Dinner in the City

Our friends Adam and Annie Briggs were in town this past week. Adam was here for business and Annie and Violet came along for fun. We decided to meet up for dinner in Philly and catch up. We also met our friends Kim and Dave.



The girls. It took us a little longer to get there since we hit rush our on the way. Once we got there it was dark and the city was all lit up. I love visiting big cities at night. There were so many people out and so much to see. It was our first time in Philly. We ate at a little restaurant called the Italian Bistro. Xavier was so excited to see his "grown up" friends. We were too.



Here are the boys. Xavier and Dave were especially hamming it up this evening. Dave kept trying to give gnocchi to Xavier and Xavier kept insisting that he didn't like gnocchi only macaroni. We also got to sing happy birthday to Adam on his special day.



When everyone was done eating Xavier and Violet played together. He would make her squeal and they would both laugh. It was super cute. There is a running joke that Xavier wants to marry Kim, so we had to tease Dave for that. Saying he better watch out because he had some competition. Dave was giving Xavier a hard time and told him he had to find his own wife. So Xavier said "I want to marry Violet!" Adam said "You're gonna have to ask my permission first." So Xavier instantly replied, "Can I marry her?" It was hilarious. Xavier has now made his first marriage proposal. Better yet, he even gave Violet a kiss, well, several kisses. We had to stop that before Adam put the smack down.

It was so nice to see our friends and hopefully we can make it back to the city soon to do some real sight seeing.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Tim celebrated his 31st birthday on September 13th. We were so excited to celebrate this day! Xavier helped me pick out a giant card that had a song on it, we made a special dinner, and an M&M cake. Tim is the best daddy to our two little boys and I'm so glad they have such a great guy to be their example. He treats his wife well, he works hard for his family, he is honest, he is loveable, he makes us laugh, he is smart, he is genuine to everyone he meets, and is our favorite "candy man". Happy Birthday hun! Here's to many more years of birthdays to come!



DAD with his two boys. He makes pretty cute babies huh?



Watch Xavier's eyes in these pictures.



He's trying really hard not to eat an M&M off the cake and right before this last photo he snagged one off the edge.



The M&M cake.

Nature Walk

I have to document this because it was quite hilarious. Today our family took a nice Sunday stroll on the nature trail by our house. It seems that everyone has a dog around here. When we pass people walking their dogs Xavier always asks what the dogs names are. On this particular Sunday we happened to pass a woman with two little dogs. Xavier did his usual and asked what their names were. Then we continued on our walk.

Ten minutes later we passed the same woman and Xavier decided he wanted to pet the dogs this time. This is how the rest of the encounter unfolds:

Xavier, "Can I pet your dogs?"

Woman, "Sure, they might give you kisses. Is that okay?"

Xavier, "No, that's icky."

Tim and I proceed to pet the dogs to show Xavier all they'll do is lick his hands. Xavier warms up to the dogs and starts playing with them and having fun. Then the woman says, "Now I get to pick up the poop. That's the not so fun part."

Xavier "Why do you have to pick up the poop?"

Woman, "Well I pick it up and throw it away. Everybody poops!"

Xavier, "Yeah. I poop!"

Woman, "You do?!"

Xavier, "I poop on the potty. I make big poops just like Optimus Prime!"

Me, "Okay Xavier tell her thank you. Let's keep walking."

We thank the woman and tell her to have a good night.

So there you have it. Xavier has a poop conversation with a complete stranger. She now knows he poops on the toilet and also the size of his poops. I'm sure that was the highlight of her day.

I guess poop is also a part of nature and that would make our "nature" walk complete.

CHUBBY Champ

The stats are in:

14 lbs. 6 oz.

25 inches long

2 months old

Gavin wins the CHUBBY CHAMP award! I love every roll.

Lehigh Valley Zoo

Summer wouldn't be complete without a trip to the zoo. We had a couple to choose from, the Philadelphia Zoo or the Lehigh Valley Zoo. The second one was closer so we opted for that one. It was much smaller than the Philly Zoo, more like the Lansing Zoo.

On our way to the zoo Xavier said "Will there be lions and tigers?"

Tim said, "Nope not at this zoo. But there is a really cool lynx"

Xavier, "Will there be giraffes?"

Tim, "Probably not."

"Will there be elephants or bears?"

"I don't think so, but there might be some zebras."

We were starting to second guess our decision to go to the smaller zoo. What's a zoo without bears, elephants, giraffes, and lions right? We went anyway and had a good time, but next time we're definitely driving the extra 30 minutes to go to the Philadelphia Zoo.

Xavier's favorite exhibit was the penguins.

I enjoyed the camels. They were so close and there was one that was sleeping. It looked like a big blob on the ground.

Did you know that zebras have their own stripe pattern just like humans have their own unique fingerprint? I think this is the closest I've been to a zebra. Usually the zebras are way in the back of an exhibit and you can never see them very well.

This was such a neat contrast- an entire pond of bright orange fish and one big golden yellow fish in the middle.

Xavier fed the goats. Boy did they get excited when they saw food in Xavier's hand. They'd hop right up to his face to get a treat.

We even fed some birds.

Lions or tigers or bears- who needs 'em?

Chalk Art

After many attempts to get Xavier interested in coloring and drawing I sort of gave up for a little while. I did notice he loved drawing on chalkboards at church. Then I got him a magna doodle to try and spark his interest again. Then last Saturday he surprised me. I was bringing in the groceries and he spotted the big bucket of chalk in our garage. He's never drawn things that you could really tell were anything. At least until today! The picture above is his first person. He told me it was Henry (Tim's friend from school that hangs out at our place sometimes.) Then he drew himself next to Henry and a football.
He couldn't get enough and drew more and more pictures. These are his jellyfish.

Below is our garage after Xavier's creative journey. Now every time I go in my garage I get to admire Xavier's wonderful pictures. It's like having my own art gallery.

Football is Back

Fall is here and football is back. Saturdays are our favorite day of the week in the fall. Grilling, watching football, and cheering on our Spartans bring spirit and excitement to our weekends. To open the season we invited our friend Henry and his girlfriend Saji over for some BBQ and football fun. Best of all, Gavin has officially become the newest Richardson Spartan.

Game face on!

Will we be good this year? Gavin is a little nervous, but thinks they look promising

Gavin bleeds green.

Mommy, Daddy and Xavier have been singing the fight song to Gavin often. He's still a little overwhelmed, but I'm sure he'll be singing it at 1 1/2 like Xavier did.

2 for 2. Go Spartans!

TWO Months

TWO MONTHS OLDS

Two little hands, two little feet, two little ears, and two beautiful blue eyes.

Two a.m. feedings. Too much laundry. Two months and almost twice his birthweight.

One adorable smirk.

Two happy parents who love this little man.

Eat, Pray, Love

I finally finished reading this book. I started it when Gavin was born and have been slowly trying to find time to get through it. I loved reading this book. Now I can go see the movie. Too bad I don't have all my Michigan buddies to see it with. I might just have to go by myself and leave the kiddos with daddy.