Thanksgiving

I love having everyone here for Thanksgiving.  My mom and Paula do most of the cooking, the boys do the clean up and I get to enjoy my family.  I have so much to be thankful for and this is the perfect time of year to reflect on that. 

 

10 Months Old

Bath time for my beautiful boy.  Look at those big blue eyes!

Gampa's Birthday

Happy Birthday Gampa!

Frozen Halloween

Like just about every other little girl in town, my princess wanted to be Queen Elsa for Halloween.  In my totally unbiased opinion she's absolutely the prettiest Elsa we saw.  Check out Ryan's awesome pumpkin carving skills.   

For trick or treating we made a pretty little Disney cocktail called Blue Snow Dream.  Tessa is drinking non-alcoholic Gatorade.

Tessa wasn't the only one dressed up.  I was Anna, Ryan was Kristoff, Jack Ryan was Olaf and Anabelle was Sven.  Look closely and you'll see that Jack Ryan is absolutely miserable in his costume. It was mostly the hat that made him scream so he spent most of the night without it.

We also went to Boo in the Zoo, a fun tradition with the grandparents.   

I had to take a few pictures of my very own Jack-o-Lantern.  Get it?  Haha!  He liked this outfit much better than the snowman suit.  It's a hand me down from Anabelle. 

Fall for Greenville

Fall for Greenville is probably my favorite event.  It was hot this year and we spent more time riding rides that ever before.  We sampled delicious food from many different restaurants, the main reason this is my favorite event.  Tessa and Daddy are sharing gelato here.  

 Little Man is not to be left out.  Have I mentioned that he likes to eat?!

 A few turns around the carousel and spins on the whirlybird. 

In other news, Tessa made this beautiful fall collage of leaves and things we collected around the yard and on our walks. 

9 Months Old

Nine months have gone by so quickly!  I think we have officially changed Jackson's name to Jack Ryan.  We'll see if it sticks.  He's precious rocking in our little rocking chair.   

We went outside for a photo shoot.  He's such a ham with the camera and gives me the best smiles.

He now has three more teeth which have caused us to lose even more sleep.  I tried putting a raw egg in his room to help with teething pain.  It's some old wives' tale that is supposed to help.  I don't know.  But, it was cheap and easy and therefore, worth a try.  Ryan and I both have spent many nights on the loveseat in Jack Ryan's room trying to get a little sleep.  Once the teeth were in we did some sleep training.  After three days we thankfully had success. 

Oktoberfest

We love our little downtown Greer.  Last week-end they had Oktoberfest and we took the kids.  They loved dancing and listening to the Polka band.  It was chilly but fun!

 I love, love, love watching them dance together.  Jack Ryan is so big that Tessa can barely hold him.

Tessa is learning that not all scary looking things are actually scary.  This time of year can really upset her with all the Halloween decorations.  For instance, we don't even go to Lowe's until the holiday is over because their decorations are just awful.  But here she's smiling pretty and bravely standing in front of this spooky tree. 

Plus we got a few pictures on the porch with our pumpkins. 

 

First Grade SEEDS Project

In order to be involved in Tessa's school, I volunteered to do SEEDS projects.  In an effort to get kids excited about reading, moms come in and do crafts to go along with books selected by the teacher.  I am not a crafty person by any means, but there is always GOOGLE to help me.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is my first project and the kids loved it.  I'm quite disappointed that Tessa's class is so rowdy.  There seem to be at least two major trouble makers and it is not shaping up to be a good year for my darling daughter.  But, for me, the class was remarkably well behaved.  We read the book, talked about the book, did caterpillar yoga and then did our craft.  I love being able to volunteer at school.     

September Update

8 months old and oh so mobile.  Jackson's climbing the stairs!  I hear that boys are different but WOW!  Stairs, already?!?!  Time for some baby gates.  

He is eating lots of solid foods now including bites of a whole apple.  We have added peaches, apricot, pears and he seems to like everything.  He had some wheezing and has already had to take albuterol.  I'm praying he doesn't have my asthma.  He is napping in the morning and the afternoon which is so nice.  Of course he still doesn't sleep great.  I spend an inordinate amount of time staring at this little monitor willing him to sleep more.     

Said "uh-oh" and was quite proud of himself. 

Apple Farm

It's always fun to go to the Apple Farm over Labor Day weekend.  Jackson is so big standing with Tessa in front of the "How Tall This Fall" sign.  We packed a picnic to eat with our freshly picked apples and hot apple donuts.  Mostly I wanted to take pictures of my adorable children in this beautiful setting.