and I proudly stand up...

With the chaotic holidays fast approaching our sweet little Maggie has decided to step up her game. And what I mean by this is that she has taught herself some new moves, namely standing. Maggie showed us this amazing trick the other night when she tried frantically to flee from the evil clutches of the bathtub. Sadly that is not on video, but here she is pulling up in her crib. Note that the sock attached to the diaper was not planned (you can kind of make it out at the end). Warning to grandparents: have tissues available this is a tearjerker.

Happy Halloween!

DUCK!!! (that one's for you Poppa)

A visit from Corrie

Last wednesday our good friend Corrie flew in from Arizona for a visit. We really loved having her here. We enjoyed doing all sorts of fun things like watching movies, cooking, playing scrabble (yes we enjoyed this thoroughly), shopping, discovering Trader Joe's (Corrie introduced us to this amazing store), driving all over Charlotte, touring the Billy Graham library and so much more. Here are a few pictures from our time with our sweet friend. Thanks for coming Corrie!
Saturday Corrie had a wedding to attend, so we had to entertain ourselves. We headed to our church's annual corn maze and picnic in the country. It featured an exciting petting zoo and a fun "hay ride" for us to enjoy (sans the hay).
Maggie really enjoyed looking at the animals.
Father and daughter enjoy the country air.
Corrie and Maggie were instant buddies.
We toured the Billy Graham library tuesday and it was great. A very fun and enlightening free activity for any out of town guests. I was a little embarressed that I hadn't been before. This is a picture of Maggie, Bessie and me. Bessie is the talking cow that Billy Frank milked in his adolescent years while he practiced his preaching. Don't worry she didn't talk to him, they rigged it up to talk to us tourists. Maggie loved listening to it moo.
We spent a good deal of time in the car and Corrie thought a picture of her view of Maggie from the front seat during our outings needed to be captured. Maggie has a little mirror in front of her rear facing seat so I can watch her from my rear view mirror, and this is the picture Corrie took.

One final note: Maggie's second tooth has surfaced! Needless to say Maggie is loving her tylenol and orajel, but not nearly as much as her mom and dad.

Be Encouraged Christians!

If you have a moment today read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11! It has really encouraged me this morning especially vs. 16 and 17...which read "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever!" Isn't that so exciting! I get so wrapped up with this life that I forget that our time in this life is compared to the length it takes to take a single breath and the true eternal life with Christ the King is coming and will be more incredible than we can fathom. It really pumps me up and I hope this encourages you all too!

Sundays

Lately, we have found that our sunday afternoons have fallen into a lovely routine. After church and lunch we normally take naps and then head to the park. The fall weather has been most inviting and we have thoroughly enjoyed spending our sabbaths together as a family in the outdoors. This sunday we took the two cameras (video being one) to capture some shots for the grandparents and here are a few of the pictures from the kodak.
Well, this isn't from the park, but this is a picture of the start of our sunday. Maggie is modeling one of her sunday bests.
Maggie really enjoys swinging by herself, but she's too cute not to hold on your lap and swing tandem.
Daddy and Maggie hit the trails.
Maggie thought the leaves and ground under her feet were so fascinating.

Christine's shower

Last weekend Megan and I threw our sister Christine a baby shower. It was a lot of fun and Christine got a lot of great baby stuff for Brody, and some excellent fellowship was had by all! Here are a few pictures of the day.
Lots of goodies for Brody!
Megan and Maggie enjoy the festivities by a plant.
Cousin Brody sure makes a cozy seat.
Some of the ladies laugh, lounge and look while lucky Christine opens her lovely gifts.
Some new kicks for the laddy.

Random pics and news updates

Maggie helping with the laundry.
Dance time with daddy.
news update #1: The new bathtub has finally been installed upstairs and I'd like to say that Maggie loves it but the fact is she is scared of it. She is putting on a brave face for this picture and finding much comfort in chewing her toy, but the cold hard truth is that bathing in this new contraption is going to take some getting used to.

news update #2: Maggie's first tooth is budding into place in her gummy grin. You can almost make it out in this picture. I was so excited to find it the other day after leaving arbys.
Welcome fall!
Maggie and Lucy went for a car ride together the other day after a most enjoyable, however pricey, stint at the Shout Charlotte festival in Uptown. This is not the first time the girls have made a public debut together and it is not the first time that we have had people ask if they are twins. Odd, yes I think so too. Sean said it best when he said, "yes they are twins but we just feed one of them more (Lucy is approx. five months older than Maggie!)." But, to all you strangers out there making your opinions known, know that we are complemented by the mix up.