'Tis the Season

Hi everyone. Hope this message finds you all happy and healthy getting ready for the holidays (hopefully no Doorbuster injuries from Black Friday). Below are some updates of the kids from the past few weeks. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Ligetti's house in Pittsburgh and an awesome day at the Carnegie Science center with Mia and Pop Pop Ligetti, Grandma and Pap Pap Lloyd, Uncle Rob, and our nephews Landon and Dane. As you will see, Carsyn is officially "on the move" (it's amazing how we still feel like first time parents!), and Tanner is still quite the Do-it-Yourselfer. If we don't get a chance to talk in the next few weeks, we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Who can resist these beautiful eyes?


Tanner's still doing such a great job teaching Carsyn how to play well...


Tanner, Carsyn, and their cousins Dane, Brooks, and Landon on Thanksgiving day...


Carsyn enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn...


She seemed to enjoy every bite!


Tanner and Chris paid a visit to "Honey" Grandma the day after Thanksgiving. Grandma may say she was counting with Tanner, but we think she just wanted to show off those hot nails...


Someone's trying to grow up a little too fast! Too cute...


Tanner was so excited to finally start decorating the tree with ornaments this year. He's been getting pumped with a lot of Christmas stories lately, so we had to laugh when he was singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Jesus" and laughing...


Carsyn showing off some of her new skills...


Saturday was project day for Tanner. 9:30 AM - Home Depot building a wagon (his Christmas gift for Carsyn). 10:00 AM - Lowes, gingerbread house. Then later in the day, he built that awesome airplane - look how proud he is!!!

And finally, off she goes! Sure, we're a little mean luring her with the binky, but apparently she found something else on the carpet that caught her interest...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!! Hope everyone had a good mix of tricks and treats this past weekend. Can you believe it's November already? With a couple birthday parties for Tanner (that's right, couple) and Halloween, October was a busy but memorable month...


Tanner the young football scholar...


Happy (official) 4th Birthday Tanner!!!


If Tanner was going to be Batman for Halloween, of course Carsyn had to be Batgirl!


Tanner and Carsyn with their cousins Landon (Dale Earnhart Jr.) and Dane (Batman Too) during our recent visit to Pittsburgh to visit Christopher's sister and her family. Kamryn and Rob just had their third son, Brooks William, on Oct. 21, 2009, just two days before Tanner's birthday. So exciting!


Batman during trick-or-treating. An hour and a half of running from house to house pounding on doors and ringing on doorbells until someone answered, then screaming "thank you" until the kind giver paid notice, just so he wouldn't get hassled by Mom or Dad anymore - hilarious!


Batgirl with mom and Dad...


Tanner got a new bike from his Grandma and Pap Pap Lloyd for his birthday. We finally had some nice weather to enjoy it. He looks like such a little man juming from his little bike to his new one, but he was awesome riding it. Might even be able to lose those training wheels next Spring!


Tanner and Carsyn enjoying a walk on a beautiful November day...


Finally, Little Miss Sunshine is starting to take a liking to standing while holding onto things (yeah, that's Batgirl holding onto Tanner's Bat Cave). She's such a strong little lady, and we're starting to get some really good signs that crawling may be just around the corner. Guess it's time to re-child-proof the house!

Wintry in Happy Valley

Hello everyone. Well, yesterday was an historic day here in State College as we had the earliest ever recorded measurable snowfall. In all, about 3-4" of snow fell Thursday into Friday, with more on the way for the weekend. We never thought we would see the snow like in the pictures below, but Tanner seems ready for a fun winter!

Also, last weekend, we celebrated Tanner's 4th birthday (holy cow!) at Grandma and Pap Pap Lloyd's house in Ohio. It was great to see everyone, and the kids had a great time. Only one more week until the official day. Happy Birthday Tanner!!!


She's purr-fect, isn't she?




These kids like their cake. Seems as if Carsyn is getting some training in for her first birthday (only 4 1/2 months early!)


Tanner was pretty proud after he and Daddy built the Lego fire station and trucks he got for his birthday from Mia and Pop Pop Ligetti. And for those looking for Christmas or birthday ideas for Christopher, apparently he's obsessed with Legos. He's already eying up that police station!


And for the October winter blast...


View up the 'hood...


Wonder if it's going to come back and haunt us teaching Tanner snow ball fights

Fall is here!

Here's some pics of Tanner at Lowes making a fire truck. He loves these clinics so much and is really good at nailing the wood pieces together. Quite the proud builder!





And our little football fan! Carsyn was a trooper this past weekend tailgating at PSU in the rain. And despite a poor performance by Pittsburgh, she still loves her Black and Gold.

Back to School

Well, another fun summer has come to an end, but not without a few more great memories, including tailgating at the first Penn State game and going to the Grange Fair (for those of you not familiar, Grange Fair is the week-long Centre County annual encampment fair and is the largest of it's kind in the country - a sight worth seeing). As you can see, Tanner and Carsyn are doing great (so funny how much they love each other). Finally, Amber is back to school, so Chris can get his feet back into the kitchen : ) Hope everyone is doing well - see you all soon!


Hanging out in Tanner's bed...


See how proud Tanner is after building this "super-cool" tower (and how about that school-made tie-dyed shirt!)...


This was Carsyn's first ride in the wagon. Big brother was great in holding onto her as we cruised around the block...


Carsyn and Brady hanging out back...


This girl seriously does not stop smiling. Check out that shoe string hanging out of her mouth...


Funny movie of Tanner and his new discovery on the swing set...

More Summer Fun!

Hi everyone - sorry it's been so long. Here are some more pictures from this "flying by too fast" summer, including Tanner's big camping trip (15 feet from the house) and an airshow in Youngstown (how Carsyn slept through some of that noise is besides us!). And as you can see below, Carsyn is doing awesome sitting up all by herself! Hope all is well.


The tent...


...the 5:45 PM nap...


...the dogs on the fire...



...and finally, the "roughing it" camping movie time. (to make up for this embarrassment, Tanner slept in the tent through a rain shower the following morning while Chris sat on the couch drinking coffee)


They really like each other!!!



Some pics from the Youngstown airshow...




Had to share this one. Tanner is a huge fan of Chinese food. Even started using chop sticks (and again the next morning with scrambled eggs of all things!). Next up - sushi?


Finally, a little video of Carsyn working on sitting up...