Family Photos

These are a couple of my favorites from our recent photos. I like them, but I'm thinking next time I would like to try an individual photographer so they can capture a little more personality and not feel so formal. (And not make us wait an hour leaving us with sleepy boys!)

41 Weeks

I thought this picture was appropriate because the bathtub is one of your favorite places to be! You love to splash and kick the water, and when you are with us, stand and bounce!

This week you went to the doctor for your 9 month check-up. Your height is 30.25 inches, putting you in the 95th percentile. The doctor thinks you are going to be tall!! You weigh 20 lbs. 1.5 oz (50th percentile). Your head is 17.52 inches (25th percentile). You did so great at your appointment and only had to get a flu shot. The doctor was said you are right on track and was also impressed that you are taking steps too!

Boys

We just got home from taking family photos. I am exhausted but wanted to at least put a few of the boys up until I can go through all of the other ones.

The studio was running over an hour behind, putting Deacon well past his bedtime, so he was not thrilled to be photographed.

4th Annual Friends-giving

Four years ago we decided to start a new tradition at our house for Thanksgiving with all of our friends. Every year you are guaranteed to see your whole family a couple of times at the holidays, but we love our friends too, and the older we get, the harder it is to get together. In this, Friends-giving was created: a potluck Thanksgiving dinner at our house either the Saturday before or after Thanksgiving. Turn-out is usually anywhere from 20-30 guests.

This year was the best yet, with close to 30 friends arriving with their delicious sides, casseroles, and desserts. I keep telling Brian that we need a bigger house just to accommodate seating for Friends-giving!

We provide the meat and beverages for the evening, and Brian does the turkey carving.

I love being in my twenties because every year we have a few pregnant bellies in the room (last year it was mine!), and then the following year we have a house full of new babies! We got a picture of three of the preggo's (found out later in the night that we had another momma-to-be in the mix, but my lips are sealed until the official announcement is made- no, it's NOT me!). Left to right: Lindsey is due with Harrison next month, Amanda has a little boy in her oven due in early January, and Ashley has TWINS coming in April!

With so much food and so many people, we decided it would be easier to circle around the table to fill up plates, and then to sit and grub.

It took a little while to make the trip around, so I used that time to take more pictures...

This is my favorite pic of the night:

...and the sidelines:

Carson and I got the wish bone and I broke the larger end! I can't tell my wish though, or it won't come true.

I was THRILLED to hear over and over throughout the night how much Carson looks like me now, because everyone used to say he and Brian were twins! It is nice to know some of my genes carry over.

Carson was elated to have a house full of boys!! Poor Deacon's room didn't stand a chance! (We put Deacon in our room to sleep so that he wouldn't be disturbed by the loud partying going on.)

Amanda provided the entertainment for the night with a guessing game. She has kept her little boys name a secret, so we ganged up on her and Adam and talked them into giving us some clues:

1. Starts with an "S", but not "St"
2. More than 5 letters
3. "E" is the only vowel
4. It is in the Top 500 baby names
5. There is only one way to spell it

We were about to get the laptop out to start researching, when Lindsey (one of the preggos) guessed it! Since Amanda hasn't told everyone, my lips are sealed, so you will have to figure it out on your own, but it is super cute!

Tracey and Robert were my roommates in college, and I know Sarah through Tracey. :)

These are my friends from work!

Brian and I have known Krystal and Nick forever! Nick and Brian used to work together, and Krystal and I went to the same school. They are now married and have a gorgeous little girl.

Emily is so great about coming every year and bringing fabulous dishes! This year her husband, Grant, was able to come too!

Brandon and Ashley are our favorite Olive's that went on the trip to Grapeland for Labor Day weekend that we blogged about here.

Stephanie (my work wife, hehe) brought her husband, Jason. This is the second year for us to work together and we make a fabulous team!

Jill and Melissa came too! Jill is absolutely adorable and in love!! Melissa won the Trooper Award for coming after her car was towed earlier in the day, and she still made it out to celebrate and was fun like always!

Carson loved Melissa too!

I think we gave the boys a little too much freedom. At the end of the night Carson called us over to see the fort they built in our bathroom...

40 Weeks

This week you got another tooth!! You are up to six now, four on top (the missing one in the front came in), two on bottom!

Monthy by Month

9 Months

Deacon - you are 9 months old!!

• You gained about 1 lb. since last month putting you at 21 lbs.
  
• Unless we didn't measure accurately last time, you are still the same height as 8 month: 28 inches.

• You had another HUGE milestone this month: your first step!!!! You can now stand unassisted for up to a minute and have taken four tiny baby steps at a time before falling down. You are determined to get this walking thing down and usually spend all of your time practicing.
  


• You celebrated your first Halloween this month and looked absolutely adorable in your shark costume!

• Your hair is growing at a rapid speed, giving your bangs a "Justin Bieber" sweep. (I wonder if he will still be relevant by the time you are old enough to read this...) I have had to trim a little around your ears just to keep it from hanging over.
  


• Your fear of strangers still hasn't appeared. You are more than happy to have anyone hold you that is willing.

• You have now learned how to blow raspberries and do it often, sometimes when you are bored, but most of the time when you are getting frustrated or tired. Regardless, we think it is cute!
  
  
• We are thinking God has decided to give us children who do not sleep through the night. Early on we thought we had lucked out with you because you slept so well as a newborn, but nine months in you typically still wake up at least once. Luckily, once you are given a bottle you immediately go right back to sleep.

• You are up to five teeth now!!! Three on top, two on bottom, and the way you chew on your fingers, we are thinking more will soon be arriving. What is funny is that out of the three that have come in on top, only one of those is a front tooth, the other two are side teeth, leaving what looks a little like a fang from where your tooth is missing! :)
  
  
• You are a great eater and like almost all foods. Now that you have some teeth we can give you coarser selections and you like the variety. We have upgraded your formula to the older baby version and you like it just as much as your old Enfamil.
  

• You haven't passed a blanket you didn't want to snuggle. Every soft object you come into contact with has to pass a thorough inspection by you, which means you doing a standing nosedive into it on the floor and then rubbing it on your face.
  
  
• You adjust well to wherever we put you. For example you never complain when getting strapped in your car seat, and will happily jump around when placed in your bouncer. Getting you ready for daycare in the morning is so easy. In fact, life with you has been a breeze!
  
  

The Lovebirds

I'm thinking Carson's relationship has lasted longer than any of mine before adulthood... He and Mia (sp?) are still going strong!

A couple of weeks ago I overheard a mother talking to one of the teachers about her daughter, Mia. I had to stop and ask her if this was the same Mia that my son is in love with. And it was!! She was well-aware of the relationship, as Mia had told her that they were getting married because they have the same brown eyes. I retold her the story I wrote here, and we both laughed at how completely adorable they are.

A few days later when I dropped Carson off for breakfast, there she was! Carson was so excited and introduced me to her, and I must admit he has good taste because she is too cute and really sweet.

Well, this morning I took Carson to get his soccer pictures, and guess who we ran into??? You guessed it! Mia plays for the same soccer league, so they now have more in common than just their brown eyes. We realized they both had games today at 2:30 and were hoping they might play each other, so when we arrived we were looking for her team.

We didn't play them, but we were able to meet up after the game for the kids to play a game of chase and for me to capture this picture of Carson and his first girlfriend:


They are the cutest things I have ever seen! I love how sweet and innocent life can be for 4 year olds.

38 Weeks

Look what you can FINALLY do!!! You aren't 100% consistent, but you now at least know the logistics behind holding the bottle. You left hand is in its usually position: playing with your hair, which is where it goes when you are sleepy.

Mario Invites

I am all about homemade birthday party invitations (last years), but this year I was at a loss of creative Mario themed invites for Carson's 5th birthday party. Luckily, Carson chose to be Mario for Halloween, so I decided to utilize pictures of him in costume and my favorite website, Picnik.

I started by uploading Carson's picture into my Shutterfly Studio for their collage. I like it better than Picnik for this feature because it lets you resize/arrange the photos within the collage and Picnik doesn't.

I then upload the completed collage into Picnik where you can choose the font and add words to your pictures. I only partially plagiarized the first part of the poem from the internet and then came up with the rest myself.

The best part is the price! Walgreens is running a special this week on their photos for 50% off with the codeword: TREAT (they usually have some great deal online). So, I purchased 50 prints for $4.75!!! AND they are ready in an hour for pick-up at the nearest store! By far the cheapest and easiest invitations I've ever made!!

Boo Buddies

Have I mentioned I love being a teacher?? I work in a field with some of the most creative professionals, so we always come up with fun things to do!

For years we have been doing "boo's" to colleagues at Halloween, but decided to put a spin on it and made "Boo Buddies" which works like Secret Santa. Each week of October you give a small gift to the person you are assigned, and the last week you reveal who you are. We used a great website Elfster, which does all of the work for you by randomly choosing buddies and even allows you to ask your person questions anonymously.

I drew my old neighbor, Kristina, who teaches science at our school. She has a little girl, Savannah, and because I never get the opportunity to shop for girls, I dedicated my first "Boo" to her, with the help of my favorite picture editing website, Picnik.

Week #2:

Week #3 (with the best smelling seasonal Febreeze, mini sodas, & chocolate):

Wrapped up:

Week #4:

Although I agree it is better to give than to receive, my boo buddy (our Reading Lab teacher), spoiled me and the boys with all of this and tons of candy!