the man in the yellow hat revisited

yep. the man in the yellow hat is back. except this time he's the original with his little curious monkey. the city of auburn declared october 30th as "halloween" as far as trick or treating goes because Auburn High School has a home football game tomorrow night, the traffic from which may create an unsafe environment for trick or treaters. gotta love small town living!

happy halloween!

countdown to halloween

here's to happiness!

Whirlwind Tour of the Northeast

We have returned safely from our whirlwind tour of the northeast. It was a blast!

Wednesday night: we drove to Newnan to spend the night with my aunt and uncle (who won again and is still undefeated!).

Thursday morning: we caught a flight to Pittsburgh; from the airport, Gary rode with friends to Morgantown for the Auburn/West Virginia game. What a game. I will say that our whole flight to Pitt was all ORANGE - it was AUSOME! War Eagle anyway. While Gary cheered on the Tigers, Henry and I visited with our very dear friends, Ray and Jan Dobrosky. As many of you know, my parents became great friends with Ray & Jan when they lived in Pittsburgh way before I was born. Our families have all kept in touch over the years . . . vacations in Hilton Head, visits to each others homes, all wonderful times. They have always been like family/second parents to me. While the South is known for its hospitality, I will have to say that the Dobrosky house may take hospitality to a new level. Thank you, Ray and Jan, for absolutely spoiling us while we were there! We love you guys.

Henry meets Grandma Jan for the first time and is sporting his Steelers outfit she gave him. She had another Steeler outfit for him when we arrived. :)
S, Jan, Ray

When we would vacation with Ray/Jan in HH, their children and close friends would also come. Some of them stopped by Thursday night to say hello and catch up-it was so nice of them to make the effort to say hello!

Friday: Gary rode back to where we were after the football game. On Friday, we rented a car and drove six hours to Michigan to visit Kevin and Suzanne. The weather was nasty and rainy the whole drive. We had dinner with Sue's parents Friday night and then crashed.

Saturday: Kevin and Gary left at 6am Saturday morning and headed to Ann Arbor for the Michigan State/Michigan game at the Big House. They had plenty of time to tailgate and play cornhole. They had a blast and the Spartans were victorious! Woo hoo! Meanwhile, Sue and I returned the rental car and watched the game at Sue's house in their newly finished basement. Henry, who was a trooper the entire trip, took a three hour nap on Saturday afternoon. Poor little guy!

Go Green!

Sunday: the main reason we planned this whirlwind tour was to celebrate with the Perlins by helping host a baby shower for them. On Sunday we had a very nice shower for Baby Perlin, due around Christmastime. We are ready to meet you, little P! From the shower we left for the Detroit airport and flew back to Atlanta. We ended up getting home around 9:30pm last night. Thanks Kevin and Suzanne for a lovely visit! We had a truly wonderful time seeing our loved ones!

I will say that it is nice to be home and see our dogs and be settled. Henry did well on both flights-he was awake about half the time and slept half the time. He was up very late each night and slept in three different places and still had a smile a good bit of the time. He is happy to be home as well. Henry has been to more places in his first 9 months than he will probably go in the next few years . . . Chattanooga, San Diego, Orlando, Sarasota, South Carolina (Greenwood), Seaside, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. I say all of that not to boast about Henry's travels, but more as a side note to say that the Vaughans are officially done traveling for 2008.

We hope everyone had a good weekend and happy early Halloween!

The cake at Sue's shower-how perfect!

Miss Shirley (Sue's Mom)

Soon to be parents

H at the airport

funny guys

War Eagle! Go Tigers!

sneak peek

a month ago we had some pictures made of henry. we haven't been able to view all the proofs yet, but she did send me a "sneak peek" of one she really liked. if you need a little smile or something to brighten your day, just take a look. I love my littlest one! he makes my day every day.

happy early halloween

from Auburn . . . thanks to Gary's Mom for the precious Halloween outfit!

ready for church!
Gary's Mom and Jon spoil Henry with all sorts of care packages and gifts of love. Gary's Mom sent Henry two very nice hand painted china sets as keepsakes. Aren't they beautiful?

Wrapping up the weekend . . . it is starting to cool off here in Auburn. Woo-hoo! Fall is my favorite time of year.
And the dogs settle in for a long night's rest . . . it's a rough life you know. We were walking Henry and all four dogs on Saturday - and we tied a Golden to each side of H's stroller. It mirrored a dogsled/wagon. Henry loved having a brother and sister on each side of him and the dogs seemed to enjoy it too. Didn't get a picture though.
big one little one
giant one

tribute to petey

henry's outfit is a tribute to petey the pointer (there is a pointer on each one of his pockets) - one of the sweet dogs we fostered. petey was a handsome brown and white pointer with a loving personality. he found a happy home here in Auburn and is doing well as far as we know. we had never been around pointers much until we fostered him and he definitely made us a fan of that breed.

the dog days of fall

Henry wore his cute little dog outfit from Nancy for the first time. Thanks again Nance!

Food update: Henry has now tried and likes avocados, northern beans, black beans, and puffs (little bites similar to cheerios). The puffs took several times, but he now seems to like picking them up and feeding himself. He also tried a zwieback toast and was fascinated by it.

Next foods to try: asparagus, chick peas.

various videos

and he crawls . . . the crawling video was taken on 9/22. as you can tell, I wasn't in a huge hurry to post that video for various reasons. it's funny to watch him "army crawl" and he sure is having fun exploring in this new way. the other video is some sweet time with dad that brought forth a few chuckles.

nine months old and a new trick

Henry turned nine months, yes NINE months, on Monday the 13th. NINE months.

I don't know about you rooney, but I'm finding that hard to believe. He had his nine, yes nine, month check up yesterday. Weighing in at 19 pounds 12 ounces and measuring twenty NINE inches in height, that puts him still in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. All was good - he didn't cry when the nurse pricked his toe to take some blood. He DID pitch a little fit when the doc started poking around on him. In fact, the doctor's exact words were "Well he can really turn it on quick can't he? Wonder where he gets that temper from? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree Momma . . . " To which I just smiled and nodded. When I was a little girl, my parents had this lovely nickname for me, Miss Poofy, because of that little temper and quick response. Gary, also in the doctor's office yesterday, kindly responded to the doctor, "Well . . . it seems we both have a bit of temper at times." Whew! Glad it's not just me. :)

Also on the NINE month birthday of Henry, he learned a new trick. When I went to get him from his afternoon nap, this is what I found:
The crying picture actually happened first because I came in the room, left to get my camera, and that made him mad. When I returned he was quite upset! But he cheered up pretty quickly.
I guess we are really in for it now . . . Henry is crawling and now pulling up on a few things. No "cruising" yet, but I'm sure that is not far down the road. "Mobile" as they say. It's bittersweet. Now he can chase the doggies I suppose. Oddly enough, he still has no teeth! I think he will walk before he gets his first tooth, crazy little guy.