Trick-or-Treat!

The Kenleys and Browns came over tonight for pizza and trick-or-treating. The kids had a great time, and we did too!

The night started with a little photo shoot...

 While looking for my "Halloween costume" I also saw this shirt idea. It matched Bryson's construction worker theme, so I went ahead and made it too. (note- we were just talking at work about families that dress up in matching costumes for Halloween and I swore that we would never be one of those families- I know that this will only be "allowed" for so long in my family- so decided to take advantage of it! :)

 Bryson and Sam

 Reagan, Lili, Sam, and Bryson loading up on candy!

 Eric, Stacey, and Luka

 And the "Dad of the Year" award goes to.......... Scott!

 The loot! Notice the Honey Bun and the Bath and Body Works hand sanitizer. Not sure about giving those things out for Halloween- but works for this pregnant Momma!

When we got home Bryson was wound up. We did let him pick one piece of candy to eat before he had to get in the bathtub. Before he left his bucket on the table he told Jason and me not to eat his candy. What he doesn't know won't hurt him!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2011

Bryson showing off his new Halloween shirt from Grandma before we left for Erin's this morning...

 A few of the ladies from work decided to dress up today. Might as well get into the Halloween spirit!

Here are the twins- Mary and Janie.

 Charli the pirate...

 Charli, Me, and Stacey

 I didn't even think about dressing up until Friday when everyone at work was talking about it. So that night I googled "pregnant Halloween costumes." There were some pretty cute ideas, and some really weird ideas. I saw this shirt and thought it was really cute! Saturday B and I went to Target and Michaels and bought a t-shirt and puff paint and--- voila! My Halloween costume. Most people understood the shirt, but there were a few who looked at it and were very confused. Might have been a better idea if my baby bump was a little bit bigger. I loved it though and ended up making a lot of people laugh!

 Last week we were signed up to take snacks for our home church. I made Halloween cupcakes and cookies, and made these s'more treats for the kids. I was going to make them for Bryson's friends at Erin's house, but ran out of time. Looks like they'll be getting something similar for Christmas instead (I already saw Christmas tree Peeps at Michaels!). Anyways, thought they were cute and wanted to share (idea courtesy of Pinterest).

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we finally got a chance to head to our local pumpkin patch. Bryson LOVED it! He ran up and down the rows and rows of pumpkins, and was so excited! It was so much fun to watch!

 Bryson picked a few little pumpkins and when we checked out they gave him stickers for them. Can you tell which one he decorated?  :) 

He loves those pumpkins! They have ridden in the car with us, gone on walks with us, and even been pushed in the swing.

We are looking forward to a lazy weekend of enjoying this wonderful Fall weather. Thinking of heading back to the pumpkin patch...

Preview...

Saturday Bryson was invited to a Halloween themed birthday party. He is going to be a construction man for Halloween, complete with jeans and work boots. But-- it was about ninety degrees on Saturday! So, he wore his plaid shirt, tool belt, hard hat, khaki shorts, and tennis shoes. And I must say- he was the cutest construction worker I have ever seen! He was being really goofy before we left, but he let me snap these couple of pictures. Here is a sneak peak of what our Halloween will {sort of} look like!

17 Weeks

***I saw this idea on a random blog that I stumbled upon several months ago and bookmarked it so that I would remember to do it, too. It is such a cute idea to document pregnancy and all of the changes going on (with me and our little family). Here goes...

How Far Along: 17 weeks

Size of baby: about 5 inches long from head to bottom, weighs about 5 ounces

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 1 pound gained

Maternity Clothes: No

Gender: Counting down the days until we find out on November 9th!

Name: ???

Movement: I started to feel movement on the day I hit 16 weeks. It is not all the time, and definitely when I am staying still (which isn't very often!). I love feeling this little one wriggle around! There's nothing better.  :)

Sleep: Not too bad. Waking up once a night (without fail!) to go to the bathroom.

What I miss: Eating without getting heartburn!

Cravings: None really so far. I used to drink sodas and sweet tea all the time but have found that I do NOT want it very often with this pregnancy. Probably a blessing.

Symptoms: Finally started feeling better two weekends ago. Still having pretty severe heartburn not relieved by prescription/non-prescription medications. Not having to take the Zofran anymore (which has been my bestfriend and constant companion for the last 11 weeks).

Best Moment this week: Pulling out of Erin's house to head home Bryson said "Mommy- you have baby in your tummy? I want a brudder." He said it with such sincerity and sweetness that my heart melted! Not even sure if he knows what a "brudder" really is- but can't wait to see my two babies together for the first time!

The baby is the size of a: turnip.
 

To the Beach!!!

In September we made another trip to the beach. My parents were supposed to go with us but the day before we were supposed to leave my mom got exposed to Fifth's disease. This can be devastating to a pregnancy so they didn't get to come. It was horrible! Bryson had really been looking forward to playing with them at the beach. I think my mom cried for three days!

We decided to make the best of the trip and ended up having a great time (even though we really missed them!). We are looking forward to spending some time with them at the beach next summer.

September is definitely the time to go to the beach. There was no one there and the weather was amazing. When we got there the temperature was in the low 80s. It almost felt like we were on the Eastern coast instead of the Gulf! The water was clear and the beach was clean. We could not have asked for anything better!

I think Bryson's favorite part of going to the beach is riding in the elevator. He is still talking about it.

 The first night we headed down to the beach for a walk. Bryson definitely becomes a free spirit when he hits the beach. I'm thinking he is going to love it as much as I do.

Jellyfish!

 We were racing back and forth to the water. Bryson kept drawing a line in the sand with his foot for us to stand behind before the race started. Then he would get down like he was getting ready to run a race at a track meet and say "Ready, set, go!".  Too cute!

Last time we were at the beach Bryson got a horrible rash/burn on the inside of his legs from the sand and the salt rubbing inside of his bathing suit, so this time he went bottomless most of the time.

 Annabel loved rubbing the muddy sand all over herself. She was so funny!

 The men getting ready to go wade fishing.

 One evening this was set up for a wedding. Pretty and simple.

 Carrying on our tradition of donuts for breakfast (every morning!).

 Before we left town we headed to the aquarium at Moody Gardens. All of the kids loved it and it was a lot of fun to watch them get so excited at the different exhibits.

 We spent most of our time chasing these two...

 Shark Tank!

What a great trip! Looking forward to another late summer trip next year with another baby!

Fun Weekend/Work Weekend

Early in September Bryson and I headed to New Braunfels for the weekend.

Grandma had a table set up just for Bryson complete with play-dough and tons of fun activities. Can we say "wrapped around his finger"?

 On Sunday afternoon Granny came over to see us! We spent the afternoon shopping and of course, being entertained by Bryson.

 On Monday (Labor Day) we went to Great Grandma Strawn's house for lunch.

 B with Grandma and Great Grandma

 The fires in Bastrop started burning that day. I remember seeing on the news while we were eating lunch that close to 400 homes had been destroyed. That seemed like such a huge number. When Bryson and I left we had to go all the way back to Austin and then home, avoiding Bastrop. This added about an hour and a half to our trip- but we had no other choice. I couldn't believe how much smoke there was! Here is a picture taken out of my window where Hwy 290 intersects Hwy 21. There were people lined up on the road, standing outside of their cars, taking pictures. These fires ended up destroying over 1500 homes before they were contained. I will never forget this sight.

 When we finally got home we had an amazing surprise! Jason and some of our friends spent the weekend installing wood floors in our living room. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about Jason installing them, but they are perfect!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our "new" living room!