A walk in the garden

We went for a walk at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. The kids enjoyed being outside and playing with sticks.

Food samples at Costco

My kids favorite part about shopping is the free food samples at Costco. They had freshly baked chocolate chip cookies during this particular visit. Caleb took his time eating it and then fell asleep on the way home. I think that he was one satisfied customer.

A visit to the pumpkin patch

We had a fun time visiting the pumpkin patch in Hayden. We took a hayride to the pumpkin field.

They had a hay maze just the right size for Vance and his friend.
So many pumpkins, so little time.

Vance picked out a nice white pumpkin. Caleb had fun rolling around every pumpkin he came near.

Vance insisted on painting his pumpkin as soon as possible. He picked out a face he liked, had me outline it for him, and then he painted the rest. I was impressed with how well he did.

Caleb's First Birthday!

We had a fun birthday party for Caleb. Vance helped pick out some balloons and we ordered pizza. We had some friends over for cake and ice cream. The kids had fun playing together and with Caleb's new toys. Caleb had fun playing with the wrapping paper.

Here is Caleb's cake:

Daddy helped Caleb blow out his candle.
Caleb had the turtle part of the cake all to himself. This is before the destruction:
This is after:

He didn't actually get that messy. Shortly after this picture was taken, he started to cry. He has never been one that liked to be dirty.

Birmingham Zoo

Vance had a lot of fun at the zoo. He followed his friend Brooks around the entire time. My favorite part was when he saw a white tiger and said, "Look! A zebra!" He says he liked the zebras the best. (I don't know if that was the real zebras or the white tiger). Caleb liked the giraffes.

Vance asked for the map as soon as we went into the zoo. He carried it the whole time, telling us where we needed to go.

Here are Vance and Caleb at the Australian mining exhibit.

Vance never quite got the 'only put your face through the hole' concept.

They had a water fountain area to play in. Vance was quickly soaked.

Between Caleb's splashing and Vance directing the water streams toward me, I was quickly soaked as well.

Having fun in Birmingham

Here are some pictures of stuff we've been doing:

Homewood Park















Here's Vance at Homewood Park. Doesn't he look like a superhero riding a dragon with his cape? His secret weapon must be that blue tennis ball. I was glad that I let him wear his cape to the park because he was always easy to spot.

Birmingham Art Walk







































We went to the Birmingham art walk where a bunch of artists were displaying there work downtown. They had a kid's zone where children could do their own art projects. Vance was a bit shy about it, but gradually got into it. He made a painting and decorated a balloon. Caleb got a purple feather to play with, which he held on to all night.

Eating Chalk




















Yes, Caleb enjoys eating chalk, crayons, colored pencils, really anything that isn't specifically edible. At least this chalk matched his eyes.

Edible Clay







































Okay, so maybe if I didn't make things like edible clay my children wouldn't try to eat chalk. Anyway, Vance got a kick out of being allowed to play with his food. It actually tasted pretty good too, kind of like the center of peanut butter cups.

Portraits on the porch

Here are a few pictures I took of Vance and Caleb on our porch:







































Caleb was very serious, I could not get him to smile.


































Vance was very specific about what pictures I could take. He picked his props and poses.















Caleb sharing his toys.




















Caleb finally smiled once we got inside.