Before:

after:

He really is happy about it...

An actual picture of them together!!

That little sideways glance of his is hilarious!

cutie-pie

preschool!!

Alison started preschool a couple of weeks ago and she is LOVING it!

Do I really get to go to school today?

Yay!

Well, let's get out of here already!!!

It also gives me and Andrew some quiet time at home, just the two of us.  This is what Andrew decided to do today.

That's right, in his words, 'bath'.  But then he wanted some books.

Oh! You're going to take my picture?  Well, alrighty then, CHEESE!

still here

I've been meaning to put up some pictures here for a while, but with being sick for the last two weeks, and tired, and not taking a lot of photos lately.... well, it just got away from me.  So here's a few....

Me and Nick on our retreat to West Virginia.  He doesn't really have a pointy head, those are just his sunglasses.

I took Alison with me to my neighbors wedding.  The family we were seated with also had a 3 year old.  And an iPod with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Catastrophe averted!

Just because I hadn't taken a picture of her in a while.  She was at Kate's. Always happy when she's there!

20 months old and loving life!

cheezers.

raise your hand if...

you love fudgesicles!

I'm glad I wasn't home to clean up this mess.

 

I'm glad Nick was home to take pictures!

 

From what I understand, Christine gets the credit for getting him squeaky clean after this!

backyard fun

This is the look you get when you eat too many green tomatoes.

Sometimes they eat the red ones too.

Sometimes Andrew goes down the slide backwards.

Sometimes you might still have some green tomato stuffed in your cheek for later.

At any rate, it's nice to see them play together!

uh oh...

what do you mean I have a big black mark on my nose?

what is it? ohhhhhhhh,

mascara.  Right, because you know how to put it on at the ripe old age of 3.

(seriously?  I'm in trouble.  I was upset with her, but not too upset to take a picture.  I'm pretty sure she didn't know how to react, which explains the sullen face.  I'll post some happy pics later.)

it's about time

It's just been two weeks now since Daddy returned, and oh how happy we are to have him home!

This was taken the morning after he got back. Can you see the look of relief in my face? and pain in Alison's? Andrew was just happy.

a day at the beach

We went to Norfolk to visit the lovely Allyn and her brood and spend a day at the beach. Alison was sad Banks was not there, but helpfully suggested on the way home that we come back another day when Banks isn't at his Grandmother's!

We ended up going to Ft. Story, near VA Beach because we heard it was nice and free parking! But seriously, this boardwalk from the parking lot was almost a mile long. Andrew was fine until we hit sand and then he insisted I carry him, something about the sand touching him makes him HYSTERICAL (i.e. not fun). So imagine a pack mule (me) with a chair, small cooler, beach bag, sand pails, etc, trying to heft a ~26 pound kid down to the beach.......

Because of the sand issues, he spent a lot of time on MY chair, asking for juice.

He didn't mind standing on the beach mat or blanket,

while he ate his sandwich.

See, he wasn't miserable the whole time (just don't ask about leaving and making him walk IN THE SAND, and the crying that ensued.)

And then there's Noah, sweet fun loving, diving in the water, playing in the sand, only 5 months older than Andrew, Noah.

He was having a great time sliding down the sand slide! Allyn, how did you get your kids to be so adventurous?!

This the look that says, "whatever, Amy. My husband's gone too and I have FIVE kids. Get over it, you'll be fine." Or maybe she was just annoyed that the countertop guys just don't get it. I hope it was the 2nd one.

Alison warmed up to the idea of being in the water.

I have no idea what she's doing, but I hope it didn't inflict any harm - she looks pretty serious. Maybe she's going to be a pitcher.

She has NO problem getting sand EVERYWHERE.

And loved playing in the sand castle.

They were all having fun with that.

When we got in the car I turned and said to Alison, "Thanks for being such a good girl! You were having so much fun today!" Her reply, "yeah, Andrew wasn't, he hated it."

They were both out cold before we left the parking lot.

And what's a day at the beach without a picture of a seagull?

for Christine and Laura

I just saw this picture looking for something else and I thought you guys would like it. He is quite the womanizer these days! He gravitates to dark haired women too - what's that all about?

these two

I love them, what else can I say?

Fun at Mike and Jenny's!

Peek -

-A-

-BOO!!

Scrunchy flirty face.

Having fun on the swings.

Sheer Delight!

All smiles.

Helping push. Unfortunately, the swing came back to get him in the end. He survived.

Why does he look so old?

She learned to throw a frisbee.

Thanks guys!