Brass Monkey...Chunky...

Celebrating Tessa's first Halloween. Here we are arriving at a Chili Cookoff/Trunk-or-treat at the church.



It was raining in Philly, so instead of having the kids go around begging for treats at everyone's cars, we all stayed indoors. Tess and I took a walk down the hallway to check out what candies were available.



We decided not to actually walk around with her collecting candy. Instead we gave her one wrapped up ring pop, and the crinkling plastic kept her attention until the trick-or-treating was done.



So we just hung out with Aunt Miriam and passed out candy.



By the end of the activity, this is how our little angel was feeling. And we didn't even make her walk around a neighborhood. Afterwards we went home, passed out candy to the neighborhood kids and watched the Phillies lose.

A few more new videos...

Kisses and Hugs:



Future Band Leader of America:



Have Your People Call My People:

Ready for Halloween...

...our little monkey is! I'm going to have to clip that little pink bow (or something even more conspicuously girly) to her ear to fend off the inevitable comments about what a cute son I have.

Notice how she's holding her favorite matching monkey friend. We love this girl!

She's using her words now...

...and she has at least three of them!



I think she thinks "nana" means all food. Here's why: when I feed her banana, I always say "nana" but I haven't really been telling her the names of anything else I give her. And then whenever I'm cooking or I have food that she wants to eat, she crawls up and says "nana" over and over again. In between saying "nana" she opens her mouth to make it clear she wants a bite.

She's not confused at all about who her mama is, though. And she's getting a pretty solid grip on the dada concept too.

Because we like to entertain ourselves more than her sometimes...

We decided to get a headstart on Christmas pageant practice this year. Tess volunteered to be Mary. Ever innovative, she chose to do a modern take on the traditional Mary costume, inspired by the popular (in some circles) mullet hairdo. Therefore, her look is business in the front:

Party in the back! WHOOOO!!!!!

"WHY are you all looking at me like that."

Vid-E-Os....

Swinging:


Piano practice:


"Old Man Walk" (from a few months ago):


Tessa-toss:

Four years...

On August 19, Josh and I celebrated four years of wedded bliss. Look at how happy he is to still be married to me! :) Stupid delayed camera flash....

To celebrate, I stayed home with Tess all day while Josh worked until midnight at his custodial job. Yes, we are naturally festive that way. As an anniversary surprise, while he was working I baked a pan of brownies with the words "happy 4th" spelled out in chocolate chips on top. Domesticity FTW! The funny thing was that he also brought home brownie cookies (and flowers) for me - WE ARE THAT IN SYNC.

Here is the best thing we have to show for ourselves after four years, as she schemes of ways to give us a run for our money during the next four.