Decorating for Christmas

Hi there! Last Thursday we went to the Columbus Zoo lights show! I had to dress up warm. Here you can see my usually svelte body inflated by three layers of clothing! My sister is so weird...

Whoops! We made it to the zoo, but without spare camera batteries. This shot was the only one we got - which was four fewer than the number of dollar Brauts my dad ate.

The show inspired me to decorate our house for Christmas. Look at all the boxes we had to take out!

Given the sunny, warm conditions outside, I had my sister decorate the windows to make it feel more Christmasy. Here is a shot she took of her work. What nice holly leaves!

My sister decided to name the tree Dolphin. As I was walking around Dolphin, it fell over for no reason (I might have pulled it). Here is a shot of what I saw laying on the ground with the tree on top of me. Oof! That tree really whacked me - Dolphin must be short for Dolph Lundgren!

Despite the tree-felling accident, the final result was worth it! Look at our beautiful tree!

(Props to Aunt J and the M clan for all the cool toys under the tree!)

M's first word was banana...

Hello there! After many months of communicating via the written word, I, JC, have finally managed to say something...

Rescue Aunt K!

Oh no! Aunt K is lost somewhere in COSI! It was her first visit, and she quickly became disoriented deep in the bowels of Columbus' leading science museum. Her new husband, Uncle B, was quite worried so he hired a couple of secret agents - namely myself and little JC to find her! First things first - we had to get to COSI from our secret lair. My helicopter license came in handy here.

My brother and I showed extreme caution after landing. We quickly disguised ourselves and then waited, motionless, for a few hours to case the joint and look for anything suspicious.

It appeared after some time that nothing dastardly was going on. The museum was filled with mid-westerners eager to learn more about science. JC and me left our disguises and began to look for the missing Aunt K. JC checked the ball ramp.

Watching his little legs walk gave me an idea! I could cover far more ground on a set of wheels. I had Uncle B, who was now hysterical, help me requisition one of the bikes on display.
Nothing was found!. So JC then checked the fountains with Aunt JK...


And I checked underwater in a submarine with my dear Mom.

After traveling several hours underwater, we came up for air near an island. Guess who was on the island? It was Aunt K! We spent some time looking at the giant birds that inhabit the island....

And then we headed back to COSI where I performed a full medical check-up to make sure she was okay.
Uncle B was very happy that he had his bride back. He asked how he could repay us while on the helicopter flight back to our lair. We said we were simple people who only needed milkshakes! He took it a step further and bought us McRibs, too. Thanks for visiting Aunt JK, Aunt K, and Uncle B.

Happy Halloween

Trick or treat! Before we went out to collect candy, we carved a pumpkin. We named him Ed the Pumpkinhead.

Then we got dressed up to go out. Here you can see us in our costumes.

Lo and behold! Who should show up but a new homeowner and her rowdy band. They quickly replaced one costume with another and Jack Bomb - my brother became a dinosaur! I often feel patriotic, but today when free candy rains down, I feel especially lucky to be an American. So I, M, have started the tradition of saying the Pledge of Allegiance before heading out. You can see Aunt JKC supported me.

We then commenced the trick or treating.



Soon, though, we both started to tire, so we made our way home to look at loot! Here I am with my first Pixie Stick!


Thanks for helping us trick or treat, Aunt JKC, Aunt K, and Uncle B.

MNF and Pumpkin Festival Comparison

It isn't often that the Washington Redskins make primetime TV. Last night was JC and M's first opportunity to watch the Redskins on MNF with Dad. Here you can see JC is dressed up and ready to go.

After McNabb's TD toss on 3rd and 23, M meekly asked to go to bed. She asked, "What's the point?" Dad and JC had no response as seen below.


In other news, the first pumpkin festival M attended was so long ago that blogs were futuristic hypotheticals. Since our blog didn't exist then, here is a shot of M in front of the mural when she was less than a month old.

Here is a shot with Mom, JC, and M, three years later. Notice the completed mural!

Thanks Gram and Pops for the Redskins leisure wear!

Pumpkin Pumpkin

Hi there! Two weekends ago we made an attempt to visit a pumpkin patch. Before we went to the patch, we fueled up at the local Home Town Buffet for breakfast. Here you can see that Grandma and Grandpa E came up for a visit.

By the time my dad was finished at the buffet, dusk had settled in so we went to Kohl's instead. Our second attempt to secure a pumpkin came this past weekend when we went to Circleville for their annual, vaunted Pumpkin Festival. Here you can see us photographed near the painted mural commerating the pumpkin show. It is serious business in these parts.

Here is a shot of us in front of the pumpkin Christmas tree before we were offered a pumpkin shake...

And here is one after we were offered a pumpkin shake. Notice how JC leans in at the mere mention of food!

Finally, here is a shot with my dear mother. I, M, was lucky enough to visit the Pumpkin show on it's 100th anniversary a couple months after I was born. You can see here they are now at 103 years!

In the end, we could find no pumpkins at the show for sale that weren't already turned into shakes, pies, gyros, bologna, or chili. So we found one in a box at Meijer instead! Oh well!

Gram and Pops Visit

Before I get to this post I got a question for you - are you going to eat that?Gram and Pops came to visit about a week ago. Here is a picture of us with Gram...

And here is one with Pops. He was in mid-sneeze!

They brought Double Chocolate Fudge-rooni Cookies. Seconds later I was yelling and jumping on the table as my sister egged me on. Go JC, it's your birthday...

Finally, my dad graduated a few months ago but forgot to tell anyone. Here he reenacts his graduation at Gram's request. Pops is playing the Dean.