Texas Trip 10/25/10

As you can see Julia had lots of fun shaking the balloons around. We had lots of fun in Texas and our week went by fast but we were glad to go home and see daddy too.

Texas Trip 10/24/10 - Kim's Baby Shower

Amy (Brad's step sister), Aunt Kim, and I hanging out before the guest arrive for the shower.


This is my absolute favorite picture from our trip and my favorite picture of Julia and Aunt Kim. They both look great. If you look close enough you can see the bruise on Julia's forehead. The night before we went to TCBY for some yogurt and Julia bumped into the corner of a table.


The proud parents-to-be. Brad came to say hello to everyone at the shower for a little bit and to take some photos too.


Julia was so good at the shower, actually she was so good the whole trip including on the airplane. She had a blast playing with a dish of candy and pretending to have Elmo eat all the candy. She thought it was hilarious. I must say it made me laugh too, it was pretty funny!


Aunt Kimmy is so silly and had the cake say Baby Denno Likes Cake!


Kim got tons of the owl stuff she registered for which is the theme of her nursery. Looks like Baby Denno will be styling with that bib but might be a bit small for mommy.


We never took a picture of just Kim and I at the shower so we did once we got home in front of the newly stained fence.


Julia loves playing in her car seat so she was in heaven when we had to bring it inside since we had to switch cars. Aunt Kim didn't realize she had so many things for Julia to play with but she enjoyed playing with the bouncer we gave them and an infant car seat.

Texas Trip 10/22/10

On our second day we went to the zoo. They were having a special event called Zoo Boo where they had different stations set up around the zoo. Some were for trick-or-treating, painting a pumpkin, coloring a mural, or getting a tattoo. Julia got her first tattoo at the Houston Zoo. Again it was pretty hot and luckily Julia's Halloween costume was a tutu and a shirt that we could roll up the sleeves. Some kids were wearing heavy costumes and they had to be sweating. Julia really liked seeing the bear in the water and we still talk about it today and she says rub dub since that's what she says when someone is taking a bath.

Texas Trip 10/21/10

On our first full day in Texas we went to Herman Park and rode the train. Julia loved the choo choo train and I must say it was late October and still 90 degrees....crazy.


When we got off the train we found some ducks but we didn't have any food to give them but Julia enjoyed looking at them. After looking at them for a while Aunt Kim and Julia scared them away by getting too close.


After nap we headed to the Children's Museum of Houston which was free from 5-8. We got to check out the museum and do some trick-or-treating there too. One of the rooms in the museum was a grocery store with tons of fake food. Julia enjoyed getting a basket and filling it up with lots of yummy fruit.


I liked this wall toy with all the pictures. We should have played there for longer but the museum was getting crowded and we wanted to check out a few more things and get home to eat dinner at a reasonable time.

Pumpkin Patch

On Wednesday mornings Julia and I are part of a 'Mommy and Me Outing' group. We've gone to many fun places and last week before we went to Texas we went to the Pumpkin Patch. She had fun picking up the pumpkins and carrying them around.

Julia's using her muscles and being as cute as ever. Even though you can't see it her shirt says 'My Little Pumpkin.'

Look at all the little pumpkins! Julia found the cutest little pumpkin ever in the pumpkin patch and now it's sitting on our porch with the one she painted from the previous week.

When we got home she colored the coloring pages they gave us. She always uses the bench that Thomas made her when she colors...soon she'll be doing this in her new playroom. After a little lunch we were off to Texas.

Life is Good

It's so nice not having to wake Julia up in the morning. Usually she wakes up at about 7:30-7:45 but today she slept until 8:45 and it was nice being able to let her sleep. It was one of those days where I'm so thankful that I don't have to rush around in the morning to get her ready to leave so I could get to work. It's great being able to stay home with her and relax in the mornings and take our time. Before we went downstairs this morning Julia got into the closet and found a book with pictures of lots of cars and sat down (in the closet) and started to look at it, all she wanted to do was read. I know this never would happen if we had to get out the door early. I'm very fortunate to be able to stay home with her and enjoy all the little things along with the big things...thanks Thomas! Just in case you're wondering the book Julia picked out was Five Little Monkeys Wash the Car.

Trunk or Treat

This evening they had Trunk or Treat at our church. A friend from our playgroup was going and asked if we wanted to join them. It was perfect. Cars just lined up and decorated their cars and had chairs set up like tailgating and the kids went from trunk to trunk to trick or treat. It was perfect for little Julia since trick or treating is all new to her. She really didn't know what was going on but had fun anyways. I was going to have her be a butterfly but I never found a costume I liked so I decided on a ballerina instead. Everything I bought for her costume can be worn again so it worked out great. Julia knew her skirt was called a tutu and if you asked her what it was she said tutu...it was so cute! I tried getting her a tierra for her hair but never found one small enough that she would leave in, she just kept pulling them off so we skipped that part of the costume.


Daddy and Julia having fun trick or treating. This was the first year the church did this and it was quite successful so I'm sure they'll be doing it again next year.


Julia's walking through the pumpkin patch checking out all the pumpkins.


Julia was quite excited to get a bag of goldfish from someone especially since she has no idea about candy.


Carrying her pumpkin just like a purse.


Just laughing and having fun! I must say her tutu cute shirt fits her quite well.


Julia and Bradon digging into the candy bowl and filling up their pumpkins. They both have no idea what candy is but they had fun putting it into their pumpkins.


The first thing you do when you get home from trick or treating is check out all the candy you got, well Julia did the same thing. She even got a pink bat ring that daddy is holding.


Julia loved carrying her pumpkin. She had to use her muscles to carry it since it got a bit heavy.


Julia wanted to give daddy kisses through the gate. She kept pointing at a place between the gate and wanted daddy to give her a kiss there. It was so cute...who could refuse.

Pumpkin Painting

Today at playgroup we painted pumpkins. We were suppose to do it two weeks ago but we had to cancel since Julia was running a fever. Julia had fun painting her pumpkin which is now sitting on our porch.


My friend's son Bradon was such a mess...maybe because he's a boy. He had the paint all over his clothes, hair, face, and even on his belly (who knows how it got there). You could definitely tell Julia was my daughter as she stayed pretty clean and only had paint on her hands.


Don't they look cute? It was lots of fun and Julia's pumpkin looks great!

New York City

Julia and Mommy had fun on our trip to NYC. Here we are in the Toys R Us in Times Square riding on the ferris wheel. We were so excited to get the Little Tikes car since Julia has this car at home. If you look close enough you'll see Elmo, he came along for the ride too!


While walking around Times Square we spotted Elmo but Julia was taking a nap in the stroller. I asked Elmo how long he would be there and decided to come back so Julia could get a little rest. She was quite excited to see him. She didn't want to have her picture taken alone so I got in the picture too! Julia loved seeing Elmo and waved bye to him.


Day 2 in NYC and Julia is enjoying a nap in her stroller in Central Park. The weather was perfect, not hot or cold but very comfortable for walking around. Of course Elmo came along too!


After lots of walking through Central Park we finally found the merry go round. One would think there would be signs everywhere leading to the merry go round but there wasn't.


Grandma and Julia enjoying the water fountain in front of The Plaza and FAO Schwartz.


Julia was in Sesame Street heaven holding Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird. She probably would have held more if she could have carried them. We had lots of fun going into the city three days in a row and Julia was the perfect traveler. We were glad to get back home since we missed daddy.

Apple Picking 2010

One of our favorite things to do in the fall is to go Apple Picking in the North Georgia Mountains. It was such a beautiful day up there and we enjoyed some delicious fried apple pies from the bakery at the orchard. Julia tried out some apples as we were picking and used her sign language to show she wanted more.


Walking through the apple orchard having some water to quench her thirst.


Mommy, Daddy, and Julia walking through the apple orchard. Our friends Paul and Sarah are holding our bag of apples so it looks like we weren't doing any work but we picked a large bag for us and a small bag for our neighbors.


Mommy and her little girl Julia. She just started saying mama lately and she's been saying it a ton...I love it! The other day I left the room and she said mama, mama, mama - it was great to hear it since I've heard so much dada.


We had so much fun apple picking and I know we'll be going again next year. By then, I'm sure Julia will be able to help pick the apples more.