Visit from Big Medicine, Grandma Debbie, & Grandma Condo

This weekend we were happy to have "The Grandmas," as Sophie called them, come to visit. They came for Ryan's baby blessing & stayed a couple days to see the sites. Lauren & the kids joined up with them Monday to see the Botanical Gardens (Grandma Condo loved this, being a green thumb!). Then, Justin joined us to go to our favorite Southern BBQ, Dixie Bones. The next day, we took them to our Outlet mall, then to the monuments downtown. We all sure got our exercise! It was a short but sweet visit. We love to have family come stay. Thanks for coming, guys! Sophie loved playing with this spicket with Big Medicine at the Botanical Gardens

...and watering the plants. She loves to be a big girl!

Here we are at the restaurant...soooo good! We only feel slightly bad that we made them ruin their diet for the day (the pecan pie was too tempting!)

Getting ready to run around downtown with the new Sit n' stand stroller...its a new experience with 2 kids!

Jefferson Memorial is one of my favorites

We got to go up to the top of the Washington Monument & see the sity from way up high. Whata neat experience!

This must be how Sophie saw the monument when she said, "Whoa-that's a really high tower!"

The gang

Sophie strikin' a pose at the WWII Memorial

Heading down to Lincoln Mem.

Daddy & his son

I LOVE Fall...seriously. :)

Ryan's Baby Blessing

This past Sunday was Ryan's baby blessing. Big Medicine (Justin's dad), Grandma Debbie, & Grandma Condo (G Deb's mother) all came out to see him & visit. It was a beautiful blessing. Sophie wanted to join Daddy & Ryan in the blessing circle, running up with him. So she was sad she had to sit with Mama, & Mama was quite grateful that a friend had written the blessing down for her, since she caught bits a pieces of it through Sophie's protests. The Lord sure knows us and our needs! It was a beautiful day, and we are so grateful for our family & this precious new addition.

The group after the blessing

Our family of 4

Sophie loves to do this...all the time. Ryan just happened to tolerate it this time. The poor kid gets his head rubbed all the time since he has all that hair! :)

Ryan in his adorable tux blessing outfit (Thanks Grandma Deb!)

See-isn't he just precious??

We love how sweet he is when he's awake

Happy Birthday, Justin!

Yesturday was Justin's birthday, & he's only got 1 more year to enjoy his 20's. We can't believe we're getting that old! After work, we went out to a Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar where we had some absolutely delicious food! Sophie was a champ, eating some of Daddy's sushi & having fun watching the fire on the grill & the chef's fun tricks. Then, we came home to eat chocoloate marble birthday cake (chosen & baked by Sophie, with Mommy's help). It was a small, simple cake...Sophie & Mama were met with some challenges (the decorating frosting ran out, we lost our candles, & were unable to go get either), but hey-it was yummy! :) Afterwards, Justin & Lauren watched Transformers 2...that is until Justin crashed on the couch! That's how life goes with a new baby in the house-a little less partying (next year we're going to have a big party!). It was a fun little celebration with just the 4 of us. We love you, Justin, more than you know, and we wish you happy days all year!

I can't believe that Ryan is already 1 month old & that October, one of my favorite months, is already over! It feels like, maybe, 2 weeks ago we brought this little boy home. I've decided to include more memories & day to day important moments in our blog, so that we remember these special times. Sophie is such a funny little girl who thinks her baby brother is so cute! We are so grateful that she isn't jealous. Instead, we have to be cautious that she doesn't smother him, squeeze his head too tight, accedentally jump on him, or feed him any of her food. I'll take that over any mean jealous behavior! She says the funniest things every day, but what we hear the most from her is "Why" questions...endless, repeated why questions. Sometiems its cute, but most times its...well...a trial of our patience. :) Ryan is such a sweet little boy. We can tell that he a pretty calm guy but still likes to move & check out his world...not nearly as curious or intuitively thinking as Sophie, but just a fun curiousity. It may sound cliche, but he truly has a sweet, sweet spirit, & his cries & grunts have so much sweet personality in them already. As Justin will say, it looks like Sophie is following after her daddy & Ryan may be following after his mommy. he has been having some difficulties with reflux & gas issues that make eating & sleeping a problem at times. We all feel a bit better after Grandma Jocelyn was here to help, & hopefully, things will continue to settle a bit. Our family feels more complete now, & we're excited for the adventures to come.

Here are 2 pics to show off the faux-hawk a bit. He does it to himself, the way he lays. Oh that hair!

Halloween 2009!

Happy Halloween!! Ours was pretty relaxed this year. Justin & Sophie carved our family pumpkin, & we gathered our "Fairy Tale Family" together for some trick or treating. We had some wardorbe issues, but as Tim Gunn would tell us, we "made it work!" We had our Princess (Sophie), king (Justin), lowly peasant girl (Lauren), Frog Prince (Ryan), & of course, our evil warlock (Charlie, the dog). Sophie had to re-learn the whole trick or treating process, but she caught on quick. Her bag filled up quickly & her little legs got tucked out fast as well. All in all a fun night!


Grandma stayed back to pass out candy & hold down the fort.

The Fairy Tale Family

We love trick or treating in our neighborhood! Lots of fun families!

There were some hosues that were not passing out candy, & Sophie gave this

little shrug each time.

Our little Frog Prince

Reminiscent of our silly family

Enjoying her Halloween night efforts. After the 3 pieces of candy we let her have, she was a wild woman boucing off the walls...just about literally!

Cox Farm visit with Grandma Jocelyn

This past week, we were blessed to have Grandma Jocelyn visit us. She was such a big help with baby Ryan & playing with Sophie (Mama's going to miss that!), & we just enjoyed having her around. While she was here, we took our annual Fall trip out to Cox Farms (Sophie calls it "the pumpkin patch). Fresh apple cider, farm animals to pet, slides galore, a hay ride...what could be better?! We love Fall &, we love family visits!


Sophie always loves the goats

Ryan was nice & toasty in the stroller all trip

Grandma & Sophie on the hay ride. We love her goofy faces!

Sophie's favorite slide. She & Mama had a blast, & we loved hearing her say afterwards, "That was cool! Let's do it again!"

Thumbs up, dude!

Lauren LOVES Virgina Fall time! LOVEs it!

Picking out our pumpkins

One of our little pumpkins

Ryan is tucked safely away