woods' cousins

My cousin Lisa had a little family gathering on Good Friday evening so we could see the Peterson's that were in from Chicago.  This is my mom's side of the family (Woods) and it is good when we actually can get together because it doesn't seem like it happens often enough.  Not nearly everyone was there, but it was still a good head count of both first and second cousins.  We managed to get all the kids posed for picture. (Can you spot the pterodactyl smiling?) 

 Then we had about five of the kids take a whack at taking one of the grown-ups.  Here is the best we got:

Thanks Kamps family for a great time!

can't sleep, chupacabra will eat me

When Jimmy was born my friend Sabrina gave him this shirt because Zach and I like to say that the baby in my belly was the mythical goat eating creature.  When I put it on Gus, it gave the shirt a whole new meaning. I realized that poor little Gus is in fact the goat and he will ever have to worry about being attacked when he goes to sleep.  The chupacabra is always on the prowl around here....

photo recreation

One day Gus was wearing the same "pirate outfit" that I had taken a picture of Jimmy in once when he was a baby.  I pulled out Zach's green bandana and Jimmy's monkey to recreate the moment as best as possible.

Glad to see I am a better photographer these days or maybe my model was just more cooperative. 

 These pictures are not meant to reflect the different dispositions of my children.  

As proof of that I feel the need to also include this one:

Isn't it fun to use your children as your own personal play things?
What I really want to do is this.

little radio

Gus got this little radio for Christmas from Santa:

 It plays the song "Farmer in the Dell"

We have made up our own lyrics and they go something like this:

The Daddy takes the Mommy...

The Mommy takes the Jimmy...

The Jimmy takes the Gus...

The Gus takes a Poop...

The Poop stands alone...

Hi-ho the derry-o the Poop stands alone.

 Jimmy thinks this song is hilarious and Gus thinks Jimmy is hilarious.

Also, Gus really loves this toy... especially the small knob he is holding above.  It is usually in his mouth.

it's a hard knock life

My sisters and I used to listen to "It's A Hard Knock Life" and clean my Grandma's garage. We sort of loved pretending we were poor orphans whenever possible. Fortunately for me Jimmy already loves to help clean, but music does make it more fun. We put on our Mary Poppins record and listen to "A Spoon Full of Sugar" because, of course, it makes cleaning magically fun.

He begs to use the swiffer and really loves when I let him spray Windex or anything of that nature.

On a side note, does anyone else out there try to clean numerous rooms with just one Swiffer wet sheet? As soon as it starts looking dingy (which is really fast for me), I just rinse it off because I can't bring myself to "waste" another one. In theory, I like the idea of Swiffer Wet instead of mopping, but I often wonder if my floors aren't actually getting that clean. Good thing they are already brown.

aunt erin

We always love when Aunt Erin is in town!

We'll eat her up we love her so.

Not only do we love getting to see Erin, but it is also so nice when my whole family gets together

A special thanks to my grade school teacher Ms. Reagan for taking this picture at Jack's baseball game. If only Lucy wasn't looking at Gus instead of the camera, then maybe it would have been worth framing.  At least it wasn't Dad's fault this time.

See you in Texas next time sister!

sesame

My sister said this picture is happiness.  My brother Danny had an older version of this toy when we were growing up so Santa thought Jimmy would like it last year for Christmas.  We normally just throw all the characters inside when it is time to clean up, but one day Jimmy lined them all up like this and I thought it was so cute that I just had to take a picture.  We are also watching Sesame Street while I am writing this.  It has become a normal part of our ritual for Mom to catch up on work, email, and blog (but not FB) during Sesame before I go take a shower.  So now I need to go take a shower while Gus most likely cries the whole time.

st. patty's 2011

Horray, it is finally time to post about the Annual Taber-Burch Neighborhood Family St. Patrick's Day Block Party!  Which means my blog is semi up-to-date.... except for all the pictures that I just decided to post later. I felt more like me being seasonally correct than chronological and since it is already April I felt I better do it before Easter rolls around.  However, I am more on top of this than my sister and for once I might actually beat her to the punch about posting something.  For post of years past go here.

So this year, Zach and I had to miss a lot of the big party because we had a wedding to go to.  But both events were very fun and we managed to divide our time well.  I got very few pictures from the real party (see Emily's blog later for that) so a lot of these are from the real St. Patty's Day when we got to have one last horrah in the pub my Dad and Pete built.  Here is what they modeled it after this year:

Here is what they built in the carport:

Here is my family attempting to take a picture in front of it:

Emily made her Valentines Kissing booth a little more Irish for the occassion.

Lucky for me this cute little Irish Rugby player came along when I was working the booth.

Gus had lots of beers with Baabaa.

(and managed to poop through this outfit... hence the many costume changes)

And then we had to bolt off to the wedding while Jimmy got to stay and jump in the bouncy houses for awhile.

Congrats to Katie and Matt!

We made it back for the end of the night and both of my children refused to sleep.  

Gus and Constantine where keeping the dance floor occupied and burning the midnight oil.

Then on the real day, we dressed Gus up like the cute little old Irishman he is deep down inside.

And he had some more beers with Crazy Old Maurice...  I mean Baabee.

And more just because I think he is cute.

Gus and Finn... also cute.

Gus and his Godmother Aunt Emmy 

(And Emily, hate pictures of yourself all you want, but you can't get mad at me for posting this one because it is undeniably cute)

I guess Jimbo didn't want to give out kisses.

I asked Lucy to kiss him for the picture and this is what I got:

Pete's carport pretty much becomes the local pub for the week of St. Pat's.

They even moved the TV out to watch basketball.

Baabee rocks Gus in the rocking chair he made himself

(just thought I should give him his due accolades). 

My piano man. 

And, of course, we had to attempt some family pictures in the photo wall since we didn't get a chance at the party.

Goodnight Pub.

Until next year.