Fireworks and Birthdays

We enjoyed having my parents, two of my sisters, and my niece RuthAnne visit this week so that we could celebrate Mya's birthday. Dad brought some sparklers for us to enjoy and as you can see Gabe thought they were pretty neat! He was a little scared of them popping on him so Nae and Dad had the idea of letting him hold them through a styrofome cup and as you can see it worked pretty well.
I guess birthday parties for those turning one year old are really more for the parents who can't believe their little baby is to this point already. Mya did have a nice party on Friday night, though and as you can see especially seemed to enjoy the beautiful butterfly cake that Kristin made her.

Presenting King and Queen...

So, here was our rainy day activity for today - crowns. Gabriel decorated his by himself but I helped Mya with hers. They say "King Gabriel " and "Queen Mya"

Look what we can do!!

Mya is now standing up on her own. She'll just stand up in the middle of the floor, but still hasn't attempted to take a step. She's getting more and more brave, though so I don't think it will be long. I thought this dress in the first picture was so pretty and in the second picture doesn't she look grown up in her big girl clothes that Carrie got her?
Okay, I was in the kitchen cleaning up supper, and I peeked around the corner to see what Gabriel was doing and this is what I saw. He had gotten up on top of these crates (don't ask me how) and was just reading away. I thought this was particularly funny since I remember when I was little (but older than Gabe) walking back and forth on our couch just reading away. Also, check out Gabe's new haircut.

Caught in the act...of sharing?

Here is Gabriel sharing his lollipop with Mya and I think this picture is so funny because look at Gabe's mouth - he looks like he is taking a bite too. After this first lick, Mya followed him all around the house wanting another one.
We went to the park for Labor Day and must have taken at least 20 pics of them on this slide, and this is the best one. I don't know what Mya is doing, but at least their both smiling and looking at the camera. What did we ever do before digital cameras?
Does anyone think that Gabe looks like me? :-) Doesn't he have just the sweetest little smile?

Walking...with a little help

We finally got some good pics of Mya with her walker. She has also started standing alone for short periods of time. Out little girl is growing up so fast. Scroll down to see.