Philly at dusk

Our favorite Sunday afternoon activity here has been walking around the art museum grounds. Tanzen and Makett request the Rocky stairs frequently. We went right as it was getting dark, which is my favorite time of night because you get to watch the city lights come on.

Ryme didn't mind the cold...and I love cuddling her, especially when she's dressed like a giant peep.

Tanzen and Kett love chasing each other

Christmas at Macy's

The Macy's in Philly is in a very cool old building-- it has a famous organ, the Wanamaker organ, that is a national historic landmark. They have a Dicken's Christmas village, which the boys found rather frightening last year, but they liked better this year...at the end of walking through the village, which takes awhile to walk through and has figures telling Dicken's Christmas Carol. Santa is at the end, and they have an awesome set up-- you meet with Santa in a special little room, and Santa magically knows the kids names when they walk in. We didn't pay the $20 for our photo, so this is the best we have:

Tanzen and Makett are asking for big boy underwear (yay for potty training?!) Santa asked me if they needed socks too. No thanks Santa, just the underwear will be fine. We'll take advantage of this excitement as long as we can :)

Brandon and the boys enjoying the light show...I like that it's an old fashioned light show...I can only imagine how exciting it was in it's time.

The famous organ ends the show and is awesome!

Pigs, blankets and Santa? Yup!

One of the patient's told Brandon about a Christmas party at a pig farm. Since Tanny's favorite toy is a plush pig, and his favorite food is pig (or ham/bacon, as I prefer to think of it!) we thought it'd be fun to take them.

It was great, but quite different from what we expected-- it was a potbellied pig refuge, where they keep potbellied pigs till they're adopted...people were sporting shirts with sayings like "Pigs are friends, not food" and wearing pig hats. We didn't tell them about Tanzen's favorite food.

Instead of pigs in barns, we found pigs in a house, in stalls filled with blankets and pillows. I'm ignorant when it comes to pet pigs...I assumed potbelly pigs were small and domestic looking, but they were pretty big-- and I couldn't quite imagine having one on my couch cuddling with me. I learned that pigs are extremely intelligent and clean...although some of the pigs in the shelter had some potty training to learn! They cuddled with each other, which was cute.

This baby pig is 2 months old, and was more the size I was imagining for an indoor pig pet.

Tanzen and Makett enjoyed it, and Tanzen got a pig Christmas ornament, which he carried around for a week.

We had given up on waiting for Santa, but were lucky to meet him walking up the dark dirt lane as we were walking to our car. It made the boys' night!

Visit to a pig refuge in rural Pennsylvania? Check!

Santa's Apprentices

Makett and Tanzen's favorite imaginary game of late is playing Santa.

They take turns ho-ho-ho-ing and putting toys in each other's Christmas socks. They're getting really good at delivering presents. Keep them in mind Santa!

Comparing...

People usually say Ryme looks like Tanzen--pretty sure it's their eyes. I'm often asked which one she resembles the most, so I thought I'd compare pictures of them all at 8 months.

Tanzen

Ryme

Makett

One thing I forgot--the boys were chubby! This phase of their physique certainly didn't last long.

Most pictures I try to take of Ryme end up like this:

I was able to get a few though...

Her current tricks include waving, dancing, and wanting to do everything her brothers do.

Ryme's latest (in addition to 2 very sharp teeth) is pulling herself up and 'cruising' around the furniture. I think she's looking quite grown up!

Tanzen wanted to make sure Ryme had enough tracks and trains to play with

She loves her brothers!

Tanny loves sorting things lately...he sorted the crayons all around the couch edges

Ryme benefits from having brothers who know how to use the chairs to get Cheerios out of the cupboard. The dog benefits too.

Visit from Grandma

Brandon's mom came out to visit his brother and came up to see us for a day. We loved seeing her!

Ryme's carrot juice mustache

Uncle Tosh

My brother came to visit! I was ecstatic-- he hasn't been here for 4 years, so it was about time! Unfortunately, he decimated his foot before coming out, so he was somewhat limited in what he could do.

We took the boys to Amish country to go for a train ride...only to find out they were fixing the tracks in preparation for Thomas to come, and the one train that was running was sold out.

Makett had been counting down his train ride for days and was very excited...then devastated. We were walking around looking at the trains when a man who worked there came and whispered to me that if we hurried we could see a certain blue engine...so we ran, and we overjoyed to see men working on Kett's dear friend, Thomas.

Finding the coal pile was also exciting.

Before Tosh's injury I bought us a Groupon for a Philadelphia Walking Tour...and Tosh can't walk! There was a very sweet Vet in our group who insisted on pushing Tosh in his wheelchair. I didn't realize how bumpy and un-wheelchair friendly the old city streets are!

What determination to do the Rocky steps on crutches!

Halloween!

The boys helped me plan a Halloween dinner for daddy...and helped with the cooking too! Here's Tanzen making 'mummies'.

A trunk or treat at our church...Tanzen thought it was pretty cool when a baby tiger showed up in his exact costume!

Our first stop Trick or Treating was to our awesome neighbors. It took a few stops for the concept to sink in-- the boys were amazed that they just had to say "Trick or Treat" and someone would give them candy!

Lady Ryme...and Makett and Tanzen's costumes may look familiar... I think they think they're always supposed to be a tiger or dinosaur, although next year we'll have to try something new.

Our Halloween dinner by candlelight

The great pumpkin left presents in exchange for their candy.

Thanks and bless you Great Pumpkin!

Picking "punnkins"

We went on an "educational hayride" with some friends. It was the perfect fall activity. The boys loved seeing where vegetables grow-- as did I. I'd never seen a cauliflower plant before, so it was educational all around. The fact that they were riding behind a tractor sitting in hay was fun too.