A great Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween Day, and here are a handful of pictures! These are all on Flickr, too!


Create Your Own!

The Halloween Puppy

Happy Halloween! Drum roll, please! Introducing the Halloween Puppy, Mr. Brayden! Trick or Treat, indeed!

Mr. Puppy

In the pumpkin patch

We've moved north, people, and up here it's fall. The leaves have turned, they're hitting the ground, and we've geared up for all that comes with it. That means pumpkins! Brayden and I went to our local "pumpkin patch" to pick out some pumpkins to carve. Here are some pics of his first trip:

In the patch

I like the red ones!

Ooh, all the pumpkins!

B and Chris in the patch

Some Lovelies

Create Your Own!

Welcome to my humble abode

Patio Party

I told Daddy it was high time we gave you all a tour of our apartment. However, since it was my idea, I'll be leading this safari and showing you all of my favorite places. One of my most favorite places is on our patio. We have a fenced-in yard so Zoey can play outside (she barks in the morning and wakes me up!). She loves to be outside, and so do I. It's lovely to be able to come out into the fresh NoVA air and get a little sun action. I've been working on my tan, can you tell? Thanks.

Some favorite books

Back inside, my favorite place in the family room is in the corner of the sofa. This is where I like to sit, relax, and cuddle up with a good book. Here are two of my favorites. Appropriate for the season, I've been engrossed in "Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever." I'm thinking this will be my best Halloween ever, too! This other book is "On Beyond Zebra," a definite classic. Dr. Seuss... what a clever man. Some people stop at the Z, but not me!

Into the bedroom

Now into the bedroom. If you walk past Mommy and Daddy's bedroom, you'll find this little gem. As you can see, I'm in my Bumbo seat, a dandy. The entry way has all of my other books down on the bottom shelf (Mommy and Daddy needed to borrow the upper shelves for all their extra books, sheesh!). At least I have my own little white shelf for books and toys and other things. By the way, what do you think of my rug? I have a blue theme going with a touch of yellow and green, and this was my favorite rug at the store. It's got a good pile and doesn't hurt to play on, plus it matched my duvet!

In my glider

So here it is, the main part of my Master Suite (don't tell Mommy I called it that!). I'm in the glider Mommy uses to rock me to sleep. Behind me you can see quite a few things, including two of my favorite pieces of decor. On the left is the alphabet cross-stitch Gigi made for me, framed in yellow. On the right is a Curious George print that Aunt Elyse gave me at my baptism! They both work so well in the room -- colorful and fun, but not too silly.

My bed

If you turn to your left, you'll see my bed (or "crib" if you must use that word). Behind the crib is the changing table - always a very refreshing experience. Over my bed you can see the quilt from my bedding set. I decided to go with an animal print with some of my favorites: particularly the giraffes and monkeys. Daddy said he may paint some of the animals on the walls, but that hasn't happened yet.... I definitely enjoy looking at all the animals at night when I'm lying awake, making "beautiful music."

The bed YOU would use

This is the guest bed - one must be hospitable! Zoey decided to join me up here. She's be jealous that I've been giving the tour. Mommy and Daddy made these great letters. I've been practicing spelling my name, but I'm not quite there. Daddy told me it would take until I was about 6 months old before I could do that. Until then, I just believe that those letters spell my name. Okay, that's just about it. Ooh, wait! I forgot one more place to show you!

In my play gym

I just about forgot my favorite place to play! I love spending QT in my play gym. AND, this gives you a chance to see the last little bit of my room. The highboy has some great stuff on top, like my CD player (great at night) and my matching lamp. On top of all that, it's my barrel of toys! As you can see, I love my toys and keep them together at all times. I can't wait to walk around town with all my toys in tow. People will be jeaaaa-lous.

I've really enjoyed showing you around! Come back anytime and we'll play!

Some more Floridians

Darcy, B-boy, and Anh-Vu

Back to some of what's been happening over the past few weeks. One of the highlights was seeing some friends from Florida. Granted, Anh-Vu was here on business and Darcy was simply coming to spend the weekend with him, but we got to see them, too. AND introduce them to the man himself. Anh-Vu and Darcy first came to St. John's Sunday morning so they could see me in action, then we met up with Nicole and Brayden for lunch.

Brayden's new friend

We had lunch at Generous George's Positive Pizza and Pasta Restaurant. It's a staple here in Alexandria and definitely worth a trip. If you look closely, you can see that the entire restaurant is painted in crazy-bright, fluorescent colors... and Brayden loves it! Salut!

A grand weekend

Hi all -- this is going to be a wordy post, no fun pictures (sorry!). We've been having a very busy couple of weeks, especially around town. There are quite a few things to share, especially the visit of some great Florida friends (pictures coming). Anh-Vu and Darcy were up a week ago and we had a great time. Brayden loved seeing them.

Brayden's become quite the hot-boy. He loves people and people love him. In fact, he's the one people are most excited to see (go figure) whenever we go out. We have been to quite a few cookouts and dinner parties and other full-'o-fun gatherings, and our friends love him. When we walk up with him in our arms, he's immediately snatched away and we don't see him until it's time to leave. He's a fun little boy.

He's teething, we're almost positive, although we haven't actually seen any teeth just yet. He's chewing on everything in sight and drooling (the tell-tale sign). I am happy to report that he's remained in a very pleasant disposition, by and large, especially considering some of the horror stories of other infants we're heard. He even sat through my sermon without so much as a peep on Sunday!

Speaking of preaching, in case anyone needs to kill some time or simply missed church on Sunday (or for quite a few Sundays...), you can take a gander at my pastorness by clicking here to get to the St. John's website. You can also just click here for a direct link. If you read it, pass on your thoughts!

Alright, enough rambling. We send our love to all! Don't stay away too long.

Here's Mommy!

As promised, here are some recent pictures of Nicole and Brayden! We don't take nearly enough pictures of the two of them, so keep your eye out for more, soon!

Getting ready to go out

Out with friends!

Daddy and Me

Allow me to indulge myself with a few pictures of Brayden and me. Nicole took a few pictures the other day, and those will be up later. Until then, here are some of just the boys:

The steps of the National Cathedral

Around the apartment

In the National Mall

Hey... you in there?

shh... hi there

Psst. Are you there? I snuck away from Mommy to see if I could catch you looking at the blog. I see you're here! Yay! (ooh... shh!) I'm sorry Daddy hasn't been posting much recently, but we've had "the talk" and he's promised to be better. I'll keep reminding him because I miss you and love to see you when you come over to my corner of the web. Don't stay away too long! ;)

Ladies in DC

It's been a week since our wonderful visit with lots of family - particularly Gigi and Nama. They had planned to travel here with their hubbies, but due to other circumstances, it became a girl's weekend. Here are some great pictures:

Nama, B, and Gigi

Fun in Old Towne

Storytime with Nama

Some PA family came down to visit, too! Here we are in the National Mall:

B and Jen

Hangin' with Ross

Everyone loves a laugh

I know it's been quite awhile since the last post, and I apologize for the delinquency. Gigi and Nama visited over the weekend from Florida, and I delivered my first sermon today, and Nicole's swamped with work, and... There will be more on the grands' visit soon.

Until then, check out this video. FYI: I'm playing with Zoey and holding the camera (so it's a little shaky). Want to feel happy -- here's the key: