Going through old pictures

I have been going through old pictures lately - both prints from the pre-digital-camera era, as well as already digital ones. I'm trying to pare down the selection to just the really good ones (and asking myself along the way - Do we really need 1,000 pictures per month? Thirty-five pictures of the same pose? etc.) so I thought I'd share some with you that I came across this evening.

October 2010 - just hanging out at home.

Also October 2010, the day of T's baptism - four generations of Hogans! (I will try to get an updated picture of this this weekend as it's Great Grandma Hogan's 90th birthday party on Saturday!)

The famous Cheez-It of 2010.

The one-man band.

Christmas 2012

So Christmas this year was.... interesting. It marked the first year since we have been parents that one of our children was sick. Sean got really sick in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, to the point where he honestly had no expression whatsoever on his face when we opened his presents for him on Christmas. It was so sad. :( Luckily he perked up a few days later and then did his happy dance, said his thank yous, and dove right in to the toys.

I didn't take a lot of pictures over Christmas due to the fact that I spent A LOT of time doing laundry and spraying Lysol. I may have done something besides that but I can't remember. The great news about a 5-year-old getting sick is that he can get to the toilet in time to vomit. I really took this for granted and didn't even realize what a blessing it was until Teresa got sick about 10 days later. Two-year-olds throw up with very subtle, sometimes undetectable, and usually little, warning. Sorry this is TMI.... ahem ok onto the 3 pictures I took the whole time:

Here is Sean on Christmas checking out his new slot car race set. Looking at the box was about all he did with it for three days or so, until finally he felt well enough to care about going in the basement to lie on the couch and watch Dad set it up. :( Again, I was so sad for him, but he eventually felt better and did play with it. He has been asking for one of these for years, we have just been waiting for him to be old enough to not break it. Now our challenge is teaching the little sister to be gentle with big brother's fragile toys!

This was a couple of days after Christmas. Teresa was not sick here, but she just likes hanging out with everybody. Sean managed to put together an entire LEGO set lying down - pretty impressive!

My parents bought a play kitchen set for Teresa to play with at their house. She washed and dried all the dishes, and then served tea to everybody. Oh it was so cute!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas free from illness. Here's to a great new year!

Pictures from my phone

 We don't have smart phones. My cell phone does in fact have a camera, but I have to connect it to my computer to get the pictures off of it. As you can guess this doesn't happen very often, so these pictures are from various times, places, and events....

*****

Sean learned his lesson one day about wearing a helmet. He fell off of a scooter while not wearing a helmet, and his glasses punctured his brow. Thank God they didn't go directly in his eye!

We sat in the Emergency Room for four hours which included a dinner of animal crackers and fruity snacks. (Note to self: Urgent Care next time! Stitches probably not necessary if bleeding has stopped!)

Sean absolutely would not let me take the bandage off to look at it while we were wating, but once we saw the doctor he had to take off the bandage. Further evidence that I could never be a nurse. I was cringing at this one. Also interesting to note is four hours in the ER plus five minutes of a consultation with the ER doc and two steri strips = $465. Thank you American health care system!

*****



Next up we have Teresa lying in the middle of a field on campus near DPAC.

 *****



This is Sean in our yard in South Bend, in early December. I think he was wishing we got more than a dusting of snow.
 

*****



This is my attempt to capture the awesomeness of a hippie van driving down Brookwood Avenue in west Hamilton. This was picture worthy because I have only seen one other hippie can in Hamilton, ever. (Contrast that with seeing one almost every day in northern California, which is where I became obsessed with them for a while.) I wish they still made these!

****

Last but not least, my pilgrimage this morning on the eve of the national championship.

 

Go Irish.

ND vs. Pitt

Sorry if you are getting tired of all the Notre Dame football-related posts. We are just very excited to be here this year!

We went to Trumpets Under the Dome for the first time this year. That is Fridays before the band steps off from the Dome for practice. I must say, it was way too crowded, as you can see. Plus it was just the trumpets. If it were Faltos Under the Dome, or Trombones Under the Dome, different story.

The weather was just barely holding for us.

 On to game day. Mmm, string cheese.

And ham sandwiches.

 

The happy tailgater. We don't normally do cake at 10 in the morning, but he lucked out as it was somebody's birthday!

Sean spent at least a half hour in the back of this van, drawing spaceships, cars, and interlocking NDs (see just to the right of the blue bungy) all over the 2x4s.
 

Then there was an underage drinking bust at a nearby tailgate, which prompted a quick exit from the van on Sean's part to see what was going on, as there were about 5 police golf carts very near us. We took advantage of the photo opportunity - as did one of the underage drinkers who was cited! We saw him smiling and standing with the police officers just a moment before we did the same thing.

We attempted to attend Concert on the Steps as well, but we got there too late so the kids couldn't see what was going on. Hence they did not care, and Sean resorted to beer can hockey in the grass. Luckily most bystanders were amused.

Last stop, march out. Again the kids did not care, so they climbed a tree while I went to watch. Interestingly they do not do a 10-minute inspection with the band at attention anymore. I guess they wanted to get rid of the dirty-mouthed hecklers trying to get the band members to smile/laugh while at attention.

 

 Teresa did join me by the band after spending a few minutes in the tree. No, her eyes are not crossed like that all the time, she is just a goofball!

Again, no shortage of personality in our family.

Go Irish!

Little T

Teresa is not afraid to show her emotions. Here she is unhappy about waiting in line (behind only one person, mind you) to buy tickets to the Wake Forest football game. The natural way to express that is to writhe around on the floor. On the plus side, she is probably picking up things that will challenge and boost her immunity....?

She has her happy moments too, which is so nice!

She LOVES the playground. Lately it's been cold and/or rainy, but if it's nice we try to go. We are fortunate to have lots of playgrounds within a pretty short distance of our house. It's great!