Fall Festival

We decided to try out Roger's Farm Fall Festival this weekend on a bit of a whim. Last night Trent suggested we go to "Coon Hallow", and I, being the dork that I am, scrambled to make coordinating fall outfits for Ayla and TJ. I rummaged through the shirts-that-are-too-small-for-Trent box, and wouldn't ya know, I found an orange one! I disassembled and repurposed it into a pillow case dress for her and a pumpkin shirt for him. annnd a tie for TJ to wear to church tomorrow. We threw the outfits on the kids and were headed out the door when we checked the internet to see all of our options for local Fall Festivals. Rather than Coon Hallow, we decided to go with Roger's this year, and it did not disapoint. TJ was able to participate in all of the activities and Ayla enjoyed being out and about. I brought my camera, took too many pictures, and now I'm dumping them on the blog. Happy Fall y'all.

Ayla's Seventh Month

What a time we have had with our little seventh month old. Before I begin to complain, I must say she really is a great baby. She plays happily with her toys, smiles at anyone that looks at her, and is a champion when it comes to eating. She just had a hard time sleeping this summer. We never got into a routine which meant she never slept through the night. Alllll summer long. Just when I was about to throw in the towel on the whole two baby business, we took an unexpected trip to Texas (we were going to go on a vacation to the Florida Keys but Isaac decided to go there instead) and my mom offered to watch Ayla. It worked out great- I got to get all sorts of sleep while in Texas, and my mom had Ayla sleeping through the night by the time we got back. Knock on wood, but Ayla has been sleeping eleven blessed hours straight the past few nights. And (very seriously) praise the Lord, I am finally able to enjoy this sweet little baby again.

Here she is doing what she does best- eat. I love this boon
spoon where you can mix rice cereal and dispense directly
into baby's mouth. Rice cereal two times a day = baby
sleeping through the night.

Ayla is so funny about her veggies and meat. She eats them,
but you can totally tell she doesn't care for them. Once she
has had enough she will start sucking on her foot as if to
tell me- my foot tastes better than that nasty stuff.

Ayla just goes with the flow. "Oh, you want to play soccer
with TJ while you hold me? Okay!"

"Don't mind me, I'll just take a nap."

Playing happily on the floor.

Ayla loves her carseat- that's where she takes some of her
longest naps. Here she is snoozing at the zoo.

After the zoo she got to play at the pool with Ella Grace.
EG can't resist those chubby cheeks, but who can blame her?

Here she is with big bro (borrowing EG and J's suits).

And here's all four of the little cuties.

And here they are again on 9/11. Just before heading to
the fire station to deliver the "special" cookie cake.
I love how Ella Grace and Ayla are having their own
little conversation there in the stroller. And so are the
boys. And so are the ladies.

We bought this jumperoo at the Sirman's yard sale a few
months ago and let me tell you- baby girl can jump. And
jump and jump and jump. I'm pretty sure the jumperoo
makes Ayla's day.

I am so in love with my chubby baby girl!

TJ's 27th Month

What a fun age 27 months is! I love how he communicates everything to me, even when it isn't exactly what I want to hear- like how he "pushed Lucy down at Kids Club" or "put plastic cups in Julia's potty." He tells me if he made a good or a bad decision and if he chooses the latter he will run to time out and say sorry because I'm pretty sure he thinks time out is fun. Lately he has been "reading" books to himself, occasionally pretending to pick up objects from the book and give them to Ayla. Or he will bring me the book and ask, "who dat is?" while pointing to the characters. Every day TJ has a different "favorite" toy. He has a potty mouth and thinks it's hilarious to randomly say "poopoo" over and over. We saw a short stint of potty training regression after our trip to Texas, but he is back with the program now and loves to tell me "diapers for bebes, not for big boys like TJ." He does not like being in the dark, loves mints, and when doing just about anything he will push me away and say, "TJ do it by his self" (still a little bit of third person speech going on). He is one wild child and keeps the party going.

Here are some pictures of our big 27 month old:

Kaeme and Papa took TJ, Ayla, and I to the Naval Aviation
Museum in Pensacola. Here is TJ cautiously taking a step
inside one of the fighter jets. Once he was inside he jumped
right back out because the controls scared him.

Happy little Ayla sat inside and LOVED it, so TJ decided
he wanted to get back inside too. Can't let little sister
outdo him in the bravery department!

TJ is obsessed with Anna. He loves to get in her face and
make her growl. But lately when he does this, Anna has
been giving TJ kisses. I think it's all the treats he gives her
at the dinner table, which also has made Anna sick :(

We went to Texas to visit a friend and check out his dental
practice. On the way there we stopped at an oddball place
to eat- The Shed- in Mississippi, where TJ danced to a live
band and played on this bike.

While in Texas TJ got to spend lots of time with his friend,
Riley. They were so cute together.

Here they are playing in the pool in Riley's backyard.
 TJ had so much fun with Riley and all of his awesome toys.

Ever since the olympics, whenever TJ sees a bar he wants
to do "gymnastics." Railings at the store, at the park, or in
the public restroom next to the toilet- he's all over it. 

Trent bought TJ a little soccer ball and we built a goal for
him out of PVC pipes (right there in the middle of the aisle
at Lowes). Here he is practicing his skills at the park.

TJ LOVES Ayla. "Where's A-ya" is the first thing he asks
when he wakes up in the morning. All day long he is
entertaining her and giving her baby toys to play with
and taking away toys that he doesn't want her to "eat."

Here he is playing with Damon's amazing train table during
playgroup. We bought TJ the little 20 piece track for 10
bucks at IKEA and he loves it. He is really into putting
tracks and jigsaw puzzles together as of late.

TJ crashed Ayla's photo shoot with Elaine. Below are a few
more photos she took of just him.

Climbing on the chair- anything but smile and look at the
camera for Elaine. He is a wild one, but sure to keeps us
constantly entertained. 

He has a sweet side too, although he has never been as
affectionate as I would like. Every now and then he will
tell me, "I love you" and it makes my day.

Ayla's Sixth Month

First of all, thank you to my next door neighbor growing up, who also happens to be my mom's sister's husband's brother's wife, and also my second mother, Elaine, for taking Ayla's 6 month pictures. The one above is a little preview and a few more are at the end of the post. Thank you, Elaine!

Our little six month old is such a sweetie pie. She is going on her third straight month of being a bad sleeper, but she makes up for it in her sweet disposition. She is trying to crawl, and talk, and eat real food, without much encouragement from our part. When you lay her down on her back, she tries her darnest to sit back up by keeping her head tucked into her chest. When you put her on her belly she tries to wiggle herself around. And when you sit her up she plays happily with anything within reach- with a special tendency towards paper and plastic bags. She keeps me on my toes. I'm pretty sure she is ready to grow up and do all the things that TJ can do, despite us wanting her to stay little forever. She is starting to show a little preference for her mama, and seems to recognize familiar faces, but still doesn't mind being held by anyone. You give her attention, and she will take it!

My mom made this purple dress for me when I was Ayla's
age. We soaked the dress in oxyclean and drove up to
Havana to buy some new silk ribbon for the sleeves and now
it is as good as new. Ayla wore it to church in Tallahassee.

Here she is with the famous seamstress and Kalil.

Ayla got her first taste of sand at the beach. She couldn't
stop eating it!



We woke her up from a nap to get her 6 month pictures taken
 and as usual she was all smiles. Here are a few of my
favorite expressions.



I am in love with those eyes and the one raised eyebrow.
 And those chubby rolls that seem to cover her entire body-
I just can't get enough. Especially now that each crease
between each roll has it's very own tan line.

We took her outside and she stopped smiling. Who can blame
her, it was hot and the grass was itchy. One thing that I have
figured out about this girl, is that she does not like to be hot. 

TJ's 26th Month

I had TJ pick out his picture for this month's blog post. He chose this one because it shows his swimsuit, which also happens to be the one he always wants to wear. He is a bit more opinionated these days, but is still very much an easy-going type of guy. It doesn't take much persuasion to get him to help out- just tell him it's the "big boy" thing to do and he will jump to it. A few weeks ago I overheard an older child ask him if he was a baby, and TJ replied, "Nope. I a big boy." 

Too big for the crib- that's for sure. While on vacation he
learned how to climb out of the crib which landed him in
the ER for his very first round of x-rays.

Of course 10 mintues after the x-rays he says his arm no longer
hurts and he's ready to leave. After a long wait we find out
that it is indeed broken and TJ is sent on his way with a
temporary cast.

When we got back to Gainesville we had a new "gator blue" 

hard cast put on to replace his temporary one.

We went up to Tallahassee because of some issues with our
town house. While there, TJ got to spend some time with lots
of extended family. He loves every single one of them.
Here he is with cousins, Rex and Mason. 

And here he is with cousins, Warner and Rylee. They were
 so sweet to sign TJ's cast!

Everywhere we went TJ was asked, "What happened!?"
He would always reply- "I broke my arm. I fell out 'da crib"
Here he is telling Ayla what happened to his arm one last
time before having his cast removed.

And here he is immediately after, telling us how "the people
 put headphones on him (to block the noise), and cut TJ's
cast off."

TJ is really into things that move- trucks, trains, cars,
tractors, and airplanes.

He is our sweet little big boy.  He is a ball of energy, and
sometimes finds himself in time out, with a broken arm,
or covered in permanent marker, but we wouldn't have him
any other way. He still loves to help, and tell's me he wants
 to "make mama happy." And that is exactly what he does.