Christmas Cards!

It is Christmas season and I am thrilled to celebrate the birth of our Savior! It is even more special now that I get to teach J about God's greatest gift to us, in Jesus, and how Jesus came into this world as a baby. (Which still baffles my mind!)

Seeing the lights go up on houses, decorating our own house, getting together with friends and family and giving and receiving Christmas cards are all part of what add to my excitement about the season.

This year, I am using Tiny Prints to order my cards. I have not decided which one yet, because there are so many great ones to choose from. You can view all of their fashionable Christmas cards here. Below are a few of the finalist contenders...

 http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm

 http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm

Praying you experience the joy only our Savior can bring this season and looking forward to seeing your Christmas cards!

Happy Halloween!

Our little builder had a blast at the Fall Fun Fest and is hoping to feel better and do some "trick-or-treating" tonight. We have been practicing! Here are a few highlights from the night and I will post a FB album with the rest!

 When did he get so big and brave? Love his courage!

 J loves his Pops! Thanks for being so much fun and helping to make his night special!

 Petting zoo! J loved the "soft bunnies". They even had llamas, but he wasn't a big fan.

 Bounce houses are the best. We had to drag him out of each one!

 Jumping with his sweet friend dressed as a princess. These 2 have so much in common and it is always fun to watch them play together.

 Train ride with Pops!

 Scott helped build this slide when he was in the troop 23 years ago. Such a cool tradition!

 The engineer of this massive slide.

 Waiting for his first turn...

 It was so much fun that J insisted in waiting in line to do it again! This time, he rode with Pops! So cool that J got to partcipate in the tradition of the giant slide.

Not so sure about cotton candy, but overall the night was a huge success! Thanks NBC for hosting the best Fall fun Fest!

24 weeks....

Woohoo! I always get excited about every new week of pregnancy. This week our little man is at least a foot long and weighs a little over a pound. Long and skinny at this point! He was moving around so much at my Dr.'s appointment that we could barely hear the actual heartbeat. We heard it through the umbilical cord, so he is fine, just active! He may give J a run for his money when he arrives.

We thought we had a name picked out, but I am second guessing it. So, we will keep you posted on the name.

Here is a picture of the little guy at 19 weeks...

 He was moving all around, swallowing alot (Hopefully he will be a great eater!), and at one point, put his hand right up to the camera and waved to us! :)

Praise the Lord for a healthy report from the ultrasound!

Here is the belly at 24 weeks. I have gained 14 pounds so far. I know this is necessary, but seeing those numbers rise on the scale is a little bit of a shock to my system! I am feeling much better and thankful to be in the second trimester. We appreciate your continued prayers for our little man!

Pumpkins...

I can't believe it is October! We are excited about Fall and hopefully some cooler weather. Thankfully, we live close to one of the largest pumpkin patches ever and were able to visit recently. Here are some pictures...

Such a big boy, now. He loved the big pumpkins!

 Being silly. This pumpkin was his "favorite" even though it had bird poop on it. Gross!

 Look at all those pumpkins. J is thinking about smiling.

 Cheesy smile! :)

 Drumming on pumpkins with our friends :)

 Trying to get one of them all looking.

 The best we could do was 1 at a time! Love busy 2-year olds. :)

 Precious!

 My favorite!!!

 Brushing the sheep is fun! I feel like they must drug these animals to keep them this calm with so many little ones running around.

 J's favorite...the bunny. He began quoting Curious George and the Bunny when we left!

Hope you have a Happy Fall and stay well. Our household has been hit with sickness recently. Praise the Lord for only minor illnesses and good doctors!

September Birthdays...

I have alot of favorite people to celebrate in Septemeber! Sadly, I didn't get to see each of them on their special days, but I did get to go to two very fun birthday celebrations...

J LOVED the first party. His friend, A, turned 2! And, her mama did an awesome job on her Elmo party, complete with an Elmo bounce house, J's favorite part...

 He knew exactly what to do!

 Bouncy balls make it even more fun!!!

 Happy 2nd Birthday!

J loved this yummy cake :)

 Sweet hugs! Sad to leave, but we had such a fun time!!!

 Next, Laura, my not-so-little sister, turned 18! So, we headed to Dallas to celebrate just how very, very special she is! J picked out the tiara and wanted to wear it himself. :)

Lovely ladies! We had a great night celebrating my favorite lady and her 18th birthday. Lots of laughter, stuffing ourselves with Italian food, some shopping and chocolate cake. :)

It's A...

We had our big sonogram this week and are praising the Lord that He has gifted us with another healthy baby BOY! He was dancing around the whole time and even waved to us a couple of times. I really think sonograms are amazing. It is such a blessing to get to watch our little one on a screen while he is still in my tummy! I was measuring 19 weeks exactly and our little boy weighs approximately 11 oz. Our sonographer told us that he had a beautiful brain and everything looked great! I am in awe of how she makes anything out of those black and white images but am so thankful she does.

I love parties and decided we needed to do a "gender reveal" party. The plan was to find out at the sonogram with Scott and tell our friends and family that night with a cake that would reveal pink or blue when cut. However, we decided to exercise some self-control and wait to find out with everyone else. It was fun, but as a girl who used to open her Christmas presents ahead of time, not an easy task! Below are some party pics...

So so happy!

Swimming...

One of my favorite things about summer is going to the pool. My pool trips look quite different now that I have an energetic toddler, who is not crazy about getting water in his eyes, but they are still fun! We have gotten good "pool time" this summer and it makes the crazy Texas heat a little more bearable. Scott and J went swimming over labor day, so I actually got a few pictures...

This float called a "puddlejumper" was the best $12 I spent all summer. J did great at his swimming lessons for his wonderful teacher but would not continue his skills practice for me. So, this float allowed him to move around freely without sinking. It is far superior to the orange arm-floats and served us well!

Love his smile! He sure thinks he is big swimming "all by himself". 

My boys! I hope J is as good of a swimmer as his Daddy because I am not the best swimmer.



16 weeks...



That's right! We are having a 2nd little baby and are happy to be in trimester #2. However, I am still waiting for the nausea to subside and the second trimester burst of energy to show up! I am feeling better and we have gotten good doctor's reports, so I can't complain. We are thrilled that the Lord has blessed us with this child, and I am anxious to start feeling him or her and find out the gender. I always think it might be fun to be surprised, but I definitely don't have the patience or self-control for that. We will know boy or girl in a little over 2 weeks!

This week our little one is approximately 4.5 inches long and about the size of an avocado. He or she will double in weight over the next 2 weeks, so I expect to see my tummy expand. I am slowly growing out of my clothes, but I don't have the cute round belly yet. I'm sure it will come soon.

We are praying that this baby grows and develops perfectly in my tummy and will come to know the Lord at an early age. We covet your prayers too.

Atlanta Family...

We were blessed with a visit from some very special family this summer. Scott's grandparents (and J's great-grandparents) came for a special visit, accompanied by fun Aunt Leigh. J met this side of the family at Christmas and I show him pictures constantly, however I didn't know if he would remember them. However, my people-loving son welcome them like he saw them every week. We all absolutely loved getting several good days of quality time with such special family members!

J is a great eater. He rode to the airport with Mimi and got to have lunch with the Atlanta gang.

Pops is so fun!

Aunt Leigh played Play-dough, colored and even spent lots of quality time in J's tent!

Nerf gun Lesson #1 from his Dad and uncles. His other Great-Grandad supervised and J caught on right away. Must be a boy thing.

Thank you, Aunt Linda and family, for the fun food plate!

We got to celebrate Aunt Leigh's 30th!

J was ready and eager to help blow out the candles!

J rewarded Aunt Leigh with a stay in his tent. She is so much fun and such a good sport. I think they spent hours in that tent watching videos from her camera! :)

Priceless. Going to frame this picture!





J was blessed with a new train set and "Thomas" videos from Grandmom, Granddude and Aunt Leigh.

He loves it!

Thanks for coming to visit! We are looking forward to the next time we can get together.