Thanks a Heap!

We were invited to spend a weekend with the Murphy Family in Clinton, NY. We had a great time with Uncle John, Aunt Marilee, and cousins, Nick and Jack. Uncle John won Aaron's heart by raking a huge pile of leaves for him to jump into. We had several family jumps, as well. We went on a lovely fall walk and stopped at a cute little children's festival in the town square, the super exciting school playground and the adorable (and yummy) Clinton Cider Mill. Uncle John had to carry a sleeping Aaron on his shoulder all the way back home!

Bubble Buddies

Ryan was an appreciative audience for Great Uncle John's bubble show.

Halloween Morning Means...

... powdered donut holes for breakfast. Ryan was happy to partake and kept indicating that he would like more... and more.... and more.

Love that Kitty

Amelia gets a big hug from her Uncle Scott. These guys have been buddies from way back. Amelia just loved being a cat, as she has quite a fondness for kitties.

Ryan the Bear

Ryan struck out with his brother and cousins for a taste of the trick-or-treat experience. Here is our cute, fuzzy bear ready for a mad dash down the sidewalk.

Buzz Lightyear

Aaron happily donned his Buzz Lightyear costume for the second Halloween in a row. He stands at our door, ready for a mad dash to the neighbor's house(s).

Succumbing to the Sugar Rush

This picture of cousin Amelia was clarified by review of her treat bag at the end of the night. She had bitten into several candy bars, wrapper and all. We also found a few empty sucker sticks and a few half eaten treats to boot.

On the Way Home

Aaron and Charlie hitched a ride back to the house after we hit up the neighborhood together for trick-or-treating. The kids were so exuberant in their quest for candy this year. It was a blast to watch them!

Devious Ryan

Ryan apparently has quite a sweet tooth. He delighted in his treat bag this year. Although, consumption was restricted to one package of M & M's. He spent quite a bit of time pulling out each candy treat one by one and then putting them back in his bag one by one.

Progress

Progress... and More

Progress

Pumpkin Patch

After last year's fiasco of a family trip to the pumpkin patch, I was reluctant to try again. But, we decided to be brave and head out to Stokoe Farm with the boys last Saturday. We had such a great time and there was no sobbing until the car ride home! The boys especially enjoyed the dried corn bin where they had a lot of fun playing in all the corn. We went on lots of slides, tried our hand at Pumpkin launching, walked through the corn maze and much more.

Ew!

Aaron celebrated his fourth birthday this year on September 20. I created this crazy cake concoction topped with gummy worms, snakes and spiders. Cousin Amelia said "Ew!" every time she spotted it, but seemed quite fascinated all the same! We had a fun family dinner at Aunt JenJen's and Uncle Bob's house... minus Aunt Kat! : (

Why Mom Can't Get Anything Done. Part 378

I left the room and came back to this scene- Ryan balanced precariously on a riding toy so that he could drive his car on the table. He seemed quite proud of himself.

Contagious grin

Here's our happy little Ry! He loves the tub and will go running for the bathroom when we ask him if he wants to take a bath. He tries desperately to climb in the whole time we are trying to get his clothes off.

A Dad and His Boy

Scott accompanies Aaron into school on his first day.

First Day of Preschool

Aaron is attending Precious Kids Preschool this year on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Here he is on his first day all ready to go. Although, he was upset with me that he had to wear a shirt with buttons. I had not known this previously, but apparently, he does not like "shirts with buttons".

Why I haven't been blogging much as of late!

This summer, we embarked on the very ambitious and arduous process of raising the roof of our house. Instead of largely unusable space in our cute, little cape, we will now be the proud owners of two bedrooms, a master bedroom and a master bathroom. This is the view of the master bedroom facing north, to the back of the house. Entrance to master bath is on the right. No boys allowed in my master bath. Scott may get to use it with a signed permission slip. Construction in one's house turns out to be noisy, dusty, dirty, and cramped. Aaron and Ryan sleep in the office and Scott and I sleep in our bedroom with a view of the kitchen. I appreciate the shortcut when I stumble out to get Ryan's bottle at 6 am. These pics are from mid-August and it already looks a lot different. Rumor has it, the contractor may be done next week, leaving us with oodles of painting.... I cannot wait to move back into my house!! : )

Our someday master bedroom..... *sigh*....

Some day, this will be little Ryan James' room. It is in the northeast corner, for those familiar with our Hedgegarth home.

The view from my bed. Yes, that would our kitchen!

Ice cream

Aaron and Charlie enjoying their summer treats. Aaron's is always chocolate ice cream, this time in a bowl. No rainbow sprinkles this round. Charlie's was vanilla on a cone turned into a dish... which is apparently perfect for catching the drips. These goofy boys tend to be quite entertaining.

When Ryan smiles...

... I get all mushy inside! He is such a bright spot in our lives (when he's in a good mood!). This is another pic from our trip to Long Acre Farms. Ryan recently got his summer buzz cut from Daddy.

Double or nothing!

I found this moment rather amusing. My two boys chugging it simultaneously.

A is for arboretum....

We joined our friends the Gills for a picturesque meandering walk through the Webster Arboretum. Although Aaron often despises having his picture taken, he conjured up this cheesy grin for me! The boys loved exploring the grounds and playing on the playground.

So in love with this boy...

Ryan crawls through tractor tires at Long Acre Farms. We spent a lovely summer's morning there with Jen, Charlie and Amelia. We played on the playground, fed goats and jumped on the jumping pillow. All was well... until Aaron got stung three times! So, despite having made plans to avoid the ice cream counter, we ended up getting drippy cones for all the kids in attempts at assuaging Aaron's dismay.

Strawberry Picking

I packed Ryan into our backpack carrier and headed out into a local strawberry field with Aaron to pick strawberries. The picking was great and we picked nine quarts in just over a half hour. Well, I picked 8 1/2 quarts and Aaron picked 1/2 a quart or so. He kept up a running commentary and wanted to me to "Look!" at every berry he picked. We stopped at the farm store for donuts and chocolate milk after a hard morning's labor.

Ry and Bryce

Bryce was just full of smiles for the antics of his cousins. Fortunately, he was very tolerant and perhaps, even appreciative, of our noisy, busy boys!

The Ensigns on Vacation

Our sweet little family 'o four stops for a photo op outside the monkey house.

Wild Boar Wrestling Champion of the East!

We spent a fun-filled day at the Philadelphia Zoo. We got to sets lots of cool animals and tour some neat exhibits that our little (but, lovable) Rochester zoo just doesn't have. Aaron was really into all of the bronze sculptures that were scattered throughout the zoo. Really, really into them. He asked me to get the camera and then assumed this pose....

Swimsuit preview!

This trip marked the great milestone of Ryan's first swim! Here he is relaxing on a lounge chair, contemplating the big event. Unfortunately, the "cold pool" was a tad cold and the "hot pool" was just a little too warm, so Ryan didn't find swimming worth all the fuss. But he looked cute in his trunks! : )

Hello Summer!

Aaron made his pool debut on our trip, complete with Spiderman goggles and swimmies. The swimmies are an upgrade from the lifejacket of last summer. The trunks are going another round this summer, he's worn these for three years now! One benefit of having a child who grows up, but not out. You may have noticed a rib or two in above photo.

Cousins!

Ryan had a lot of fun getting reacquainted with his cousin, Bryce. They had last seen each other at Christmas, so needless to say, they've both changed a bit since then. They exchanged lots of smiles, as well as Ryan offering Bryce many "friendly" pokes and prods.

Rrom with a View

Our hotel suite overlooked the pool area. Aaron was vigilant about keeping an eye on any and all pool activity. He became somewhat disgruntled whenever he spotted someone in "our" pool area.

Hotel Happiness

This past weekend, we went on our first family of four trip. We went down to visit Uncle Andrew and Aunt Karen and cousin Bryce in the Philadephia area. Aaron was so exicted about going on a trip. He had his backpack on and was sitting on the front porch about 2 1/2 hours before Scott even got home from work. He pronounced the hotel "awesome" and loved every minute of our home away from home. He really enjoyed having his own bed and would just go climb in every now and then.

Ryan's surgery! : (

Ryan had tubes put in his ears on Tuesday. Here he is getting prepped for surgery as nurse Kathy puts EKG leads on his chest. The surgery went quickly and smoothly. We're hoping this means less ear infections in our future and less trips to the pediatrician. Let's see... totals for 2009 thus far... 6 ear infections, 3 oral antibiotics, 7 sets of antibiotic shots and 14 trips to the pediatrician for Ryan so far. Yup- it's been a long winter! : ( Our poor little guy!

Is this funny?

Aaron loves to make us laugh and he's pretty good at it. This little gig of hiking up his pj pants is guaranteed to crack Mom and Dad up!

Ensign boys

Here the boys of the Ensign family hang out in our family parade camp.

Memorial Day Parade

Aaron had a great time at the town Memorial Day Parade this year. Highlights were the clowns and bagpipes. Aaron would like "one of those red bags" for his birthday... We had to head home early though, 'cause Ryan got hungry and Mommy forgot to bring along any supper for him. Oops!

Take me out to the ball game!

Last week, our family had a fun outing to see the Mets play the Yankees! Aaron's cousin is in tee ball this year and we couldn't wait to see him in action. Here the cousins embrace after a game well-played. (And I can't wait to be a "tee ball mommy" myself!!)

Rite of Passage

Check out Aaron's whiskers!
Aaron fell a few weeks ago and came down with his chin on the edge of a decorative chest in our office. The evening then proceeded to include a no-so-fun trip to an Urgent Care Center for 4 stitches in Aaron's little chin. He somewhat recovered after getting to pick out a new transformer at Target after it was all said and done. Mom took those stitches out at home while Aaron cried, "Daddy, save me!" repeatedly.

Happy Mother's Day !

Aaron helped his Dad whip up some extra-yummy chocolate chip pancakes for my Mother's Day breakfast. Aaron loves to help with any kitchen and/or baking and/or cooking projects. My Mother's Day card from Aaron said (via transcription) "I love you all the time Mommy-dooey, I mean Mommy-pepperoni". Doesn't get much sweeter than that!

Dr. Kat!!

Aaron and Ryan are so proud of their Auntie Kat! She graduated from UB with her doctorate (!!) in Physical Therapy. We're thrilled to hear she found a job for the summer in Rochester at Highland Hospital. Here's to a whole lot of auntie fun this summer! : )

Let the Summer Games Begin!

Scott and Aaron kicked off the summer bike ride season in early May. Here they are about to embark on their first ride.

Some Great Visitors!

Great Grandma Perkins and Grandpa Bob came to visit us for Kathleen's graduation weekend. We enjoyed having them stay with us and the boys loved the extra attention! Hope they come again soon!

Aunts are the coolest!

On behalf of Aaron and Ryan, we would like to thank Aunt Kat for the super-exciting package that arrived in the mail today! Aaron was thrilled and let out an audible gasp when he viewed the contents. Ryan seeemd more interested in chewing on the card, (which is "mine" per Aaron) then his snacks. Thanks for brightening our day and giving the boys some smiles! Oh, and Aaron is already watching his movie. He's so excited that we don't have to take it back to "Blackbuster" when we're done! : )

Happy Easter!

Theoretically, we would have a super cute pic of the boys in their *matching* button up shirts and striped Easter ties. Theoretically, we would have spent a lovely weekend with Scott's family in PA. But, life doesn't always go as planned! I had strep and Ryan had a double ear infection, double pink-eye, stomach bug and respiratory virus. So Ryan and I stayed home and Scott and Aaron went to PA without us. So, Ryan has yet to make even an appearance in his Easter gear! This is Aaron enjoying a donut before bed on Easter Sunday. Although, he was mad he had to wear a tie initially, he then refused to take it off and wore it the whole day and the whole trip back home to Rochester. At least I got to see one little guy in his Easter finery!

Boys in Jammies

There's something pretty darn cute about two little guys standing side by side. Here you can catch Ryan's ever-adoring gaze of his big brother. He's always up to something super exciting, if you ask Ryan.