Finally, a vacation!

Here it is, a picture of the town that Suzanne fell in love with- Newport, Oregon. Well, it's a picture of the bay in Newport from the window of the hotel we stayed in. But the rest of the town is nice too.
We did get a day of sunshine while traveling up the Oregon coast. We stopped at a little unmarked beach between Brookings and Gold Beach and took a break from driving. The whole coastline is gorgeous. It must have been Suzanne's first time playing in the sand, because she got caught unawares by a sneaker wave. It only wet one of her shoes. Gas to Oregon: $36.00. One wet sneaker: $20.00. Watching your wife do an impromptu jig to avoid a sneaker wave: Priceless. :)
All right, you didn't come here for a slideshow of vacation pictures, so let's get to the kids. Our kids got to spend plenty of time with the only remaining set of California cousins: My brother Davy's kids. The tall, dark-haired belle is Paris, the little pink primadonna is Naomi, and the Huckleberry Finn look-alike is Colton.
Their mom is Leigh, in the middle of this picture, and those are my parents on the right (your right, not theirs!) We were at a little pond throwing pieces of bread at some very snooty waterfowl, who turned up their noses at it and wouldn't come closer than twenty or so feet. McKay got cold, Carter got muddy, and cousin Colton got to show off his Hulk-like muscles.Our two little troublemakers got to spend plenty of time with their Grandpa and Grandma Phillips (Carter knows them as Papa and Maagna, respectively). We had a joint birthday party for Carter (3 years old Nov. 6), McKay (1 year old Nov. 20), and cousin Naomi (1 year old Nov. 22). We managed to pull the boys away long enough for just a few shots.
The new shirt says "napper" in case anyone wants to know. McKay spent a long time practicing a fake smile for pictures, but luckily this one is real. Don't let that innocent look fool you! He made a huge mess out of everything he touched. My parents moved tons of things into their own bedroom to avoid the destructive power of "McChaos!" Even so, I know they were sad to see him go. With a face like that, who wouldn't be? Last but not least, our little three-year-old. He had loads of fun playing with his grandparents and he loved going into Grandma and Papa's backyard to ride the trike.
We are glad to be home, but sorry we couldn't bring our family back with us. Hope life is treating you all well. Hasta la pasta.

Halloween

Halloween was yesterday, and I'm sorry I didn't have these up then. I was just too tired by the time we finished getting the kids into bed. Just so that nobody is confused, Carter got to wear two costumes this Halloween: One for the Trunk or Treat, one for Halloween. But these are both from the past few days. McKay only went to the Trunk or Treat, so he only got one costume. But we had plenty to choose from! First from the Trunk or Treat- Carter was Blue from Blue's Clues (all of you with kids know exactly who I mean. For the rest of you, Blue is a dog, in case you can't tell from Carter's costume). McKay was kind of a dragon. It's hard to get the full effect of his costume in pictures because you see him straight on, but those orange spikes were much cuter in real life.
Here's the first picture in a long time of Suzanne. I don't know how I convinced her to pose but I'm glad I did.
McKay is normally very sweet, but when our nest egg was stolen, we were shocked by a blurry picture captured by our security camera.
Although this concerned us, we were much more concerned when McKay began a terrifying transformation on Halloween night... Into a vicious, belt-biting Were-Beast! The horror! No one is safe!
Carter and I went Trick or treating that night, and he loved it! For Halloween, I went as a doctor and he was a box of crayons. At first he was just confused, but after 2 doors he saw the pattern and started running between apartment buildings! He practiced his "Trick or treat" after ringing the doorbells (it sounded more like "choo choo train" to me) but when the door opened he forgot his line and just stuck his hand out. Sometimes he said, "Eat it," but "trick or treat" was forgotten. He became bolder as the night went on, and I had to stop him from running into houses as soon as the door opened. He grabbed at the candy bowls and took more than he was offered and I had to apologize at more than one door.
All in all, we had a great Halloween, and we hope that all of you did too. Talk to you later!

Big news (for us)

Welcome back, for another exciting edition of "The Blog!" Whatever. Anyway, we have been having more and more trouble getting pictures of McKay for the same reason that we used to have trouble with Carter: McKay sees the camera and wants to touch it (or eat it, more likely) and makes a beeline for the photographer. But, here are the good ones. First, McKay playing with the toys on the bookshelf behind the chair (remember I said he likes enclosed spaces?). We had to pull the chair out of the way to get a shot of him.
And here's the big news, first pictures of McKay standing! He also walks short distances- between chair and ottoman, couch to chair, etc. It won't be long before he's officially a toddler...
I tried to get a photo of him by keeping him at bay with my feet and got this instead. I like it better.
Suzanne was trying to take a picture of Carter this morning, since he was kind of posing. He stood on his puzzle everytime she wanted to take a picture, but he wouldn't smile until I started blowing loud raspberries with my tongue. Works every time.Even though he's got SO MANY responsibilities, Carter still finds time to relax.
This was actually the first picture we got of McKay standing. We gave him a book light so he'd forget to fall (a la "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" book series). That's Suzanne in the background, working on the computer (that's the only picture I've gotten of her in quite a while).
Until last week, this is how McKay was smiling. He knew we thought it was funny. What a ham.
The piggy-back ride was going well until McKay decided to try stunt-riding. I don't think I'll get him a dirt bike anytime soon.
From the picture, you'd think Carter was saying, "See? They snap together, just like this."
I think what he really said was, "MINE!"
Hope you all enjoy the pictures! Talk to you later.

Our Silly Little Boys

Hello, everybody! I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry. Hopefully, these 2 posts will tide (sp?) you over until we can get some more up. Here' s one of McKay eating his rice cereal- see what a clean eater he is? He just hates to get messy. Maybe it's because McKay is small, or a messy eater, but I think Carter thinks McKay is a puppy. He is always patting McKay on the head and shoving food in his mouth. We're trying to get the idea across to Carter that McKay is his brother and not a pet. Even the way he talks to him, "McKay, no! No!" We'll keep working.Carter and McKay both love to read, and they're even getting old enough to play together a little bit. Thank goodness!
While Carter and McKay were playing in the tent (the tiny one that Carter got for Christmas) I snuck along with our camera, lifted the tent flap just a little, and tried to get a few candid shots. It's obvious that didn't work, and McKay was laughing pretty hard as he tried to catch the camera. Well, I got too close to him (thus the big nose and eyes farther apart than they should be), and probably left the poor kid seeing spots for a while, but there they are... his teeth.You might think they're "darling" or "cute," but he leaves some deep little bite marks on the furniture and fingers (mine and Suzanne's). Scroll down for one more post.

Silly Little Boys

Hello, again! I suppose this will be the second on the page of two posts, because I've got a lot of pictures I want you to see, but I can't seem to put on more than 5 at a time. First, this is McKay, in case anyone wasn't sure. He loves small, enclosed spaces. If we were to throw a box on the floor, I'm sure we'd never get him out. Carter has gotten very good at doing puzzles. He loves them and they're only a challenge the first time. After that, it only takes a few minutes.
McKay's baby blues.
Don't worry... it's just root beer (as a matter of fact, I think it's just water in a root beer bottle)
McKay helping Carter do a puzzle. I'm sure Carter appreciates it (note the sarcasm).
We love you all. I think you can "subscribe" to this blog somehow so that you'll be emailed every time that I update it. It's something to try.

Mostly McKay

Hi, everyone! It's me again, Gabe. Suzanne did great on her posts, but she wanted me to get back on as the main blogger- I think she didn't want to be associated with anything as nerdy as blogging. Anyway, this will mainly be pictures of McKay because Carter comes running anytime the camera is brought out- all pictures of him are closeups of the bridge of his nose. We just can't get him to back away. First off, McKay playing with a plastic eyeball. Doesn't he look just like Carter at that age? Carter is learning his letters- he probably knows 10 of them by sight and can name them. McKay likes to chew on them and shove them under the fridge. Pretty soon Carter won't have to learn any more letters because we'll be down to the ones he knows already.
McKay's learning to drink from a sippy cup, but if Carter leaves his cup on the floor, that's game too.
McKay played with his reflection for several minutes one day. Suzanne got several pictures...
... including ones of McKay practicing his kissing technique.
McKay is ALWAYS curious about what Carter is doing. He attacks Carter anytime Carter gets his diaper changed. In this one, Carter sat down to enjoy his sandwich...
In this one he's realizing he can't enjoy his sandwich in peace with McKay around. I think Carter scooted away (saying, "No, Kay! Mine! No, Kay!") and McKay continued to chase him for a full minute before we put down the camera and rescued him.
McKay wished me a Happy Half-Birthday on July 19th. Carter learned how to sing, "Happy... TO YOU!!"
That's all for now. Hopefully we'll be able to show you some of the cute things that Carter's been doing next time. Cross your fingers!

Hi all, this will be a short post but I was just searching through our pictures and found some cute ones, so here ya go.

Carter and McKay take their baths together now. They like to splash each other.

McKay has learned to crawl. Here he is in pursuit of the ball.

This picture was taken before McKay had learned to crawl. He's hanging over the edge of Gabe's big papason chair

Just a beautiful picture of McKay that I wanted to share with everyone!

Hello everyone! It's Suzanne. Since Gabe seems to be slacking on posting pictures, I'd thought I'd take matters into my own hands. Hope you enjoy the pictures!


This picture was taken a little over a month ago, just as McKay was starting to roll over. He was still having trouble getting that arm out from under him. Well he has mastered the rolling over now and is now just starting to crawl.






I think this picture speaks for itself. Kids will be kids!











Just an adorable picture I was able to get of Carter. He is usually so hard to take pictures of because he always wants to be right up close to the camera.







Well, Carter managed to get into my makeup bag and smeared mascara all over his face.











McKay just hangin out in the walker at Grandma Carter's house. So far all he can do is push himself backwards.














McKay's first time in the johnny jump-up. Carter used to jump and jump in this thing. McKay prefers to take one big jump, lift up his feet, and swing instead.












Here he is falling asleep in the Johnny Jump-up after his workout.
















Carter has started doing some chores. Here he is putting the silverware away.














On our whirlwind trip to California we managed to find time to take the kids to the park. This was McKay's first time in the swing. He loved it! He was laughing like crazy! Carter was laughing too (mostly at McKay) until we got out the camera.






Cute McKay hanging out at the park.