Recent events

We took a little road trip on Friday down to Richmond to see Mike and Jenny, partly so I could give Jenny her new bag. I thought it would be fun to take pictures of everyone in the car.

Andrew was sitting right behind me, so it was hard to actually take a picture of him since I'm not a contortionist.

Alison looks thrilled doesn't she? Gone are the days of spontaneous naps in the car.

Nick was making all sorts of faces for me - but I caught this one while he was being normal. Except I just noticed, why is he looking down and not forward with his EYES ON THE ROAD?

That is Jenny's sweet mother-in-law holding Andrew. And of course cute Jenny and cute Aaron on the right.

And on an unrelated note. . .

After bath snuggling with Daddy. This has become a ritual and Alison, in particular, gets upset when we threaten to skip it.

You have to be careful about lying on the floor. The minute you do Andrew is on you and crawling all over. I think he likes seeing us at his level, instead of staring at our kneecaps all day. Speaking of eye-level, he's also standing on his own. AND, I have reports from daddy and grandma Jan that he's taken a step. Oh boy!

l-r 1. scrumptious 2.kissable 3. terminally cute

I especially like #2, because this is how I see him most - pulling up on my legs and smiling up at me. Awwwhh.

A haircut for Alison

My friend Rheannan is in cosmetology school and came home for Thanksgiving. So, I hit her up for a haircut for me and Alison. She did a great job on both of us! I don't have any pictures of mine however. Alison is cuter to look at anyway.

Before. . .

During. . . and she did such a great job holding still!

After. . . and are you kidding me with that hair!? Where did she get those curls?

Rheannan was nice and shared a new pink comb with her.

and here, Alison wanted to return the favor.

Thanks Rheannan!!!

We made cookies that morning too. . .

A real taste of childhood - licking the beater!

Andrew loves the little car as much as Alison has. Here he is looking at Alison saying, "Look here, PRINCESS, I am not your chauffeur!"

Okay, maybe I am....

We went to Terri's a couple of weeks ago to see the cousins and it's really hard to get kids to all look at the camera at the same time! At least they were having a good time together!

Terri is due tomorrow and we are all excited to meet the new little girl! I would post her belly pic here, but I'm not sure she would be too happy - so you can go to HER blog and look at it!

all about andrew - 9 months

9 months old on Halloween. My how the time flies. . . Or does it?

Andrew is almost 10 months old now. But he had his 9th month check-up accompanied by his first ear infection! Lucky him! I think it had something to do with the 4 teeth that were coming through - the last one appearing today. Poor kid. That's 4 teeth in 2 weeks.

I had to take him back for a follow-up and his shots and that's when we got his stats. 18 lbs 14 oz, 28 1/4 inch long.

The kid will Not Stop EATING. He easily out eats Alison at dinner every night. For example, Monday night we had barbecued chicken thighs - he ate almost 2 of them. Last night we had lasagne. He ate a bunch and then had 3 small bowls of it for lunch today. Not to mention he wants to nurse all the time.

I made some soup last week and tried to give him some of the kidney beans straight from the can and he was not interested at all. When we actually sat down and had the soup, he was loving them. Because they were warm. And seasoned. The other night, the chicken night, I made an apple crisp after dinner. Andrew was somewhere down the hall and he heard the oven timer go off. He headed over to me (by the oven) and I picked him up and started to walk out of the kitchen. He kept looking around me to see what I had taken out of the oven! He didn't see me make it, he didn't see me pulling it out, but he knows what the timer sounds like and he knows what food smells like! He had a big bowl of that for breakfast the next morning. I think I have a foodie-in-training. And if we can afford to keep him fed, I really think I'm going to like it!

He is a growing boy, for sure. I'm pretty certain he's the same size Alison was at a year. I'm already having to cook for 4 grown people, it's crazy.

okay, so it's not ALL about Andrew, here's a little about Alison:

she is my best apple peeler. She's done all the apples for the last 4-5 pies/crisps I've made.

Thanks Auntie Willow and Ashleigh (and grandma for bringing it)! She loves her new doll bed. Her donkey and panda get to sleep in there a lot - especially since they make sleeping noises.

just some leafy fall pictures

because the sun was too bright - this is what their faces looked like when they looked at me.

We went to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball on Saturday night. It was really nice and MUCH better than last year's. We actually ate at 7, instead of 10:30. Thanks to Karen for lending me her dress!

I took this picture of Alison the day after Halloween. I think this is the post-sugar coma look. We were 'sweeping' leaves off the deck. That or playing in them. One of the two.

These two really have a good time playing together. This makes me very happy. I think it makes Alison happy too.

It's really funny how they light up when the other one comes in the room. If Alison is in her room 'napping' or in the morning before she's up, Andrew will crawl to her bedroom door and push it open. I have to be careful he doesn't wake her up! She's always asking where he is too. "Did you put Andrew to bed?" "Where's Andrew?" I took her grocery shopping with me this morning and we left him home with Nick and she was confused she was not going to have her back seat buddy by her side.

These next two pictures crack me up. I got a new storage bin that isn't as tall as the other one. Andrew was going after something at the bottom and was pulling off quite the balancing act.

And yes, he did end up falling in.

How to enjoy yourself on Halloween

Order up some perfect blue skies and warm weather. And throw in some autumnal colors.

Go to the pumpkin patch and play in the cornbox.

Slide out of the bouncy house on the big slide with a friend on either side to make it less scary.

Unknowingly wear a matching shirt with you neighbor friend - and look doubly cute.

Swing on the swing with your mom.

Feed some animals.

Pick out a pumpkin.

Climb on some straw.

Swing tandem.

And dress up for some trick or treating!