Construction Supervisor & Puppet Master

Friday evening Alexander put the boys to work de-shingling the garage roof in a push to get all the debris to the city dump before it closed Saturday at noon.

(I know, I look horrible! It's because Jenny Brown keeps me up late watching Library DVDs...)

Zander adorned his white Habitat NCAA hardhat for safety, and to let the "crew" know who was in charge! Friday evening Daddy, Stretch & Brad hacked at the roof until nearly 10pm.

After a 7am visit to the dump, the boys returned to the roof to remove the remaining shingles for a second trip to the dump... Unfortunately, no one knew the dump changed their hours, until the crew arrived at the locked gate at 11:30am. We had another Alice's Restaurant on our hands, luckily, no one got arrested!

Shortly after lunch, reinforcements arrived, and Grampa climbed right to work. The rain didn't start until around 6pm...

But Alexander cracked the whip, and the boys kept working!

It was difficult to keep Zander occupied while the other men-folk were hard at work on the roof, but Jenny Brown did her best by putting on a private puppet show, just for Alexander!

When JB & Stretch arrived in Wheeling at the beginning of July, Alexander was just starting to sit up by himself. Now, he sits confidently, crawls like he's on a mission (notice his poor rug burned knees), he can roll to a sitting position from his belly, he can pull himself to a standing position from a seated or kneeling position, and he's cruising around the ottoman & his other standing toys!

Zander's bottom two teeth are also starting to push through, which has added a little more gas to his constant propulsion.

Speaking of gas, Zander had his first tasty guacamole (minus the tomatoes & onions) & it was a big success!

On our way home from the doctor in Pittsburgh, we met up with JB & Stretch (on their way back from J-ville) @ Whole Foods for a horribly expensive lunch & a sackful of frozen organic veggies to puree for our lil' Vegemite. Making our own organic baby food is turning out to be so easy! I started out using a baby food strainer, but then remembered the "Bullet" my parents had gifted us a few years back in Louisiana. It took me all of 15 minutes to make a pound of peas for our Sweet Pea this morning. So fun!

Longevity runs thru his veins

Grandpa Leventry turned 88 on July 18, and the whole fam-damnly traveled to Johnstown to help him blow out the candles!

Alexander enjoyed playing with all his cousins; and Baby Norah especially loved snuggling with the only family member smaller than she is!

Aunt Amy also loved snugglin' with the lil' fashionista. In true mama-style, Alexander wore a pair of my baby overalls to crawl around the Mellott Compound. He looked uber-cute all dressed up like his mama!

But then he put on his suit & tie to conspire with Sarah which toy to play with next!

Before dinner, Daddy took Zane for a stroll down to the pond to look for frogs, turtles and beavers... I think all they was was chickens! :)

After dinner, and one of Jenn's delicious cakes (an actual scratch lottery ticket; she's amazing!), we all headed to the fire pit for some S'mores...not a good weekend for a diet!

Alexander was able to stick to his carrot-stick diet, however.

Happy Birthday Bingo Bob!

Hail to the chief

Hail, Hail, Holy Hail

Eyeball-size Hail

Just the facts. Hail. Eyeballs. Hail. Flooding.

A Hard Day At the Office

In this economy, there is no reason for lil' Zander to be crawlin' 'round the house all day without a job.

Just chillin' in our newly baby-proofed young-executive dining room. Not a care in the world.

It's off to work with you lil' man!

But, before he could become the first 6 month-mogul,, Alexander had to have a good business suit. You know, for the job hunt.

And, although some people say you have to spend money to make money, WWED? Sew it.

Unfortunately, shortly after tightening his tie, Zander also tightened his belt & soiled his new bib.

To practice his interview skills, we invited a few of Zaney's friends over. As soon as Andy arrived, our lil' job seeker was tracking his every move. Andy played with a truck, Zander played with a truck. (I hope Ethan's prepared for a tag-along next month!)

It's so cute how interested Zaney was in Andy & Owen. He couldn't keep his hands to himself!

Poor Owen!

Stand, Laughs & Video Tape

We pulled this table that Anna's co-workers @ the Sephardic Home gave us out of the basement, cleaned it off & now our babes can stand! The little play table is so cute; it is a little picnic setup, all it is missing is some Watermelon. Yum. But, Daddy says we can put some in the bowl @ the center of the table to encourage him to stand up:).

Chemical "X" ganked this very Stella Artois glass on our first foreign Forth of July in... 2003. Then Scratchy Stretch snitched Stella from Moxham & whisked her off to Oklahoma in 2004. The golden girl is finally home in 2009, and Alexander seems to like her just fine.

Peek-a-boo. Peek-a-boo.

And the grand finale... Creepy Crawlin'! Yep. That's right. Almost he's crawling. JB & Stretch spent their day teaching our lil' inch worm the slither. I think they earned their keep today... well, almost. The dishes still need done...

Fountain of Youth

Just a couple more photos from Dana's visit!