January 2015

New Year's Celebration!

Ringing in 2015 at a family party.  We stayed out until 1:30 am.  Only Andrew fell asleep.  

Party animals!  Mikey asked Johanna out on a date that night.

Cheers!

Andrew's 5th Birthday

Presents were waiting for him when he woke up.

Opening the gifts before school.

He had specifically requested most of the animals and other toys he wanted for his birthday, so he was pleased.

After preschool he went for swimming lessons.

What do most five year olds want for their special dinner?  Steak and lobster of course.  We went to the Outback where they couldn't believe he was ordering surf and turf.

Andrew enjoyed the wait staff coming to sing to him.

Andrew had his birthday party at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.  He knows so much about dinosaurs, everyone was impressed with the facts and proper pronunciations he was giving.  

He brought his museum dinosaurs to the party.

Cute centerpieces

Dino cupcakes

Elizabeth told the party-goers that "It looks like it came from a store, but my mom made it, so it's tasty."  (My biggest fan.)

Decked out in his paleontologist gear.

Dino Drew

Elizabeth was writing birthday wishes on the whiteboard while Mikey was writing algebraic equations. 

Ready for the guests.

Museum docent passed around fossil casts as part of her lesson.

Making a plaster cast around a dinosaur claw or tooth.

I think he likes being the center of attention.

Dinosaur Hall

Dino Dig!

We go to the museum all the time but he was thrilled to have all of his friends there.

Elizabeth has taken a semester of drama at Pittsburgh Musical Theater.  They had a showcase at a beautiful downtown theater where they showed off their singing, dancing and recitation.

She loves to wear makeup.

Duck face

She's on the left

Post show flowers from the guys.

Byham to Broadway

On a warm January day we went to the zoo.  There were a lot of animal closeups.  We always try to see the baby gorilla and this time he came right up to the glass.

Polar Bears enjoying the cool weather.

Meerkat having a face-off with Mikey.

Andrew has enjoyed winter session of basketball.

Dribbling down to shoot.

Five year old basketball is so cute!

December 2014

Winter Photo Session at Hartwood Acres Mansion

We spent our wedding anniversary at the gorgeous Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.

After half a day at the spa we attended a wine class.

High tea

Christmas display at Phipps Conservatory

Andrew and I made a gingerbread house at his preschool.

Christmas Eve tradition:  Making samosas

Breakfast with Santa

Santa drove through the neighborhood throwing candy to the kids.

The last couple of years we have donated toys to an organization called Play it Forward Pittsburgh.  This year we volunteered as a family.  After awhile the children took a break in the giant pile of stuffed animals.

Big donation this year.

Andrew played the part of the innkeeper in the nativity program.

He had a dual role.  He also played the messenger that told Joseph about the census.

After the program we took him out to eat.  Another diner was so taken with him she gave him ten dollars.  We had given him Rudolph as a treat.

He insisted on going to the store and buying Clarisse too.

Sleeping babe.

Christmas day pictures

Unfortunately James had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  He was ready for a break when he finally joined the family.

My favorite part of the feast:  Christmas pudding

Christmas morning

Andrew bought this for Michael but I think he liked it best.

Snake charmer?

XBOX One was a huge hit.

Off to church in our fur.

Christmas selfie

A little sword fight while waiting for dinner.