Baby Shoes

I put shoes on Russell for the first time today.

This morning after breakfast, Taylor kept walking up to his little brother with outstretched arms asking,"Russell, come walk to me!" And Russell, giggling and shuffle stepping toward him each time, loved to respond to the attention he was getting from his hero, Big Brother Taylor.

I squeezed my baby's chubby little feet into his posh New Balance shoes (a gift from Grandmother Norris, to Taylor, when he started walking) and put he and his brother into our bike trailer and rode a longer route to a park for my tri training today.

The day was cool and beautiful. Perfect for exercise and perfect for play. And my stomach didn't hurt (long story that I'll get to another day)! It felt nice to get out. It's been feeling nice out a lot lately. Maybe I'm not going to mourn the loss of hot summer days so much after all...

Taylor was loving tossing the playground bark up into the air while he played. It reminded me of playing in Fall's leaves. Soon I'll be taking pictures of the real thing, I think.

The shoe thing was a bigger deal than I thought it would be for Russell. I envisioned him loving having protection for his feet and feeling more freedom as a result, but for most of the time he and Taylor played, he decided that crawling was probably better than standing on those funny foot restraints.

Every now and then, I'd catch him getting brave for a minute or two. (In the name of food, you know.)

Taylor took a break in the name of food several times too. He'll do just about anything for fruit leather.

This picture spells Tiffany L.O.V.E.--it's outdoors, a great camera {bag} nearby, bike and gear in background, nice weather, one of the cutest little boys in the world smiling at me...

In the evening Andrew, kids, and I met up with Kevin & Laurie (and their adorable kids Brynley and baby Noah) at the fire pit on our church's property and enjoyed a campfire dinner together.

It was the perfect double date: nearly free, near to home, the kids entertained themselves "exploring" (as Taylor called it), and we had good adult conversation--something I definitely am in shortage of.

We all came home covered in dirt and smelling of campfire. My boys were happy.