Mom and I planted a little herb garden this weekend. The take away here is that I LOVE playing in the dirt! 
We picked the herbs based on the smells we liked best. My favorite is the chocolate mint. We like to cut little stems of our rosemary, lavender, basil, thyme, lemon, and mints to make a bouquet. Then we sniff them until they stick to our noses (or cook with them).
Ryan likes to dig them up, so we had to get him a water table for distraction.
Ryan's hair reached a critical point this week. We were going to let it grow until his first birthday, waiting for the wisps over his ears to curl up in that cute baby way. Instead, they refused to curl, laying stick straight, and driving Dad to madness.
He was a good boy in the chair since Mom let him taste a lollipop to keep him still around the scissors (don't tell the dentist). We think Dad is extra sensitive about keeping Ryan's appearance masculine, since he found our boy curled up in a heap of my princess dresses, playing with Sleeping Beauty, one day after work. Maybe it's time to buy some boy toys. 
On a side note, we are obsessed with his adorable baby booty. Every time I see it I start giggling, saying "it's soooo cuuute!". He'll probably be upset with us for taking this picture when he gets older.
We went to a super fun party downtown today, where everybody except Mom was wearing green.
The firemen turned the river green, which was great, until they started blowing their horn.
We ran into lots of friends from my school, and made some new friends from Dad's work.
Ryan had a great time watching the leprechauns and Irish dancing. It's a great day to be a little bit Irish! 
Ryan is mastering the art of chunky foods.
His two new chompers on top help him motor through the puffs and yogurt bites.
He loves it when I "help" him with his snack. He's getting very good at drinking from a sippy cup.
His chewing face cracks me up, because he puts everything up front between his 4 little teeth.
Mom just loves to see us having fun together. She wants to remember every moment.
Ryan gets more confident on his feet every week. He grabs anything within reach to balance himself for his trademark stand-and-bounce move. 
His teachers said that he is constantly dancing at school. He's even teaching us his moves at home: Dancing Duo
He does find himself stuck in a tough spot sometimes. He yells about it for a minute, then is off to the next toy.
At school my friends and I call rainbows "friendship colors". 
Mom found a recipe for these cupcakes (on her new obsession, Pinterest) and let me pick out the colors. 
What a perfect way to celebrate Doe's birthday with our annual cupcake party! 
Ryan likes to help in the kitchen, but for now he prefers working at this oven. 
The wicked awesome jacket is from Aunt Julie. The slicked hair is from Dad.
My sweet smile is pretty adorable, too.
Dear Keeley, I love my blue sparkly dress. Really love it. Even more than my Twinkle Toe awesome sparkly shoes. I put it on every single day after school. And sometimes before school, too. 
I wear it outside to play in the mud. I wear it on our Saturday morning walk. 
I wear it to brush my teeth (a visit from the Tooth Fairy at school has me in a frenzy over brushing and flossing). 
I wear it to practice writing my name (and also what appears to be Russian dialogue). 
And, finally, I wear it when drawing family portraits (Dad wrote the names for me). 
Notice I gave Mom and Ryan "Mater teeth". 
This one is Ryan The Lion Meets Frosty The Snowman. 
This one is my parents. Mom found this when she let the dogs outside one morning before work. She loves my art!
At 8 months our little man is a bundle of adjectives: 
active, curious, tenacious, affectionate, playful, sunny. 
But, if we had to pick just one word, it would be... MANIAC! Now that he can pull up to stand, that's all he wants to do. 
He figured out how to pull himself up in spite of the Houdini swaddle night time blanket. Dad caught him standing in his crib at 3am last weekend, so they figured it was time to lower the mattress. Things are getting pretty fun around here!
