Wednesday, September 28, 2011

They just don't make 'em like this anymore . . .

I consider myself a fortunate person to come from a large family because families like this aren't too common anymore. My father is the oldest of 8 children and I'm the 2nd oldest of 21 grandchildren. We recently gathered together to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. All but 1 aunt and 2 cousins are in the photo. It's not too often that we all get together like this. What is more shocking is that everyone in the family lives in northern NJ with the exception of the black-sheep of the family here that lives in Pennsylvania! It was a great day to celebrate and get to catch up with everyone:
My dad and his brothers & sisters and their mom:


Why this photo? These little girls are 5 months apart in age. Amy, in the front, is my youngest first cousin. Grace, in the back, is my oldest first cousin's daughter. Happy 90th Birthday Nanny!


We will all get to celebrate together again at our cousin Elizabeth's wedding in November.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

An apple a day . . .

Looks like we've created a new fall family tradition - apple picking! We woke up to the most beautiful fall day on Sunday morning and headed to Highland Orchards for some quality time in Evan's favorite place . . . "outside" (which he tells us about every moment that we are inside). As you can tell, he was happy to begin the day's adventure:
Trying to pick an apple with his father's help:Heading to see if there are more apples down the line:

And then they came back:

He loved walking in the tall grass, though it was difficult at times. I also love these overalls on him:
Next it was time to sample an apple. Evan doesn't like the texture of any fruits, but I had bitten all of the skin off and he thoroughly enjoyed just sucking on the apple. I'm really happy with how these next few pictures turned out:


And now Evan was probably thinking "that's enough of the pictures":
Those lips are too kissable:



A funky looking apple we found:
Heading down the path to check out more apples:
And now we're on our way home (one of the few pictures I'm actually in):
After we picked our apples, we headed to see the animals on the farm. And bought some cider donuts to enjoy on the ride home. I'm already looking forward to next year's trip.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

No longer a baby :(

Has my baby officially turned into a little boy, or what? He is back to being a full-time daddy's boy:

He doesn't even walk anymore . . . just run:

And eats ice cream like a big boy:

And throws tantrums like a big boy:


Before I know it, we'll be taking him off to college :)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Cousins

I am long overdue for some blogging, but we recently had two get-togethers with my sister and her family. The first was in early August. Little Claire below is such a doll - a spitting image of her big brother, but with beautiful strawberry blonde hair. She also is a little more chubby than her brother at the same age - I absolutely love those arm rolls! And big brother Matthew is not necessarily always a fan of the camera but his face is just too cute in this picture:


The proud mama with her baby girl: Uncle Brian reading to the boys. This was the first time they really played together (or beside each other at least) and it was really cute. I am sure they will be up to all sorts of mischief in no time:

A few weeks later, my sister's family rented a house in Brigantine, NJ. We made a trip down for an overnight visit and full day at the beach. Evan was still a big fan of the beach, though he did get knocked down once by a wave and took a little convincing after that. I never get tired of pictures like these ones:


And yet again, these two boys were enjoying each other's company. Whatever Matthew did, Evan would copy . . . even if it meant jumping on the furniture against their parents' wishes:And yet another:


We spent the evening on the boardwalk in Atlantic City before heading back to Pennsylvania. It was quite comical because Evan prefers his buggy to a stroller. And in order to get from the parking garage to the boardwalk, we had to walk through a casino. Evan was being pushed in his buggy and people were stopping us to comment on his wheels. He loved the boardwalk and the ice cream we got to end the night. I'm sure we have lots more memories ahead of us just like these.