Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Evan at the Phillies Game

So I didn't even get to write about Evan's experience at the Phillies game on September 21st against the Washington Nationals. I've been so busy with work and driving back and forth between Philadelphia and New York. I had been wanting to take Evan to a Phillies game all summer, actually, since April, but just never got it together. Thankfully, the Phils won the National League East, so a lot of seats opened up for some of the final home games, which no longer had playoff implications. The seats I was able to get were 3 rows behind the Phillies dugout.
L-R Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins.

We got to our seats, and Evan seemed interested, well, that was until the 2nd inning when I heard Evan trying to get my attention. "Daddy....daddy....I want to go home now." At first I tried to distract him by pointing out where the Philly Phanatic was, or if there was some kind of play happening, but Evan was 'over it' by the second inning. I was able to keep his interest until the 4th inning, when I had to come up with a Plan B. I didn't want to just leave, so I told him we could go to the playground inside the ballpark. We spent some time at the playground, and walked around the entire inside of the stadium in a complete circle, right back to where our seats were. To get him to go back to our seats, I had to come up with a new strategy, or face toddler meltdown right then and there. That's when I saw a vendor with cotton candy. "Evan, if we go back to our seats, we can get some cotton candy!" 

Evan agreed and we went back to our seats. As we were coming down the steps, the Philly Phanatic was on top of the Phillies dugout. Had we not moved, Evan would have had a perfect view, but by the time we got to our seats, he was gone. So I nervously waited for the cotton candy guy and tried to keep Evan's interest in the game. As one inning ended, I saw Raul Ibanez running off the field towards the dugout with a ball in his glove. I yelled "Raul!" He looked up and saw me holding Evan and tossed the ball to me. Everything went into slow motion. I saw the ball coming towards me against the black night sky. I knew that dropping it or making some awkward attempt to catch it could be horribly embarrassing. I reached up and snatched it one handed, and handed it to Evan! Some of the people around us cheered. I think every dad's dream is to heroically snatch a home run ball, or foul ball and hand it over to their kid. To my 3 year old son, I was a hero, even if only for a moment.


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Phillies Game!


Evan and Mike Schmidt

Evan on top of the Phillies dugout after the game.



Saturday, September 17, 2011

Remembering Fishie


Please feed the fishies on the right in honor of our departed friend, "Fishie."

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Evan's First Day at School!

This morning was Evan's first day at Nursery School, and we couldn't be more proud of him. He was really excited about going and met his teachers as well as some of the kids he'll be going to school with. In fact, when it came time to go home, he didn't want to leave.

Evan' first assignment was to find his name at the table and color it in.

Evan found the blocks right away and started building.

It was a whole new world for Evan this morning; meeting his teacher, his first time being in a school setting, around other kids his age. He did really well. This morning was more of an orientation, he goes in for 2 hour classes starting next week. I think he's really going to love it.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Squeezing Out Every Minute of Playtime

As we drift into fall and the days are already starting to seem shorter, so Evan and Eliana want to be outside playing until after sunset every night, and they may as well, because before they know it, it'll be too cold to go out and play.
Evan wanted to practice on his bike in the driveway after dinner last night.


Evan and Eliana playing with their plastic sled, they took turns pushing each other down the driveway.

Evan shows how to sweat like a Burke.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Beautiful September

Evan and Eliana spent most of the afternoon outside today. The weather has been beautiful and they took full advantage of it. The only setback was the darn mosquitos, they seem more aggressive now for some reason. Even though I covered the kids in bug spray, I still had to squish dozens of skeeters that kept biting them. They had fun mixing the sidewalk chalk with water and making hand footprints on the driveway. 
Evan and Eliana were kicking the soccer ball around, but still have some issues with sharing, or maybe I should say, not sharing. They still had lots of fun though. Eliana likes playing in her car, and sitting in the wagon, having some yogurt.

Eliana covered in chalk. I think she ate some to be honest. 

One of the hardest things for me to do, is get Evan and Eliana in the same photo. I always have to trick them, or bargain with them. Evan was nice enough to jump in the wagon with Eliana and give me a few poses before declaring, "No more pictures, okay daddy?" They'll appreciate them someday, I think.

Evan was mad because I wanted to take a photo of him kicking the ball. The kids played until well after dark and were covered in dirt, chalk, and mosquito bites. All in all, a good day of playing and running around, they should be nice and tired. Now, Mommy's giving them a bath and we're hoping they'll go to bed shortly after. We shall see...

9/11 Tenth Anniversary

Pres. Obama reading Psalm 46

I think a fly landed on Pres. Bush's nose.

Pres. Bush reads a letter by Abraham Lincoln from 1864.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Mad Face

Ask Eliana to show you her "Mad Face," and this is what you get. Though she's not saying a ton of words, her expressions are priceless. She furls her eyebrows down, puckers her lips, and looks at you intently. She's quite the actress.

But seconds later, she's gives you a big smile, she's not really mad!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

"Fishie," We Hardly Knew Ye.

Sad news from the Lambert House today, "Fishie," Evan's first ever goldfish that he got over the weekend, died this morning. Evan told me when I came home today. I was surprised he was so matter of fact about it. I gave him a hug, and he told me he was a little sad. I felt so bad for him. I mean, I knew goldfish didn't last a long time, but 3 days? Poor little fella. Rest in Peace "Fishie." You will be missed by one little boy. "Fishie" 2011-2011