So Andrea and I have been talking about taking photos of the kids for a long time but haven’t ever gotten around to it. Today I didn’t have very many church meetings so I set up the backdrop and started taking some photos. I did a little Lightroom editing but really only to make the background fade to a dark black and do some little retouching to scrapes and stuff. Here’s what we came up with and maybe you’ll agree that we need to make more time to do this in the future because we have really cute kids (IMHO).
Here are some of the exciting things we are doing this Fall.
1. Rangers baseball! We have been to 3 games in 3 weeks, and if they end up going to the World Series, we just may have tickets to Game 5!
2. Texas State Fair! My sister Cami came down to go to the Fair, and although she had to go with us and our kids instead of grownup friends who ride real rides and stay out late, I think we all had a good time. One of the most fun things to do at the Texas State Fair is try some of the fried foods, but I think I topped out after about 3 things, because your stomach starts to tell you enough is enough after that. The best that we tried was Fried Cookie Dough! Juliana I know you are jealous.
Riding the Ladybug ride with Addie
Cami and Addie
Our Family + Big Tex
3. Dallas Arboretum/Pumpkin Village. My mom, Cami, and Emily and her kids came along, and we spent a few hours touring the pumpkin-filled Arboretum. They have houses covered in pumpkins, princess castles (Addie and Aimee were in HEAVEN), flowers of course, and lots and lots of people! We had to park and take a shuttle, there were so many people there that day.
All the Kids
Beautiful Pumpkin Garden
Pumpkin House
In Beauty and the Beast's Castle
The girls got to put on a Cinderella dress (courtesy of my mom) and sit in Cinderella’s Pumpkin Carriage. This was a huge hit! We even waited like, 20 minutes in a line to get to take a picture in the carriage.
Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage
In Cinderella's Pumpkin Carriage
The other favorite thing for the girls was a fountain, where they got to splash in the water, which looked like it was being sprayed from huge frog statues.
Nolan surprised us while we were in Utah by cutting his first tooth! He was 3 months, 3 weeks old. Is this super young?!? I was so shocked to find it, since Addie didn’t get her first tooth until she was almost 6 months old. The poor kid is drooling like crazy, chewing on his hands constantly, and can’t even hold onto his own teething rings yet!
Addie attended her first ballet class on Wednesday. She was so excited to wear her new leotard and ballet slippers! She loves to dance, so I’m thinking she will really enjoy her class. This was her first real away-from-mom activity, but she had no problems letting me drop her off and leave:)
A few weeks ago, Addie and I checked out a book at the library about going to a museum, and ever since then she has wanted to visit one! So my mom went with us yesterday to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science. They have a pretty expansive Children’s Museum downstairs with tons of learning “stations”. She loved the water station, where she could pour water into funnels to make things spin and play with the huge rubber duckies, the farming station, where you can “plant” vegetables in the ground and then harvest them.
Water Table
She got to milk a cow, play in a fire truck with a slide, see lots of animals like turtles, snakes, insects, lizards, and she even got to paint her own face.
Milking the cow
Fire truck
Painting our faces
But her favorite of all was the Dinosaurs! She dug in the sand and brushed off the fossils, and was amazed at how huge they were. She even made friends with the dinosaur outside the exhibit, and spent most of lunchtime talking to it. She loved that it “talked” back to her. (It roared and it’s head and arms moved, so she thought it was responding to her.) There are no pictures of Nolan even though he was there…he spent most of the time being fussy in his stroller, so we think he’s a bit too young for the museum.
We spent the fourth of July holiday at the Taylor cabin in Oklahoma. It is so nice to get away sometimes, so we love that they have a place just a few hours away with lots of fun things to do. With a nursing newborn, I have felt a little cooped up in the house, so it was a nice change of scenery for me:)
Little Boat Driver
Swimming Machine
Mommy and Addie
Addie’s First Waterski
This was Addie’s first time to waterski! She was a great sport and tried it two times, although falling was a little traumatic for her. After that she just swam, but maybe next time she’ll try again. She did a great job and we were all so proud of her!
We also got to see our newest cousin Kaiden. Jessi and Erik drove out from Florida to be with us this weekend, and it was cute to see Kaiden and Nolan together. They are so close in age, they could be twins! Except there is a huge difference in how a 3 month old interacts (laughing and smiling all the time – Kaiden) and a 7 week old (maybe a hint of a smile now and then – Nolan).
Addie LOVED spending time with her cousins, as always, and learned how to roast her own marshmallows and make a smore. Grandma is a master marshmallow maker, so we got to have them a few nights in a row:)
Addie and Daddy
Cousins Roasting Marshmallows
S’mores are Messy
Nolan’s Starting to Smile
Adelyn’s Eyes
Nolan and Kaiden
Happy Fourth of July
Addie and Grandpa on the Boat
We didn’t take the kids to a real fireworks show, but we did get some firecrackers and set them off in the fire pit outside the house. I love the reaction the kids had. They were all worried about how loud it was going to be, so they all covered their ears. Check out the expression on the 2 year olds faces as the firecrackers go off. So funny!
