Ah, the luck of the Irish

Gram and Gramp blew into town this weekend to help us celebrate St. Patty's day.

I don't know who was more excited to play, Gramma or the boys. Everyone had a great time.

A family of happy leprechauns.

After a weekend filled with laughter, food and some stop and start attempts at potty training, the boys were officially whooped. Here's Owen "sleeping it off."

And Luke also caught a few ZZZs (nearly 3 hours worth this afternoon.) Boy that Gramma and Grandpa sure know how to have a good time.

Cousin Joey Pays a Visit...

The boys played host to their cousin Joey over the weekend.


After picking Joey up, we all headed to the
boy's favorite sushi joint for a quick bite.


Though he had some reservations, cousin
Joey went ahead and tried some sushi (with a fork).


He tried both rolls (tuna roll) and sushi (salmon)
and he said he preferred the sushi.


Not to be outdone, Luke is seen here chowing
down on a fried shrimp head.


Contrary to what it might look like, Dad did
not eat all the sushi in the boat.


The boys loved having Joey around to
play with. He was very helpful with the boys
and even gave them a bath! (In all fairness,
Joey's brother Tommy was also helping bath
the boys...BUT Tommy has yet to go for
sushi with boys!)


On another note, the boys have
been getting ready for March
Madness. They are ready to
cheer on Miami this Friday...
Let's Go Red Hawks!

Another Trip to the Aquarium...

This past weekend we took a trip to the Cincinnati Aquarium with the boys, their cousin Tommy and his girlfriend Cari.


The boys were really excited about
their afternoon out on the town.


Mom & Owen spent a lot of time running
from shark tank to shark tank.


Dad & Luke had a blast touching the star
fish and crabs.


Here everyone tried to touch
some sharks!


Tommy thought the best part was playing
on the slide (that is until security arrived!).


Later in the evening, in honor of their trip
to the aquarium, Luke and daddy chowed
down on some crawfish (Uncle Gus, Luke
loves the crustaceans!)

Happy New Year!

Saturday began another new year, Chinese New Year that is. The boys were fortunate to be on hand for a mini new year parade at last week's playgroup.



They were totally enthralled by the dragon.



Then they took a little vacation, venturing off to Columbus to watch their cousin Karrie play in a volleyball tournament. As usual, they had a blast.



An action shot of Karrie setting up her vicious serve.




And look at that spike. Way to go Karrie.



Here's little Spielberg catching it all on film, with the help of Aunt Mar, while coach Owen shouts from the sidelines.



Due to bad weather, we ended up crashing in Aunt Mar's hotel room. Here are the travelers enjoying their first continental breakfast.



And despite the fact that the hotel had great fluffy pillows, Aunt Mar slept on her down(trodden) pillow. Guess which one is hers :) We don't want to poke too much fun at Aunt Mar, she displayed her usual vigor for entertaining little ones for 10+ hours and her usual patience in the face of two not so very good hotel sleepers. We won't mention any names.

The lazy days of winter

It's been cold, and we've been stuck in-doors trying to make the best of it.


The boys have been busy "fixing" things around the house.


And playing doctor...


Thump, thump, sounds good.


They've had tee-time. Sorry, Tommy, I think they may have lost one of your golf balls :) It's tough living with two 2 year-olds.


They've built some in-door snowmen thanks to our friend Angie who cut out all the snowmen parts.


And playing dress-up, or in Luke's case, dress-down. He prefers to look masculine in his heels.


And here is how Owen (& Tommy) enjoyed the recent Superbowl.


While Luke preferred to catch a few z-z-z-z's with our friend Stacy during the game. He must take after Mommy.