Just a few pictures

Don't these pictures just scream "mischief in the making"?

Trick or Treating!

Ryan was getting pretty tired by this point.




But Nicholas was still going strong. :)

Trick or Treating!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

This picture is so funny. Ryan was playing so hard and when I leaned over to take the picture, he just gave me this look. I can almost hear him thinking, "Get that thing out of my face and just let me get back to business!"

Finally updated!

So it has been quite a while since I updated this, but I solemnly vow that I will be better from now on! My classes are winding down and from now on, I will be taking fewer classes each term. Hopefully, this translates into more time for keeping up with personal tasks like this blog. We'll see.

As you will see below, things are changing in our house. Nicholas is a KINDERGARTENER this year! Can you all believe it? My boy is growing up way too fast! I only have one photo of him loaded, since he has all of a sudden developed an aversion to the camera. To get photos of him, I will have to practice my sneaky skills.

Ryan, on the other hand, is not at all camera shy. In fact, he is a total ham! He's getting so big, growing and getting into everything! He's cruising all over the place and several times he has let go and wobbled precariously a bit before falling onto his bum. Those few nanoseconds while he's "standing" though, he is absolutely blissful with his new skill!

I've included some photos below of Nicholas, Ryan and our neighbor's little boy Donigan. I will update next week with Halloween photos. Nicholas is going to dress up as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Ryan is going as a fuzzy little koala bear. They're both adorable!

In memory of the Virginia Tech victims

All tired out from the zoo!

A sleeping baby is a happy baby! Ryan was exhausted after a few hours at the zoo. Here he is catching a few zzzz's while big brother plays at the playground!

Okay, so I did this backwards. I should have uploaded the kid and baby pictures and videos first, but I forgot that it would put my last entries first and the first ones last. At any rate, if you're checking in for updates, make sure you click on the link at the bottom called "Older posts" to view the rest of the new photos and to get to the links where the videos are!

The next few photos are some snaps I got during our zoo trip on Monday! Gosh, I love my superzoom lens! (Thanks mom and dad! This is one Christmas present that I definitely have gotten some use out of!)

Here's some photos of Nicholas at the zoo's kinderspielplatz (playpark). From the moment we got there, this is where he wanted to go more than anything else, go figure! I have to admit, though, it is a pretty impressive jungle gym, and I think he had a blast!

Zoo pictures

Below are some snaps I took of Ryan during out excursion to the Nurnberg Zoo on Monday. Obviously he saw something that amused him!

Videos!

After months of trying, we finally got it all to come together! I figured out how to use the camcorder - who woulda known it was so simple! Also, Kev finally had some time to play with the video editing software, so now we can create short clips to share with friends and family! This is my first time loading videos here, so hopefully it will work for everyone. I tried using photobucket.com first, but it kept distorting the images, so I found a new video hosting site (www.zippyvideos.com). For short videos like these this website shouldn't be a problem, but I will have to see if I can change the photobucket settings if I want to upload more than 20MB (about 2 minutes). The downside is that I can't link directly to it, it transfers you to their website, but that's not too much of an issue. Anyway, enjoy the new footage and now that we've got the kinks worked out we can update more often. :)

Happy baby!

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Nicholas funny

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Nicholas Baseball Video

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Birthday!

I can't believe that Nicholas is 5 now! My goodness, the years have flown by! Friday was his birthday and we had a great afternoon. After Kevin came home, we went to Sylvio's for dinner and had loads of delicious Italian food. Then after we came home, it was time for cake and presents! As he blew out the candles, he informed us what he wished for - a brand new Cars bedroom set. Boy was he excited when he opened up all his presents and found a new comforter, sheets, tons of plush pillows and a really awesome lamp that looks like a Radiator Springs billboard! He was absolutely beside himself. He also got the Read With Me DVD controller along with several DVDs, but Kevin hasn't yet been able to get it up and running, because he thinks the batteries are too weak. I know Nicholas' excited about that too, though, because he will not stop pestering us about it. We keep telling him that we will pick up batteries tomorrow from the PX, but for him that's just not soon enough. Poor kid! I guess it's tough being so little and having to depend on everyone else's schedules and always doing what is most convenient for them. Because of this, he's informed us several times recently that he just can't wait til he grows up and is able to do whatever he wants... if only it really worked that way! I tried to tell him, but decided for now it's best to just let him remain clueless, because he'll figure out about responsibility as he gets older. For now, he should just concentrate on having fun!

Nicholas is getting really good at soccer and baseball. He starts his little teeball league next week! I can't wait to see how that turns out.

I have no real news to update, other than to say that both kids are growing like weeds. I snapped this photo last week of Nicholas and Ryan together. Finally a decent shot - even if Nicholas' head is chopped off. At least they are in the same area! It's a start!

An angel if I ever saw one

Crashing in Nicholas' bed