Halloween

Macy and Marshall having fun at a Halloween Party!

Macy, the Mermaid.

Marshall, the cowboy!

The Bicycle Rodeo

Bicycles as far as you can see awaiting their riders in the Bicycle Rodeo on Wednesday, October 23.

When Macy found her purple bicycle with training wheels, she was just beaming. Notice her "High School Musical Bear" sitting in the back...with its helmet on also!

The little boy in front of her is checking out the bear. He's probably thinking, "GIRLS!"
Here she is coming down the finish line, with Dad giving her words of encouragement. She really did an amazing job of staying inside the yellow lines on all the events. She was very proud of herself and loved getting her "Blue Ribbon." Marshall was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing, but he enjoyed playing with the little transformer his mom had just given him. Next year, Marshall, it will be YOUR turn!

Macy and the Trapeze Artists

Macy was busy entertaining herself with her Fisher-Price dollhouse family in the living room. I saw her doing something with them on the coffee table, then got distracted. After she left to go home, I went back into the room and saw this! I guess they have all become part of the circus trapeze show!

What really made me laugh, however, was the fact that the babies were all being held, upside down, by the grown-ups!

Busy Little Ainsley

You can't really see the teeth marks Ainsley just put in the table at The Black Lab in Houston, but she left her mark there!

Ainsley wasn't sure she liked the statue of an English guard at the restaurant, so Mommy held her tightly!

One of her favorite things to do is listen to books being read to her, especially after she pulls out an entire basket of books and sits in the middle of them!

She loves to walk around and around the coffee table. She'd let go and take just a few steps. It won't be long before she is running through the house! Look at her new "Bobux shoes!" Very stylish!

She just fits in the little chair that was originally bought for Macy, when she visited Aunt Leenie and Uncle John at about this age. And she looooooved the new Dora tent and tunnel that Daddy bought her!

I think it's safe to say, Ainsley has taken over the family room! It is child-proof, and full of everything an 11-month old loves to play with.

Here is a very sleepy little girl waving "bye-bye" to me this morning. See you in a few weeks, Ainsley! It was another fun weekend getting to play with you, Mom, Dad, and your Gigi.

Hurricane Ike and Tornado Ainsley

The headline on the tv screen says it all! Hurricane Ike hit the Houston/Galveston coastal area and we were lucky to have John, Colleen, Ainsley and Colleen's mom, Carolyn come stay with us for four nights. Ainsley was a delight, but she was as busy as a tornado! We entertained her with all kinds of toys and make-shift toys, like the laundry basket, which she enjoyed sitting in....

....and crawling under! It also served as a blockade to keep her away from the tv dials which she discovered.

She made us laugh with her "tongue action." The more we laughed, the more she did it!

John thought of an easy solution to the glass-top coffee table, which Ainsley loved to bang her hands on! It soon became a little play area, which she enjoyed! We hated to see all of them leave this morning, to go back to a house with no power, but they were anxious to see the damage caused by Hurricane Ike, and to begin cleaning out their refrigerator and freezer, fixing the fence which blew down, and making other repairs. It was an unplanned, but great visit.

"The Texas Tornado"

Colleen had to go to Florida for a few days on a business trip, so I went to Houston to help John. He told me the afternoon I got there, that Ainsley had become a "little tornado." Soon, I found out why, and totally agreed with him! At ten months old, she is all over the house and moves faster than a tornado, in to everything! She crawls, pulls up, and walks holding on to things. I soon learned that if I went into the kitchen, in about 10 seconds, she would be directly under me! When she found an unplugged cord in the living room, under the sofa, I barricaded her from getting to it again, but that made it more intriguing, and she managed to crawl over or under all my barricading attempts. When I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I took her with me and closed the door. She found the little cap that covers the screw that holds the toilet to the floor. Immediately, that was going into her mouth. I had to stand on that while I was leaning over the sink to brush my teeth. Then she was into the trash can, tipping it over looking for any tidbit to put into her mouth! Diaper time? This is when she became a REAL tornado. After putting on the safety strap to secure her to the changing table, she starts crying and then digs her heels in and pushes to try to escape off the table, head first. Then she does her "tornado twirl" and flips over to her stomach. All of this must be anticipated with diaper wipes and a clean diaper ready to go! It could easily take two people to change her diaper, but I managed. Oh, did I say, she had a case of diarrhea the first day, so this routine was repeated many times, to include a change of outfit for both of us, afterward!

She loves pushing the little red wagon, which Macy walked with at the same age. She pushes it across the room, then waits for someone to turn it around, and she pushes it back.

One of her favorite things to do is playing "Peek-A-Boo" over and under the coffee table. She belly-laughed everytime she went under....
...or popped up!

Ainsley's favorite two toys of the week were a plastic bowl and a plastic coffee scoop, which she'd put in her mouth and crawl with!

She learned that when she did this, I'd laugh, so she did it over and over and over and...over!


The second night I was there, Ainsley woke up several times during the night. The next evening, John fed her a huge bowl of cereal and applesauce, until she was about ready to pop!! I gave her a bath, then a bottle, put her in bed about 8:30, and we both thought it would be a peaceful night...WRONG! She was awake at 11 and then again at 11:30, when he finally gave in and fixed her another bottle

God indeed had a "master plan" when he gave babies to young people and not senior citizens! While she kept me busy every waking minute of her day, she is such a delightful, happy little girl. John even asked the day care people if he could get a discount, "because she is so cute." They thought about it, but wouldn't give in! I just wish I lived closer so I could get my "Ainsley Fix" more often. See you next month, Texas Tornado!!

Mimi and Marshall Have a "Special Day"

Marshall's school doesn't start until after Labor Day, so the two of us headed to New Braunfels for what Marshall called, "Our Special Day." We were planning to go to Landa Park and ride the train, but got there only to find out the train is only operating on weekends and holidays now that school has started. Landa Park sure looked different than it did a few weeks ago when tubers filled the river. He wanted to take a water jug, then saw his visor, so he put that on, then as we were walking out the door, he said, "Wait, I need my sunglasses," and he ran to the kitchen drawer where he keeps them and put them on! We were off!

When we got in the car, he buckled up and began chanting, "OK, let's move it, move it, move it, Babeeee!" I laughed, and he repeated it many times until we got to New Braunfels, both of us laughing each time.Bear goes on all outings, but lately, Marshall has decided that he MUST be buckled in for safety. I takes him a while to do this process in the backseat between the two carseats, so I've started just taking Bear and putting him in the seat next to me. I am always instructed specifically to put his back feet BELOW the belt, and his front feet ABOVE the belt. Oh, and nothing else can be on the seat with him. My purse must be on the console between us! He always checks to make sure I do it correctly. This buckling passed inspection.

Since the train was not running, we went to the Children's Museum, which he loves. We had eaten an early lunch, so by 12:00, the place cleared out of all the other children and we had it virtually to ourselves! We will remember this on trips in the future. One of his favorite places there is the tool area, where he tinkered with lots of things. This is a working door bell that he is trying to fix.

He always loves the grocery store, but couldn't quite reach all the items he wanted! Here is looking for---what else---macaroni and cheese!He had the water area all to himself! He played here for about thirty minutes!

He even enjoyed the hospital nursery, because there wasn't a herd of girls playing there. Here, he is weighing a newborn baby. He had me dress one of the babies who was "naked."Here he is pretending to be sick. He got in the ambulance and told me to get in the driver's seat, turn on the lights, and drive him to the hospital, which I did. He actually looked and talked like he was pretty sick. Beware, Mom and Dad, he knows how to FAKE it, pretty well!!! After about two hours of museum time, running to the different areas, nonstop, we decided to head for home. He got very quiet when we got on IH 35, and I looked in the backseat and he was OUT! After we got home, he asked if he could take a bath. Little did I know the funniest part of the day was yet to come!! See below!

This is a little hard to see in this photo. He said, "Look Mimi, I can make DOUBLE BUBBLES!" He took his arm and rubbed it up and down his side and then slowly put his hands on his hips and the open area in between his body and his arms formed a huge bubble!! I said, "Marshall how did you learn how to do that?" He said, "Mommy taught me." When I asked her about this, she said, no, that he and Macy figured out how to do it accidentally one day! He was very proud of himself! This was the perfect ending to our "special day!" Thank you, Marshall, for another great memory! You make me laugh every time we're together!