Christmas 2009

A visit with Santa at Ross Park Mall


Christmas Eve at the Brocklehursts'






Christmas Day excitement






Modeling the new jammies


All the presents!!


The Rizzi sisters :)

Thanksgiving 09

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving this year. (Compliments to chef Craig who made the best turkey EVER!) Clare got to meet her Aunt Kara for the first time, and Abby, James & Frankie had fun eating and playing together.







Abby took this picture....


....and this one!

More Clare

tummy time with big sis


first bath


dad the bath master


playtime




first bottle from Abby--she is quite the helper!


the 3 munchkins :)

Abby's 4th birthday and other stuff

I realized yesterday that it has been a month since Clare was born--not sure where the time went! So here are some long overdue pictures of Abby's birthday and other fall events....

Meeting new cousin Patrick


Our big 4 year old


Silly faces


Tinkerbell and the firefighter with their Jack-O-Lanterns before trick-or-treating

New Addition

We welcomed Clare Kathryn on November 2 at 9:56AM. She weighed in at 6lbs, 9oz and was 19.5 inches long. She is beautiful and doing great! Her big sister and brother adore her already.

Shenot's Farm

We went to Shenot's Farm to pick out some pumpkins yesterday....maybe not the best idea with two kids with colds, but they did okay all things considered.

Abby on the 20 minute drive to the farm. Can you tell we haven't been sleeping well?


Family shot at the pumpkin patch. This was before the hayride back to the market, which is why I am still smiling. Hayrides are NOT fun when 36 weeks pregnant.


Abby enjoys her apple on the hayride...


...and shows off her green pumpkin


We finally got a smile out of James towards the end.

The past week...

We have been spending lots of time getting ready for the new baby and trying to recover from cold viruses this week, but here are a few of our finer moments....

James finds a new way to display his beloved letters. He claimed he was "teaching baby."


One of our low-key recovery activities has been computer time. Abby has figured out how to use the Mac all by herself to play games on playhousedisney.com.


Misery loves company--the two sick ones watching a show in a rare moment of closeness that did not involve screaming by either child.


Mama at 36 1/2 weeks. Almost there.


Mom's little helper

Mars Applefest

We took our annual outing to the Mars Applefest last Saturday to enjoy what our lovely town has to offer. Note: Healthy food is not one of those things!





Our lunch of champions: mozzarella sticks, fries and soft pretzels. Yum.


James stares down the last cheese stick.