Fall(ish)

Thanks, Houston, for finally bringing some cooler weather so we could bust out these bad boys. 

And by cooler I mean just barely below 70. We'll take what we can get! 

Last one, I promise

The official last post for Halloween. 

Only because Luke thought of such funny ways to pose with his pumpkin. 

And because Baga and I let Luke use a pumpkin carving knife and the picture will freak out Kenny. 

'Til next year, All Hallow's Eve!

Halloween Hecticness

Some glimpses of our halloween activities for the year. 

The boys were super excited to open the little googly-eye envelopes every day to find out our activity. Luckily Luke can't quite read, so there were some last minute swaps if I had been a little too ambitious. 

But I am proud to say that, even though there were some days we had to do several activities to make up for some we missed (including a last-minute, post-trick-or-treating experience on Halloween night), we didn't miss a single one! 

Way to go us and our festive selves. Stay tuned to see if I am totally burnt out for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

18 Months

Baby D is quickly growing out of his baby phase! He seems to have hit the beginning of his terrible twos a bit early and has been throwing some fun little tantrums here and there. Unlike Luke, who was fairly un-ruffle-able, Derek can get very sad and very offended and is sometimes very hard to console.

Luckily he is also hilarious! He has started to blow raspberries and click his tongue and make weapons sound effects and sing little songs and just be more noisy in general. As far as actual words go, though, he hasn't really said any new ones in a while. I think all of us are pretty good at interpreting his squawks and grunts, so he can't really see the point. 

Derek loves to point out dogs and babies and cars and birds, loves to wear hats, and loves to use Luke's toothbrush. His appetite is nice and healthy and has made him nice and round and squishy, which is especially nice since he loves to give snuggles and squeezes around the neck. He loves to be outside so that he can find water and dirt and rocks and sticks. Between he and Luke there are always nice little piles of debris outside our front door. 

I'd say the best description I've heard of Baby D recently was from Baga, who described him as a "nice, soft little bowling ball."

#historyearned

The final celebration of the Astros' winning the World Series! 

The boys and I drove to the zoo, parked, and rode the metro for twenty minutes to get into town, then walked the three miles back to our car since the trains were so full 

all to catch a five-minute glimpse of the Astros players on top of firetrucks at the end of the parade (and play in some of the leftover confetti).

On the way back to the car we stopped to play in a fountain, so both boys were wet and in various stages of undress on the long slog home.

Oh, and my phone had died. 

But luckily, the only disappointment Luke suffered was that he had been under the impression that the players were going to get down and come and chat with him (I was sad to have to squash that one). 

We have officially fulfilled our hometown-pride duties.
Go Astros!