Family fun weekend...

Wow, this week has flown by...busy at work and busy at home! I know for all of you still waiting for your referrals to come in, time seems to stand still. Please believe me that once you get home with your little one time starts moving at rocket speed and you'll wish it would slow down.

I wanted to post some pics from last weekend, since we had such a nice one. On Saturday night we had my mom, my brother and his family over for a belated birthday celebration (my brother's b-day). Lauren doesn't see her cousins very often because of busy schedules for everyone, so it has taken her a while to really be comfortable with them. She has definitely come around and she had an absolute ball on Saturday and followed Josh around all night. It was so cute. Josh loves to scoop her up and carry her around and she doesn't seem to mind at all, as you can see in this layout...


Here's my brother with Josh and Lauren...


On Sunday, we had dinner at Joe's parents' house for my sister-in-law's birthday. Lauren had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa and her Aunts and Uncle...she really is coming into her own at this point and opening up quite a bit with our extended family...


We stopped at Starbucks for a snack on Sunday and I snapped these cute pics...

Fall is finally here!

I love fall. It's my very favorite time of year and I love everything that comes along with it. Here in the Phoenix area, we finally get a break from the scorching hot temperatures, which in itself is reason to celebrate. I love pumpkin pie; the smell of cinnamon and cloves; the warm, soothing colors of fall; baking; hot chocolate; and just taking time to reflect on what we are thankful for. This year the season is even better shared with Miss Lauren.

Since we don't get the cold weather and changing of the leaves outside, I have little touches of fall all around the house...

Pretty hair...

Lauren doesn't like to have clips or ribbons in her hair, but this past week was a landmark achievement. She went almost half an hour with a little ponytail and ribbon.

We were at our weekly get-together/play date with a couple of friends and Nancy (who's mom to 3yr old Lily, who loves ribbons and flowers in her hair) styled Lauren's hair with a pretty bow. It was so cute and looked so girlie compared to the usual plain look of Lauren's hair...



Nancy would be proud, because I did her hair again today in the same way and she actually wore it for a little while. Of course, she had to be totally distracted while getting it styled and I had to be sure she didn't see herself in the mirror. Oh, and no one could mention it or acknowledge that she looked pretty...that would have been the end really fast. Finally, a couple of hours after having it in, she put her hands up on her head and felt it. That was the end...it was out in mere seconds! Oh well...it was cute while it lasted.