Ella's One

Ella's first birthday was on August 10th. We didn't do anything crazy. We went to Dog and Suds because she likes hot dogs and you can eat outside. Then that night we had friends and family come over for cupcakes and present opening. The cupcakes were decorated like a butterfly. That was done at Meijer and they did a good job. We also got Aedan's cake there. This pic is of me holding Ella, either the sun was in my eye or i was mean mugging someone.
This was Ella's cupcake cake from Meijer. We got a butterfly because Courtney is trying to brainwash Ella into liking butterflies like I brainwashed Aedan into liking Star Wars.
This is Ella eating her cupcake or shall i say eating the frosting. What you can see in this picture is all the frosting in her hair. It looked like we dipped her head in mustard.
Here's Ella opening her presents. She liked her presents a lot. She would get really excited then drop it for the next present.
Here's Ella with Baxter. Baxter doesn't come in the house anymore so Ella usually only sees him through the window. So when she gets to see him in person she gets excited. Baxter is really good around little kids but is scared to death of Aedan.

I Like Mondays

I get a lot of Mondays off. This past weekend i had a long 4 day weekend. we first planned to go back to Ohio but we changed our mind. When then thought maybe we should go see the Indianapolis Indians on Sunday but it was the same day as the brickyard. The real reason is that we slept in. But we decided to go the Indianapolis children's museum(http://www.childrensmuseum.org/index2.htm). I wanted to take Aedan there because there is a comic book exhibit. The first pic is Aedan next to Bam Bam. For those who have known Aedan long that might remember Aedan dressed up like Bam Bam for Halloween. If you want to see that picture you'll need to come over.

Don't think we forgot about Ella. Here she is next to Curious George. Ella enjoyed watching all the kids but she really just wanted to move around by herself. Aedan also enjoyed the George exhibit.

Aedan dressed up as Batman. he didn't really like it but dressed up for me.

This is Aedan and I making a comic book. It's a based on a father and son team with the powers of being super awesome and super cool. But they told us that comics are supposed to be exaggerated so we gave that up.

Aedan, me and Spidey. There was also the Batmobile there but the picture didn't come out. And lastly Aedan with the Silver Surfer.

There's a lot to do besides the comic exhibit. They have an animation exhibit that shows how a cartoon is made. I think it's for older kids because Aedan just wants to watch them and not see how they are made. The museum also had a cool dinosaur exhibit and lots of fun interactive things to do. Well that was our trip to the museum.

Is there more than corn in Indiana?

Well it's summertime in Indiana again. Hot Humid days followed by hot humid nights, sometimes Thunderstorms and tornado warning get mixed in. But most important is that you can get corn on the cob, others would argue pork tenderloin, but for the purpose of this is corn on the cob. This top pic is of Aedan. The corn is a bi color sweet corn from Pretty Prairie Farm. The story that i heard is the guy started selling it as a 4H project and did so well each year he sets up his wagon and sells a lot of corn.

This is a pic of Ella finishing up Aedan's corn. Ella really likes food. She usually cleans her plate but that sometimes means she throws the food on the floor. We had a long day the other day, we went to the county fair, and the at dinner time Ella fell asleep in her chair. The Fair is always fun, Elephant ears, pork sandwiches, rib eye sandwiches, funnel cakes, ice cream. We watched Courtney's cousins show their cows. Brooke even won grand champion. We saw cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, llamas, sheep, horses, and rabbits.

This picture is of Ella walking through the kitchen. It is becoming the preferred way of transport, i still thinks her favorite is being picked up by Courtney or me. She usually wears more clothes but it's hot and she is kind of a messy one.
As you can see Ella isn't the only one who doesn't wear shirts, Aedan is usually sans shirt. But here is a good pic of Aedan and Courtney.

Too hot outside

Too hot out for me so we're staying inside in the air conditioning. This is Ella looking down at me. Ella getting ready to walk. She takes two steps and then goes back to crawling.

Aedan not staying focused probable watching TV. Aedan's been painting and drawing on his art easel. He also been very into Godzilla lately. he bought a big plastic godzilla with some of his birthday money.
Then we can't forget about Courtney and myself. I know most people just wan to see Ella and Aedan. But that's why we jump in the picture so people won't forget about us.

Finally Aedan's Mighty Muggs reenacting a scene fom Temple of Doom. "Indy cover your Heart."

Aedan's Birthday(s)

Well it's the last few minutes of Aedan's 4th birthday. The top pic was from Today at the pizza king for dinner. Aedan and Courtney saw Wall-E while i was at work. The for dinner Aedan wanted to go to Pizza King. Pizza King is pretty cool because a model train brings your drinks to you. Then we came home and had cake and ice cream. Aedan and Ella had a little accident and busted Ella's lip but it was to gross to take a picture of. Most of Aedan's celebration was this past Saturday. We had a bowling party with his friends at Arrowhead. This next pic is of him on lane.

I added some pictures from previous birthdays for people who might not now Aedan Finn. This pic is Aedan on his big wheel(from Oppa)on his third birthday.

The next pic are from his second birthday. I know what you might be thinking, that's not Aedan, that kid has bright blonde hair but it's him. He likes making a mess and watermelon, but those two things go hand in hand.

This pic is Aedan on his first birthday at home.

Finally this is a picture of Aedan on his first full day. He was in the nicu because of his birthmark.

Aedan had a good fourth birthday. He wants to thank everyone who got him presents and all that wished him Happy Birthday. He really enjoyed his Easel and art supplies, Indiana Jones and Luke Mighty Mugg, his hot wheel track he uses for his figures, his Backyardigans movie from Ella, and his Chewie card. He likes everything else but with all these new toys there is only so much time in a day.

Walking on Campus and the Farm

Last week on one of my days off we decide to go to Purdue and have lunch. Courtney and I got gyros from The Parthenon and they we awesome. Aedan had a happy meal from McDonalds. We sat done by the engineering fountain. It was a warm enough day for us to run near the fountain. You can no longer run through the fountain as there is a ten foot metal cylinder that shoots the water up . It still pretty cool.


Aedan thought it was pretty cool and wanted to keep running through. But It was cold water and he didn't really want to get wet by cold water. After the fountain we went to the newer Armstrong Building, the have a replica space shuttle and a moon rock, it's a nice looking building. We also went to the Union and boy have they changed. There are a bunch of new eating areas there. Before it was a pizza place, pappy's a smoothie place and the oasis. Now in addition to Pappy's and the smoothie place, they have a coffe shop, mexican eatery, a flatbread place, a little market, a cereal stop, and a asian noodle place. It looks really nice. It seems everytime i go back(i know the long 5 mile drive to campus) something is new or different.

When it gets nice out we like to go to Uncle Bob's farm. Now it's not your normal farm they don't grow any cash crops. They do have garden out there. They do have some animals, donkeys, goats and some llamas. They have a firepit, a teepee, cabin, walking trails, a hammock(i fall out of), tables for eating and a working bathroom(outhouse). So it's the closest thing to a farm that i've ever been on. It always a reaaly good time when we go.

This first pick is of Aedan riding Jimmy the donkey. Jimmy is the nicest donkey you could meet. No I dare you go try and find a nicer donkey it won't happen. This is Aedan on jimmy thinking he runs the place. This time we took Aedan's daycare out to the farm. The daycare came out last year to the farm and had a good time. So we invited them out to see the young,because there not babies anymore, donkeys. We had a picnic with Hotdogs and hamburgers and at the end we made some smores.
The final picture is Ella on my lap eating a cookie. She seems to be a real messy eater.

At Uncle Walt's

We went to Ohio for my cousin Katie's wedding. My Uncle Walt, Aunt Kathy, and my cousins Angela and Nathan said they would watch Aedan and Ella. They were also going to watch my Nieces Maddy and Betty. Which is great because Aedan and Ella don't get to see their cousins as much as they should.


The first picture is of Ella with her Uncle Chris. As you can see Ella is a very happy baby. But I'm sure if you ask Chris it's because she is with him.


The second picture is of my niece Maddy and the third picture is of my other niece Betty. Both are my Older brother Sean and Melanie's children. You can see more of them at www.mcgurr.com. You'd think with all the kids there they would play with each other but there was so much to do they all did their own thing.




Here is a picture of Ella with the only hairstyle that see can wear, the Mohawk. If any one can rock, Ella can. And Below is Aedan too busy to pose because of all the cool toys in Uncle Walt's basement. They had Legos, Star Wars guys and Video Games, i didn't want to leave either.