Happy Halloween!

And now the comic relief.

Disclaimer: No child was harmed in this moment, due to the cat like reflexes of her daddy.

"Philip, I'm not sure she is going to be able to sit on that pumpkin all by herself."

"You just take the picture. I promise, I'll catch her if she falls."

Papa Papa Toast

Helen has now started some finger foods. This past weekend I spied some Papa Papa toast and decided to let her try it. She loved it, especially with her two new bottom teeth! For those that don't know what Papa Papa toast is here's the deal. Papa Papa is our Brownsville great grandfather, hubby to Mama Em. He slices sandwich bread into 3-4 sticks and let's them sit in the oven on warm for hours until they are good and crispy and then brushes them with just a little bit of butter and let's them cook on low for even longer. The result is a light buttery crispy treat that everyone loves. I've tried to make them myself but they just don't taste as good as when Papa Papa makes them.

Here is our little way to say thank you this morning! Sorry I could not get Helen to smile. She was too busy gnawing on her toast.

Monday night was a difficult night in our house. We started sleep training Helen which means she screamed for about an hour with Daddy stepping in about every 15 minutes to quickly pat her and say he loved her. Mommy can't go in because Helen will want "the good stuff." Just after Helen finally gave up her fight, we heard Philip crying in his room. The next thing Mommy heard on the monitor was Daddy saying "Philip, where are your clothes?!" At some point in the night, Philip had stripped naked and fallen asleep...without a pull up. The result? Our first bed wetting. So Philip ended up coming to bed with us around 4:00 a.m. Tuesday evening Daddy revealed this picture that he had taken just before leaving for work early that morning. See any family resemblance?

More Traveling

This past weekend we went up to Brownsville for our cousin Martha's third birthday party and her little sister Amy's, christening. That means it was a big huge Moss party with all eleven grandchildren in one place! Aunt Emily outdid herself with a Pajamas and Pancakes party Saturday morning, complete with pumpkin painting. Sunday morning was the christening of Amy. I love the way the Brownsville First Methodist church does baptisms. After Amy was baptized, the minister presented her to the congregation, and walked up and down each aisle for the congregation to see this precious little one to whom they had just made a Christian commitment. They also have children's church so when it came time for the little ones to join the minister at the altar, Little Philip went running and fell right in line with everyone, without the slightest apprehension or look back to mom or dad. After the christening we had a delicious brunch with shrimp and grits, one of my favorite dishes.

We hated to leave but Daddy had to drive to Starkville Sunday night to be there in time for a big campus recruiting event this morning. Thankfully, that is his only overnight trip this week. So this Monday morning we are getting back into our regular routine and finishing up costumes. Unfortunately, Peter Pan's hat, made from the neck of a green turtleneck, does not fit over his head. I should have known with that Moss noggin! I'm off to Hobby Lobby to see if I can find something that will work. Helen's Tinkerbell costume is all but finished. She will either look like an adorable little green fairy, or an adorable baby showgirl. Let's hope for the first part!

Trip to the Mountains

My dear friend from college, Liz, invited me and the kids up to Cashiers, NC to spend a few days there with her two children. Cashiers is kind of a special place for me. It was at Liz's 2000 wedding in Cashiers that I polled all of my girlfriends about whether or not to accept Philip's invitation to go to the Moss family beach reunion as a first date. So glad they said yes!

Brace yourself from some serious jealousy. On Wednesday and Thursday I was blessed to experience this majestic view from the back screened porch of Liz's family's mountain home.

While the kids were napping Wednesday afternoon, I stepped outside to experience the beautiful sight, sounds, and smell of the mountains of North Carolina. I took in a deep breath and looked up to see this. It was the perfect week for the colors of autumn to make their debut.

Little Philip and Helen were in heaven with their friends, Matthew and Mary Branch. They played on the golf course, enjoyed riding in the golf cart around course itself, and had a special treat of feeding carrots to Ed and Fred, the resident donkeys at High Hampton Inn.

Helen, not to be left out, made great friends with Etta, a chocolate lab. Who knew she liked doggy kisses so much!

Thank you, Liz, for a wonderful time to catch up and play!

Pumpkin Patch Year Two

We returned to Old Baker Farm this year for another great day at the pumpkin patch! If Philip had fun last year he really had fun this year! He really enjoyed the hay maze, barn full of baby animals, hay mountain, pumpkin patch, horsey swing, hay ride and more. This year, Little Philip is a big brother so he had to hold his sister in the picture rather than a little pumpkin. Our friends, the Hilsmiers, join us with their two boys, and Uncle Robb and Aunt Ellen also came along for a fun fall day.

Daddy almost dropped Philip off the hay mountain. You can see hay flying off of his foot and a bit of a panicked look on Daddy's face in this picture. The hay mountain was about two stories high.

Thankfully, he recovered.

First Dentist Appointment

Today Little Philip went to the dentist for the first time. Dr. Clark Thomas at Pediatric & Adolescent Dentistry was our new hero by the end of the day. It started when we first arrived and the receptionist opened the glass window with a huge smile, naming Philip by name as soon as we arrived. The waiting room had two flat screen TVs showing Finding Nemo, one of our favorite movies. Philip sat in one of two toy cars facing the screen for about five seconds before finding a music keyboard to occupy his time while Mommy filled out paperwork. Helen was a perfect little sister, content to sit in the Baby Bjorn the entire appointment. When it was Philip's turn to go back, he picked the red examination chair and was pretty excited not only to continued watching Finding Nemo on the flat screen above his head but also to taste the grape flavored examination gloves. What a concept! Philip was a perfect patient, and got a clean bill of health. Because he was a good patient, Dr. Thomas gave him a gold token that he used to get a bouncy ball out of a fancy vending machine. He also got two stickers for his shirt, Batman and Scooby Doo. I didn't even know he knew who Scooby Doo was. At the end of his appointment, Dr. Thomas helped him put his green handprint on a ceiling tile next to his name. Dr. Thomas's office is in a new location so they are decorating the acoustic ceiling tiles with patient handprints and names. It's very bright and colorful and we were super happy with our first dentist appointment!