twenty-seven.

My main man recently had a birthday. 

Birthdays are a pretty big deal around here, 

so we celebrated all day long. 

  We also gave Micah 27 Mini Oreo Pies, the photos of which have been somehow lost, which makes me very sad because they were sure a sight to behold, all lined up with pretty numbered labels.
If I do say so myself... :)
 
We think he's pretty special. 
Happy 27, you old man, you! 

little shutterbug

 

I take a whole lot of pictures.  

And seeing how Madison is in the Copy-Everything-Mama-Does phase, she wants to hold a camera every time I do. The result: Either she gets to be holding a camera, or I don't get photos of her.  So this is what we end up with- pictures of her "taking pictures."

Never mind the camera's upside down, or her fingers are covering the lens, or the power is off.  She's happy as can be just smashing the thing up to her forehead and saying "CHEESE!"

 

I especially love the way she crouches down, just the way I do to take pictures of her.   

I think we have a little photographer in the making!

 

Caught.

Lately Maddi has been using the word "do" as a conjunction.  She seems to have noticed that sentences have connecting words between the nouns and verbs, so she throws in "do" to fill all the spaces. She says things like, "Maddi do eat apples," and "Mama do shoes on," and "Daddy do computer."

This afternoon, while we were watching the final talk in the final session of General Conference, I closed my eyes for a minute while I listened.  Madison yelled out,
 "Mama do sleeping!!!"

Micah busted up laughing.

And I have a feeling I'll never be able to get away with anything again.

Labor Day

This is what we did on Labor Day.

We drove to a little town called New Braunfels and rode a train around beautiful Landa Park.

Maddi loved watching the ducks and the fishermen all along the Comal river, but the best part of the ride was the fact that every single person in the park stopped whatever they were doing to wave to us as we passed by.

The conductor even let Madison sit in the engine when we got back to the station.
(Couldn't get the kid to smile at the camera for anything, because it was just too bright for her sensitive eyes!)

New Braunfels, founded by German settlers in the 1800's, is just full of old world,
small town charm. I loved all the pretty buildings.

Next we headed over to historic Gruene (pronounced "green"), a tiny little place just outside New Braunfels.
Gruene is about one block square. But oh so packed with fun little shops and restaurants.

This gorgeous Victorian (the original home of Henry D. Gruene himself) has been restored into a Bed & Breakfast.
Micah and I decided we wouldn't mind spending our next anniversary here:

After hitting the Antique Mall and a few drool-worthy boutiques (okay, I was drooling, Micah not so much), we finished off the day with a stop by the Gruene General Store, where we bought ourselves a brick of homemade peanut butter fudge. I sure do like Texas.

Ps. Thanks to all for the vegetable advice! We have been trying all kinds of new and different ways to eat them. So far we've discovered that Maddi loves zucchini, as long as it is cubed, not sliced (?), and she loves broccoli, as long as it is smothered in alfredo sauce. Celebrate the little victories, right?

Well, it was worth a try.

Tips for getting a picky kid to eat vegetables?