45 minutes of waiting and neither of the boys can remember how to smile. i will put up the other santa we went to tomorrow.

just a cute picture of nicholas. he thinks he can stand and walk. here he is looking out at the backyard at 6:30 in the morning……

nicholas at 8 1/2 months

nicholas, aka, tricky proves he is like all other kids sometimes. he wanted nothing to do… with his toys and would rather play with this box. try not to look at his snotty nose – it seems his nasty cold is back…

Each day as we watch Nicholas grow and wonder what he is going to do next, I kind of take it for granted that Noah is a big kid. He is learning how to write words and how to sound out enough words to read some sentences. He can count to 1000 (sometimes) and he can do some simple addition. He memorizes songs better than anyone I have ever met. But what really gets me are his questions. The best question times are when I am driving him to school or picking him up from school. Here are a few of my latest favorites

What is a crush?? and why does this girl have a crush on me??
Why did god make bad guys?
Why would you fly all the way to California for just one day?
If I came to your work with my whole power ranger costume on, would they think I was a real power ranger?

I wrote that title and then realized that that might not be a great headline. After we got home from trick or treating in our safe neighborhood, a cop was shot just over a mile from our house. He was shot while sitting in his car in a very very busy area called the Loop. In all of the places I have lived, I don’t know that anything that brazen has happened that close to my house. I know you came for the pictures but pray for Sgt King’s family.

Here are some pictures of the little guys.

Nicholas in his Grandma Reilly designed FROG PRINCE costume

Our very own Rhino ranger, aka Noah

all of us about to head out and get some candy

This past Sunday, Nicholas was baptized at Our Lady of Lourdes church. It is right across the street from us but since his grandparents are not, we waited until we could find a weekend that everyone could make it in. We are superexcited about his supergodparents – Jessica and Lance.

Nicholas tries to dive in the holy water

jessica is not only the godmother but she was his babysitter this summer

nicholas and lance

the parents, the godparents, Nicholas and Father Nick

the godparents - nicholas has great rolemodels

nicholas and jessica

I know no one probably checks this anymore but if you do, here are a few recent pictures.

This is Nicholas at the pumpkin patch last weekend, the day before he got baptised and an 80 degree day in mid October.

Nicholas at the pumpkin patch

This is Noah and Nicholas the same day at the pumpkin patch.

the boys in the pumpkin patch

check back tomorrow for pictures from the Baptism.

this past Monday was Noah’s first day of kindergarten at Flynn Park Elementary. I can report that no one cried, we made it on time (actually the first ones there) and Noah gives us good reports from the first few days. 95% of his stories are about recess but it is kindergarten. Here are a few pics from the morning.

the whole family heads to kindergarten

Noah's first brush with public school authorities

the first sitdown with Mrs Young

more to come