Big Boy Bed

Tristan has a new "big boy" bed. Thanks to good friend Andrew, Tristan has a really cool race car bed, made by Andrew's dad, Roger. The bed looks like a fire engine red Formula 1 racer complete with wheels, exhaust and a huge storage trunk.



Tristan was so excited about his new bed that he had to jump in right after his shower...before putting on any PJs.



He even let his little brother, William, take a spin in the race car.



It took Tristan quite a while to get to sleep for the first time in his new bed. First the excitement needed to wear off...and then he realized that the crib he had used for the past two years was missing. He asked for his crib back a couple of times, but eventually fell to sleep. When he woke up this morning, we still wanted to know what happened to his crib...but he was very excited about his new race car.

April in Paris

"April in Paris" was the theme of Gab's Bat Mitzvah Saturday night. The invitation read "dress to dazzle", so Tom and Jen showed up in their best...Tom in his tuxedo and Jen in a cute cocktail dress. The artist of the picture below must have been colorblind...as both Tom and Jen were dressed in black.



Iris and Wayne know how to throw a party...with lots of novel ways for their guests to feel like they are in Paris...or at least look that way. No, they didn't fly us to Paris...or have the Eiffel Tower moved to NYC. It's a digital backdrop:



And, oh yeah, there was this video:



Jennifer thought it was so funny to see Tom dressed up as something out of a Village People video that her head litterally fell off.

Junior League Wine Tasting

Jennifer had been working with the Junior League Fund Raising Committee on the "Around the World in 80 Wines" for quite some time. Once the event was successfully in motion, Jen and Tom had some time to enjoy the wines...

Harold and Mikey

Jen's Uncle Harold came to visit The visit was prompted by the need to escort grandson and future West Point cadet Mikey up to the famed military academy. Harold is the brother of Jennifer's mom and this was his first chance to meet William. (He first met Tristan in January 2007).


The whole family is very proud of Mikey. Jennifer's family has had a long association with the Point...while Tom's family has more famility with Annapolis...and look forward to many visits...and at least one graduation!



Mikey got to spend a night with some current cadets at the Point. Apparently, they were happy to have him as they got to miss inspection that day. He thought it was a blast.

While Mikey wasn't at West Point, he was acting as a big brother (or big third cousin) to Tristan. Here is is tormenting Tristan with an electic (toy) drill:



...but Tristan turns the table quickly:



Word is that Mikey will start at school in June and then "graduate" from boot camp some time in August. We can imagine a whole troup of West Coast relatives coming out at that point. Until then, Mikey has a room reserved right here...

Yet another Birthday party...

Tristan's friend Ethan celebrated his birthday today at Jodi's Gym in Mt. Kisco. As you can see, Tristan and William had a blast...

Development Alert: Counting and Clapping

Sorry if these sound like proud parent ramblings...and they are...but this is an easy way to record these accomplishments for posterity...

Clapping: William started spontaneous clapping this morning. Yeah William.

Counting: For the past couple of days (maybe weeks) Tristan has been rambling "1, 2, 3" but never seemed to get to 4. Yesterday, for no apparent reason, he got well past 4..."1,2,3...4,5,6...7..8". Mommy and Dad were very proud...and suprised. But not as surprised as when he was climbing/counting the stairs and got to 11!

Happy Easter

It was a very busy Easter at our house this year...and at the Maguires...and at Grandma's house, too.

"So let me get this straight...I get to put these eggies into those brightly colored dyes?!"


Here, Tristan and William put the eggs out for the Easter Bunny. Overnight the bunny will hide the eggs and will replace the eggs with toys and candy.


William and Tristan are ready for Easter mass.


"And that is why the Lord, Jesus Christ came from the Father and sacrificed himself for your souls!"

(Sometimes, Tristan can get a little excited about the real meaning of Easter)

Tristan finds his first egg after church.


Cousins Dannielle and Bobby brought over baby Abby for a visit:


After waking from his nap, William finally gets to review his Bunny goodies.


At the Maguire's Tristan discovers that sometimes, eggs can have money inside


Later, lots of the family was at Gradma and Pop-pop's house:



Here is an experimental slide show from Google's WebAlbums:

You can see the whole album on Google at http://picasaweb.google.com/tompayne36/Easter2008 or by clicking any of the pictures above to visit the regular Paynecentral photo album(s).