Christmas Eve Revelry

We took a few great shots of tonight of our Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's. Noah was in on the action, and Liam was very excited to go home and get to bed. He picked a special candy cane cookie for Santa.

At dinner, I grabbed the camera and said, "Let's sing for the blog." If you listen closely, you can hear that mom is singing Jingle Bells, Cheryl We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Ryan Little Drummer Boy.

Nobody's quite sure what John and Yan are doing... Coulda used Beth tonight...

Brother comparison

Liam and Noah each giving their best, "So, what can I do to get you to buy this car tonight?"

They're really starting to look different from each other at the same age (look close enough and you'll notice they're on the exact same blanket, with the exact same toy...)

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Liam's preschool. He's square in the middle at the beginning of the video (the one stretching and yawning...).

The one with the pipes is Liam's friend, Will. 

Priceless.

Christmas Prep

Last weekend we put up our tree. Liam inspected every ornament. He wanted to know who gave us which ones and who made what ornaments and when... (I took credit for most of them).

Tonight was Apex's 50th Christmas Parade through downtown. Of course, in true Jeff and Jeni form we've been here for six years and only heard of it today. We thought, "oh, that'd be fun." We picked up and left the house with Liam without so much as an extra sweatshirt. The parade started at 5pm... It was Loooong... By 7 we were in a huddled mass keeping each other warm, really wondering when (and if) we'd see the Santa Float. But Liam loved it. It was good "small town fun," and every group that passed was handing out candy. Liam made out almost as good as on Halloween!

We met our friends Janice, Donald, and Troupe Jones (Noah was home with G and G). As you can see, Liam couldn't tear himself from the action... 

Big plans for next year: (1) proper winter attire, (2) food, (3) thermos of hot cocoa.

Here we go

Liam's on two wheels. Noah's not just going to stand by and let him get all the glory. He has a few tricks up his sleeve. Recently, he found his feet.




And today Noah caught Jenia a little off-guard with a new trick, but we got it on video. He just started rolling over like this tonight. Three or four times before bath.

Tummy Time

Noah's really liking his tummy these days.

Tired of the Papparazzi.

With Liam.

Freedom!

Today was Liam's first day without training wheels! It was great. Just like with swimming -- no interest whatsoever in getting instruction from Daddy. Also like with swimming this year, he was completely reluctant to try it out until he was ready. I urged frequently, "Hey, let's take those off and practice!" and was almost always answered with a shrug, "Not today. Maybe later." Well, later was apparently today... This morning, he said, "Daddy, let's practice without my training wheels." We took them off, and he rode away -- just like that.

...Come to think of it, that's pretty much how he potty trained himself, after Jenia and I gave up and decided we wouldn't mind if he was the only 6th grader still wearing Lightning McQueen pullups. And, you know... That's more or less how he gave up the crib... That, and Jenia and I also were resolved to him being the only kid in his freshman dorm still in a crib. If you leave him alone, he pretty much figures things out, and if you push him too quickly... (well, it doesn't really go well, for anybody...)

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This first video is only the second "run" after we first took them off. The first was about 10 feet before I grabbed him... If you can't hear it, he's saying, "cheese" as he rides by (wanted to get a good picture, I guess).


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Listen closely to this video -- turn up the volume on your computer -- it's funny. You can hear him panting quickly as he pedals. He's so determined to beat his 8-year old buddy, Luke.

Halloween Pizza Party

We had our second annual Halloween pizza party in our cul-de-sac. It was a big turnout, the kids played for a while before they couldn't hold off any longer, no matter that it was bright as day outside...

Liam had a lot of stamina - he did not get tired, but when the pumpkin was so full of candy he didn't want to carry it, then it was time to go home. He also enjoyed handing out candy to the trick or treaters and asked that they announce their costume at the door. At one point he came running to the door in his underwear to catch a glimpse of some of the trick or treaters.

Needless to say, with all of the activity from the day, neither child slept particularly well last night and we are all a little more tired today. Liam can't wait until next year. For more pictures, check out the Keating Family Picasa Gallery (tap the link to the right of the screen!)

...in front of our house before heading to the pizza party.

...Grandma and Noah

...Some of the cul-de-sac kids

...Liam, Jack and Matthew Dailey enjoying some pizza.

...Liam and Matthew ready to trick or treat!

Halloween Parade

Here are some pictures of Liam's preschool class from the Halloween parade today at Liam's school...lots of great costumes - Pirates, Batman, Spiderman, Bob the Builder, Princesses, Supergirl, and my personal favorite - The Man in the Yellow Hat.

Liam's teachers dressed as Princess Leia (Liam said she was "someone from Star Wars"...kids these days...) and the wicked Queen from Snow White. The had a parade down the street and went trick or treating at the school. Needless to say, we had too much candy at it was only noon.

Halloween Morning

Liam is having a costume party and parade at school today so he got to wear his halloween costume to school. This was a big deal. Not to be left out, Noah sported the first of his two halloween outfits (thank you Grammy for the pumpkin hat!). If he spits up or poops up this one, there is another one waiting in the wings for this evening's festivities!

Our Boys

It is nap time at the Keating house, all is quiet...I thought I'd post some more pictures of Liam and Noah.

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Cake in your honor tonight!

We love you...HAPPY BIRTHDAY Grammy!

Budding Photographer

Liam has been showing interest in both taking the picture and being the subject. We have had many "photo shoots" in the last week, all at Liam's urging. Here are some of the results...

...Liam experimenting in angles

...We think Liam was more interested in taking a picture of the pumpkins we had just bought

...It took countless tries to get this picture (by holding his hands down...Liam's, that is...)

...Noah's getting stronger at almost 12 weeks

...Brothers (many many tries and a whole lot of patience to get this one)

Rolling Over

It may have been an accident, but we were filming Noah holding his head up and he ended up surprising us with this trick...

Pumpkin Pickin'

Liam had a blast -- Noah slept through the whole thing (it was nice...)

Two tractor rides, three corn mazes, three pumpkins, one slide, one hay bale mountain, one fake cow udder, eight goats, two pigs and a chicken... $36.

Half a day of entertainment... priceless.






... and noah, sawing logs...

Who's who?

See if you can guess who is who...

Smile!

Noah's really starting to smile socially. Liam, appears, still needs a little work...

(Pay no attention to the grandma behind the curtain!)

Practice

Two days of practice makes a huge difference!

Thumbing it

Noah is working hard to become a thumb-sucker. It starts when he gets tired. You can hear the lip-smacking and sucking from his crib throughout the night, and his face is a little scratched from all the clawing. It's painfully frustrating to watch, because he has just enough control to mostly find his hands, but not enough to make it stick.

Commentary from Noah

And now for a bit of social commentary from Mr. Noah Keating.

Fwd: funny

Mom and Dad took Liam tonight. Here's an email from her... (they tired him out. Here's a picture of him the night after getting home).



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sep 22, 2007 9:31 PM
Subject: funny

Liam is out!!!

By 7:45.

Read by himself about 15 minutes...so cute, with his books next to the nightstand.

Dad found him a Thomas the Train website that had puzzles and games on it, and we played that for awhile before dinner. He had to match the train cards...like concentration, and he was pretty good at it.

He ate half a hotdog, a bowl of mac/cheese and some broccoli. Dad and I devoured the hotdogs since we have not had a hotdog in about three years! Gheez!! Then we had ice cream.....

The muppets were hysterical....what memories...popcorn, of course.

Off to bed ourselves.

MOM

---

Some early smiles

We caught Noah being particularly fun tonight.

Liam's pictures

Liam has been trying his hand with the camera. Here are his first pictures! It's fitting that he took pictures of his Kitty. Kitty is his favorite stuffed animal and an amazing imaginary friend.














Say "cheese" mommy and Noah! Not bad (better than some members of our family).

Head turning

Noah just started turning his head toward sound. He doesn't yet focus on you, but he'll turn his head in your general direction when he hears you in the room.

Car seat sleeper

Last night, Noah spent the whole night in his car seat... Propped up in his crib. It was the best night of sleep we've had in about 2 weeks.

New Job for Jeff

I start a new job tomorrow. Slightly longer commute than I'm used to.

I found it!

Today, Noah found his hand. Actually, it happened last night and was pretty disruptive of sleep. He has virtually no control over his little hands, but the they somehow make it to his mouth pretty consistently. It's really amazing to watch.

Bike Birthday

Today was Liam's good friend Will's 4th birthday. It was a bike birthday party complete with a stunt show from the neighborhood kids















The Lawsons live on a cul-de-sac so we set up a mini "training wheel criterium" course for the kids. Liam found himself just slightly off the lead at the start so found a "short cut" to the finish...

"Hey Buddy"

Liam has taken to calling Noah, "Buddy." It's cute. He mimics Jenia's intonation as well, "Hey, Buuoody."

Last night was a little rough. I'm taking the 5/6am feed to let Jenia sleep. She doesn't wake me up at 2am so it's spreading the work a little.

Of course, he seems to be sleeping better during the daytime than at night...

Belly button

Noah's free to take baths now! The cord finally fell off at 6 weeks!!! We went out for dinner and had a fun dessert to celebrate. Finally.