Welcome to another edition of This and That, where you get to find out everything going on with me and my little family.

Lyla…of course you want to know about our little girl who’s going nuts with growing, walking, learning and just being cute as can be.

And who turns ONE YEAR OLD on Sunday. Holy crap! It’s gone by so fast.

It’s honestly amazing seeing her change right before our eyes. I thought that once she walked, the next big step would be talking or her first word. But there is so much other stuff going on right now that is crazy. You can see her little mind working on things now.

She’s been pushing this big box around the house, putting stuff on top of it and treating it like a shopping cart. Not sure where she got that idea, but it’s just amazing to see the stuff she does (She also sat on it, see picture to the right, and got “stuck”). She’s learned the specific cabinet that we allow her to open, so she goes into it everyday, dumps all the tubberware from it and has a grand ol’ time.

Obeying isn’t always perfect, but the girl KNOWS what she should and shouldn’t do, and it’s just another thing that I’m in awe of about her.

She knows all kinds of little gestures now, like clapping, high five, TOUCHDOWN! and a few more. She just in the last few days learned “come give me a hug Lyla” and she’ll run into your arms and actually try to squeeze hug you. It’s so danged cute.

When I pick her up from the sitter, she now comes running and gives me a big ol’ bear hug. Never happened before until the last few times. I love it!

So this Friday starts our big annual vacation to Jefferson, Texas to spend time with Jina’s family for Thanksgiving. Lyla will have a little First Birthday Party on Sunday which should be such a blast. There is a beautiful park across the street from The Hale House that we’ll do the party so the setting will be perfect.

Picture taking time of course!

It’s definitely a busy time right now for me personally. The last few weeks at work have been crazy, and once vacation is over I’m off to Toronto for work from Nov 30th – Dec 11th. It’s an unbearably long time and I’m not really looking forward to it at all except for the chance to see Niagara Falls while I’m there.

Jina is going to have her hands full for those two weeks and I just pray everything is easy for her. Lyla, you be good!

Vacation can’t get here soon enough! Busy next two days, but then it’s relaxation time. The photographer inside me is already dreaming about Jefferson and finding bazillion things to take pictures of. I want to do a great new shot of The Hale House itself…maybe an HDR as well. But there is so much around town…train tracks, old antique shops, cars, materials…an awesome bridge for trains…the Bayou…and tons of other stuff.

You can’t even imagine how many shots I’ll be taking next week *grin*

Here is a short little video of Lyla from the last week. You get to see the “box” and her liking to push it around. What really makes this video great is the fact that she had no idea Jina was filming her until halfway through, then she gets a huge smile! Hope you enjoy!