Fun at the pumpkin patch

We spent a fun afternoon at Dewberry Farms. Madeline had a great time and walking around the pumpkin patch saying, "Baaalllll, ballllll, baaaaallllllll." She was so excited by the field full of big orange balls! She also got to ride a tractor train, slide down the bumpy slide, watch the pig races and laugh at the goats. I think after today she has decided she wants to be a pumpkin farmer when she grows up. I wish I could say that fall was in the air, but we left the festivities around 3 as we were all wilting in the 80+ degree heat.

Alligators

We took a break from working today to go to one of our favorite Texas State Parks, Brazos Bend, to see the alligators. It was a beautiful day for a bit of a hike and a picnic.








We saw some fun creatures including a lot of these huge spiders,

about 6 alligators, some of which were very obvious

others, not so much...

and lots of turtles.

I'm not sure that Madeline saw any of these fun creatures, but she sure enjoyed being outside for the day!

Yay for Brazos Bend!

Mmmmmm.....

We went out for a quick dinner tonight and...the best part.....free soft serve ice cream :)

Look who was a big girl and got her first ice cream cone all by herself.










Yes, and as Brian so kindly pointed out, we are THOSE parents. The ones who both have their camera phones out at the restaurant snapping photos and laughing as their little one enjoys her first ice cream cone! Oh well, we all had fun and the ice cream was pretty tasty too!

Mommy's little helper

Poor little Miss M has been quite the sick girl. She stayed home from daycare yesterday and today. She was a mess yesterday and after a trip to the doctor and a little bit of medicine and TLC she was starting to get some of her spunk back today. I had to get some work done and had quite the little helper:

She was fine with me doing a bit of work....as long as she sat on top of my desk. Needless to say, mommy didn't have a very productive day at work!

The afternoon brought some nice weather and we decided to get a bit of fresh air in the backyard. Madeline was quite excited by what may be our last flowers of the season!


Time for a little rest


Hopefully she'll be back to herself by tomorrow!

Fun in the Fountains!

We had a fun weekend, as we decided to buy a bike seat for Madeline and take her out for a few spins. For her inaugural ride, we went downtown to Discovery Green and let her play in the fountains for the first time. We were a bit concerned how she would do in her new seat while wearing a helmet, but when she fell asleep 10 minutes into the ride, we figured she must like it alright! At the park, she was a bit apprehensive about the fountains at first, but quickly got the hang of things and had a great time splashing to and fro. We had dinner before pedaling home watching the sunset.

This morning, we took her for another ride to grab breakfast. She was much more relaxed and didn't protest when we put the helmet on. She had quite a few giggles as we pedaled to breakfast. You could almost hear her saying, "Faster, daddy, faster!" (It won't be long!) She once again fell asleep on the way home. We certainly didn't get as many miles in as we used to, but it was sure fun to get out on the bikes again! Here's hoping for many more rides in our future!


Showing off her new chariot (pre-helmet!)

"Don't leave me yet, daddy!"


"Ohhh, this is fun"



All that splashing makes a girl thirsty

Cute little ruffle bum


Now she's really getting into it!


Happy girl is home again!

Such a big girl at 14 months old!

Today was a nice day by Houston standards--the thermometer stayed below 90 and with a bit of cloud cover, we were able to get outside and enjoy the early evening.

Here is some 14 month old fun!


"Well, hello little frog"

"I think I love you!"

Here comes Madeline!



Silly girl--big smile!


We comment every day on what a big girl she is becoming. She is constantly on the go and provides us with plenty of chuckles as she is developing her little personality. Instead of the usual pictures to capture her last month, we've tried to get video highlights of her new 'tricks.' As Brian says, she seems to learn new tricks every day.

Madeline loves her cat and Cosmo certainly gets the award for the most patient cat ever. Cosmo gets more hugs than anyone in the house. We're working on the word 'gentle' but luckily Cosmo is such a good sport that he only hisses at her on very rare occasion.


She has always been an avid dancer and has rediscovered this hand-me-down car. She knows just the buttons to push to play her favorite song. She's so cute when she claps and dances around!





This one was a bit hard to capture and she was 'set-up' for this video. She picked this up from daycare and had us laughing the first time we saw her do this. When we tell her "no" she will turn around and wag her finger. I've even seen her, when she thinks no one is watching, go up to something that she is not supposed to touch and wag her finger at it.





Our baby can read...we just have no idea what she is saying! She still loves books and has been very interested in furniture her own size. I found this little chair at a consignment shop and have been wanting to refinish it. She loves climbing into it and just sitting there. She'll also just sit there looking at books for the longest time.


She's getting pretty good with a spoon, although it is a messy undertaking. It is fun to watch the concentration that getting the food to your mouth requires!


In other developments, she is beginning to sign back to us. She now signs 'more' for anything she wants and she has also signed 'eat' on a few occasions. It's so fun that she is actually starting to communicate with us! In terms of talking, we *think* she is saying cat, duck, airplane and she is very good at saying uh-oh!

It is so hard to believe that she is 14 months old!