Summer's Out for Fall

Summer's Out for Fall...

We survived the summer! Let Fall begin! Really, Houston, please... let Fall begin! Pretty please?

Despite the heat, we've managed to have a lot of fun around here. Sierra has been in and out of summer camp, attended her first week of VBS, nursed a broken foot, played with friends and cousins, learned a bunch at Sierra school, and spent lots of time "caring" for her little brother. August has finally slowed down a bit on the growing (phew!) to become the most delightful, social, grabby, and nearly mobile little 4 month old.

We had intended to do newborn photos with August, but the NICU stay really threw us off, and our first portraits finally happened when he was about 2 months old. Working with Farrah was great, and we LOVE the way they all turned out. :)

In an attempt to burn off a little of that seemingly unlimited 3-year old energy in the A/C, we signed Sierra up for gymnastics. I think it was a hit. She's a duck in water. I've never seen her so strong and confident! (And most of you know that Sierra is not a child lacking for either.) At least until lesson 5, when Coach Misti carried her out crying. :( At first we assumed it was a twisted ankle, but after 2 days of refusing to walk on it (she literally crawled around the house like a baby), we headed in for an X-ray. And, long story short, it was a broken tarsal bone. The orthopedist assured us this was not uncommon for preschoolers, and she would heal up fine without a cast. So she limped around for a few more weeks, collected lots of sympathy with her ace bandage, and is now as good as new. AND we're back in gymnastics! I'll work on getting some good shots of her in action.

Our first x-ray. :( No fun for Mama having to wait out in the hall either. 

August James been enjoying the spotlight too. We celebrated his baptism at St Luke's UMC with so many family and friends. What a lucky boy to be surrounded by so much love!

Of course, Sierra had to have a little special attention before August's big day too!

Travis and I finally decided to embrace our longer-than-we'd-hoped-for stay here and build our "Houston Bucket List." We've lived here from nearly 10 years since college and there's still so much we haven't seen and done. So each weekend we've tried to explore the unique things our city has. Any suggestions? Send us on an adventure!

Giant flies aren't so appealing, even if they do have frying pans for eyes.

Street Art installation @ the Station Museum

Over the last couple of years, the Stewart family has started a new tradition of a long weekend in Port Aransas at the end of summer. It's a great chance to spend a few days with Gigi & GrandDoug, and this year we even got to play with Uncle Travis and Aunt Ashley. AND as a bonus, our Auntie Cheryl! :)
Fun fact: Did you know that the beaches of South Texas are the epicenter of sandcastle building? Yep! As we learned during our very first sandcastle building lessons, this is some of the best sand for building due to the abundance of decomposed seaweed. Yum. BUT this made for a super fun activity that everyone in our group enjoyed. Give the Port 'A' Sandcastle Guy a call when you're down there!

Wave hopping with GrandDoug- her favorite beach activity.

Everyone busily carving away during our lessons.

Our finished and regal multi-turreted castle..... and Imperial Star Destroyer. Naturally.

A few more fun and miscellaneous pics to say adios to summer!

Sierra, aka WonderRed, meeting her favorite PBS speller, SuperWhy!

Superheroes need brown rice too...

City Girl Swimmin'

Sierra doesn't want anyone to forget to his name.

And finally, the official 4 month weigh-in! The big guy has finally backed off a little on his percentiles- still a solid little dude, but not Mr 98th %ile anymore. Phew!
Height: 26" (80%ile)
Weight: 17lbs, 9oz (85%ile)
HC: 16.7" (70%ile)

And, now that it's taken me a full month to finish writing the post, our next installment should be out soon!