Taking the baby for a walk

Look, if she enjoys the ride half as much as I do when Grandmom takes me for a walk, then my baby doll is gonna love this Christmas present. 

Never-ending task

Seriously -- where do all these leaves keep coming from?

Christmas Day 2016

So many presents!

We got a note from Santa earlier in the week telling us he was dropping off our gifts at Grandmom and Pop Doyle's house, so we had a lot of yuletide traveling this year. But it's OK, because Grandmom and Pop needed help unwrapping their presents. 

And then it was off to Grandmom and Pop Shane's for Christmas dinner, and dessert, and after dinner movie watching, and maybe a little sleep. It was almost too much holiday to handle.

Pictures with Santa

Some people like sitting on Santa's lap ...

... and some people don't.

Final touches

The tree is all set. 

So is the Christmas village. 

So ... Santa can come tonight, right?

The annual pre-Christmas-Eve dinner

There's a lot of love at that table. Not a lot of leftovers, but a lot of love.

Extreme close ups

Emma had a blue tongue from eating a lollipop, so we had to take a picture. 

And since we took a close up of Emma, we needed one of Jonathan too.

Christmas play

I was a shepherd in the school Christmas play this year. Emma was just Emma. She wasn't in the play, but she helped me practice my songs a lot. 

The play was pretty cool. The other shepherds and I got to hang out on the hillside down in front there while the rest of the cast told the story of Jesus' birth. We were also responsible for all the stuffed animals on stage. Not to worry, none of them ran away.

We sang a ton of songs, but Dad couldn't record them all. "Hark the Herald" and "Joy to the World" were my favorites. But our big finale was the 12 days of Christmas. See if you can spot me in the surprise verse of the song.

Setting up for Christmas, part 2

 

Grandmom and Pop Shane have so many animals for their Nativity set, it took all the grandkids to help them set it up this year. But if they add any more angels or kings next Christmas, we're gonna have to call in the neighbors. 

Baking time

I'm always an egg short. I bet Grandmom has a substitute I could use, if I could only reach the phone. 

Setting up the Christmas village

Emma, I keep telling you: The train can't go through the gingerbread house's back yard. It'll ruin property values.

Christmas card outtakes

Posting this because it may actually be cuter than the shot we ended up using...

The proper way to ship a toddler

Make sure you use plenty of packing peanuts before closing the box. Those things are very fragile.

Don't mess with grandmom

Geez, you make one joke about sewing and she flattens you with one punch. 

(OK, OK, she was measuring me for a school play costume. But I thought it was funny.)

Thanksgiving recap

Before Thanksgiving dinner:

After stuffing yourself at Thanksgiving dinner: 

How to handle leaves

First you rake them.

And then...

And then...

Train trip

We got a chance to catch up with Tyler at the Baltimore Train museum last weekend. Good news, they still have giant trains there!

This was Emma's first chance to ride on a train, so we had to ease her in slowly. I has her watch the model trains for a while so she understood what we were getting into. 

The train ride through Baltimore was awesome, even though the train didn't go as fast as I wanted it to. But it was super hero day at the museum, and Dad said the train wasn't even running. It was just being pushed by Superman. So I guess that explains it. 

Iron Man and a bunch of other super heroes were on board. I gave him a high five, but I really didn't want to shake hands with Poison Ivy when she stopped by. It just seemed like a bad idea. 

Afterwards, Tyler and I showed Emma more model trains to explain to her everything that happened. She tried to climb in a few, but she's really not that small anymore. 

Making sandwiches

It doesn't sound tasty to me, but...

Cool autumn nights

Maybe we should just stay here and watch movies all day tomorrow, just to be on the safe side.

Eating worms, again

So gross. 

Hamming it up with Pop Doyle

For a minute there, he though maybe he'd only hold either Lexi or me. Don't worry, we straightened him out. 

Monkey bars

These things ...

... are kinda ...

...exhausting. 

Autumn at Sandy Point

Jonathan and I got a chance to visit Sandy Point last weekend, a beautiful beach on the bay not far from home. It's not as much fun as Grandmom's shore house by the ocean, but it's still pretty awesome. 

Jonathan was excited because you can see the big big bridge right up close from the beach. Dad tells me that's not its real name, but, look at it. That's the only name that makes sense. 

I wanted to go swimming, but Mom and Dad wouldn't stop the little waves from moving around so much. So, instead we dug in the sand and threw rocks in the water, which is always a blast. 

 

And Jonathan found even bigger rocks to go climbing on out over the bay. I wanted him to throw one into the water to see the splash, but he said they were too heavy and Dad wouldn't let me try. Spoilsports.

Baby in a basket

I mean, what were you expecting? At least it's a clean baby in a clean basket of laundry. 

Halloween 2016

Seriously, could we be any cuter?

My robot costume had lights that were so bright Dad said I could work as a flashlight if we needed an extra light. But I don't think I'll fit in the closet with the other ones. 

Emma was a cute ladybug who was a little afraid of all the spooky stuff out there tonight. But don't worry, when she found out there was candy, she was still all about the holiday. 

Introducing our new videographer

Jonathan turned the tables today with his tablet and took some videos for the blog:

She was supposed to recite a whole poem here, but she went off script.

Dad's chin really is his best side. 

Everybody likes a light-up balloon dance!

Pumpkin picking time again

Last weekend we headed back to the pumpkin patch to show Emma how to pick out the perfect decorations for Halloween. She got to ride in the wagon, since she weighs about the same as a pumpkin anyways. 

First step is to go out in the field and find which ones look best. 

Second step is to find Emma in the corn maze and bring her back out. 

Next step is to survey all the pumpkins for the perfect ones. 

And the last step is convincing Mom and Dad to buy all the ones you think would look great at the house. They negotiated us down to three. 

I had so much fun my head turned into a pumpkin. OK, not really. But I thought this picture was hilarious. 

Jumping practice

Look, if I don't start working these muscles now, I'm never going to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. 

Pretty please?

But, Dad, if we got a pet Triceratops, I promise I'd feed him every day and walk him whenever he needs it. How can you say no to a cute Paw Patrol dress?

Scooter lessons

The only way we're ever gonna have scooter races is if she learns how to ride the scooter, so...

Dino hunting

We caught one!

OK, fine. Emma and I just got to see a lot of dinosaurs with Grandmom and Pop Shane during a Philly museum trip. But, as you can clearly seem this Triceratops would definitely just barely fit inside our living room, so let's see Mom and Dad try to use that excuse again for why we can't have one as a pet. 

They had big butterflies there too, but Mom has a problem with bugs, so I didn't both to ask about keeping that one.