Fall Fun

Our weekend was filled with Fall Festivals. Saturday afternoon Josh and I along with the other CARES Team put on a Fall Festival for Upper E. It was well attended and the kids seemed to have fun. We had a carnival type games, a pinata, face painting, a costume contest, and snacks for the residents. Matt and Jen had some volunteers come and help us out and I am not sure what we would have done without them! Ethan had fun but did not like the scary masks some of the kids were wearing. After they took off the masks he did much better. He especially liked the pinata. I guess he thought it was funny to see kids beating something hanging in the air with a baseball bat :-)!

On Friday we attended the annual Fall Festival that Apartment Life puts on for all of the CARES Teams in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. They have games for the kids, a dunk tank, door prizes, and food. Ethan thought the dunk tank was hilarious. Josh helped him throw the balls to try to dunk someone, which Ethan loved. He also had cotton candy for the first time which he liked but was not crazy about. He was more interested in running around and playing.

Seven weeks

Our sweet Eliana is already seven weeks old! She smiles all the time now, especially when hearing mommy or daddy's voice. It is just the cutest thing ever and is one of those things that just melts my heart. I am not sure if there is a better feeling then seeing your baby smile at you. It is amazing. I don't care what time of night/morning it may be or no matter how tired I am I can't help but smile back and thank God for the gift of my little girl. Seeing Eliana grows reminds me of Ethan as a baby and all those moments..his first smile, when he starting crawling, his first big boy laugh, his first word, etc. Gosh, that first year went by so fast and it makes me sad to think how fast it will be before I am planning Eliana's first birthday! Yet, it is exciting too because Ethan is at such a fun age and enjoys life and learning so much and I know I will have just as much joy watching Eliana at that stage.

Oh how fast

they grow!! Eliana is now six weeks old! She is definitely responding to us more and smiling at us when we speak to her. Eliana is sleeping better at night..five hour to six hour stretches three times this past week. Woo Hoo!! We have discovered that baths really help calm her so we are giving her a bath every night in hope that we get a few more hours of shut eye! She is precious and I can't wait to see what the next few weeks hold as she begins to interact even more with us!!
Ethan is now 19 mos. old and keeps us entertained with his antics. He is way into books now. The first thing he does when after we change his diaper in the morning is sit down in his bedroom and starts reading his Bible. Yes, my son is already quite spiritual..ha ha. We think he likes the Bible because it has paper pages and lots of pictures! Ethan still loves to be outdoors and running around. He is definitely not a home body. He "talks" all the time however we do not always understand him just a word here and there.
Here are some recent pictures!

Six weeks old

Ethan kissing Eliana

Eliana and her doll matching Smiling even while sleeping
This is what he does when I take pictures

Our trip to the Arboretum

On Wednesday we took a trip to the Dallas Arboretum to see the special pumpkin exhibit they have every year. We were not disappointed. It was an excellent exhibit and Ethan had a great time. There were kids everywhere and you should have seen all the moms with their cameras trying to capture the perfect picture. We had a hard time getting Ethan to look at the camera but got some great pictures nevertheless. Eliana slept through most of it but we will go back next year. Of course, Ethan was more interested in the fountain than the pumpkins ;-0. We did not get to see the entire Arboretum but plan to go back in the Spring when they have another special exhibit. Here are just a few from the day. Enjoy!!

Growing and growing...

Eliana is five weeks old as of Tuesday the 7th. I can not believe how fast our little girl is growing. She is beginning to interact more with us and is not sleeping the day away. She is still working on getting the night time routine down but we have had a few five hour stretches recently. She is a very observant baby and takes in everything. She is a cuddler which mommy likes. Ethan is getting more and more comfortable with her and is taking the big brother role seriously. Yesterday she was crying in the car and he leaned over and held her hand to comfort her. It was too cute. Here are some pics at five weeks.

Go Cowboys!!

Being a native Texan, I am a big Dallas Cowboys fan! Even through the bad years or "rebuilding" years I followed the Cowboys. Now, that I live in Dallas and they are half-way decent watching the Cowboys is enjoyable again. Josh and his mom are huge Bronco fans so Ethan has lots of Bronco gear. When Grandma came to visit she bought Ethan his first Cowboys outfit!! They won this past Sunday so perhaps he will wear it every Sunday or at least most Sundays. Here are some pictures of Ethan in his Cowboys gear. Look how cute!!