We went to San Antonio over the weekend because Friday night, my dear dad was inducted as the President of the International College of Dentists, USA section. That's a very prestigious honor, and we are all so proud of him. There was a nice dinner/dance Friday night at the Hyatt Grand downtown SA and many of our family members came to show support for dad.
My grandmother and Brad:
Aunt Anne and Uncle Max (my dad's brother):
Uncle Tracy and Aunt Vicki (my dad's sister)
Aunt Meg and Uncle Ronnie (my dad's brother)
My dad with Matt. Check out that heavy duty thing around his neck! It's got all the past Presidents of the International College on it. Pretty cool!
We had a great time celebrating with my family, while Chad's parents watched Leighton. Thanks Charles and Vicki! We don't get out much anymore so when we do, it's a real treat.
Here Charles is with Leighton. She had a rough transition when got into town...a mixture I think of traveling, not napping, and mommy attachment. She was much better Saturday once she had a good night's sleep.
Charles just had knee replacement surgery and is on the mend. Unfortunately, Leighton smacked him square in the knee with one of her toys. I thought he was going to pass out! Sorry, Charles.
Lately, Leighton has been interested in everyone's cups. She tried to get into Uncle Matt's coffee mug while he was here, and here she is curious about Vicki's drink.
The Fergusons had my parents over on Saturday for lunch. I think it was fun for Leighton to have all four grandparents together for the afternoon. There's lots of love for that girl. She always (ha...I say always like it's been years...more like the past few months) likes to see what's in my dad's pocket. Here she is searching:
This is the
cutest pig ever! He snores and talks and shakes his ears and legs. Leighton loves him!
Dixie (the dog) doesn't seem too thrilled with the newest center of attention at the house:
Ok, can you see the spit coming out of her mouth? Leighton had a major babbling session that lasted about 10 minutes. She was saying "doy doy doy" and blowing bubbles. I was so excited all the grandparents got to see it live!
She showed off her moves...mainly spinning in circles and crawling backwards:
I just thought this was really sweet. Leighton lounging on her daddy:
Here Leighton is with all her grandparents! I know how very lucky we are that we have all four of them sitting on this sofa with her. I never knew my mom's parents, so it means a lot to me that Leighton knows them all. Leighton, here's your gene pool!
These grandparents were tough to get on film. You can see what I was dealing with here. The grandmothers playing with Leighton and the grandfathers goofing around:
Someone appears to be very happy here...probably because she's with her two grandmothers who love her to bits.
Vicki styled Leighton quite a sassy Mohawk after her bath Saturday night. She looked so funny. Even funnier here that she's being miss cranky pants:
Ah...see here she's doing much better and wearing her new hairdo with pride!
So on Sunday for Chad's birthday, we rounded up his closest friends for lunch at Chad's favorite burger place in San Antonio...Longhorn Cafe. It was so fun to see everyone, and even crazier now that the kids seem to outnumber the adults. Here Leighton is playing with Parsons:
I couldn't have dressed these two better myself! Beautiful color coordination! (That's Hans and Parsons.)
Harriet Raney, one of Chad's second moms growing up, had not met Leighton yet, so we were thrilled that she stopped by to say hello.
Ok, so we thought it would be fun to get a picture with all the kids together. This is no easy task, as you can see from these pictures. It started with the two easiest to pose: Parsons and Hugh.
Then we started adding in little ones...those in highchairs were pretty easy. Then, it started getting tricky.
Yay! We did it. I didn't post the 20 other pictures it took me to get to this final one, but trust me, it took a while.
I would LOVE to know what is going on inside the head of Parsons here. He's got a little Dr. Evil going on!
Here Leighton is hours past her nap time. Not too bad! I think she knows a good party when she sees one.
We all sang happy birthday to Chad and had his favorite: chocolate cake.
Yes, it was exciting that Chad turned 35. However, Megan had quite a discovery of her own: Parsons has a tooth! We caught the moment on film.
Kelly, Megan, Natalie, and me with Charlie (11 months), Parsons (5 months), Hugh (4 months) and Leighton. Chad's closest buddies all had baby boys around the same time we had Leighton. I asked Chad if he wished that he had had a boy too and he said "No way! We got the diamond in the rough!"
These guys have been friends a long, long time. Hans, Chad, Graham, and Lee with the boys and our little diamond in the rough. (We missed you Scott!)
Chad and Leighton with our across-the-street neighbor, Jeff. Yeah, it was a bit of a happy hour for the parents!
I thought this particular angle was kind of cool...like Leighton was holding the camera herself--a self-portrait, although she obviously wasn't.
I'm quickly learning that while it's hard to get one baby to look at/smile for the camera, it's twice as hard with two! Here Leighton is with our next door neighbor, Molly (who just turned a year old in September).
Leighton with Tasia and Keira, who live across the street. Leighton is so fascinated with the older girls, and I think they love playing with her too.
Here's Molly and her brother Will, who was a pirate:
How cute is this? John Radford was a professional golfer. He even had his own set of clubs!
Molly's mom, Margaret finally was able to get Molly to look at and even look somewhat happy for the camera!
Preston and Anne Marie with John Radford. They had all the neighbors over after trick-or-treating for pizza. (For the record, I went over and Chad stayed home with Leighton.)
Here Leighton in action: Chad didn't really like going up to the doors and especially didn't want to collect candy. But I made him go up a few times.
Keira, who took forever to put her costume on, finally wowed us with her unicorn:
