Gotcha Day - 2 Year Anniversary

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Happy Gotcha Day, Liam!

I can’t believe its been 2 years already!   As many developments as the past year has brought, its hard to imagine what’s in store for us in the year to come.

Here’s what has become our traditional stairway comparison photos on Gotcha Day:

After dinner, the festivities continued with the traditional homemade Gotcha Day cupcakes!

 

Labels: adoption, holiday

Posted by Dede at 9:19 PM 6 comments links to this post

A New Decade Begins

Friday, January 01, 2010

I expect 2010 will be a remarkable time of significant changes and happenings!   It’s the beginning of a hopeful new decade and this’ll undoubtedly be a year of many special milestones.   Dede & I wish you all a healthy & happy new year!
 

Labels: holiday, Snoopy

Posted by Rob at 7:53 AM 1 comments links to this post

Christmas 2009

Sunday, December 27, 2009

I hope everyone had a great Christmas this year and are enjoying your holidays!   I’m finally getting around to uploading our Christmas pictures and doing a blog post.

Nanny Karen arrived Christmas Eve and Liam was so excited that she was finally here.   He had no problem turning off Cars to go pick her up at the airport.   That’s a sign of true love!   Most times he won’t even stop to eat during that movie.

Liam was wiped out from all the excitement of the day that he fell asleep early on Christmas Eve and missed out on baking cookies for Santa.   Poor little guy held out as long as he could, but the driving around to look at Christmas lights just did him in by 7 P.M.

Since he went to bed so early, we expected him up early Christmas morning but he actually slept until about 8 A.M.   Needless to say, he was quite pleased to see that Santa had not forgot him and remembered everything on his list.   Luckily for us, his list didn’t change from day to day, and he consistently stuck with Mack the truck, Play-Doh and The Lawman (Sheriff), also from Cars.   Once he saw those under the tree, he was done and we had to work over the next 3 hours to get him to stop playing long enough to come open a few gifts at a time.

Click here if the linked photo above doesn’t take you to the photo gallery page.

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 12:27 PM 3 comments links to this post

First Christmas Concert

Monday, December 14, 2009

Posted by Dede at 8:50 PM 7 comments links to this post

Breakfast With Santa 2009

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Today was our company’s annual "Breakfast with Santa" which should really be called breakfast before Santa.

We arrived as they opened at 9:00 A.M. and were still number 71 (think Southwest Airlines boarding passes).   After we had our sausage biscuit breakfast and juice, we waited for the arrival of Santa and then began listening for our number group to be called so Liam could go see "The Man."

We finally made our way to the stage about 10:30 A.M. where fearless Liam hopped right up on Santa’s knee and told him what precisely he wanted for Christmas.   It’s a short list this year — Mack the truck (from Cars) and Play-Doh.

It was a fun morning and Liam had a chance to catch up on some playtime with some of friends he hadn’t seen in awhile.

Click the photo above to see more pictures!

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 9:41 PM 5 comments links to this post

Halloween ’09 Highlights

Monday, November 02, 2009

Our 2nd Halloween with Liam was another eventful holiday!   It was the first time either Rob or Liam had ever carved a Jack-o’-Lantern.   The results were pretty good for a rookie effort:

Here are more photos of the pumpkin carving.

For Liam’s costume this year, we pieced together a "Bob the Builder" outfit from borrowed work boots (Thanks Katherine!), a new pair of denim overalls & a flannel shirt found on eBay, and a toy toolbelt & hardhat from Amazon.com.   Then for his daycare’s "Barnyard Day" theme day, we just omitted the hardhat & toolbelt and renamed him "Farmer Kirby."   (Actually, the "Kirby" part was purely his own invention and we’re still not sure where it originated from.)

And you can see more photos from our ’09 Halloween here.

Finally, I never did get our pictures from Fiddlesticks Farms last weekend posted.   So just in case there weren’t already enough pictures in one post, here are a few shots from our fun October ’09 trip to Fiddlesticks Farms.
 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 9:06 PM 8 comments links to this post

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Saturday, October 17, 2009

We finally had a chance to go to the pumpkin patch today.   We had originally planned on going last weekend but the weather didn’t cooperate.   It was a great opportunity to get some camera practice in on my favorite subject and Liam loved running around through all the pumpkins.

We bought a pumpkin to carve — which will be a first for both Rob and Liam — and we also bought a baby pumpkin.

We followed up our trip to the pumpkin patch with a stop off at Barnes and Noble for some complimentary hot chocolates that came with our pumpkin purchase.

Here’s a shot of Liam in the pumpkin patch.

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 9:42 PM 8 comments links to this post

9/11 Memorial Gardens Park

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Each year, three thousand American flags line the sidewalk — one for each victim of the 9/11 terrorist attack — around our local Memorial Gardens Park and it’s quite a moving sight to see!   This year there were six additional flags placed for each of the local police officers that’ve been killed in the line of duty.

We took the opportunity to stop by and take some photographs this cool cloudy morning.
Click here to view some of the photos.

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 10:10 PM 5 comments links to this post

Labor Day Weekend 2009

Monday, September 07, 2009

Posted by Dede at 11:50 PM 4 comments links to this post

29 Again

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Each year, Dede’s birthday is kinda overshadowed by the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death and this one was no different.   It was a low-key birthday, but still we did manage to get out to a restaurant for a nice dinner — something that’s a bit rare these days.

Dede’s birthday "gift" was delayed a couple of days due to scheduling, but she has an appointment on Wednesday evening so stay tuned for photos of her "gift" later this week...
 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Rob at 11:11 PM 10 comments links to this post

Happy 4th of July

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 11:17 PM 4 comments links to this post

Happy Father's Day 2009

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Liam brought home the cutest Father’s Day card from daycare on Friday. The front of the card has a piece of gum in the pocket (in case you can’t tell from the photo below)and we both just cracked up when we saw the photo of Liam inside.

Thank you Rob/Daddy-O for being the best husband/father that anyone could have! Happy Father’s Day from your Liam-O and Momma-O!

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 7:00 AM 9 comments links to this post

My 2nd Mother's Day

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Happy Mother’s Day to my Mom and all the other Mom’s out there.   I had a wonderful Mother’s Day hanging out with my boys.   Rob started the day out with pancakes for all of us, then we spent the rest of the day doing one of my favorite activities...   shopping!

I received an especially nice and unexpected Mother’s Day gift from Teresa, Chris & Anna.   It’s a lovely oval shaped pendant with Liam’s picture on both sides.   It was a sweet & thoughtful gesture and as you can see below, Liam especially liked seeing himself around my neck.

I also received a special gift from Liam.   He gave me the poster shown below that he made at his daycare.

He got a little confused and told me "Happy Birthday!" instead of Happy Mother’s Day but I knew what he meant!   ;-)

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 9:16 PM 8 comments links to this post

Liam’s Backyard Birthday Bash

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The weather was perfect.   Cake was plentiful.   The jumper was, well, jumping.   Kids were squealing.   The gifts were endless!   Did I mention that the cake was plentiful?

Our "Backyard Birthday Bash" in honor of Liam’s 3rd birthday was a huge success!

Click the photo for more pictures from Liam’s 3rd Birthday party.

We were a little nervous about the setup of the new jumper, but it turned out to be super easy, taking less than 10 minutes from cardboard box to inflated fun!   And that was even with Rob taking the time to — brace yourselves — read the instructions!

Big thanks go out to the everyone who came to the party.   And we’re especially appreciative for all of the wonderful gifts, several of which came from some of our great friends and family who weren’t even able to attend.   Also, a big thanks to Clems, Toby, & Brad S. for helping out with the photos & video!
 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 7:02 AM 8 comments links to this post

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Bucket

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

We took Liam to our company Easter Egg Hunt and he made a new friend...   the Easter Bunny!   Each time the bunny came around, Liam wanted to go to him, give him big hugs, and attempt to hold deep, meaningful conversations with his new friend.   I’m pretty sure that the poor girl in the bunny suit was thinking "Oh no, it’s that same kid again!" by the time we left the park.

There was a big difference between the Easter egg hunt this year versus last year with Liam’s hunting & gathering skills.   Last year, Rob mostly picked them up for him and Liam kept busy dumping them back out of the bucket.   Not this year!   He rushed right out when the whistle blew and filled his large bucket to capacity very quickly.   Next year we may need a bigger bucket!

Here’s a picture of Liam giving the Easter Bunny one last hug before we left.

Click the photo for more shots from Liam’s Easter Egg hunt.

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 8:17 PM 6 comments links to this post

The Big Five

Friday, March 13, 2009

It’s our 5th Blogiverssary!

Today marks the fifth anniversary of blogging here on 2Dolphins!   Although we had been using our website for posting photos and such for a couple of years prior to that, it was five years ago today that we launched our Blogger-based blog.   That first unassuming post, in case you wondered, was about the then-new SwissFlash USB Swiss Army Knife.

Sticking with the theme of "five," here are the 5 most popular posts of the past year, according to Google Analytics:

1. Dolphins Bubble With Excitement


2. A Journey of Discovery, Revelation, & Trivia


3. Slip, Slop, Slap, Wrap


4. Are You Aware? (RSS Awareness Day)


5. Master Bath Makeover

We’re thankful for all of you who visit our site and we hope you continue to find our posts interesting or entertaining.   Y’know, we love feedback, so please leave us a comment from time to time, why doncha?
 
 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Rob at 11:31 PM 4 comments links to this post

Christmas Cheer

Sunday, December 28, 2008

We’ve had a fantastic Christmas — especially since it’s our first as parents.   The holidays have taken on a whole new meaning viewed through fresh little eyes.   Here are just a handful of some of our favorite recent holiday moments:

 

Dede, Liam, & I hope you had a wonderful Christmastime too!   Be sure to check out the photos that Dede posted from our annual Christmas party and our Christmas Day photos!
 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Rob at 11:07 AM 3 comments links to this post

Go Elf Yourself

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

The folks at Office Max teamed up with the gang at Jib Jab to take the Elf Yourself up a notch for 2008. Now you can Elf Yourself and up to 4 other people and choose between Disco, Country and the Classic dance.

Check it out and I dare you not to laugh!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Labels: holiday, humor

Posted by Dede at 9:16 PM 3 comments links to this post

Plenty To be Thankful For

Monday, December 01, 2008

Despite not posting about it sooner, we had a terrific Thanksgiving last week!   Although we sorely missed having Whit at the table with us this year (Get well soon, Whit!) it was still really special not only because it was Liam’s first Thanksgiving, but also because we were honored to share the holiday with Clemens, Sophie, & Siena, a.k.a. Liam’s boo.

Here you see Liam eying the spread, eager to dig in.   Oh, he liked the turkey alright, but he loved the cranberry sauce!   And our guests of honor, slightly dazed by the Tryptophan, posed for a terrific family photo:

 

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Rob at 8:49 PM 0 comments links to this post

Happy Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 27, 2008

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 7:32 AM 6 comments links to this post

Happy Birthday Rob

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Liam gives Daddy a birthday gift.

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 6:48 PM 2 comments links to this post

A Dozen Years

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Today, Dede & I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary!

As we reflect back on all that’s happened in those years, it’s surprising how dramatically our lives have changed just in the past six months or so.   And it’s also a bit surprising how we’re thinking of the future in radically different terms now...   With the addition of Liam this year, our family finally feels complete.   We’re looking forward to the coming years and watching our little boy grow into a young man.
 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Rob at 11:50 PM 3 comments links to this post

Happy Earth Day!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Liam got in on the Earth Day action in his spiffy new "Save My Planet" t-shirt.

By the way, can you guess what film & TV actor Eddie Albert has to do with Earth Day?   Ben over at Environmental Graffiti notes that, due to the actor’s extraordinary work with environmental causes & groups, when International Earth Day was being organized in the early 70s, it was decided that the holiday must be held on April 22nd — Eddie Albert’s birthday.   Puts a whole new spin on Green Acres, doesn’t it?
 

Labels: environment, holiday

Posted by Rob at 9:09 PM 4 comments links to this post

Santa...We Know Him!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

You’re never too old to have your picture made with Santa!

We ran into jolly ol’ St. Nick at our work "Christmas Tea" last week and after some convincing, Rob reluctantly stood up with me to have our photo made with Santa.

Santa got off light with us this year since we’ve already received the best gift ever from Russia for Christmas!

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 10:48 AM 1 comments links to this post

Ahoy Thar Mateys!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

We are still in pirate mode after last night’s Halloween party.

Continuing on with our trend of DIY costumes (aren’t those always the best kind?), I put together a salty pirate outfit to go along with Rob’s borrowed costume. I was amazed at how much mileage I could get out of an old red t-shirt. I cut off the sleeves and some of the neck to create a vest. One of the left over sleeves was then used to create strips for cuff ties and the other one could have easily been used as a head scarf but I had already purchased one. I would have liked to have painted a skull or something on the back of the vest but we just ran out of time.

Linda’s Halloween parties are always loads of fun. That girl goes all out on the holiday. There were a lot of new faces at the party this year and a lot of GREAT costumes. Be sure to check out our photos from the evening. And Linda, if you’re reading this, thanks for giving us a reason to dress up every year...you rock!

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 6:02 PM 0 comments links to this post

Happy Birthday Rob!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Posted by Dede at 1:47 PM 4 comments links to this post

Rain, Sun & Fun

Sunday, September 09, 2007

We went to Brady last weekend for the annual Labor Day Goat Cook-off and although we never actually went to the cook-off, we sure enjoyed the long weekend with our friends.

We joked about the weather before we left because the last couple of times we’ve gone down there the weather turned bad and we’ve had to come home early.   There was even a freak snowstorm during last Easter and we ended up driving home in a blizzard.   This time we thought we were safe so our only plans for the weekend were to hang out in the pool and soak up the sun.   Well, here’s the view of the pool about an hour after we jumped in.

Yep, it rained for most of the afternoon on Saturday but luckily that was it.   The rest of the weekend the weather was perfect for a relaxing time at the pool.

Our friends Glenda & Bryan in Brady aren’t night owls and rarely have overnight guests, so I think we pretty much throw their life off-balance whenever we visit.   Since they didn’t own any boardgames (who doesn’t have any games?), I insisted that we purchase some for a game night on Saturday.   Amberly helped me pick out some electronic music trivia game.   Everyone loved it and we sat up late playing it until the questions started repeating.   The next day, we purchased another game, Imaginiff and it was awesome!   I can’t wait to play it with some of our friends here.

We also got to see Amberly’s new guitar and hear a few performances from her.   Here she is with her Ibanez guitar in her happy place.   ;-)

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 11:01 AM 0 comments links to this post

A Perfect Birthday Gift for the Kid in Me

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Rob gave me a Crayola Executive Pen for my birthday. It is a perfect gift for me because it combines 3 things that I love: pens, crayons and the color red. It also came with the little rubber monster finger puppet thingy shown in the picture. Not sure what that has to do with Crayola but hey, I never turn down a toy. I can't wait to use this at work in my next important meeting!

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 4:15 PM 4 comments links to this post

It's Dede's Birthday!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Please join me in wishing Dede a Happy Birthday today!

Coincidentally, Dede not only celebrates this birthday on a Thursday, but she was also born on a Thursday!   Do you know what day you were born on?

Update:   Be sure to check out Dede’s Growing Older While I Wait post over on our RAJ.
 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Rob at 8:03 PM 2 comments links to this post

Hugs and Roses

Saturday, August 04, 2007

We celebrated our 11th Anniversary yesterday.   You might recall from my 8 Random Dede Things post last month that August 3rd is also my parent’s and grandparent’s anniversaries.

The day started on a GREAT note with Rob sneaking out of the house early to get me a fresh cup of Starbucks coffee.   Then, I arrived at work to discover that part of his sneaking out early also included a bouquet of 11 roses on my desk along with 11 hugs and a romantic card.   Did I mention how much I love this man???   ;-)

The morning flew by quickly and then we had a department pizza party luncheon that included cake & ice cream to celebrate our department winning the fundraising Springfest event held earlier this year for Children’s Miracle Network.   Did I mention how much I love cake & ice cream???   ;-)

The afternoon took a turn for the worse with the Murphy’s Law set of computer woes on a Friday afternoon.   After dealing with those problems, we left work a little early to meet up with the cable guy to fix our Internet (it had been down since Wednesday morning).   When we got home, we hit the garage door opener button but the door only opened about halfway and then stopped.   The cable pulley thingy chose that moment to break and come undone and wad up the cable in between the cracks on the panel of the door.   We did our best to try and fix it and quickly discovered we are lacking in garage door repair skills.   It was now after 5:00 p.m. so I figured there was no way that the door was going to be working before Monday but I went ahead and left a voice mail with the garage door company.

A few minutes later, the garage door people called and said they would get their crew to stop by on their way back in.   Wow... I couldn’t believe it!   The next thing we knew, they were here and working on the door - they just showed up and started working without even telling us they were here!   The cable guy also showed up and the front of house now looked like a work zone with all the repair vehicles parked outside.

The garage door guys finished up and left without saying goodbye or leaving a bill. They were just get in, get it done and get gone kind of guys I guess.   It must have been beer:30 for them.   It took the cable guy a little longer (he had to make a second trip to get another modem) but eventually he got everything going again.

We finished up the evening by going out to an Italian dinner with some friends to celebrate our anniversary and they served us ice cream and made up an anniversary song to sing to us (similar to the Happy Birthday song).   Did I mention how much I love ice cream????   ;-)

Despite the few inconveniences yesterday, it was a wonderful anniversary, as is everyday that I share with my husband.
 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 9:40 AM 2 comments links to this post

11th Anniversary

Friday, August 03, 2007

1 + 1 = 11?

Ordinarily, that math wouldn’t work, but on this special day, it sure does.   Y’see, today is our wedding anniversary.

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Rob at 10:46 AM 5 comments links to this post

Have a Happy & Safe Holiday!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 8:47 AM 0 comments links to this post

Birthday Holla

Thursday, May 31, 2007

I’ve gotta give a big shout out to the "Insane Gravedigger" on this special day...

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 11:13 PM 0 comments links to this post

Happy Mother's Day

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Rob & I took our Moms to Furr's Cafeteria for Mother's Day lunch. This is far from our favorite place to eat but they sure like it. They passed out long-stemmed carnations to all the moms but mine got taken away when they discovered that I was not a mom yet.

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 4:01 PM 0 comments links to this post

Happy 4th Birthday Sasha!

Friday, March 30, 2007

 

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 4:39 PM 0 comments links to this post

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Posted by Dede at 11:43 PM 0 comments links to this post

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Labels: holiday, Snoopy

Posted by Rob at 3:27 AM 0 comments links to this post

Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Labels: holiday, Snoopy

Posted by Rob at 6:00 PM 0 comments links to this post

Happy Birthday Spooner!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

We took Clems (and Soph, of course) out tonight for steak and coffee to celebrate Clems' 30-something birthday. Here he is at Logan's after the whole restaurant gave him a big yee-haw!

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 10:01 PM 0 comments links to this post

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Labels: holiday, Snoopy

Posted by Rob at 7:12 AM 0 comments links to this post

Happy Birthday Rob!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 7:27 AM 1 comments links to this post

Sasha is Eggcited About Easter!

Monday, April 10, 2006

MCH held their annual employee Easter Egg Hunt last weekend. Sasha met up with Mr. Bunny and it looks like he made out like a bandit with the eggs!

Labels: holiday

Posted by Dede at 6:55 PM 0 comments links to this post