Fun in Cleveland Part 1

I'm playing a little bit of catch up with the blog as we had a great visit to Cleveland, Ohio to welcome back Uncle Joey and then a very busy week back at home.  Here are some snapshots of our Cleveland trip.  I decided that there were enough pictures, I will break it into two parts.  

Phineas was excited to spend time with his cousins.  Cousin Collin was a great grocery shopper with Grammy and got Phin some delicious treats.  Yummy puffs!

Phineas was also excited to see his cousin Ryan.  He made him smile!

Everybody was so excited to see Uncle Joey as soon as he got in from the airport!

Uncle Joey even read Collin's garage door book to everybody.

The cousins were all ready for trick or treating! (Little did they know how horribly wet, windy, and cold it was outside)

There was a pumpkin, Clark Griswold (from the movie Summer Vacation) and a crocodile from Peter Pan. 

 

Here is the scene that Collin's is dressed up from.  He drove the car (see picture below) that Clark Griswold was going to trade in for the new station wagon above.

 

We had a Peter Pan theme: Captain Hook, Peter Pan, and Tick Tock the Crocodile.

He thought the alarm clock around his neck was very tasty.

I wish it wouldn't have been miserable and pouring rain so I could have taken more pictures.  Collin's new love is for station wagons, so Uncle Mark helped him create the station wagon that Clark Griswold first drives in the movie Summer Vacation.  It was pretty awesome.

The weather was so bad we couldn't take the camera but we did document Phin's first trick or treating experience and getting candy from Uncle Louie.

Besides playing with the dog, Sasha, in the video we posted before, Phineas also had a great time chasing balloons around the floor after trick or treating.

 

Fun with Pets

Phineas really enjoys animals.  On Halloween he had a great time playing with Aunt Bernadette and her dog Sasha.  He thought Sasha playing catch was hysterical and kept laughing for at least 15 minutes.  

He has also enjoyed playing with Grammy and Papa's dog, Daisy, and their cat, Tutti.

Mr. Lion Pumpkin

We have an annual tradition of carving a pumpkin.  The past few years we have carved one based on a theme of something that is happening in our lives or something we are currently enjoying.  (Examples: Last year's was a pregnant pumpkin with a tiny pumpkin inside. When we got the cats, it was a cat pumpkin.)  This year we decided to dedicate our pumpkin to Phin's favorite toy, Mr. Lion.  So we carved a lion pumpkin!  We are hoping to get some good nighttime pictures of it as well to post soon.

Rolling in the grass is way more fun than sitting for a photo shoot.

Mr. Lion (Phin's favorite toy) an Mr. Lion the Pumpkin

 Phin decided to have a little snack at the expense of Mr. Lion.

We tried to give him other alternatives...

 But the pumpkin ears proved just too tempting...

(note the now ear-less pumpkin)

In fact lots of things proved very tempting.  (Don't worry, I didn't let him eat the leaves.) :)

 

On the Move

Phineas is doing such a good job of crawling now.  He is one speedy little guy.  Here's a short video (since my camera is somehow refusing to take anything more than a short video) of him crawling.

 

Happy 11 Month Birthday!

When I pulled out the 11 month sticker to put on him for the pictures today, I was shocked when the next one said, "1 Year".  Time has flown and I can't believe how big he is.  As is usual with the birthday posts, there are a ton of pictures that I had trouble narrowing down.  Happy 11 months to our sweet boy!  He was extremely difficult to photograph this time as every time I set him down to take his picture, he crawled towards me.  

Earlier in the day he spent some time looking at books on his bookshelf.  It was very cute.  He would pull one off at a time and hold it with both hands and examine the cover before he would drop it and pull another one off.  He likes his books.

Another activity he enjoys is playing with remotes.  Usually it is pushing the buttons on the normal TV remote, but he'll settle for a Wii remote if need be.

 

 Here are my attempts at getting some 11 month pictures...

With the first take, I couldn't take a non-blurry picture fast enough until he was already on my knees.

I tried giving him something to hold...

 but, that didn't last very long either. 

Standing up seemed to work.  And he loves standing up!

I finally resorted to holding him on the ground between my knees so he couldn't get away, and making him laugh.

And as always there is a token picture with Patty the Platypus.

 

A New Toy

Daddy got Phineas a new toy.  It seemed age appropriate and safe for babies.  We've got to teach him how to hold the handle though.

 

Yummy strawberries!

Phineas has a new favorite food, strawberries! He loves them so much!  They are a nice little treat while he's getting his first molars way early.  :(  Look at those rosy cheeks.  He's handling it well, but it still hurts a lot.  Poor little guy! Right now the tooth count is up to 9.