Happy Halloween

What a lovely autumn evening!  

 Here are some sweet pictures of our little Peyton in her Halloween Costume.  

Those pumpkins didn't scare her one bit.  

Oh yes, I still need to take a picture of our pumpkin and our little boy Preston in his Halloween costume. He was taking a nap during picture time this evening.  I'll post those pictures tomorrow :) Happy Halloween.  

Pumpkin Carving

We helped Preston carve his very first pumpkin last night.  He loved it.  He pretended to be a big excavator and dig out all the pumpkin seeds.  Here are a few pictures of what we hope to be an annual event in the Dalbey house.  Here is the young lad all eager to begin.  

Here he is digging out those seeds.  

Finally, the carving is taking shape. I will make sure to take a picture of the kids in front of the pumpkin tomorrow :) 

Bike Trip

 One of the perks of working downtown is being able to bring my bike to work and ride on the Missouri Riverfront Bike Trail.  My dad and I took advantage of the nice weather on Tuesday and went for a quick 15 mile ride.  Here are a few pictures from our adventure.  Oh how I wish the weather was still this nice.
Here we are about to bike over the McKinley Bridge.  

Here is the McKinley Bridge

Here I am in front of the  Riverfront Trail sign :) 

They had some students from a local school decorate the wall alongside part of the trail.  My dad and I thought this was very creative and well done.  

Update Update

I have updated the look of my blog. I like it...for now. I will try to keep this for at least 6 months :) Oh yes, I am also trying to update all my friends and pictures. This is a work in process. Now, I just need to take a family picture.

Update

I am tired of the look of my blog...time for an update. Here we go!

Pumpkin Patch

The Dalbey family headed to the pumpkin patch this afternoon. I am so thankful for a beautiful day. Here are a few pictures - enjoy!

Food for Peyton

Peyton is finally getting the hang of eating 'real' food.  We have been trying to feed her banana's, squash, sweet potatoes, rice cereal, Cheerios, etc... and this week is looking good so far.  She will eat the Cheerios, rice cereal, squash and sweet potatoes.  She doesn't like the banana's, applesauce, etc... you would think she would go for the sweet foods but seems to like those savory items.  Oh well.  I am happy that her diet is expanding beyond milk :)  I am also happy because this seems to help her make those longer sleep stretches at night.  The past 2 nights she has slept 9 hours - way to go girlfriend.  Here are a couple cute pics of Peyton eating some puffed rice cereal this evening.  

Starbucks Mugs

 Some of you may know that I collect Starbucks city mugs.  You know, the mugs with the name of a city or sometimes a state or even country on them.  These mugs are super cool and are decorated with a signature image from the particular location.  St. Louis, for example, has the image of the Arch since we are called 'The Gateway to the West'.  Colorado, another example, is a state mug that has the mountains on their mug.  You get the picture.  Well, I am excited to report that I added three, yes three, mugs to my collection today.   I have some very dear, super cool, friends who traveled to Malaysia this past week for a retreat (Drew and Lindsey) Steven and I were unable to attend this retreat for various reasons and we deeply missed being with some of our closest friends.  Well, while on this retreat our dear friends made a couple trips to Starbucks and purchased us these mugs.  We didn't even ask them.  One friend (Bryce) even brought us a mug from Kenya. Yes, Kenya.  This friend is doing mission work over there and wanted to add to our collection as well.  OK, this mug is technically for Peyton since Bryce is her Godfather.  Anyway, the mugs were carried with love back to the US of A with another friend (Eric) who lives in St. Louis.  Without further adieu, here they are!  They are amazing!  

 

Sabah is the name of the province in Malaysia were the retreat was held.

This is the Merlion - super cool.  

This mug from Kenya is awesome.  Just look at those elephants - wow! 

I am so thankful for such loving, thoughtful friends.  

7 Months and an Ear Infection

 Our little girl is now 7 months old.  Time is flying by so quickly.  She is a happy and sweet little girl and has lately been working on pulling up and standing by herself for a few seconds.  I'm not ready for her to crawl and then walk....I need a little more time :) Anyway, she is a happy girl even though we discovered today that she has her first ear infection.  I had one of those 'mom instincts' kick in today and I just felt like something wasn't right.  She didn't sleep well last night and has been exceptionally clingy the past 24 hours.  So, I packed up the kids and took them to our wonderful pediatrician this afternoon who did indeed discover the infection in her left ear.  We now have medicine and she went right to bed at 8pm tonight.  I hope she sleeps for a while!  Since I took Peyton to the Dr. this afternoon I can tell you that she weighs 18 lbs 7 oz.  I am not sure what percentile that is...oh well.   Here are a couple pictures I snapped of the little lady this evening.  

The Letter Y

We have been slacking for a few weeks, but finally went out and picked out another letter for our alphabet wall project.  Here we have the letter Y covered in pinto beans :)  Like I said before, we are getting very creative around the Dalbey house and hope to complete the alphabet by Christmas!   

Bath Time

 My kids LOVE to take a bath.  I love watching them take a bath.  I think there is something about warm water, a rubber duck, some bath toys and bubbles that make my kids very happy.  Oh yes, when I say a rubber duck I mean an inflatable rubber duck so that Peyton can sit comfortably inside the bathtub and play.  Here are some sweet photos of our fun time in the bath last night. 

Play with Friends

Preston, Peyton and I headed out yesterday to play with our friends Emily, Micah and Luke.  While Luke took a nap most of time and Peyton sat on a blanket under a tree, Preston and Micah played very well and had a wonderful time.  Here is a nice picture I took of the boys having a snack.  I am learning how valuable play time with other children can be for learning to share and exposure to new and exciting things.  Thank you, Emily, for hosting us yesterday morning.  We need to do this again soon.  

Peyton Video

I thought I would share a video of Peyton saying 'hi ya' :) 

Weekend

The Dalbey Four had a very nice weekend.  We spent time together as a family, read lots of books, cleaned the house a bit and even took a nice walk to the park.  Here is a sweet picture of Preston next to his favorite slide at the playground.  While Preston is only 3 years old, he loves to go down the slide marked for the 5 and up kids.  Yes, we watch him carefully and to be honest, he is a champ and very capable of playing on this part of the playground.  I need to post a video...will do soon.  

I also wanted to post this picture of Peyton from Sunday afternoon.  She is so sweet.  I have noticed lately that her find motor skills are progressing well.  She loves to pick up toys and play with blocks.  She has also learned some new words.  She now says da da, dog and hi ya.  I will post a video of this soon :)  

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  

Random

This post is dedicated to all the random things I think about posting on a daily basis.      

First, we have Preston who loves to line up his toy cars and trucks.  Does this mean he will be organized and a J on the Myers Briggs?  I am sure we will find out in time. 

He also loves play outside in the sand.  We are greatly enjoying the nice weather!  

 Second, we have sweet little Peyton who is growing into a healthy and happy girl.  I am almost able to put her hair up in a clip.  She is so cute! 

 She also loves her hats.  This one is from our friend, Dee.  

Third, the Patagonia magazine came in the mail yesterday to temp me with their winter items.  This would be on my wish list :) 

 Fourth,  I am daily reminded of how thankful I am for my dad and the job he has provided for me at his law firm. I have learned so much the past year. I no longer cringe at requesting medical records, sending out a notice of deposition or sitting at my desk to dictate letters.  I am so thankful to learn these skills which I am sure will come in handy for many years.  

Finally, I am thankful for the growth in my photography business the past year.  If you haven't visited my blog, please check out www.AllThingsSimplePhotography.blogspot.com.