Canvas, Carrots, and Cousin

It's school picture time! This year, picture day was a rare warm October day, so they took them outside. They turned out wonderfully!







Go to the photographer's website if you want to order some. They're expensive, but we couldn't resist the one of the boys together.

We missed a week of good home picture-taking, because Marshall was sick and wasn't too interested in smiling, even away from the camera. Luckily, he's back to normal!



That's his carrots face. He also loves pears and bananas. What should we try next? Maybe we'll be up to that delicious turkey-in-a-jar before Thanksgiving.

Last weekend was Daddy's last band contest. We are so proud of the Pride (yuk yuk) and how well they did at Semi-state. We are also SO happy to have our weekends free once again! Uncle David, Aunt Hilary, and Gavin came up and hung out too. Marshall had fun showing Gavin how to play some tunes on his favorite toy, the piano.



Next up - a couple of cute dinos on Halloween!

A Prediction

Jason and I were sitting on the couch last night watching the Tigers game when I glanced up and realized that Miles was wearing his Tigers hat in this year's pictures:

Then, I started to think back. Miles had his one-year pictures taken in his Colts jersey:

And...the Colts went on to lose in the Super Bowl that next season.

Miles had his two-year pictures taken in his Butler gear:



And...that was sandwiched in the middle of two straight losses in the NCAA National Championship game.

So, I'll go out on a limb to say that the Tigers will win the American League, only to lose it in the World Series. It's an honor just to make it to the championship, right?

In less loserly pursuits, Marshall is the proud bearer of one tooth! On October 7, Aunt Ashley and I discovered it - quite a surprise! The best part of it all is that there was no whiny, sad, long, drawn-out process. Marshall has never been the best sleeper - sure, he goes right back to sleep - but he was up every hour or two that week. Other than that, he was his normal, happy self! He's so happy that one of his teachers at day care said she thinks he might be the happiest baby she's ever had.

But, as usual, the picture I have to share is of crazy-face Marshall...but cute nonetheless!

Goin' to the Lodge

We had a big weekend! As is thankfully becoming a tradition, Jason's band swept District contest by winning every caption and coming in first place. We broke out the ol' Bee (scratch that - Yellow Jacket) costume once again, partially for cuteness and partially for warmth:



After the contest, we packed up the "brown car" and headed down to Cincinnati to meet the Kolbs at Great Wolf Lodge. We had all kinds of little things go wrong:

• We explored every inch of Mason, Ohio looking for the La Rosa's Pizza. Thanks, Crappy GPS, for telling us that La Rosa's was smack dab in the middle of Kings Island.
  
• Aunt KK accidentally took a sleeping pill instead of an anti-nausea pill right before we arrived. She was a trooper though and stayed awake all evening!
  
• Marshall arrived with an exploding nappy, which required a classy sink bath:
  
  
  
  
• We missed story time with the Wolf, even though the brochure said we were right on time. Luckily, Miles still got a pic:
  
  
  
• The girl at the ice cream shop literally pulled ice cream from a crying kid's hands. The front desk told us we could charge food to our room with our fancy pants bracelets, so we ordered the ice cream and stood in line to pay. Then the cashier tells us money has to be pre-loaded for it to work. And yes, not a single one of us had any money. Poor Miles - we were walking down the hall after he had calmed down, when he realized he was still holding the spoon. "What is this spoon for?" Pic in happier pre-ice cream debacle times:
  
  
  

The good news? Despite all of this, we all had a great time! Miles was a brave guy and went down the little water slide at least 5 times...he also has asked me if we could return at least 5 times too!





In totally unrelated news, Marshall had his 6-month well baby visit today. He was a good boy, even with the round of shots he got. He cried a little after the shot but managed to flash the nurse a smile of forgiveness before she left. He is 17 pounds (31%) and 26 1/2 inches (41%). That's a little smaller than his last appointment, but the doc didn't mention it, so we're guessing it's not an issue. It's good news for hand-me-downs though - above-average Miles born in June and below-average Marshall born in March means perfect sizing!

Since I last posted, Marshall is also sitting up! He had he first taste of cereal a couple of weeks ago and is doing well with it. We try green beans tomorrow!