First Shave!

For Christmas, Santa brought Joey his first shaving kit. He couldn't wait to use it at bath time!

Waiting for the shaving cream.

Look, Ma! I'm going to shave!

So serious.

Proud of himself.

Look how well I did, Daddy!

Daddy's Little Helper (in the Snow!)

Joey couldn't wait to help Daddy sweep the snow. (He actually wanted to learn how to "blow" the snow with Daddy's snow blower, but we had to convince him there just wasn't enough there to haul out the heavy equipment.)

Zoo Lights

The Saturday before Christmas we headed to Lincoln Park Zoo to take in the Zoo Lights! with our friends Grace and Diego (and their mommies Cara and Nicole).

They had these awesome giant characters, and the trees were awesome. Not sure what the kids saw under all their layers.

They seemed to enjoy themselves. At least they didn't cry at all. I do think we'll go back next year - just much earlier in the season.

Merry Christmas!

A little belated, but we've been busy. Hope you had a great holiday!

Joey, tromping around the house singing, "Have a holly, jolly Christmas" wearing Pop-pop's Phillies 2008 World Series Champions Santa hat.

My parents' Christmas tree, Christmas morning.

Joey, Christmas morning. He was so excited to see all the presents Santa left him!

Our Christmas Tree

Here's the obligatory shot in front of the tree. We got it last Tuesday, put lights on Wednesday, some ornaments Thursday, and then I finished up the ornaments Saturday. Had to promise a lollipop for this smile. (And yes, he got a haircut this weekend, so he looks a ton older than he did just last weekend, when we got our picture with Santa. I already miss the longer hair.)

Santa's Village

We went last weekend to get Joey's picture taken with Santa. It was actually a successful trip, but did not start out that way. We headed over to the mall around 8am. Early, yes, but we did beat all the lines. And for Woodfield, that could mean at least an hour. Joey was not into it, though. I had to bribe him with a lollipop just to stay in line. It wasn't looking good at all, but then we got to the snow area.

It's actually quite cool. They have it "snowing" in the middle of this area, and it helps the kids calm down before they sit with Santa. Joey wasn't sure about it at first, but as you can tell, he got into it. (Doesn't this picture just make you want to sing, "Fame! I'm gonna live forever!"?!)

He got into throwing the snow, but my camera just wasn't fast enough to keep up. It was a good time, though, and we got a great picture with Santa ... stay tuned!

Happy Birthday, Shelley!

Hope you have a great day with that adorable family of yours!

Kisses!

Fall Hydrangeas

Getting lost in Mommy's hydrangeas. I never did get around to pruning them all this year. It'll be a fun spring project.

Cookies!

This weekend, I visited with some friends and decorated some cookies. After we were done decorating, the boys showed up, and had to taste-test them.

Joey also helped decorate one (hence all the silver sprinkles on the plate).

He definitely enjoyed them. It was hard to keep his little paws off them!

More Leaves

I finally got around to downloading the photos off my camera. I think these are over a week old now. They still show how much fun raking leaves can be!

Daddy's Little Helper

Joey loves to help his Daddy clean up the leaf piles, especially when they pile up in the basement entryway. He gets his broom and dust pan out (you can see the flash of yellow in his left hand - that's the dust pan) and will throw the leaves into the garbage can. He'll even tell us when it needs to be done! I hope he keeps up this "little helper" attitude into the teen years.

Movember

Even Joey's sporting a mustache for Movember. Of course, it's just a smoothie mustache, but what a cutie!

Steak and Shake

While I was away at my conference last week, Joe and Joey had a boys' night out at Steak and Shake. (Coincidentally, it was also a fundraiser for daycare where a portion of your purchase goes to the school.) If I remember correctly, at least one of those tiny cheeseburgers made it home. None of the shake did.

Z is for Zoo

Friends of ours were in town from California, and after lunch, we headed to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We walked through the Primate House, the Cat House, saw the gorillas and some zebras and even some camels. But of course, when you ask Joey what his favorite part was, he says the Tractor.

After we walked around the zoo proper, we stopped by the Farm at the Zoo. One of the nice things is that the part Joey likes is completely in doors, so we stayed nice and warm and out of the wind.

All the kids got into the action - and somehow we managed to get at least one good shot where we could see all the faces!

For those who haven't been, this is a real tractor, and Joey must have gone on at least four times. The most fun for me is watching the dads stand in line and then yell at their kids to come over when it's "their" turn.

They also have these giant tractor wheels (with recycled rubber instead of sand) which is fun for all to play in. And the rubber cleans up so much easier than sand! (If we ever do a sandbox in the backyard, I'm thinking the rubber also is less attractive to the kitties.)

The Singing

(Just watch his face while we're singing. Priceless.)

Happy Birthday, Joey!

I know it's been a week, but the hard drive's been full and we've been busy. I finally had a few minutes this morning (since Joey woke up at 5:40am) to get some things off the camera.

Here are all the kids getting ready to sing to Joey. (Including the babies, left to right, it's Diego, Wolfgang, Joe, Tano, Sammy and Annbel.)

And here they all are helping him unwrap his presents.

Tub Time

Family Photo

Pumpkins

More pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch.

Yes, they're all staged. Deal with it. There are still pumpkins in them!

Odyssey Fun Farm

On Sunday, we finally made our trip to the pumpkin patch. (Spoiler alert: we didn't actually buy any pumpkins. Oops!)

After a little hesitation, Joey got comfortable with the farm and eventually had a little fun running around the pumpkin patch. (The "sticks" in his hand are from a broken pants hanger. He kept calling them his "chopsticks.)

He picked out a pumpkin he liked ...

and made sure to inspect it carefully. He then decided at some point he didn't really want it and left it in the patch.

"I said cheese ten times already, Mommy. If you want me to actually look at the camera, that's a completely different request!"

The Park

We did stop during one of our bike rides (I think Sunday late morning) to enjoy the park.

Running around to all the different equipment.

Playing Super Man on the swings.

Constant Motion

They say that a body in motion tends to stay in motion. (The "they" in this case being Newton.) Little did I know how much this applied to almost-three-year-olds.

He sure had fun this weekend, though. And Daddy and I got our exercise in trying to keep up!

Fun at Daycare's Open House

SNEAK PEAK: Halloween Preview

Apparently the "reflective" material is actual reflective material. Makes the costume even more awesome!

Grease Lightnin'

The promised video of Joey in his car. I swear, it looked even faster in real life.

Ridin' Along in My Automobile

It was absolutely gorgeous out this weekend, so of course we spent a little time enjoying the weather. Joey couldn't wait to take his car for a spin.

(It's amazing how different he looks with his hair swept to the side and from a goofy angle. Almost doesn't look like Joey!)

I have a great video that I need to find of him in this car. He realized there's a little slope from our porch to the sidewalk, and he'd start backward and end up spun around, faster than you can believe! (Maybe I'll have it for tomorrow.)

He just loves playing outside.