Santa Pictures!

Why do we think that kids like Santa?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Jack & Ellie!

Happy Father's Day

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Much love to Grandpa Dan, Papa Lou, Kevin and all the other dadas!

Easter Egg Hunt and the Big Bunny

Okay, so I have about a million photos from our awesome weekend in Kiawah Island with Jenny, Jack and Luke. I'm working my way through them and will post the highlights (like Ellie and Luke being the cutest babies ever).

Sunday morning we went to an Easter Egg Hunt and met the Easter Bunny! Turns out Jack is still NOT a fan of giant dressed up characters. All day when anyone mentioned the Easter bunny, he said, "I cry" even though he totally didn't. He just insisted I hold him and refused to smile for photos. Ellie, on the other hand, was fascinated and starred at the giant bunny. See:

The Kiawah Island Easter Egg Hunt was awesome! They literally "hid" over 10,000 eggs (and then collected empty eggs at the end to recycle them). The hunt was divided into age groups and the Jacks (Lord and Felsen) were in the up to three year old section on the sand volleyball court.

I learned something new about my son during the hunt - he's very competitive. I had to hold him back until the hunt officially began and once he heard the word, "go" he took off running. I love this picture because you can see he is the only kid around. Apparently the other children were not as eager to get their hunt on. What's so ridiculous is that he ran past about a million eggs to the opposite side of the court to start grabbing eggs.

I have about a thousand pictures of Jack putting eggs in his basket, but they all look the same and are kind of boring.Showing off his full basket!I think this is his "Ha ha, suckers... I got all the good eggs!" face.My sweet boy in his Easter duds. (I know the tie is poorly tied, but it was the best we could do after literally trying for hours.)

Happy Easter!

We're kicking it in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. LOTS of pictures when we get back to Sumter.

Happy Valentine's Day

Our little Valentine's Jack and Elizabeth in their special Valentine's shirts!

This is Jack's idea of some Valetine love. Not sure Ellie is a fan of the hug.Jumping Jack.

Sweet girl.

Christmas Morning

Jack woke up bright and early Christmas morning. (Waking early... what else is new? But the saying bright and early isn't exactly true because it was still very dark outside.) But, we all drug ourselves out of bed to see if Santa Claus came to our house. He did. And he brought Jack a train table!

Jack was a little out of it in this first video, but he quickly warmed up and opened every present he got his little hands on without realizing (or caring) that one might actually be for someone else.

I love that Jack sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating. Trains are hard work.

Jack got a lot of other awesome toys, too. He likes hammering on his new tool bench. Nevermind that he uses the wrong end of the hammer.He was also very excited about a giant Cars activity book.Elizabeth had a good Christmas morning, too.She got lots of cute clothes and a super cuddly bear.Hope your Christmas morning was as special and fun as ours.

Christmas Eve, Part II

It's Marsh tradition to open one present on Christmas Eve, and every year that one present is pajamas. Jack was a little disappointed with his gift until Kevin opened his present and it was the same thing.

We didn't get just any pajamas this year... we got matching pajamas! Dorky? Yes, but we looked darn cute!You may have noticed Ellie screaming in our family picture, so here I am "shushing" her in the girls picture.The pictures of the boys turned out much better.

Christmas Eve, Part I

Jack and Ellie in their Christmas duds!We got distracted and barely remembered to get a picture of the two of them together. Sadly, this is the best picture we could manage.

After church, we went to our friend's, the Barasch's, house for lots of great food and good company. Jack played on Nathan's new plane.We got a great picture of Jack and Allie!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Kevin Kate Jack & Elizabeth

Meeting Santa Claus

We took the kids to see Santa Claus yesterday and to try and get a cute photo of them with the big guy. As mentioned before, Jack is not a fan of Santa Claus so we've been reading Christmas and Santa books to him to get a little more familiar with him. On the way to see Santa yesterday, we told Jack to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas and he seemed genuinely excited to see Santa.

Jack happily sat on Santa's lap long enough to get a candy cane and say, "Choo choo pease Sana Crause."
And then he just wanted to get down.This is as good as it gets - Kids with Santa 2008.
Poor Jack was so sad when we left. He kept asking for his "choo choo." Apparently, he didn't understand that Santa will bring presents on Christmas and not when you ask for them and get your picture taken.


Later that night Santa and Mrs. Claus were at the restaurant where we had dinner. We tried to get a family photo, but the jig was up with Jack. He wanted nothing to do with Santa since he failed to deliver on the choo choo request earlier in the day.Elizabeth was happy to have her picture taken with Santa and Mrs. Claus.The evening Santa episode reminded us of last year - Jack with Santa 2007

Maybe next year...

Children's Christmas Party

The squadron hosted all the squadron kids this morning for an awesome Christmas party. The party started with the arrival of Santa Claus in an F-15E Strike Eagle!

The plane taxied up to the children waiting on the flight line and it was very loud so everyone had to wear ear protection. Jack actually loved wearing his giant ear phones and didn't want to take them off even when we were inside.

Ellie didn't really like the head phones at first.But then the jet noise seemed to actually calm her and she fell asleep.Jack decorated a cookie and then enjoyed his handiwork.Jack has never been a fan of Santa Claus, and declined to have his picture taken with the jolly big man. He did get close enough to sit for a group shot with all the other kids.And, like the smart little fella that he is, Jack didn't seem to have a problem going to see Santa Claus when it involved getting a gift.We had a great time!