September in a nutshell

The blog has been neglected in September (for no good reason), so I'm going to cram in a summary and photos of the entire month here.

To start the month off, Koko came to spend a couple of days with us and she came bearing gifts (she has the "coolest aunt" routine down). She brought Iz & Ethan some wonderful clothes from Bahrain (they're a little small -- see exhibit A below -- but it's the sentiment that counts).
Exhibit A:


She also brought them a pink unicorn pillow ("Pinky")

and an Obama figurine, both of which have become favorite toys that the two fight over regularly.




We spent some time at the beach:

which prompted Ethan to want his own pair of goggles:


We had our wonderful neighbors over for a bbq, which Iz & Porter were very excited about:


Mama took a quick trip home to Evanston to run the Chicago Half Marathon and to help Momo & Jiji with the purging of old stuff. Ethan requested that I bring him two horses back from Evanston, and Momo and I were able to find the perfect candidates:


Iz requested a doll and got it, but we have yet to take a picture of them together.

Daddy did another triathlon -- this time, the San Diego Triathlon Classic. Mama's coworker Christopher also did the race so Iz & Ethan cheered for both of them (and they both did great!):


I don't think cheerleaders get much cuter than this:

This cheerleader was taking his job a little less seriously. He's putting cereal into his cowbell:

Swim:

Bike:

Run:

High-fiving Iz:

Christopher:

Done!


This one's on here because Izzy & Ethan were being cute and Iz said to me, "Mama, you should probably take a picture."


We did some fancy toe-painting on Izzy (which lasted less than 24 hours):


We did some family baking:

That's right, Frau Beckley, I busted out the hand mixer for this!


I think the kids were really in it for this:



But I was in it for these:


It's been a great month so far! One more week to go.