we're walking!

yes - it is official. Silas has launched himself into the fast-paced, vertical world of walking. oh boy. he reeeeeeally likes to walk. Check it out for yourself:

Now - people keep saying that once they start walking they loose their baby fat. But in Silas' case, I think he's going to have to put in a lot of miles! We'll see...

Happy Birthday!!!

In some ways, it is hard to believe that our baby is now one year old. But on the other hand...his awareness of the world around him, his ability to actually communicate (beyond crying) and his enthusiasm for exploring his surroundings is so astounding, hitting this milestone seems appropriate. He isn't really a baby anymore. And he's probably days or maybe a couple weeks away from officially walking.

Anyhow - we had a fun, 'colors' themed birthday party for his last Saturday afternoon. The weather here is still pretty hot (mid-90's), but it worked out well considering Silas spent half the party in his diaper (which was initially because he sat on his slice of pizza and then because we stripped him down for the ceremonial first cupcake).

Click here to check out the video!

Silas actually had a yucky cold and kinda started out in a daze (as seen below). But he warmed up as we got going and was such a champ - most people never even knew he was feeling bad.There was a prize for the person who was able to wear the most of their favorite color. It wasn't much of a competition, though, because my mom blew us all away....right down to her purple bra & panties (which she was showing off, of course!).Maybe I should have had a prize for the most creative way to wear your party hat...unicorn style? I also loved how M&M was sportin' her Obama button. Go Obama!! Jake was so dang cute in his hat too...So - this posting might've been a lot more interesting, but Matt & I basically didn't take any pictures (we were too busy!) and are relying on the generosity of others. There is some video we haven't had a chance to review yet and maybe I'll be able to upload something soon. But, lucky for us, my brother-in-law, Preston, is a fantastic photographer and created a slideshow of his pics. So instead of copying them all into my blog - I'm going to let you go right to the source. Enjoy!

Click here to go to Preston's Flickr slideshow.

PS - Note that these last 2 posts are out of order. Silas' birthday did come before Halloween. But in my frenzy to finally update the blog...it just worked out this way!

El Raton

We had a little Halloween party in our front yard with our neighbors last night - it was a hoot! Silas dressed up as a little (or rather quite large) mouse - actually in a costume my mom made for me when I was 3 years old!

He also had a party at his daycare last week - where they said (in Spanish) he was such a cute little 'raton'. And then this was the following discussion:

"NO - he isn't a rat. He is a mouse!" exclaimed Julie.

"A raton is a mouse." said Maria, the daycare provider.

"Oh" said a bewildered Julie. "So what is the word for rat?"

"Raton!"

We all laughed. And actually, according the the Spanish-English dictionary, "rata" is technically the word for rat. But whatever. I had the same experience in Guadalajara with limons (which commonly refers to both lemons & limes).

So here is our little raton...

The pirate & the fencer: And the hungry little mousey.

Tour de Fat

I'm getting behind in my blogs - so I thought I'd just do a quickie on the 'Tour de Fat'...party because the pictures are so hilarious! These are from a little pre-Fat Tire Festival bike parade we were in with our friends. It was so fun!

This was acutally a couple weeks before Halloween - but we had fun dressing up for the occassion just the same! I love how you can see the glitter on Silas' face (some of which is still in his hair!). And notice how Charlene, I mean Strawberry Shortcake, managed to wear her hat on of her bike helmet!

We borrowed this bike trailer from our neighbors. I realized, after the fact, it was kind of ambitious of me to try at the bike trailer for the very first time in a parade with a couple hundred other people. oh well - it all worked out!Silas even managed to take a nap in the trailer...