Christmas Eve at Aunt Sylvia's was such a treat! Paul had fun playing with his cousins, Hannah and Kayla (and let's not forget the black bear...),
and figuring out those Christmas poppers! Thanks for a great time, Aunt Sylvia!

Paul visits with his friend, Max, when he and his parents came for a visit from California.

There's nothing better than baking Christmas cookies in your jammies on the first day of vacation...

Except for decorating them...

...and eating them, of course!

We met our friends, the Austins, at The Garden Factory today- what a great time we had! Paul loved to watch the model trains (with his friends Owen and Kate), and he had the chance to engineer the kid-sized train! We also made sure to visit the "Holy Cow!" cookie stand on the way out!

Paul has been excited all week for Santa's annual visit to his school! Not only did he share in delicious Christmas treats with his friends, but he got a special gift from Santa Claus...a book about fire trucks. St. Nick knows Paul so well!

Our Tree...
One of Paul's favorite things about Christmastime this year is "lights." He loves the ride home from school because we are able to see quite a variety of Christmas light displays! As you can imagine, just the mere presence of a lit Christmas tree in our house is enough to push Paul to the brink of holiday excitement. He was a great helper in placing all of the decorations, especially his very own, which are clustered at the bottom!

Cookies with Clara!
Clara invited us over last weekend to frost Christmas cookies- what a delicious time we had! You can catch a small glimpse in the corner of this photo of all of the different icings and sprinkles that they used to decorate their masterpieces. Needless to say, no pics are available of the final products- as you can imagine, they didn't last too long :)

We visited the George Eastman House this weekend to view the Gingerbread House display. It was amazing- they had everything from the George Eastman House (pictured), to farms, trains, and even beach scenes created out of gingerbread and sweet treats. It was great inspiration for the creation of our own...

After our visit to the George Eastman House, we hit the bulk section at Wegmans to find the most perfect candies to stick to our "gingerbread" (er...graham cracker) house. Click PLAY to see Paul's careful consideration of the placement of his confections...

Note for next year...make sure the frosting is completely hardened and the pitch of your roof can support about 5 pounds of gumdrops...

Click PLAY to see Paul's new bed!

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Grandpa and Grandma Palmer put on quite the feast again this year. Some of Paul's favorites were the green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and the marshmallows on Grandma's sweet potatoes...he was also excited about the dinner rolls, since we had taken them to Mass that morning to be blessed. Holy water always seems to add a little something special :)

Paul's school has an annual Thanksgiving feast- parents are invited to come in and dine on turkey and other delectable treats with their munchkins. Paul was excited that both Mom and Dad could join him for this special event!

"Short Stack"
Nearly every week at the Brooker house, one night is designated as "BFD" (Breakfast for Dinner). This Wednesday's menu was pancakes and sausage- one of Paul's favorites. Instead of the giant pancakes that we usually have, we decided to go with the "Silver Dollar" variety. Upon giving Paul a random pile of pancakes, he immediately began taking one at a time, dipping it in syrup, and taking one- and only one- bite out of it. From there, each found its way to a special stack that Paul created...see the far end of his plate...

Paul was careful to line up all of the sides that had been bitten, and when he came across a pancake that was "too big" to put at the top of the pile, he shimmied it in between pancakes 3 and 5. (Hence the reason that it appears a bit "askew...")

The final masterpiece...before it was gobbled up...

"Building Up" to Halloween...

The Costume.

Paul has been so excited ever since we were able to procure a construction hat and Craftsman Tool Set ($14.99 at K-Mart- it's worth its weight in gold!) for his Halloween costume. Every morning when we leave for school he makes sure that his pal, Stretch, has a few tools to play with, and every evening when we arrive home, Paul squeals with delight to find his tools waiting for him. Needless to say, it was only a matter of time before he decided that his toilet (it is actually meant to look like a car), needed some minor repairs...

Trick-or-Treater...or handyman for hire?

Pumpkins...Pumpkins...Pumpkins!
In addition to the pumpkins we gathered with Grandpa Palmer, we also visited Powers Farm Market last weekend to add one more to our collection...of course while we were there we had to visit the decorated tee-pees and partake in some delectable doughnuts!

Carving the pumpkin...Paul and Dad scrape out all of the "goodies" from inside. We ended up making "sweet" and "salty" baked seeds this year- Yum!

Lighting up the Jack-o-Lantern for the trick-or-treaters to enjoy!

Good Times with Friends...

Paul prepares for some Halloween treats at school with his friends...

Paul has a smashing good time at the Krenzers' Halloween shindig on Saturday night. Dad has been working with Paul on his "hip drive"...it gives his swing some extra gusto, wouldn't you say?

Paul pauses on the Candy Trail for a photo op with some of his neighborhood buddies: Aiden, Mia, and Gabby.

All in all...a deliciously sweet time!

Happy Birthday Dad and Uncle Bob!!! Although Paul finally realized that it wasn't his birthday, he still enjoyed some delicious pizza and cake (as well as a photo shoot!) with some of his favorite buddies...

Our annual visit to the Beare's pumpkin patch with Grandpa Palmer...Paul was sure to pick the bumpiest pumpkin he could find!

It's Playoff Season...

Paul and Dad check out the rainbow from our front porch- it was a "double," and probably the brightest one we've ever seen!

Paul joined Brady and Mitchell at the annual "Climb Aboard" event in Greece today. They were able to climb inside all sorts of working trucks, from construction vehicles, to emergency vehicles to public service vehicles. Pictured above, Paul and Brady marvel at the size of the tires on this dump truck...

Paul and Brady contemplate starting a landscaping business...

"Hmmm...which do I like better...this excavator...

... or this bulldozer?"

One of Paul's favorites was this fire truck- the ladder was extended so high it seemed to touch the clouds! The firefighter gave Paul a special tour of the inside of the truck, and she even let Paul touch her helmet!

"Proud Papas"
We were so happy to spend some time with Ryan, Sarah, and Max Lillis in Canandaigua this week. They came all the way from California for a visit. PJ and Ryan actually stopped tackling each other for a few minutes so that we could get some snapshots of "the boys."

"Max, let me give you a hand with that applesauce..."

Paul loved driving the Lillis's pedal car- this belonged to Ryan when he was a little guy!

Paul had to check out Mr. Lillis's MG!

We had a great visit with Aunt Mindy, Uncle Ben, and Owen! Once again, we showed how Yankees and Red Sox fans can co-exist in peace and harmony :)

"Wow, Owen- I wonder how they taught those sea lions to do all of their tricks? There's not much I would do for raw fish..."

There's nothing more fun than a morning at Seneca Park Zoo with your best cousin!

"Wow, Grandpa, is there really a horse under all of those baseball gloves? If so, he sure is quiet!"

An evening at Frontier Field-in addition to the baseball game, the boys enjoyed all of the delicious ballpark snacks and the half-inning entertainment!

Uncle Bob treated us to a morning on Canandaigua Lake in his new boat. Owen fearlessly mastered "The Plunge" from the back of Uncle Bob's boat! Way to go, Owen!

Cousins...and friends!!! We can't wait for our next visit!

Happy Fourth of July to one and all!

It's hard to believe that Paul is enjoying his third "Ring of Fire" party at Grandma and Grandpa's house! Here he is, pictured with his friend, Matthew. They are exactly one week apart in age, and they have celebrated the Fourth of July together every year since their birth in 2008! We look forward to many more celebrations with Matt as the boys get older...

"Thanks to the Murphys for bringing Freezer Pops to the party- this green one really hit the spot!"

Enjoying snacks with Grandpa...love those Goldfish!