Birthday season

I'm not sure if I've mentioned how July is full o' birthdays around here.  The country on the 4th, followed by Nana, followed by the little prince, and then- finally in his words- Jimdad's rolls around.  We were on vacation at the beach, but I forgot the camera.  Suffice to say that waves and finding shark's teeth made for a great celebration.  And then... we hit the road.

All the way, straight through, to Baltimore (!) to see a friend.  We haven't done a long road trip in about 2 years, and not a drive-straight trip in over 5... so it was almost like our younger carefree days.  With a bundle of joy strapped in with us, of course.  And then, after visiting our friend and CONTINUING to drive into PA, we had a great suprise for jim's folks, who didn't know we were coming.

And you know what we did the very next day?  Hopped into the car for a 3.5 drive to see the Steelers in their training camp.  Yes, that was related to Jim's bday- a very spread out and lowkey celebration this year.  But I've always wanted to take him, so ...

The rest of our days were filled with:  a much-too-quick video call to a special nephew who celebrated his bday, a suprise (again) birthday dinner for Pop (70 years young), and lots and lots of cousin play and fun.  And a lil' arguing (no suprise with 3 kids under 4).   How's YOUR summer going?

Super Day for EVERYONE

It seems like we've been here before...

Click back to that blog and you'll see the 2009 SuperBowl, in which the Steelers beat someone in the final seconds. (Also, a very cute pic of our niece, who celebrates her 2nd bday today! Happy Birthday littlest E!)

But THIS year, you'll notice the team has grown. Not only is our star QB actually running his own plays...


But Jim's folks are visiting! Hurray!


Now, we're off to the neighbors for a par-tay. And it seems like the Steelers are in the Big Game more often than not, and we'll certainly all be cheering HERE WE GO STEELERS HERE WE GO. But win or lose, any day filled with friends and family (especially long distance ones) is a Super one!

Super News x2

Super News you don't know:

Welcome Eva Grace!

Our newest neice in a long line of upstanding & fun nieces and nephews

was born earlier today to Jim's younger brother & wife.

We can't wait to meet her in a few weeks..

you may have to wait too, as I'm not betting on our relatives getting the pictures out quickly!

She's the sixth kiddo in the family, after all :)

------

Super News you DO know:

The Steelers won the Super Bowl!

We were invited to our good friend's place, but with the sniffles descending on both Kaden and I, we decided to hunker down at home. Here's how the festivities played out:

PREGAME

(notice both boys have bottles)

FIRST QUARTER
(General happiness, though Jim is slightly ticked they didn't go for the TD instead of field goal)

SECOND QUARTER

(Jim's screaming at the TV causes the babe to startle and cry...

I couldn't take photos since I was rocking one and shushing the other.)

HALFTIME & THIRD QUARTER

(Again, no pictures- much fussing by the babe and some jumping/dancing by Jim.

and really, let's not draw that out any of that out longer than it needs!)

FOURTH QUARTER

(The Cards made their drive down field...)

FINAL 30 SECONDS & POSTGAME !
(MamaK did all the jumping, JimDad did the waving of towel and #1-ing, Kaden did the snoring.)

Wish you could've been here!

Here We Go, Steelers, Here We Go!