A Splishin' and a Splashin'

Two weeks ago we took a family trip to visit Mark's sister Gail and her family. They were wonderful enough to watch both our kids for the night so Mark and I could spend a night away from them in a B&B. Such a nice break for us. The second afternoon and night we all stayed together and got to take our kiddos to the pool. James had been to the swimming pool once, when he was about 10 months, so it's about time he try it out again. He was very hesitant, but Mark was super patient with him.

talking it over...a little pre-swim pep talk

all ready to go in her bathing suit!

SO brave all on his own (in the kiddie pool)

splashing Daddy with chilly water!

very first dip in the pool

Good job, James! High five!

First Baseball Game

A few weeks ago, my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Dale, and cousin Tim took us to a Royals game. Since last year they have been wanting to take James to his first game and even got him a Royals tee for Christmas. James had a great time, ate tons of peanuts, and even made the big screen! What fun!

riding the carousel during the eighth inning

picking up his 'first game' certificate

clapping for pre-game fireworks

Smoking Meat Memphis Style

Phew! Time is flying by. I can hardly believe this was two weeks ago. Andrea and I went to high school with Jenny and love any opportunity to reunite and hang out. Jenny has married Drew and moved to Memphis, so we don't get to see her as often as I'd like, but when we do we relish every moment! It so happens that Drew is quite knowledgeable about smoking meat. Mark loved learning tips from him, and we all enjoyed a yummy meal together after a day of hanging out. These are all out of order and fairly self explanatory....enjoy!

Sauce-tasting; the men (including James) tasted three different sauces...and each preferred a different sauce! go figure! it was fun to sample ribs 'sauced' with three different brands!

Favorite Fall Outings

Over the past two weekends we've enjoyed a few fall outings with James. We were really trying to squeeze them in before Clara's arrival because I LOVE fall traditions and would have been sad if we'd had to take rainchecks this year! :)

First, we went to a local Cider Mill for a weekend festival. While the events for kids weren't quite right for James, he was totally thrilled to climb on straw bales and a pumpkin mound for a while.

James also watched over and over as the apples were washed and processed to be turned into cider! The cider donuts were awfully tempting but the line was soooooo long that we opted for kettle corn instead!

The last time James was here he was only three or four weeks old!! A lot has changed since then!

Then we headed to a pumpkin patch this past weekend. Thought this big pig was pretty cute, but James was a little intimidated after he snorted once!

picking out our pumpkin...

James loved being on a 'real' farm!!

It was actually really toasty Saturday so we enjoyed cider slushes...they were really yummy!!

Won't be long before we add Clara to the family picture!! My due date is October 18th...we'll see if she decides to come early! I've tried to let her know she's welcome any time. :)

Pink, Pink, Pink!

Our friend Amy (the tall blonde one :) is expecting a baby girl at the beginning of February! This sort of kicked off a series of showers I will probably be co-hosting in the next several months...and I just LOVE it! Because I have a boy this was definitely an outlet for all things pink!

"the" cupcake bites. same story as the ones I made in October. but these are pink!!

my first diaper cake; Andrea made one for James' baby shower a few years ago and we thought it was SO cute that we wanted one for Amy's shower, too!

these two little cuties were the gift bearers for Amy...they also claimed to have given her most of the gifts she opened and were just as excited about them as anybody there!

a few guests (Amy's mother-in-law on the right)

chatting online with our dear girlfriend who lives too far away to have made it to the shower...we love you, Susan!

Amy with the three co-hostesses (myself, Andrea, and Kelly)