A visit to Santa and the Firetruck

So, this past weekend we decided to once again participate in a family tradition and go to the Heritage Texas Realty office to see Santa and play on the vintage Fire Truck.    I was expecting a horrible trip seeing how Jill is in the opening act of the Terrible Twos.  Not only will she not smile for the camera anymore, she refuses to look at it.  That combined with her usual fear of masculine strangers left me with little hope for success.

Shockingly, she did very well.  She still refused to smile or look at the camera, but she warmed up to Santa.  She introduced herself and her brothers.  Then re-introduced herself about 5 more times.  I can't wait to get the professional photo back.  I had to take mine from the side, so this is the best I have for now.

They are all looking at the camera and no one is screaming!!!!  VICTORY!  Oh, and Josh, get comfy okay?

Jill chats up the Big Guy after the shoot.

Almost a great pic.  Oh and minus the power pole!  ha ha.

Who says you can't climb in a dress?  Certainly not Jill.  This is on its way to the cleaners now.

Jake and Josh play fireman with the water cannon on top of the truck.

Jill's 2nd Birthday Party!

So, you can't have a birthday without a party!  Jill had her 2nd Birthday Party this weekend with the whole Moriarty Clan in town.  We were lucky to get Michelle in from California and Kiki, Aaron and Owen in from Austin to add to the fun and festivities.

Here are some pics from our fun day!

Jill rides her elephant from Auntie Kiki, Aaron and Owen.

She loves on her Wubbzy doll from Courtney, Anthony and Jay.

Jill officially has too much birthday!  She just needed a break and then opened the rest of her presents!

See!  She loved it.  Here she is on her new motorcycle.  Foot powered, of course.

Jill and Michelle build with her new blocks.

Jay just couldn't stand all the fun!

Then we had our family flag football game.  Since my kids are such good sports it went really well.  Oh wait, I must be thinking of someone else's good sports.  All in all it was fun, despite a few bumps in the road.

Jake kicks off to start the game.  He actually kicked it well and PawPaw didn't pull a Lucy which was a plus.

Josh runs it back for a TD.  He was thrilled!

Owen appears to be ready.  But I don't really know what he is ready for.

The fans on the sidelines.

Little Miss, who knows exactly what you do with a cell phone when you find it laying on the ground.

Green Team gets a plan.  Uncle Tony, friend Jacob, Josh, Uncle Jim, Auntie Michelle.

Orange team waits for the start of the game.  Auntie Courtney, Owen, friend Josh, Jake, and PawPaw.

Wubbzy Cake.  How awesome did that turn out!  I love my cake lady.  Let me know if you want her #!

Jill blows out the candles!  Yay!  Happy Birthday big girl!

Jill is 2!

I don't know what else to say, Jill is 2 today.  Sometimes she still looks so little to me, and other times she seems so big.  I completely adore her and enjoy all my time with her.  I was so scared adding a girl to our boy house, but it has been so wonderful and brought out such a tender side of ALL my boys.  She is truly a blessing to our family!

Halloween!

So here are a few quick pics from Halloween.  Each kid got to go with a friend this year, yes, even Jill.  I didn't get too many shots because it was quite chaotic.  Maybe I will do better next year!

This was the best of the kids, though Jill was walking off.

Jill and her friend Tess follow the big kids up to trick or treat.

We were with this big group for a few streets.  Jill was too slow to get in the pic.

But she takes off for the next house.

And one from last year, just for fun...

Pumpkin Patch 2010 Part 2 - Just Jill

So, I wanted to try again for some cute Pumpkin Patch Pics of Jill.  And I think I got some!

Pumpkin Patch 2010

So this week, Kiki and Owen were in town visiting for a day and we decided to take the kids to the Pumpkin Patch at MDUMC for some Grandkid pics.

If you think this sounds like a great idea, well so did we.  The execution was not as easy or successful.  We had 4 adults with 4 cameras taking pictures as quickly as was humanly possible and this was the best we could do!  Of course, in our defense, getting a 9 year old, a 6 year old, a 4 year old, a 2 year old and an infant to look in the same direction and smile at the same time is pretty much impossible.  We are ready to declare it a proven scientific fact.  And any discussion on the matter is closed. 

The best pic.  At least they all looked pleasant!

This was how we started out.  I like that they are all looking and facing different directions. 

My kids.  Jill was having a "I refuse to look at the camera and smile day" that day.

Almost...

I give up.  They are all smiling, though.

Jill.

Josh.

Jake.

Mom and kids.  Notice Jill had hijacked the camera at this point.

And a look back at last year.  I forgot how nice it is to have dry ground and not rotten pumpkins to take pictures with!