Pumpkins at the Dallas Arboretum

This was a great trip!  The Monday after Ben's Baptism, Genny and Maggie invited Katie, Fiona, Evie, Nanny, Joe(who was off of work), Leah, Ben and me to meet at the Dallas Arboretum to see the pumpkin village.  The number of pumpkins at the Arboretum was incredible!  I had definitely never seen anything like it before.  Here are a some snapshots from the day.  Wouldn't it be nice if two-year-olds sat still long enough to get a nice picture?

See the ducks??

 

 

Benjamin Michael's Baptism

I am shamefully late in posting these photos from Ben's Baptism.  Ben was Baptized on September 18th at the Church of the Incarnation at UD by the Chaplain, Fr. Don Dvorak.  We were so happy that both of Ben's Godparents could be there and that Nanny was able to fly down for the weekend.  God bless our little baby boy.

 

 

Thank you, again, Guggie for the beautiful (and comfortable) christening gown.  It was so fun to use it again!

Ben giggles at his toes. Leah talks frog talk.

This first video is pretty self-explanatory.  In the last two weeks, Ben has started to notice his toes/feet and enjoys grabbing at them.  It's a good game and I got him to giggle about it.

This second video requires just a little explanation ... especially for those of you who have never listened to the story of "Barney McCabe" told by Tom Smith.  The story is on a tape/cd called "Chip Off the New Block" and my siblings and I used to listen to it repeatedly on road trips when we were little.  Anyway, the story of "Barney McCabe" is actually the story of two children - Jack and Mary - who have three magic dogs (one is named Barney McCabe).  At one point in the story, the two children stop at a pond and listen to some frogs "talking frog talk."  Leah loves this part of the story and is pretty good at repeating some of the lines:

Grapefest in Grapevine

September 15th was the start of Grapevine's GrapeFest.  It was a lovely, cool evening.  We got to try some tasty champagne and Leah got to go on her very first carousel ride.  She just loved it.  She was grinning the whole time, but when the carousel began to slow down and the music stopped her face dropped and I could see her grip tighten on her zebra's pole.  She did NOT want to get off.  It was fun, but now she knows.  She used to be perfectly happy just watching the merry-go-rounds go round and round and she used to enjoy walking past rides just looking at the lights.  She didn't realize that she could actually ride on them.  Well, now she does.

Some recent videos

Here are a few random videos from August that I wanted to share:


I was on the computer and I kept hearing Leah talk to herself in the other room.  When I finally got up and peeked into our room this is what I saw. (She is watching herself in the mirror.)

Here we caught Leah practicing her twirling...or spinning...or whatever you would like to call it.

This is a short video of Leah, Chiara, and Maureen the morning after Anne and Phil's wedding.

(As a side note: After watching the above three videos, I thought I should tell you that Leah does actually wear clothes sometimes.)

And here is an uneventful video of Ben in which he lies on the floor.  He's cute, though, so I'd watch it if I were you.

Sleeping

Who doesn't like to see peaceful sleeping children? I know I do.

As you can tell, I love seeing Leah fall asleep all on her own (in various places!).  I think one of the reasons I enjoy it so much is because for a long time there was pretty much only one way she would fall asleep: Nursing.  I loved that, but I always looked forward to the day when she would be able to pass out whenever and wherever she needed!  She has really grown up a lot in the last few months.  I can't believe my baby girl is almost two.

In other news...Leah is fully potty trained!  She caught on like a champ and doesn't wear diapers any more!  YAY!!!

The Wonderful World of Disney!

A couple months ago Joe and I found a ton of movies for sale at a thrift store.  They were 4 for a $1 and we couldn't pass up a deal like that.  I am so happy that we still have a VHS player!  Leah hadn't really seen any Disney movies before (only clips here and there) so Joe has been slowly introducing her to the wonderful, animated, singing world of Disney.

Here's Leah with her new movies.  Not too bad for $4.

Anne and Phil get married.

On August 13th, my little sister Anne got married.  It was a beautiful wedding and a heck of a party.  It was wonderful to see and visit with all of my siblings and to celebrate Anne and Phil!

I didn't take many pictures that weekend because I was too busy enjoying myself, but here are a few that I stole from other people's cameras:

University of Dallas picture

Watching the fireworks display!