The Things

Dave and I were so excited to celebrate Halloween this year. We missed it last year (Andrew was only a few weeks old and James was getting over pneumonia), so we wanted to make sure we did some fun things this year. Yesterday we went to PPG's Trunk or Treat. The boys had a great time pushing their walkers around the park. Today we went to the Fall Festival at a nearby church. Again, the boys loved pushing their walkers around everywhere! The boys enjoy watching "The Cat in the Hat" on PBS right now so we thought Thing 1 and Thing 2 were perfect costumes for them :) They did a great job and (fyi) the spray in hair color comes out really easy.

All ready for the party!

Thing 1 and Dave in the Hat :)

Dave and I both wore hats :)

Dave was trying to hold them still so I could get a shot of them together.

Sitting on the car...silly Things.

James loves pushing the walker through the grass now...a feat he could not do a week ago!

Love that smile!

Playing in the pumpkins.

Love my Things!

James was trying to crawl over this pumpkin, but kept getting stuck!

Colton, the spider. The boys play with him in the nursery every Sunday and Wednesday.

Tucker and Brady, two other little boys that go to our church.

Family Photos - Part 1

We finally got our pictures taken. This is the first time we've taken the boys to have it done professionally. They did really well with the family shots, but were a bit tired of smiling by the time it was time for them to take photos by themselves. Oh well! We got some good ones and here are a few! (Check the next post too. I couldn't get all the photos to load on the same post).

I love James' smile in this one. He thought the flash was hilarious!

The best family shot.
Another great family shot.

My favorite of the boys together.

Family Photos - Part 2

I think this is my favorite of James by himself.

Another good one of both of them. I kind of like the serious faces :/
Another cute one of James. I love how he looks like such a big boy just chilling on the steps!

Andrew has no patience left at this point. I was feeding him puffs to keep on the stairs.

Chewing on a puff :)

We didn't get any good ones with the "1." This was when we gave up on the session.

Andrew's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Andrew's 1st birthday Saturday. It was a beautiful day... a little humid, but there was a nice breeze that kept it cozy. The boys loved playing outside so much. I can tell that we'll be spending a lot of time outdoors very soon. Andrew did a great job. We could not convince him to take a morning nap so we were afraid he might have a melt down. The sugar in the cupcake seemed to give him enough energy to power through until nap time! I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the party!

Playing outdoors is fun!

We grilled out and played yard games.
The boys liked watching people fly the kite.

Andrew hesitated at the beginning.

But eventually dug in and devoured the cupcake.

Some too big bites came back out a few times :)

The boy was too tired to sit up straight, but not too tired to flash his smile!

Andrew liked ripping the paper out of the bags but became annoyed at the toy packaging!

Taking a small break in between presents :)

He's concentrating so hard to get the paper out of the bag.

I love this picture of him digging in the bag to find books...he loves them!

Andrew is 1!

Andrew is 1 today! So much has happened in the last year and we are just thankful that Andrew is a healthy, happy little boy. Andrew was born in Pittsburgh, had surgery when he was 8 weeks old and spent the next several months in and out of hospitals as a visitor to his big brother. At 4 months old, we moved him to Louisiana. At 6 months old he finally starting sleeping through the night and at 8 1/2 months he became mobile, a quick expert at crawling. Today he's one and a day never goes by that he doesn't bring a smile to my face and heart. At 1 year old Andrew...

• has 7 teeth...no new one's this month.


• is down to 3 bottles a day and starting to take milk with his meals. Hopefully we'll get him completely off his bottle over the next month or so.


• is not a fan of fruit, but loves canned vegetables and the toddler meals that his brother eats.


• weighs 20 pounds 10 ounces (25%) and is 29.5 inches tall (50%).


• giggles like a hyena (video below).


• loves to walk behind push toys and is very good at it.


• loves to crawl and climb on his brother, cat, and parents.


• is working on getting down to 1 nap a day...maybe soon he'll even nap in his crib.


• is having his first birthday party this Saturday (I'll post pics after it happens).

Walking behind the train.

Smiling and crawling after mommy.
Standing on his knees.

Showing off his smile :)

Playing with his favorite big brother.

Andrew's Evil Laugh

Boating Fun!

Sunday afternoon we went boating with a couple from church. They like to ski and tube and love to take people out with them. We spent the first part of our adventure boating in the rivers and lakes around Lake Charles. It's amazing how much faster you can get places here by boat as opposed to by car (a 45 minute car ride took about 15 minutes by boat). After we did our tour of the neighborhood, Dave and I both tubed and then Dave tried his hand at skiing. He has never been water skiing before and did a great job (after a few face plants into the water). I haven't skied since I was 12 or 13 so I passed this time, but I'm sure I'll get out there soon :) Enjoy the photos!

James enjoyed the boat ride...I enjoyed the wind-blown hair :)

A family shot on the Lake with one of the casino resorts in the background.
Dave tubing

Me tubing

Dave getting ready to ski for the first time :)

working his way up...

oops...got some water in his face on that one :)

But he figured it out and did a great job. On about his 5th attempt he was up for awhile!