Christmas Morning Rocks!

We actually were able to sleep in today... AJ didn't wake up until 6:30 am and Jason came running in our room at about 7:00 am...

Mommy! Daddy! Santa came!!!

He had run all the way downstairs (in the dark by himself, pretty scary for a four year old) to check out the scene before coming into our room. We all headed downstairs and the mayhem commenced. Jason wanted to eat the cookie that Santa left behind and I made him wait to ask again until I had the video camera out. ha ha

Video to be posted soon. Here are the photos!



If you can't see the slideshow, click here.

Xmas Cookies!

Jason was excited to have McKenzie and her mommy and sister to our house today to make Xmas cookies. I think the kids ate more of the decorating candy than they put on the cookies!

From Xmas Cookies with McK

Here is the photographic evidence. Thanks for taking the photos Andrea!

December has been a busy month

The boys have been busy this month, and by the boys I mean all of them!

Jason built a farmhouse of graham cracker and icing and cereal in school:

From December 2008

AJ has started eating solid food. Here is his first foray into rice cereal:

From December 2008

Alex has a new car!:

From December 2008

Things are exciting!

Here is a slide show of all the photos.


If you cannot view the slideshow, click here

Jason's 4th Birthday

Jason's 4th Birthday was great, not only did he get to fly with his Uncle Craig, he was able to spend the day with his Nana and Papa, who took him to the arcade where he amazed one and all with his wild skee ball pitch. Then Nana hosted a wonderful birthday dinner with Nana made yummy Lasagna!!

Everyone from the Gomulka side of the family was there to celebrate and I even gave in to Jason's request for a Chocolate cake with Chocolate icing! A big Thank You to everyone for making it such a great Birthday for Jason.

Jason's Birthday PA

High Flying Birthday!

Jason got the coolest opportunity on his 4th birthday, a chance to go flying with his Uncle Craig. I, of course, took the opportunity to tag along!

From Jason's Birthday Flight

Craig picked us up at Rock Airport north of Pittsburgh. We flew south, along the Allegheny River towards Pittsburgh. As we got close to the city we were able to listen in to air traffic control at Pittsburgh International Airport. We cruised over the the city, to the point, turned around and headed back north. Along the way Craig let Jason "fly" the plane. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. Full slideshow of the pictures available here.

Thanks Craig! Jason loved it!

Jason's Birthday Flight

It's getting cold in GA

We went for a windy hike up Stone Mountain yesterday! It's always nice to be in cold weather, but I think we went a little overboard bundling up AJ. Those are his feet sticking out from under Alex's jacket!

From Cold Weather Stn Mtn

Another big event yesterday was Jason's first movie theater experience. They are showing a scaled down, 4D version of "the Polar Express" at Stone Mountain.

From Cold Weather Stn Mtn

Jason was so cute, he was enthralled for the entire movie. There are some tense moments in the movie and afterward we asked Jason if he was scared, he said, "no, I was brave!". When I asked him which part was his favorite he said, "all of the parts!" The 4D just means that it is a 3D movie and then they add special theater effects, such as cold water spraying out at you when the train scrapes across the ice, or snow falling from the ceiling during the snow fall scenes. Pretty cool, I just hope Jason isn't disappointed with the next movie he sees.

As the weather gets colder, Jason is getting excited for his birthday and going up to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving!

AJ had a big day yesterday too, technically he sat through his first movie, or slept as the case may be, and he had his first storytime with Daddy!

From AJ 13 weeks

Halloween 2008

Jason did a great job fighting fires! He had a lot of fun this year and did a great job with his "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you". He was very excited about Halloween this year, he's been counting down the days since probably about 2 weeks ago. It could be the candy :-D AJ was a trooper and chilled out in the baby bjorn! Thanks to Beth and Wes for hosting the Halloween Pre-Party, that was a huge lifesaver this year! Thanks to Deborah and Ray for the adorable "pumpkin" outfit for AJ, he loves the rattles in the pumpkin shoes! I think Jason was a little jealous of the pumpkin shoes. AJ was crying fairly hard in his car seat while we were heading out the door. Jason said "it's okay AJ, it's me, I'm just dressed as a fireman, there is no reason to be scared!" and then "I really like those pumpkin shoes, they are pretty cool." It was so cute, because his tone of voice was the same as the one adopted by the fire fighters that did the "fire safety" presentation at his school. Very soothing and yet authoritative.

Here are the pics!

AJ and Jason ready for action!

Jason and Peyton are ready to hit the neighborhood!

The whole crew: Matt - Skeleton, Peyton - PowerRanger, Reece - Monkey, Jason - Fireman

From Halloween 2008

A semblance of order

Well we are starting to regain some semblance of order in the house again! AJ is starting get on a fairly predictable schedule which makes organizing everything else a little easier. Jason is still loving school and is extremely excited for Halloween this year. He wakes up everyday and asks if today is Halloween. He is going to be a fireman, I'll be sure to post photos as soon as possible. We are all loving the fall weather and Jason continues to practice his bike riding.

Here is the latest photo of AJ:

From AJ 9 weeks

AJ Smiles

Jason's Bike Now has Peddles

We put the peddles on Jason's bike and he's flying along! Here is a little video of him in action!

AJ is 10 weeks old!

AJ is doing really well, he handled his two month check up with as much grace as can be expected! The shots, all three of them (gulp!), went over without too much fuss! He is now a whopping 10 lbs 14 oz and 22 inches "tall". He is about 4 lbs less than Jason was at the same age, as evidenced by the photos below. He is sleeping as well as one can expect a 2.5 month old to sleep. He's been an excellent hiking companion and loves being in the baby bjorn (thank goodness!). He is also very happy, he smiles all the time and I swear he laughs at us. He gets a crooked smile, which just cracks me up!

AJ 10 weeks

Jason 10 weeks

From AJ 9 weeks

AJ says "well, at least I have hair big brother."

Jason likes being a big brother

More recent photos of everyone available here.

AJ's first Playdate

AJ was lucky enough to spend sometime with sweetie pie Camryn on Wednesday! It's always fun hanging out at the Mages house! When we left, Jason said "I'm sad, we didn't spend very much time there today." -- we were there for probably 2.5 hours. It's not enough for Jason, he wants to spend the night. Not sure how McKenzie's Mom and Dad will feel about that!

AJ's first "playdate"

From AJ 9 weeks

AJ Bath

Because the little baby bath photos are always fun, here are a couple of AJ!

From AJ Bath Photos

To view all photos: AJ Bath Photos

Jason's Kitchen

We spent a little quality time in the kitchen today making Lasagna! Always a good time, Jason was a big help!

From Cooking with Jason

To view all of the pictures click: Cooking with Jason

AJ rolls over!

AJ rolled over for the first time today. He's a little anxious to be on the move...

The start of the attempt to roll over

Woah! I'm falling here!

That was fun!

From AJ Week 5

AJ's first Triathlon

From AJ Week 5

AJ went to his first triathlon over the weekend. Alex had to work at the Tri for Tourettes, a kids triathlon held at the Concourse Athletic Club. It was a ton of fun cheering for the kids and pretty inspirational!

Jason is a tri veteran at this point. We walked up to the race, I put the chair up and he climbed right in. His new cheer is "Way to go!".

From AJ Week 5

Stone Mountain

We went to Stone Mountain over the weekend and Jason loved it! We rode the Swiss Tram to the top of the mountain, took the train around the mountain and threw "fruit" in the Great Barn. AJ luckily slept and ate through the entire day :-D

From Stone Mountain

Smooth Operator

Now this isn't supposed to happen anymore, since I have my new small camera, but alas I have no pictures of my smooth operator in action. I will attempt to paint a picture with words.

Jason and I were at the playground in the neighborhood today, he was playing on the playset, trying to talk me into letting him do the monkey bars himself, when a little girl from down the street drove by in her "jeep" (one of those little battery powered cars, for kids). He said to me, "mommy, do you think she would give me a ride in her jeep?"
Me: You will have to ask her.
(Jason walks over to the little girl who is now swinging on the swings)
Jason (to little girl): Hi! Will you give me a ride in your jeep?
Little Girl: Ok
(little girl attempts to slow herself down to jump off swing. Jason gets impatient)
Jason: Now?
Little Girl: Ok
Jason and little girl walk over to jeep, he gets in the driver's seat and they drive away.

Not kidding you, he talked the girl out of her cool wheels by saying "hi!". Of course, I was talking to her mom while this transpired and checked if she was okay with it, but I don't think it would have mattered to the kids.

A little bit later, the girl walks back to her house and drives back on a battery powered Harley Davidson. She then shows Jason how to ride the bike, and hops back in to her Jeep and they follow each other around for about 10 min.

Aww, if only all relationships were so easy!

Jason Sings Seven Days

I've written before about Jason's love of singing in the car. Here is a little gem that I was able to record because Alex was driving. Jason is singing the song "Seven Days" from the Sting album "Ten Summoners Tales". Enjoy!

Baby Brother Is Here!!

Jason's baby brother, A.J. was born on August 10th at 3:32 pm. The entire story can be found at mom's tri-blog.