7 months ago....

our sweet baby boy was born. I say it every month, but I honestly cannot believe it! He is such a joy, I feel so blessed to have him as a part of our family! I think his 7th month has been his busiest by far!!

Here are some things he is doing now:

• eating two stage 2 jars of food for lunch and supper, plus a breakfast of cereal and fruit. His favorites are green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, and any and all fruits. (just like his sister! only she loved peas and hated green beans)
• rolling to toys to play with and playing while on his tummy (though not for long)
• drooling, gnawing, chewing, sucking, on anything and everything.in.sight. Teeth are so close...I am certain!
• sticking his tongue out to be funny
• rocks on his tummy--"swims"
• reaches for our noses, eyes, ears, hair
• loves to smile at Sydney and laugh at her
• still is such a mellow little man--very patient and sweet and snuggly!

We love you Gavin!

Delphos Weekend

Okay so this post will be in reverse order since I am too lazy right now to reverse all the photos. :)

We headed back to Delphos last weekend to be with family as we remembered our mom. Saturday, the 23rd, marked one year since her passing. It blows my mind to think I have lived this long without my mom. Then to think of living the rest of my life without her is just unfathomable and quite heartbreaking actually. I am so sad that my children will not have vivid memories of her, only those that we keep alive through stories, books, and pictures of Mom. I know in my heart she is watching over us and especially over her grandbabies, but every day I still wish she were here with us. I am glad she is no longer in pain and no longer has to struggle through the days--I am glad that she has been reunited with her loved ones in Heaven that passed before her. But that doesn't take away the pain of missing her.

One thing Bailey and I wanted to do was to plant something at Mom's headstone-so Sydney helped to pick out this beautiful bright, colorful mum. We didn't get out there until Saturday afternoon but it was a windy and pretty evening.

Earlier that day we had enjoyed lunch at Grandma Dodo's house--afterward the "big" girls (who used to be the babies!) played outside!

Sydney talking with Grandma Dodo

Getting the sidewalk chalk ready to go!

a praying mantis by the girls as they were coloring!

Grandma Dodo, Gavin, and Sydney with her pink Tina Turner wig

She was pretty proud of her new 'do!

The current "babies"...Gavin and Piper; they are approximately 3.5 months apart in age

the little Mister playing :)

Big Day! 2 parts...

Part 1: On this day (October 16th) we went to Olathe to Deanna Rose Farmstead. We had never been and it is such a neat little place! It has many farm animals, an old one room school house you can go in to and write on slates, a barn with baby calves and a cow-milking station, horses, goats, an Indian teepee, and so much more! I have been a part of an online group of moms for the last year or more and we just recently discovered that a few of us didn't live all too far from one another! So we decided to meet up at the Farmstead.

Ringing the bells with Noah
Visiting the baby calf with Noah
observing from the fence

Part 2!

For awhile now Joe has been dropping hints to me that Sydney needed a haircut. I didn't really want to cut her hair for a very long time because I wanted it to grow out. But then I started noticing her "bangs" were always in her eyes and the way her hair tapered in the back bugged me. So we made an appointment at Shear Madness along with Noah to go get Sydney's hair trimmed. She did so well! She picked the red car next to Noah and got to watch Elmo on the t.v.-even though she ended up watching herself in the mirror more than the movie!

Getting prepped!
Is it just me or does she look TOO big in this picture?
All done! Waiting to get "styled"
Sydney with her trimmed hair and "princess" braid
Sydney with her buddy Noah!

Noah's Halloween party

Since this day was mostly for Syd and her friends, I have to put a picture of Gavin. Looking thrilled as usual.

The first Saturday in October we went to Sydney's friend, Noah's house for a Halloween party. She had such a fun time! The first activity was painting pumpkins, so first step was to pick the pumpkin!


Next it was lunchtime. There was so much yummy food and Sydney ate almost all of it! The string cheese and the ghost cookies went first!After lunch the kids got to go on a ghost hunt through the yard. They were all surprisingly nice about sharing the wealth with the younger "ghost hunters."

All the kids!

To end the day they colored some wooden Halloween shapes and then played in the sand. The kids also made witch's wands!

Thanks for the great day Dunns!