Pumpkins...

Yes, I know Halloween is over. But, since we're still in November it's OK to post about pumpkins right?! I completely forgot to write about a trip to the pumpkin patch and carving pumpkins so here you go!

We were so busy during October that the first Saturday we had free was the day before Halloween! Why not go to a pumpkin patch that day? We took Lily's friend, Zoe, with us and they had a ball playing-even though it was raining! Luckily, all of the fun activities to do were in a barn so they were dry as can be!

The girls in jail

Being silly when I was trying to get their attention. If one does something, the other one copies! I think Lily put her arm up first. Silly girls!

Such good friends!

Playing in the corn pit. Both girls wanted to "model" the corn.

My sweet Jameson just hanging out in the stroller.
And a few days before Halloween, we decided to carve a pumpkin! Here is Lily feeling the inside of a pumpkin for the first time. She did not like it! This is her pouty face...isn't it pretty? Not! I guess I'll just save this picture and embarrass her when she's older. I'm such a mean mom :)

Jameson is loving this pumpkin stuff!

He wanted to see what the pumpkin tasted like.

And why not taste the top of it too?

And since we were laughing at Jameson tasting the pumpkin, Lily wanted some attention too. Here she is tasting the pumpkin. She's a weirdo :)
And the finished product!
Ta Da! And Lily did help scoop out the insides once we got her a big spoon! Who knew she wouldn't like to get her hands all slimy?!

Halloween!

On Saturday night, our church had its annual Harvest Party. It was fun for the kids to have 2 chances to wear their costumes! Well, it was fun for Lily, Jameson could have cared less!

Here are my tigers!! We got Jameson's costume first and Lily was going to be a princess. Once she saw Jameson was going to be a tiger, she said, "I want to be a tiger like my brother!" So cute! My mom helped me figure out a tiger costume for her and I thought it worked great!
You can see Lily's tail coming through her legs. And my friend Tara helped me sew together Lily's tutu!

Look at what this boy can do!! Stand up all by himself!
Playing games at the Harvest Party. Check out that action shot! She knocked 2 of them down!
A guy from our church was presenting the Gospel to all the kids as this was an outreach event. He was quite silly in his costume!

Lily and her good friend Zoe!
Me and my tiger boy!
The church had a "jail" set up, and each kid got 3 tickets that said "go to jail." They could pass these tickets out to anyone-including parents! Well, Lily was being shy and didn't want to pass them out, but she wanted to be in jail like all the other kids. So she wanted me to go to jail with her! We had to stay in there for 5 minutes! That's a long time!
Me and my tiger Lily!

Jameson crawling all around-check out his tiger tail!
And playing another game.

On Halloween, we trick-or-treated at AJ and my parents' houses and then we met up with 2 of our friends and their families and drove to a neighborhood to trick-or-treat. Lily had a blast! She is finally old enough to understand what this silly holiday is all about. Although, anytime she saw a little dog she started crying and wouldn't go up to the door! We have a giant lab for a dog and she isn't scared at all. But little dogs? Don't get her near one! It was kinda funny how she would just sob randomly! Out of all the scary things you could see on Halloween night, she chose dogs to be the scariest! Oh well! It was a fun night, and besides the little dogs, she loved running around with her friends getting free candy! I mean, what's not to love about that?!

Reminiscing....

I was looking back through old pictures that I've taken at Halloween since Lily has been born. Thought it'd be fun to share them with you all!

Such a sweet, little baby!! I loved this costumer because Lily wasn't even crawling yet so the mermaid was perfect for her. She was 8 months old in this picture. Doesn't she and Jameson look alike?!

Lily was almost 2 in this picture. And this was at the stage where she did NOT want to sit still for pictures-which is why her face isn't super smiley! At least I have documentation of her in this costume though!
And last year's Halloween. It's amazing how much older she looks now compared to just 1 year ago! I really wasn't planning on getting her a costume last year. Terrible right? It's because I was so GINORMOUSLY pregnant and I honestly thought I'd be in labor or have a newborn by the time Halloween came around. Plus, I hate Halloween and didn't have the motivation to do anything for it. Once I came to the realization of how selfish I was being, I quickly bought a costume on clearance the week before Halloween and we did a little trick-or-treating. Lily had a blast! And then I felt guilty for almost not letting her dress up. Oh well-the past is the past right?! :)
OH.MY.WORD. Do you see how HUGE my belly was?!! And my face?!! SO thankful my baby is almost 1 year and not in my belly right now!
And the last picture of just the 3 of us before Jameson was born! We are going to try and go to the pumpkin patch tomorrow (weather pending) so hopefully we can recreate this picture with Jameson in it!!

Like Father Like Son?

I was recently looking through AJ's parent's photo albums because I never have seen baby pictures of AJ. Shocking right?! I have seen pictures of him from 2 years on (mainly because we had one in our wedding slide show) but never went and made the time to look at his baby pictures. Now that we have a son, I really wanted to see if AJ and Jameson resemble each other as infants. People say that Jameson either looks like me or AJ. I'm thinking he looks more like AJ, but Jameson definitely looks like his sister! Anyway, here's a photo of Jameson at 10 months:And here is one of AJ when he was 8 or 9 months old:Do you see some similarities?! Cause I do! Yes, AJ's face is A LOT slimmer than Jameson's! And is it just me or do AJ's legs look long in this picture? I know he's leaning forward, but they really do look extra long to me! Who knew he'd be 6'6 when he grew up?! But, I really do see lots of AJ in Jameson. Especially the smile and maybe the ears. Anyway, I thought it was kinda fun to compare the two. What do you all think?

Swings!

Oh this weather has been so nice lately! Fall is my favorite season and there's nothing like a crisp, sunny day to put a smile on my face! At the beginning of the summer, my wonderful aunt and uncle gave us their old swing set! Their kids are too old for it and they so graciously gave it to us. Lily LOVES it and is out there swinging every single day. Now that summer is over, I thought for sure we wouldn't be outside anymore. But with these sunny days lately, she's still having fun on it!

I love these kids so much! Aren't their smiles great?! Really hoping we won't have to do braces someday! :) This is a swing AJ made a couple years ago for Lily. And just the other day AJ made and added a bar to keep Jameson nice and safe in it! My husband is so crafty!

Lily LOVES pushing her brother-which is great for me! I love just sitting and watching her do all the work!

This is the swing set from my aunt and uncle. It's the best when other kids come over because they play out there a ton! Here is Lily having fun with my friend Anna's kids.

So, if you want to come to a "private" park and play (hardly a park!) come on over to our house! We love visitors!

Eleven Months!!!!

Say it ain't so!!! Next month is B-day month and I'm dreading it! I wish my sweet Jameson would stay little forever! But, he really is at a fun stage right now!
*He is crawling everywhere! He loves to be mobile and follow us all around the house. He even "chases" Lily around the house wherever she goes.
*He can pull himself onto anything! Chairs, tables, Lily's bed, doors, his crib, etc. We are definitely baby proofing our house!
*His hair is getting thick and long! I refuse to cut it until at least after he turns 1. I love how red it is too! How fun that God added that surprise bonus for us!
*He loves his sister and mimics her when she laughs. I've even caught himself laughing at her when she's crying. It's kinda funny!
*He is eating almost 100% table foods. He loves pulled pork that AJ cooked on the Traeger (a glorified bbq for those who don't know what that is). And so far he hasn't been picky about anything! I'm hoping this lasts for a bit.
*He sleeps great at night and during nap time. Although, now that he pulls himself in his crib it takes him forever to go to sleep at night! As soon as we lay him down he turns over and gets up and wants to stand in his crib and play! Oh well-at least he's happy and not screaming right? We find him asleep in the funniest positions.

On a walk to the park-it was chilly! And his hat barely fits him!

Such a BIG boy standing by himself-and playing with my fall decorations. Yup, I've had to move some things because of him!

Mmmm.....pulled pork!

Fast asleep

He loves Charlie!

Always so smiley!

"I see you mama!"

Gymnastics!

We recently enrolled Lily in a gymnastics class through the YMCA. It's once a week for 10 weeks and it's only 45 minutes long. Just the right amount of time for her to run around, do some somersaults, and hang with her friends! The class is basically a tumbling class, not so much learning new gymnastic moves. But Lily has fun and it's fun for us moms to chit chat while we watch our kiddos play!

Lily with some of her friends from church: L-R, Zoe, Evie, Abigail, Ellie, and Annie

Jameson wanted to try the balance beam out too!

Jumping on the trampoline

Doing some flips on the bar with help from her teacher

Even Jameson got to crawl around on the mats!

Trying out the balance beam

Choo-choo train with all her friends!

Learning how to do a backwards somersault

She did it!

And a regular somersault!