Finally, Christmas in Oxford!

We finally made it home today to see what Santa dropped off for the gang. They had many gifts under the tree...


and their stockings were filled to the brim.


They just loved the fake mustaches.


Owen loves being a clown!


Luke got an official, NHL-size hockey goal...


and we all had to try it out.


Owen is psyched about his new racing track!

Christmas in NYC...

We recently went to NYC & Long Island for a few days to spend Christmas with some of our family. We took the gang into the Manhattan for a quick tour. We first hit the subway...


then the boys met Elmo & Cookie Monster at Radio City Music Hall...


then a quick stroll down the block to see the tree @ Rockefeller Center...


last, but not least, no trip to NYC is complete without a stop for a slice of pizza!

Christmas @ Wegmans?

We stopped by Wegmans for lunch and we wound up running into Santa Claus. This is the second time Rory has met Santa and she still does not seem to like him much.


The boys spent a lot of time chatting with Santa.


They also decorated cookies...


got their faces painted...


and even participated in a coloring contest.

Owen's First Wrestling Tournament

Owen began wrestling and today was his first match. He wrestled in the Edgewood First/Second Year Wrestling Tournament.


He weighed-in at a whopping 37 lbs. He was the lightest kid in his bracket.


He carbo-loaded before he wrestled on his favorite food from Taco Bell.


Rory also did some carbo=loading of her own.


Here's Owen at the start of his first match...


He got the hang of it pretty quickly...


Owen's first takedown. He won his first match 14-2.


Here's Owen taking down his second opponent...


He almost pinned him. He won 15-7.


He wrestled in a 16 wrestler bracket and he made the finals! He wrestled his friend and teammate Colton for the championship. Ox wrestled hard, but he came up a bit short. He wrestled so hard he lost his shoe a couple of times!


Here's Colton & Owen showing off their medals. The future looks bright for Talawanda Wrestling!


Owen had a great cheering section!


Coach dad was quite proud of his little guy.

Thanksgiving 2009

Here we are getting ready to dig into our bounty. (This pic was taken by grandma and it is the best one we have. Sorry Amy!)


The boys had a blast toasting each other. They toasted each other all weekend long. I wonder where they get it from?


There was also plenty of time for relaxing and watching football. While not much of a snuggler, Rory does occasionally like to chill with her dad.


Owen loves posing with his little sis.


Overthrow complete? What is Rory doing in dad's chair?

Jr. RedHawks

Luke & Owen have begun playing hockey with the Jr. RedHawks hockey program.


Their friend Makenna plays with them as well.


They are still getting used to skating with all that hockey equipment on.


Luke really loves it!


They also practice falling, aka doing the "Superman". Here Owen (#10) is getting ready to take a dive.


Here's Luke (#3) going through some more skating drills.


Owen taking a knee and listening coach Dan.


Luke working on his passing.


Though she can't yet play, Rory does her best rooting for the boys.

Happy Birthday Mom (& Grandpa)

The kids were really psyched to wish their mom a happy 40th birthday. Well, maybe Rory wasn't quite as psyched as the boys, "How can my mommy be 40?!).


Unfortunately, I was out of town last week, so grandma stepped in to bake Amy some birthday (low sugar?) confections. Here's the gang helping mom blow out the candles on her birthday cupcakes.


Grandpa's birthday was a few days before Amy's, so the boys helped him blow out the candles on his birthday pie!


Rory has been getting a bit tired of sitting in her highchair, so today she demanded that she sit in the "big girl" chair while she ate a slice of pizza.


Then she climbed up on the boys' tent (aka the coffee table) to watch the Miami football game with dad and her brothers.

Happy Halloween 2009

Sorry for the long delay, but October was filled with sick kids and sicker parents. Not much energy for taking or posting pics. Now everyone is back on their feet and just in time for Halloween!


Here are the boys with the great crayon costumes Amy made. She never ceases to amaze. All that time watching Project Runway is paying off!


Our favorite little box of crayons. The kids looked awesome! Special thanks to our friend Beth for making the cool crayon box.


Here they are in their wagon, getting ready to trick-or-treat. Well, the wagon was really for Rory, but the boys could not resist jumping in for a quick spin.


The neighborhood kids got together for a pre-trick-or-treat Halloween party and then it was off to get some candy!


Firefighter Cooper joined the festivities after he came back from putting out a fire.


It has become an annual tradition for the boys to pose for a post-trick-or-treating pic with their buddy David.


Luke & Owen were not happy that they did not get to carve pumpkins with Tommy & Cari.


Amy & I had a hard time figuring out costumes for the 80's themed Halloween party we attended on Saturday night. I wanted to go as Richard Simmons, but we settled on Amy's favorite video game (Amy has a favorite video game? Yep, hard to believe), Ms. Pacman. I went as Blinky. Amy did another great job putting our costumes together.