Animal House

Brennan's field trip to the local rodeo (just the livestock show part really)

the pigs

Miniature horses

the rabbits

The turkeys and chickens were a big hit. One of the turkeys was gobbling, but it really sounded more like a dog barking than a gobble.

This goat made the rest of us look like fools, shivering in the 30 degree temps. With a little smile on its face!

Feeding the steer--aka throwing the hay near its face.

Grammy and Evan came along too.

Brennan enjoyed it, but really just wanted to be wherever his friend Jacob was. So as long as we could corral Jacob, we had Brennan. But Jacob is definitely the fearless leader of the pack, and would take off to go see something that caught his eye at any moment. It was a little crazy even with the adult-to-kid ratio that we had (I think it was 1:1).

Ice Day

We got zero of the 1-3 inches of predicted snow. :( But the ice is reason enough to call off school and stay inside!

Pinewood Derby

Aidan had his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby on Saturday. Aidan designed and helped cut, paint, drill and polish a lot of the car. We had one maddening evening of searching for a missing axle 2 days before the race, and finally had to go to the Scout store to buy a replacement. Of course, the axle then showed up on Sunday night attached to the magnet on the back of a kitchen timer. So now we have extras for next year--which Thomas is already designing...

3rd place in the Tiger Den!

So his car goes on to a district race (yet to be determined)

First Haircut

Evan got his first haircut last Sunday, just a trim of the bangs.

Then we decided, it ended up making him look like a girl.

(I think it was just wispy enough to remind us of Marian's hair at this age). And I was afraid if we just cut more around the ears, it would end up looking like a mullett. So we made an appointment and got a full haircut yesterday.

He did very good, but would have done better if Brennan had kept the DVD player where Evan could see it. So he also got his first taste of a lollipop, just to keep him still. He recoiled, and then grabbed it to try it again!

Now that's a boy!

Loch Lown

So, in the space of a year, Mom and Dad's lake house has gone from this:

To this:

It is very close to being done! They are heading out to South Carolina in a few weeks to take a load of furniture and assorted stuff. Very excited to see a finished product! And exciting to see all that white stuff, too!

(In the spirit of Mom's family's mountain house, Braeburn (Scottish for 'hill' and 'stream'), they have decided to name the house Loch Lown: Scottish for 'lake' and 'calm, serene'). I don't know if it's going to be 2 words or run together into one. We'll have to see!

One year old

Time has flown and Evan is a whole year old now! He loves to climb the stairs, and is pulling up on things, but is not ready to venture into taking any steps just yet--which is fine by us! He's a pretty happy little guy who wants to play everything the other kids are playing, but is content to at least be in the same room where all the fun is going on. On a good day, he'll take one long afternoon nap, and a catnap in the evening, then go down around 9-10pm, and sleep until 7-8am. Yay! But those days are not every day, as brothers and sister's activities often dictate the schedule. He's happy with just a short nap in the carseat, but I'm not so thrilled on those days--not a lot gets done!

Thanksgiving Parade

We headed downtown for the parade this year, which we haven't done for a couple of years.

It was great, but my favorite part was the lady standing next to us: she talked to every person who went by and got most of them to talk to her (the mayor, the sherriff) and got a lot of people to come over and shake hands with our part of the crowd ("Darth Vader--get on over here! Don't you act like you don't me!"). She tried to get all the high school kids to relax and smile ("You not from my school, but that's all right! Show some pride!" "Girl, I like that hair ribbon! I'm gonna get me one!"). She had everyone around us cracking up! She sweet-talked her way into winning some tickets to an Aeros game, and she earned them in my book!
Waiting patiently for the parade to begin.

Brennan enjoyed all the fire trucks and their sirens didn't bother Evan, thank goodness. But Brennan was probably most excited about the helicopter hovering overhead.

For Uncle Ben: The MOB (Marching Owl Band)

The Shriners are always fun to watch zipping around in their cars.

Brennan wasn't too sure with the first few characters that came over to shake hands.

Two of Thomas' favorite parts of the parade--cheerleaders and beer.

The kids managed to get some prime real estate, thanks to the people we were standing next to.

Marian and Aidan's favorite part of the parade.

A high school band, getting down!

Unlike the Sponge Bob balloon, Nemo was staying afloat just fine!

Sponge Bob went down completely shortly after it passed us, and had the crowd squealing with its swaying from one side to the other, threatening to tip onto the crowd.

Brennan was most mesmerized by my favorite part: Santa Claus!