Amanda - December back to August 2008

I'm rounding up the rest of the good pictures I took of the kids this year. For as little as Amanda was home, I took pretty many of her, for which I am glad. One disturbing thing I noticed is that I have hardly ANY pictures of Steph, and that just drives home the fact that she is all grown up, and very soon they all will be. I'm not quite sure how that has happened. Here is Amanda last time she was home, a couple weeks ago.

At New York Pizza with Danielle in November:


Pumpkin Carving in October:



She makes a fine mannequin as well:


We seem to take a lot of photos in restaurants, I guess because I'm facing them. They sure do get silly when they are together.

Foo was so happy that Amanda made it home for one of her performances:


Here is another restaurant photo, along with Manda's roommate Erica:


Foo and I spent the night after the PSU game in their dorm. Danielle missed her a lot:


We went tailgating with the other Exeter alumni who joined Blue Band and their parents after the Temple game. Here are all 5 of them together:

This was back in August when we packed the car up to head to band camp. Zippy (my new car) had plenty of room for all her gear:

Here she is the day before she heads back to school:


And this is the first photo I ever took with the new camera. So that is all for now!

Thanksgiving Photos

Traditionally on Thanksgiving Day, we go to my parents house around 10AM and help Grandma prepare the feast. I used to go by myself and the kids would come closer to dinnertime, but now that they are older, they help out a lot. We sit down around 1PM for a great dinner, then do a big clean-up and spend the rest of the day picking at the remains of dessert. And there are usually a lot of remains.

Here are Steph and Simo:

Amanda and Danielle got hold of my camera and were doing some self-photography:


My mom's Aunt Lydia usually comes to Thanksgiving, it's pretty much the only time we see her. We think she is mid-80's but she'll never admit it:

Here are the 'men' in the family. I barely included Simon in the picture, to the left, then my brother Dean in the back, brother Bud right up front, then my Dad on the right.


Here are some of the ladies (and one ladies man) lined up for the buffet. Kathy on the left is my brother Dean's wife, Ryan is their son. Katie and Sara, the red-head and the blonde, are my brother Bud's step-daughters, and his daughter Jackie is in the back.

Here are my parents:


Dean and Kathy's boys Ryan and Mickey (6 and 8). Ryan (my godson) does not think much of my photography skills.


Mickey is a handsome little devil. He's only 8 and he's so tall. He's going to be a giant like my brothers.

2008 Highlights - Stephanie and Simon

I rarely get to take photos of Steph and Simon since they are living down in West Chester. I thought Steph would be home more now that she is going to Alvernia for her teaching certificate and masters degree, but she is also working 2 jobs so we don't see her all that often. They both came with me to most of Foo's games and parades and they come to Grandma's on Sundays, so I guess I can't complain. I had off work for Thanksgiving week when Amanda was home on break, and Steph and Simon invited us over for lunch on Tuesday.

Simon dressed up the Kitters just for the occasion:

He took it pretty well, I must admit:

Not exactly a "right jolly old elf", but he had potential:

Back in August, we went down to a Phillies game. We had a great time watching our boys win the World Series this year. Simon is a Red Sox fan, but we like him anyway.

2008 Highlights - Danielle in the Exeter Band

Foo had a great time this season with the Exeter Band. They did a "Scary Movie" theme and the show was a lot of fun. The best show they did all year was the Pretzel Bowl game at Albright College. There wasn't a really big crowd and probably only a handful of Exeter parents showed up to see it, but they just did a really good job that day. Stephanie went along with me and I got a few good photos. This one is the "Thriller" dance:




I took photos at every game. Here are some of the better ones of Foo. In the stands:

Screaming "Shark!" and running across the field during the Jaws number:

Playing in front of the stands before a game:


I told her to leave her hair down so I could always pick her out on the field:

Outside the house before the first game:

2008 Highlights - Amanda in the Blue Band

Sept 20, 2008, Danielle and I drove out to Penn State to see the PSU vs Temple football game. Ok, not really, we actually went to see Amanda perform at halftime with the Blue Band. We sat way way way up in the nosebleed seats in the largest stadium in North America, jam packed with 107,282 people. A fun time for some, but mom really does not like heights and isn't fond of crowds either. But I had to see my baby at least once in the big show, and she is a junior already and this is the first time it's happened. We got tickets once her freshman year but it rained and they performed in the arena across the street, which isn't really the same. Now because Penn State had a really great season, they are going to be in the Rose Bowl Parade and Game on New Years Day 2009. Manda is totally psyched to be going to California, and we are excited for her. It will be a tough day, they have to get up at 4AM, march in a 5 1/2 mile parade, go to the game and then perform halftime. Look for my baby on TV!

My Girls

This year, the kids gave me a digital camera for my birthday in August. I have taken around 600 pictures so far, so I decided that it might be good to do a blog and start posting them so friends and family can see what we are up to if they like. I took the shot above on Thanksgiving when we were all together. I will probably use it for my Christmas cards.