august 24th - staycation in exotic philadelphia kicks off

So we are entering the last "quasi-official" week of the summer before Labor Day and Mommy and Daddy have taken off from work to hang with Alex and GemGem.  After 15 years of living in Philadelphia, we opted for a virginal experience of taking the kids on a carriage ride through Old City.  Alex picked out our horse, whose name was Pete, to take us on a magical 30 minute ride through Old City and Society Hill.

Alex was a little skeptical of Pete, but warmed up to him during the course of the ride.  All Alex asked is that "Pete no poop."  Gemma was an unimpressed little snoot in her big hat...turning her nose up at the wretched animal that, in her opinion, needed to be put out to pasture.  Daddy and Alex had some fun on Independence Mall...taking selfies and overpaying for subpar soft-serve.  The sugar really kicked in when we got home and Alex decided to strip off his pants and dress up like a member of the village people.

august 23rd - rainy day, haircuts, toplessness, and the dating scene

It rains all day and Gemma smiles.  Alex, on the other hand, needed to strap on his rain boots, slosh around in puddles, get his ears lowered at the Chop Shop (only for a lollipop), and make out with Lucy...just to make it through the day.  He also wore Gemma's bow around the house to get in touch with his feminine side.

august 22nd - 'frozen' is like crack for kids

# of Frozen Views  -  348.7
% of brain cells killed - 12%
% of day spent singing 'let it go' - 64%
likelihood of bringing walt disney back just to assassinate him - 99.7%

august 21st - giant baby

Gemma sits....and sits.  Very eager to crawl.  She has ben sitting up on her knees very slowly this week, on the verge on forward progress.  She has been rolling her way around to get from A to B, but will very soon be army crawling around our house.  This picture makes her 17th percentile stature look abnormally giant-sized.

august 20th - monkey gemma

Gemma is now eating bananas like a gorilla.  She pounds her chest and screams just like king kong...as he would in any of the terrible king kong movies that have ever been made.  She is very close to grabbing the iPhone away from Alex and putting on her own videos, but she is still waiting patiently....very stealthily....she will have her day....soon.

august 19th - mommy needs a break

Somehow Mommy brings this on herself....maybe not Alex sticking his foot in her face and asking if it smells good, but everything else...yes.  She is a pushover and the kids smell blood in the water when it is 6am.

august 18th - boys

Alex's jackass gene has officially kicked into overdrive.  His new favorite thing is showing us his half chewed food at the dinner table.  It's hard to keep a straight face while he is doing it, which we are sure is a demonstration of poor values.

august 17th - meeting ashlyn

We brought breakfast to Uncle Gary and Aunt Charissa's house this morning to introduce the kids to their new cousin.  Alex was initially interested, but quickly decided that Farrah's toys were even more interesting.  He and Farrah played non-stop with minimal altercations.  We took the kids to Seger in the afternoon and Gemma hit the duck milestone.  Her first bath in her duck was very relaxing, until big brother Alex decided it was time for him to jump in it at the same time.

august 16th - dude time

Cameron and Todd came over for a visit today, which required a visit to the beer distributor.  Alex INSISTS on riding home on top of the case from the distributor...even though he is getting a bit heavy. An extra 30 pounds on top of a case of beer for 4-5 blocks is not ideal.

august 15th - fridays are magic

Getting the weekend started with a visit from Beeps and going to bed at 8:00.  Actually, only Mommy was in bed early....she was out before Alex which is just sad.  Gemma had a busy day of playing and grinning, so she also ran out of steam.  Daddy made dinner for everyone, while Alex dragged Beeps around the house to drive, play puzzles, and ride bikes.

august 14th - throw back thursday

Baby Ashlyn is doing well in the hospital and is coming home tomorrow.  Seeing her tiny little face brings back what seem to be very distant memories of bringing our two mutants home from the hospital.

august 13th - cousin ashlyn....welcome to earth

The kids' newest cousin, Ashlyn Paige Burger, was born this morning around 8am.  She was about an 8 pounder and carrying most of it in her cheeks.  Alex has been talking about "Farrah's sister...like Gemma is his sister."  Cannot get him to say her name yet, but he seems to be picking up what we are laying down...in theory.

august 12th - stickers and peaches

Lots of fun in the city at the nest today.  Alex got a little nuts with the stickers, but maintained discipline in separating the stickers while affixing to his shirt.  Usually, he just puts them all on top of each other, but his hard work is paying off.  Lacked the discipline to wash the peach that he just picked up off of the counter and dug into while Jackie was making his lunch.  Apparently, he was done waiting to eat.

august 11th - working on her core

Gemma is now stable while vertical and face plants are down to a minimum.  It is really fun to watch her sit and keep herself entertained.  Funny faces and spontaneous leaning / recovery is magical...growing up too quickly.  Making loud screeching sounds and smashing toys around even faster.

august 10th - federal donuts

Special trip required into the city to get some Federal Donuts.  Alex gave the guy at the store a pound and he liked his t-shirt, so the guy gave Daddy free coffee.  Having cute kids pays off.  We sat and had breakfast in Rittenhouse Square and Alex played with some strangers' dog.  Gemma loved the dog, but we had to keep the dog out of reach of her death grip.

august 9th - two birthday cakes

Alex was super pumped about the idea of having birthday cake twice today.  We went to the park in the morning and then we had Addison Schaefer and cousin Julia's birthday parties to attend in Jersey.  Gemma played with her BFF Charlotte at the party while Alex and Daddy swam.  Alex was turning blue because the water was freezing, but refused to get out of the pool.  Then they burned off all of the sugar by doing wind sprints at Uncle Frank's.

august 8th - feeding giraffes

We took the kids out to Elmwood Zoo today so they could feed the giraffes.  Alex was super excited about the prospect of feeding some romaine lettuce to the giraffe and he was really good.  Our friends Leigh, Grant, and Reese met up with us and hung out for the day.  Alex really liked their wagon and it resulted in Grant walking all day so Alex could "ride."  Daddy and Gemma had some fun alone time while the kids went in and fed the barn animals.  Alex made Mommy feed the goats, but he was giggling uncontrollably the whole time.

august 7th - family time

Jackie is off for a couple days to head out of town, so the Burger's are united for two full days of family fun time.  We found Alex helping Gemma try on his sunglasses in the living room this morning and it was pretty hilarious.  She was just sitting there giggling.

We ran some errands and Alex helped Mommy pick out some new plants for our front porch.  He then helped her plant them, which required his dump truck and the dust pan for the clean up...Gemma was the foreman on the project.  Gramps and Grandmum came down for dinner...sat in traffic for 2.5 hours, and then Gramps got roped into getting back in the car so Alex could "drive."

august 6th - eating with sticks is hard

Alex had his first experience with chopsticks today during dinner at Cheu Noodle House.  He usually likes to play with chopsticks at our house, but this was the first time he really tried to use them.  Our food was fantastic and Alex really liked the broccoli and pork appetizer.  He also got a kick out of poking Gemma with his chopsticks.

august 5th - prime tv viewing

Alex set up theater seating for he and Gemma to watch television this morning.  He set up the chairs right next to each other and would help Gemma get situated so she was comfortable.  Really hilarious.

august 4th - alex's harvest

Alex and Mommy have been growing tomatoes in the back yard this year.  Alex has been really into it and makes Mommy go out every day to look at it, water it, and check to see if it has turned red yet.  Today, the first few tomatoes were ready to be picked and Alex the farmer dug right into it...no need to wash it or waste any time.

august 3rd - camden has one redeeming quality

Alex has been talking about going to the aquarium for three days and was absolutely hilarious.  He was so excited and wanted to see sharks...he even makes the sound effects...."dunna dunna dunna dunna roar."  Good thing we went with Drew so Alex could have someone to run around with...Gemma was more into her outfit than she was the fish.  We went to the Pop Shop in Collingswood for lunch and Alex got a chocolate ice cream cone that was bigger than his head.

august 2nd - unable to escape 'frozen' in princeton

A day in Princeton for a visit and a viewing of 'Frozen' was a nice way to spend Saturday.  Gemma sat at the island in her big girls chair and stuffed her face with anything she could get her hands on...Alex ate a pound of M&Ms.

august 1st - daddy-daughter day out

Jackie took Alex to the Franklin Institute with some of his friends today, so Gemma hung out with Daddy.  We went down to the Italian Market for some coffee and a nice sit in great weather.  Then we went over to the store to get groceries.  Gemma didn't make it very far before passing out in the stroller...must not have been excited about running errands.

july 31st - young love

Alex and his friend Lucy continue their blossoming relationship with some quality time at Seger today in their swimming trunks.  Lucy's little brother Remy was a little too close for comfort with Gemma in a back to back swing situation.  Once he is another month older he may be due for a talking to....or we could go with direct threats.

july 30th - buddies

Gemma and Alex are best buds now since Gemma is getting big enough to sit and stand with him to play.  She loves standing at the music table and pushing all the buttons...she gets stronger every day and stands all by herself.  She is down to only about two face plants per day.  Alex demonstrates he is the eldest by acting like he's 30 years old.  He now wraps his towel around him "like Mommy" after his shower and was perusing amazon.com for some aftershave on his iPad.

july 29th - gemma's 6-month checkup

Gemma went for her six month checkup at the pediatrician today and we found out she really is perfect.  Everything went very well until the nurse (her new enemy) came in with her vaccines.  Our pediatrician finally starting using combination vaccines, so she only got two shots instead of four.  About time...poor older brother, Alex, experienced the wrath of slow adoption.

Length: 25 inches
Weight: 14lbs 6 oz
Head: 17 inches

july 28th - capitalizing on philly healthcare

Alex had to go to an ENT specialist at CHOP this morning to get his ears checked out because he has had so many ear infections recently.  Poor buddy has to get ear tubes so he doesn't continue having a hard time this winter.  He loved the "airplane captain" chair that they had in the exam room...comfortable enough for a snack.