Via Colori

This weekend we headed out in the unseasonably warm and humid weather to once again enjoy Via Colori in downtown Houston.


We were there on Sunday afternoon so most of the art work was finished - they started on Saturday.

This year there were two craft projects for the kids.  Rachel enjoyed both of them - here she is doing her sand art.

She got to work on her next project with chalk and glue.

We were worried that the double stroller would be too wide to navigate around the art so we improvised with a single stroller for two.  Rachel enjoyed her front seat.

We met our friend Don there.  Rachel acted like she was shy and then kept asking "Where's Don?" when she could not find him.

She was excited to see all of the pictures.

There were a lot of very impressive pictures drawn on the streets.  It is a shame that they were all cleaned off the streets the same night.  So much work for just two days!

Six Months Old!

Owen is six months old!

He was still holding strong in the 95th percentile for height and weight at his appointment this month.  He is 21 lbs and 28 inches.

He has recently mastered sitting up unsupported.  This is currently his favorite position.

Rachel continues to be a very sweet big sister.  It is hard to get her to smile, sit and look at the camera all at the same time, but we work with what we get.

Sweet kisses for her baby brother.

Owen has been enjoying many toys from his new vantage point.  He especially enjoys making sounds with the music table.

So much fun for our big boy!

Grammy's Visit

We had a lot of fun last weekend when Grammy Kathy came for a visit.


Rachel got to do fun craft projects.

Owen enjoyed watching them work.

The kids were sad to see her go and we are looking forward to another visit at Christmas.

More October Pictures

I have finally caught up on all of the happenings from October.  This post is for pictures that fall into the "other" category - no activity to tie it to, just some cute pictures from the month.


Here is Owen happily taking his bath at the beginning of the month.

Monkey boy after his bath.

Rachel helping me make Owen's costume.

A fitting of the chili pepper.

So happy to find his feet!

Swinging after church.

Five months old!!  And, in case you are wondering, well over 19 pounds at this point.

Another sweet bath picture - three weeks later than the one above.

Rachel wearing her "crown" and trying out her pumpkin as shoes.

Fun times with finger paints.

Still loving his exersaucer.  He enjoys sitting in it to watch us work in the kitchen or watch  Rachel playing.

Owen's First Trip to the Zoo

We had gorgeous cool weather for a couple of days this week.  So, we headed to the zoo on Friday to enjoy it.


Despite how she looks in this picture, Rachel and Owen were both excited about our outing.

First stop was the sea lion exhibit.  Rachel loved watching them swim.

After that, Rachel wanted to go directly to the monkeys - so we did.

Rachel still enjoys playing the drums in the African Forest.

After our snack time, Rachel helped feed Owen on the way to the elephants.

Rachel was not very interested in having her picture taken by the elephants, but she was willing to show off her ability to stand on one foot.  Owen was not too impressed - he slept through this portion of our adventure.

Rachel also still enjoys the aquarium in the natural encounters building.

Rachel helped by pushing Owen's stroller all by herself.  You can see in the background that they were setting up for Feast with the Beasts.  Wes and I went last night and had a great time.

Owen woke up again to see the birds.  He seemed to enjoy the birds and the fish the most - just like Rachel at this age.

Rachel once again showing off her skills - this time with flamingos who were doing the same thing.

I finally convinced Rachel to stand by Owen for a picture at our second visit to the sea lions.  She had a hard time focusing enough to look at the camera but at least she stood still.

Halloween

On Monday, we celebrated Halloween with a neighborhood party in the Heights and the some trick or treating.  We had a lot of fun.

Owen was holding onto the pumpkin until the second Wes snapped this picture.

Here is our whole little family finishing our dinner by the playground.

We entered the costume contest for kids age 0 to 5.  There were 34 kids entered and lot of really cute costumes.

Owen took second place!

This is Rachel for her first-ever trick or treating experience.  She thought it was pretty cool that people just hand out candy.

Here she is showing off her lollipop.  It is hard to see because she would not hold it still.  Owen got to ride door to door in the wagon - no candy for him.

By the end of the evening, Rachel was a pro at trick or treating.  We could tell she was getting tired when she held out her pumpkin and said "candy!" instead of "trick or treat".

Visit to Mandeville

The weekend before Halloween we went to Mandeville to visit Opa because he had to spend his birthday recuperating in the the hospital.

While we were there, we went to Oktoberfest at the church where Oma's school is.  We enjoyed yummy German food.

Rachel got her face painted with a spider this time.

There was a very fun bounce house!

Best of all...there was cotton candy!

Here is Rachel when we arrived home for nap time.

One of the best parts of the weekend was visiting with little Mia (and her parents Aunt Dana and Uncle Richard, too)

Even though she is 3.5 months older than he is, Owen already outweighs Mia.  She has him beat on skills though - she was sitting up and crawling while he can only roll over.  

Uncle Richard and Owen

Oma feeding Owen

Owen relaxing at Oma and Opa's house

Rachel enjoys playing with all of the toys that she only gets to visit when we go to Mandeville.  She loves playing with the carriage that we used when we were kids.  She even gets to play with a doll that is almost as old as Tante YaYa!

Owen loved riding on the swing at the park.

Rachel loved the swings, too.

Owen relaxed with Oma while Rachel ran around and around at the playground.

Rachel got more of her energy out chasing bubbles that Oma blew.  It looks like she caught this one with her mouth.

Before we left town, we did a little photo shoot in their costumes on the lake front.