Please indulge me. Many of you who visit this blog knew my parents but many of you did not. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce them to you a bit with some semi recent photos. Sort of my little tribute to them. They will always be in my heart and I hope I am half the parent they were.

This is one of my favorites. I was pregnant with Dylan and my brother Chris, his family and parents were in Philly for Thanksgiving. I had just layed down after dinner to rest and Lil Bruin (aka Snap) was kicking so I had Mom feel my belly. He gave her a HUGE kick and she lost it. She sat down and happily cried.



Dylan and Nana playing in August 2003 (Dylan was about 6 months)

Now Pap Pap joined in the fun.

Dylan's First Christmas...we were so happy Nana and Pap Pap came out to Philly for it!

We have a whole set of pictures from this morning in April 2004. We were in Mom and Dad's back yard and Dylan was just following Pap Pap everywhere. It was the cutest thing. One of the (many) things on my to do list is to make a framed montage of all of these pictures for Dylan.

My dad smoked a pipe when he was very young and then did not smoke one again until about 10 years ago....but the smell of a pipe always reminds me of him.


Mom holding up a pillow of Chris' kids Christmas 2005. She loved her grandchildren.
Mom, Andrea (my niece) and I.

I just love this picture. It looks like Dylan is telling Nana and Pap Pap the most captivating story. We were all relaxing after the Christmas morning rush. This was our last Christmas before Dad passed away.

Mom HATED having pictures of her taken. After Dad passed, she was not up for many. But I do have a few of her with Colin. This was April 2006.

One of the beautiful gifts I got at my mom's funeral. This one was from my wonderful Brr Mama friends and it still sits in my dining room as a reminder of friendship.

Thank you for all of the love and support.
Dad 11/04/37-02/18/05 Mom 01/05/38-01/23/07 Together forever.

January 14.....my birthday!


Dylan helped me open cards and presents!


And I got some extra loving from my boys! (Although, I threatened no cupcakes for them unless they sat in my lap for a picture! teehee.)

MOVING DAY....we arrived in Lexington. Well, we arrived and then our stuff arrived 4 days later.

Dylan very carefully kept an eye on the movers.

"Make sure you do not hurt my bed. It goes upstairs! Here I will show you." I have to say, the movers had a good sense of humor about Dylan trying to help.

Boys will be boys.....the fun starts!

Colin was in his crib and the three of us just chilled for a bit. Now the unpacking begins!!!!! UGH!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So, Colin...what do you think of all these presents???

Dylan is exhausted! What a fun day!

New brothers in 2005

What a difference a year makes!

The happy family!

CHRISTMAS EVE 2006 part two!
A tradition in Richmond is the Tacky Christmas Lights Tour. Basically, if you have 50,000 lights or more on your house, you can submit your address to the paper and the addresses are published weekly during the holiday season. We went on a driving tour of these houses and they were pretty amazing. One even had their own radio station that played music that the lights blinked in time to. Now THAT was something to see!
So, Dylan really had a good time.

Colin had fun but was not quite as entranced!

When we got home it was time to put out cookies for Santa and reindeer food for his reindeer! Dylan previously had on short PJs. So he quickly went upstairs and put on pants....nice fashion statement!

Then he very carefully put out the reindeer food...making sure there was some in each spot on the lawn!

Christmas Eve 2006
One of our Christmas Eve traditions is to set up the train under the tree. Last Christmas, Jonny and his brothers sort of took over the project. This year, Dylan and Colin got to help out! They enjoyed it.
Dylan and Daddy putting the track and train together.

Colin wanted in on the action!

Success!

The boys were mesmerized! Colin was actually screeching with joy!

Colin's turn to be the conductor!

COLIN'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!
Colin had a great day today! It started off with him walking through the streamers on his door! "Hmm...what is this?"
Next we went to day care for a party for him! FUN!
He sure LOVES his cake! I suppose we really should not be surprised that he weighs 27 pounds and is 32 inches long!
Jonny's aerial view!
Then at home, Colin got to eat his first baumkuchen (German for tree cake). Jonny's family used to have these all the time when they lived in South Africa. We found a bakery who makes them (in Canada Carla!) so we each get one on our birthday!

I would say he has the hang of it, don't you think????
Opening his Darth Tater from his birthday buddy Bennet. A nod to my Potato Head painted belly when I was pregnant! Thank you Kari!
What a great day! Thank you all for your happy birthday wishes! We are so blessed with Colin in our family!

The Grand Illumination! Every year a neighbor has the Grand Illumination of his house (a TON of lights). We had fun this year and Colin certainly enjoyed it!

COLIN'S FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!

We had a great time with friends from the neighborhood and special guests Arati, Tom and Neil from Philadelphia and Wayne and Max from Maryland! We could not believe the temperature was about 65-70 so the party was unexpectedly partly outside! What a great treat! We played games, did crafts and had yummy food. A great time was had by all...especially the Little Man of the Hour!

Colin enjoyed being the center of attention among the older kids in the neighborhood!
Are these ALL for ME????
SMILE!
Make a wish Birthday Boy!
Hmm...I could get used to this food!
I did not realize turning 1 would be SO FUN and YUMMY too!

Neil and Colin get to hang out together while Arati and Tom visit us!

Colin's first Birthday Invitation
Just thought I would share.

Raking the leaves. Dylan and Colin enjoyed playing in the leaves that we raked up. Not all the piles survived but it sure was fun!