birthday bash Saturday afternoon:

From Louisiana trip

And, my brother David and my youngest sister Catherine meeting Colin for the first time:

From Louisiana trip

From Louisiana trip

My mom and her two sisters with my grandmother:

From Louisiana trip

And, a generation picture--my grandmother, my mom, me, and Colin. Four generations in one shot!

From Louisiana trip

And, just a shot of me & my mom at dinner. I think I ate fried shrimp 4 times in the 2 days I was there. Felt like Bubba Gump--Fried Shrimp po' boy, Fried Shrimp platter, etc, etc, etc!

From Louisiana trip

Apple Pickin'!

From apple picking

So, not long after we went apple picking for Labor Day, the boys had a field trip for school. We went to the Eckert's in Millstadt, though, so it was an entirely different trip. It was a little chilly at first, but warmed up quickly. We left Colin with a sitter, so it was just Mommy & the big boys--what a nice treat!

On the wagon to get out to the orchards:

From apple picking

The mommy all the way to the right is William's friend Hayden's mom, who also happens to be one of Daniel's teachers this year. The third boy is Will, one of Daniel's best friends:

From apple picking

You HAVE to sample the goods!!

From apple picking

William, going in for a good one:

From apple picking

I was so proud of myself for getting this picture. Daniel pulled REALLY hard & was determined to get that apple. Unfortunately, as he yanked the apple off of the branch, the branch snapped back & hit him in the face. Poor little guy was done with picking them off the tree after that! I think he snagged a few off the ground, though.

From apple picking

The three of us:

From apple picking

Daniel & the twins with their teacher, Jayla:

From apple picking

Daniel & Luke with Mrs. Frank, the awesome 2-year-old teacher whom we hope Colin gets to have, if only briefly!!

From apple picking

After we picked apples, we had some cider & waited for the little show to start. Of course, my wild men along with their friends, decided to throw some hay. Check out the JOY in this pose! I almost hated to make them stop!!

From apple picking

And, look at the hay FLYING:

From apple picking

We let them have at it for a little while, until it got too crowded, then they settled down to watch the show:

From apple picking

And, then just before we left, they hit the huge play area & rode some tractor tricycles. Neither of them could reach the pedals, so they Fred Flintstoned it!

From apple picking

First Day of School!

School started again today! William started his last year of preschool in the 4-year-old class at the same preschool he's gone to since he was two, when we moved here. Daniel is in the 3-year-old class. They were VERY excited to start up again!

From September 2009

From September 2009

From September 2009

Daniel with his two best friends, Luke & Will, in his classroom. They had so many 3-year-olds this year that they had to divide them into two classes, so Daniel has some new kids in his class & some of his friends from last year went into the other class. The two-year-old teacher decided she wanted to move to a larger classroom on the other side of the school, so Daniel is actually in the same classroom as last year & his aide from last year has "graduated" to being his teacher. Knowing Daniel, a little stability will be good for him!

From September 2009

From September 2009

And, while the big boys were in class, Colin & I went upstairs to meet some of the other mommies & have coffee & pastries. Here is Colin giggling at his nanny, Aunt Dawn:

From September 2009

From September 2009

Silly Faces

Here are just a few silly close-ups as I played with the focus on the camera. My older two were very obliging with making goofy faces!!

From September 2009

From September 2009

From September 2009

Happy Labor Day

I have a pretty nice digital camera. Had it for 5 years now. Guess I should say it was nice 5 years ago! You can get a much nicer one now, but it still does all kind of neat stuff. I was supposed to give myself a tutorial before William was born, but never got around to it. Anyway, long story short, a friend of mine is starting a photography business & has been posting all kinds of interesting pictures on her blog & on facebook. It's motivated me to finally pull out the camera manual & figure out how to use it. Here are our Labor Day pictures. We went out to Eckert's Farm near our house with the Simmons crew. They had a bunch of rides and we got to go apple picking. Overall, it was a blast. You can see how my pictures get better as I figure out how to control the light coming into the lens as well as how to speed up the shutter to capture motion better. Here are the first few, over-exposed and blurry ones of the kids on the airplane ride.

Here is Luke Simmons:

From September 2009

And, one of Daniel:

From September 2009

William:

From September 2009

A couple of over-exposed ones, but no motion, so these aren't blurry:

From September 2009

From September 2009

And, then I got the motion down and the exposure got a little better. Here are our four big kids--William and Daniel, and Drew and Shelby--prepping for Disney on one of the bigger rides:

From September 2009

From September 2009

From September 2009

From September 2009

From September 2009

Here's a couple of cute ones of Luke Simmons and Colin (no camera tricks here, so these are pretty straight-forward):

From September 2009

From September 2009

Playing around with sepia tones:

From September 2009

And, here are William and Daniel in one of the bouncy houses. Daniel has developed an inability to climb up the walls, so if you look closely, you can see William with his little hand on Daniel's hiney, helping him to get to the top.

From September 2009

From September 2009

And then all of us on the wagon heading out to the orchard to pick some apples:

From September 2009

From September 2009

From September 2009

From September 2009

Colin's new toy!

Since the boo-boo is sitting up so well, we brought the exerciser up from the basement. He LOVED it, and his big brothers loved showing him everything it could do. Here are a few snaps & a quick video of William and Daniel "feeding" him the ice cream chew toy.

From Colin pics

From Colin pics

From Colin pics

From Colin pics

From Colin pics

And, the video:

From videos