the lovely snell ladies

these four beautiful ladies used to be one of our favorite families to babysit for. my sister, beth, friend, jayme, and I began to babysit for the snells when erin & anna (the twins/youngest) were just 6 weeks old. they will turn 17 on october 23rd. feeling old. they drove down this weekend to visit and meet josiah. it was great to chat with them and the four kiddos had a blast playing with one another. we wish they lived closer to us so they could be our babysitters like we were theirs :( I guess we'll have to settle for the occasional visits instead.

kaidance, erin, abbie, miles, jessica, madi, josiah, anna
(not pictured: julie (a.k.a. snell mom & taxi driver))

little momma kaidance holding josiah - she's going to make a great big sister (again!)

silly madi sat in the doll stroller and miles jumped at the chance to push her around

sigh-ah

miles refers to his little cousin, josiah, as 'siah (see pronunciation in post title). he's convinced that all babies are named 'siah. lately he will tell me "shhhh, 'siah sleep" - note that josiah is not in our home at the time! when beth was pregnant we would often talk about how it would be nice if they had a girl, because our family would have one of each. but then again, it would be great if they had a boy, because he and miles would become best buddies. lo and behold, we were right on target with the latter. josiah has turned into quite the little chatterbox and his happy-go-lucky personality shines through (unless of course he's hungry...then WATCH OUT!). we are extremely fortunate to live so close to our family and get to see little 'siah (and beth & seth too) at least a couple of times each week. a few weeks ago we went over to brian & blair's house for dinner. miles decided that 'siah made a comfy pillow!

last week miles and I headed over to nana and papa's house to watch josiah while nana helped great-grandma and great-grandpa out. miles was a great helper and I was encouraged to see that he is taking his role as future big brother very seriously:he even showed 'siah how to properly watch baby einstein.

and although I marvel at miles' "gentleness" and his caring gestures of hugs and kisses...he is, in fact, still a 16 month old and I feel it is safest to have josiah in this:

finally fall

I have to admit that although I loved the weather we had here this summer, I have been waiting for the crisp fall air to arrive. imagine my delight when we woke up to 55 degree temps! last week was soggy, cool, and rainy, but I had to work the entire week (yes, FIVE whole days - it was not an easy task). this week has been chilly, but I'm pumped to bust out my warm sweaters. not to mention the fact that I do not own any summer maternity clothes! miles loves to take walks outside and collect things like leaves, sticks, acorns, and pine cones. he still loves to take a wagon ride and gets fairly upset when we have to put the wagon away. here are some recent photos from the other day:

a boy and his leaf

playing ball with daddy

picking the last of this year's tomatoes - miles has LOVED to do this!

he shoots...he scores!
and to think - kyle wants to tear this ol' hoop down

the latest - pushing the wagon

the dining room

much to kyle's dismay, our dining room table has rarely been used for more than storing the junk that we bring in from the car: i.e., diaper bags, target bags, camera bags. this fall I decided that we need to start eating in there as a family on a regular basis. I've made it my mission to actually plan ahead for the week's meals. this is a new concept for me, as I normally just grocery shop for the basics and we tend to eat on the fly a lot. well, I busted out my barrage of cookbooks and started meal planning. it's so nice to know what's for dinner and, more importantly, know that all of the ingredients are in the house :) miles can now sit right up to the table after we purchased a little booster seat, brought up the folding chair (his legs didn't fit under the table on the regular chair), and covered the floor with a plastic mat. he thinks he is such a big boy! little did he know that being a big boy means learning some big boy lessons.
lesson one: when I proclaim "all done!" mommy and daddy are not going to drop everything and get me out.
lesson two: do not feed the animals.

on a side note: the funny voice is me with a cold