Happy Birthday Buddy Son

You came to us as such a big boy! All 9lbs 12oz of you were sweet right from the beginning.

We adore you more now than ever and that's really saying a lot because the adoration was pretty consuming from the get go.

You can get pretty grumpy and when it happens you're relentless, but those times are few and far between. You're really happy and easy going most of the time.

You make us laugh with your expressions and the things you do. What a little man.

You can really dish it out and put Eva in a tizzy. You like to take whatever she is playing with. You also just like being near her and touching her because you love her so much. However, she sees it more as harassment.

But you're awfully good at taking it too. She really puts you through your paces with the dressing up and the taking of your toys.

You're handsome and no one can dispute that. Even after eating a fist full of dirt.

You love bath time! We've had to change our routine so that both of you are taken out at the same time, if not you'll dive back in, jammies and all.

You're a real good buddy. You love to play and if we're not around, you'll roam the house looking for us to have some fun.

Happy First Birthday Buddy Son! You're such a good boy and we love you!

Boo at the Zoo

The first and last picture of Baron with his monkey hood on. He absolutely can not stand things on his head.

So we decided to go to Boo at the Zoo. A great venue for us to show off our little tiger and monkey. They had trick-or-treating stations set up throughout the zoo so it was excellent for Eva, who had been practicing trick-or-treating for a week. I was particularly fond of it too, because it was the perfect amount of treats without things getting absurd (like pillow cases of candy, um not gonna happen here.) I'm a real witchy mom when it comes to treats. They had great little things of chocolate milk and trail mix and string cheese and of course all the goodies. I'll confess that Derek and I ate most of the "good" stuff while we left the "good for you" stuff for Eva. Plus it was just nice to see all of the animals and it gave Baron something to be interested in too. I think he trick-or-treated for a bag of Cheetos to give to his dad and that was the extent of the treat acquisition for him.

Derek pulled them in the wagon and maneuvered the not so terrible crowds quite well. The weather was absolutely beautiful!

He really didn't understand what the hub bub was all about.

It was a real magical day for that little girl. Treats, good. Animals, good. She had a special moment with a gorilla. She was up next to the glass and the gorilla pushed his face against the glass. It was actually really touching. The gorilla was so gentle and just mesmerized by Eva. They just stood there face to face for minutes. Eva still talks about the "beso" (kiss) from the gorilla.

Baron's semi-interest in the elephant.

The tiger stalks its prey. We saw the new baby elephant (not shown here) and she was so darling. She just laid there taking a nap next to her mommy.

This to me is the essence of Halloween. A bucket full of candy and a smile on a cute costumed face.

Picking Pumpkins at the Patch

We picked pumpkins a couple of weeks before Halloween to add some autumn color to our front stoop. We never did carve them which Derek and I are both okay with until Eva gets a bit older. She'd probably be grossed out anyway. But a nice whole orange pumpkin makes her pretty happy. It's all she's been talking about for 3 weeks. The Buddy Son, however, was more interested in straw.

Not a quarter of a mile from our house, right in the middle of the subdivision, three families on an acre each decided they wanted to do something for the community in their substantial "backyard" so they decided to have a free pumpkin patch. Donations are encouraged and 100% of the proceeds are given to the Perpetual Education Fund. So that's where we went. It was really peaceful and nice knowing that money we would've spent anyway on a pumpkin was actually being given to a great cause.

Baron didn't know what to think.

I love this picture of Derek and Eva. She just loved that odd little shaped pumpkin.

The one I picked out was super duper heavy.

Cute little faces.

We just looked it all over and made sure we picked out the absolute best ones.

She was pretty proud of her pumpkin and talked about the event for weeks.