Pumpkin Carving

Last night we had some friends over for pumpkin carving. It was a lot of fun! The kids played and watched, Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Everyone's pumpkin turned out really good, but the pictures were hard to get with the lights.

Buddies

Alina liked dancing to the music in Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Jessica and Kim

Josh toasted the seeds for us, they were great!

Serious carving going on!

Burton in his vaquero costume

OUR Pumpkin, it really looks better in person:)

Pumpkin Patch

Sunday we went with friends from church to Harmon's Tree Farm/Pumpkin Patch. It was a beautiful fall day and perfect for this outing! We took a hayride and got a small pumpkin, it was a great time.

Here's Patrick, he's doing such a great job sitting up now. Isn't he cute?

Alina checking out the pumpkins

The hayride was a mile to the pumpkin patch and we got sit in real hay! (the other rides had benches and we didn't want to do that)

Patrick and Alina looking at the sunflowers

She is too cute!

Alina did want to try and eat the small pumpkin we bought.

Justin carried her in the baby bjorn most of the time, which is her favorite way to travel!

Here's the friends we went with, the Brewers, Lindsey, the Michauds and the Clarks

Go Gamecocks!

Saturday Carolina played Alabama and we got all dressed up and ready to watch the game! Alina has a cute dress from her friend Patrick and we got her a hat to match it. Here are some pictures, of course the babies had to go to sleep before the game started but they had a good time before. Too bad we lost:(

Its amazing how early they learn the "I want that" concept:)

Airplane

On our recent trip to Texas, Alina got to ride on an airplane for the first time. For the most part she really liked it. It was much shorter than driving 16 hours! The trip to Texas was great. She was awake early, but excited to get everyone's attention on the airplane. She had everyone playing peek-a-boo with her and she flirted with the businessmen. On the way home, she was a bit fussier, because she missed her afternoon nap and just didn't want to go to sleep on the plane. All in all it was a great experience for all of us!

Nina (my mom) bought her a baby doll that she loves playing with!

Cousins

Alina got to meet her cousin Lily this week. We had a great time hanging out with my sister, Irina, and her husband, Justin and their new daughter, Lily. Alina wanted to grab and play with Lily but we had to show her how to be gentle. I spent most of my time at their house helping out and holding my niece. It was a great trip!

Picture Perfect

Alina loves to get her picture taken! On Sunday, she looked so cute I wanted to take some pictures in her adorable outfit. You can see below how much she loves the camera:)

Zoo

Friday I had a half-day so when I came home we all three went to the zoo. It was fun to hang out as a family. The weather was really nice and it was such a relaxing day. Alina is really beginning to enjoy the zoo! She rides in the baby bjorn and looks around at everything. I think sometimes she likes looking at the kids around her more than the animals. This time we spent most of our time looking at the aquarium and the birdhouse. Justin loved looking at all the different snakes, and he would point them out to Alina, who would stare at the glass as the snakes crawled on it. I just kept insisting that we'd seen enough snakes and that I wanted to see real fish. So we moved on to the fish. Alina liked the leopard shark the best, he swam around for her. She was also amused at the lady cleaning the big fish tank. We hope to go again soon:)

Tummy

Alina has not always like to be on her tummy. She would fuss and fuss. Once she figured out she could roll over, you couldn't get her to stay on her tummy for anything! Lately, things have changed a bit. She's figuring out that she kind of like to play on her tummy from time to time. She even will turn and sleep on her tummy. Sometimes she wakes up mad about it, but the other morning as you can see, she was very happy. She is rolling all over the floor from tummy to back and back to tummy. She creeps around a bit, and who knows, maybe soon she'll even crawl!

Patrick's Baptism

Sunday, Alina's friend, Patrick, was baptized at our church. We were happy to see his parents commit to raising Patrick in a godly home and teaching him God's word and his need for a savior. We are excited to be a part of his life and also come along side his parents as they raise their son to be a man after God's own heart.
Alina came to big church to see the baptism. She did very well during the announcements, singing, prayer, etc. She really enjoyed chewing on my lip blam (cap on). However, just before the baptism she realized she was missing a nap and so I took her to the back of the sanctuary for the baptism and then took her back to the nursery.
After church we celebrated the baptism with the Michaud's and their family by having lunch at Matt and Jessica's. We are so thankful for great friends that God has put in our lives! Some pictures from Sunday are below, you can also see Jessica's blog by looking on the left at the blogs I follow and clicking on the Michaud Show.

8 Months!

On Monday Alina was eight months old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. To celebrate we had some friends over (and because it was Labor Day:). The Rogers came with their kids and Matt and Jessica came with Patrick. At one point Alina and Patrick were both on the floor playing with Riley and Jesse. They loved it! We had a great time.

We can't believe how much Alina is growing up. She is eating all sorts of food I've pureed for her. She loves fruits and carrots and sweet potatoes, but doesn't care for peas too much. She also snacks on crackers, cheerios and "puffs" (made by Gerber to melt in their mouth). We've given her pieces of bananas to snack on but they are very slippery in her hand! Alina doesn't care for crawling yet, she's never been much a fan of being on her belly. However, she loves to sit there and play with her toys. She likes to get all the toys out of her basket and put them next to her. Macy and Alina are very good friends. Alina smiles and laughs when Macy comes and licks her feet:) We thank God for our little blessing every day!