Andrew's Birthday

All of our birthdays were in October (during what we now call "birthday week"), which is pretty fun.  For my birthday our good friend Varnali babysat so Paul and I could go out to dinner on a real date.  For Andrew's birthday we went up to Hartford, CT to spend the weekend with Paul's brother's family.  For Paul's birthday, well, um, we didn't really do anything in particular now that I think about it.  But he did get some x-box games he wanted so he's happy.

I made Andrew a train cake, since he loves trains.

Andrew has such sweet cousins!

What a character!

You gotta love a couple of 3-year-old blondies with cupcakes that match their shirts.  These two have a blast together. 

We all went to a pumpkin patch/apple orchard near Hartford. 

We all discovered that we love Cortland apples.

3-D glasses to view...

Andrew's new 3-D blanket.  Yes, it really does work.  We were hoping that such a cool Mickey Mouse blanket would convince Andrew to start using blankets in these colder months, but he's still pretty resistant to them.  We also got him a huge Mickey Mouse and gang poster for his bedroom, as well as posters for Buzz Lightning, Super Mario, and Super Mario Galaxy (gee, can you see Paul's influence?)  

Andrew opening the Nerf gun his cousins gave him.  Someone said that Grandpa would be proud because Andrew got his first gun.  For weeks afterward, Andrew walked around saying "My first gun.  Grandpa so happy!"

We had to have party hats at Andrew's insistence.

A Christmas Gift from 825 Greenfield Ave

You know how sometimes you lose things in a move?  Well, if you move out of an apartment or house in Pittsburgh, sometimes you gain things.  In both places we lived in Pittsburgh, previous residents had left random stuff behind.  From our first place in Pittsburgh we gained a plastic bucket and a large kitchen trash can (which is now one of our recycle bins).  From our second place in Pittsburgh we gained a white dessert plate that looks like it was stolen from Denny's and this beauty (the wreath, not the boy):

The photo doesn't do it justice.  It really is a big, beautiful wreath.  I remember this being on a shelf in the basement of our house in Pittsburgh wrapped in a big bag when we moved in.  We never intend to acquire stuff in our moves, but in this case it really worked out.  It's much nicer than the wreath I already had.

(Although, this still doesn't make up for the stuff we lost during the move from that place: pieces to our canopy bed, our crock pot, pot holders...I hate moving)