Happy Halloween!

We had a Happy Halloween here and hope everyone else did too!

Yesterday, I took the kids trick or treating at the library. They got to hear some stories and sing songs before making a funny trick or treating pattern around the library to collect candy. They both enjoyed the day. Emma loved walking through all the people and hitting them with her wings! And Ryan really paid attention to the stories. They were both excited to get to do it again today. Yesterday, they both got about 5 pieces of candy - and thought that was great! Little did they know.....

Today, we got all dressed up after dinner. Daddy really enjoyed dressing up like the Man with the Yellow Hat. It even involved a trip to Goodwill. I think he looks pretty good. He (and Ryan) asked why I wasn't dressing up - but it's hard to find something with a big belly!

Our subdivision was very quiet this evening. We might have seen 5 other people trick or treating. Ryan kept asking if we were getting 'more candy?' Of course, we could have stopped after 2 or 3 houses with as much as we got. Emma did well for most of the time, her bucket got a little full and she started to spill it with every walk after a while. We did finish our whole sub though - and made it home before 8!

Since we got home, we've divided up the candy into what we'll eat and what we won't eat. There is a local dentist that buys back candy for a $1 a pound and sends it to the troops. We ended up keeping about half of it - and I'm sure most of it will end up in my belly! The baby will be such a sugar junkie!

Nana and Buppa's House

We were at Nana and Buppa's house (my parents) for 10 days over the last two weeks. We all went up for Kyle Beachnau's wedding and the kids and I stayed because of Amy Johnston's baby shower. Kris and I had a great time at the weddding and were actually the last to leave! It was so nice to see a whole bunch of the TX guys again, especially the ones that live so far away. We also had a great time at the shower. We left Ryan home with Buppa, but Emma was a hit. She did amazingly well since it went well past her nap time. Above are pictures of the TX guys at the wedding (with Stephanie, the bride) and a picture of Amy and I. She is due 3 days behind me.

We all had a great time at my parents for the week. We were stuck there without a car for two days while everyone else worked. But the other days, we visited Grandmama, the Scramlins and the Hopes. I also had a small chocolate party at the McCarthy's house. The kids loved the visiting everyone and getting to spend so much time with Nana and Buppa. The pictures above are from the trip - Emma with pudding face and Ryan's self portrait (he got a hold of my camera one morning before anyone got up and took a bunch of pictures).

We were definitely glad to come home and get back to our normal schedule though. It's rough on the kids to not have that set schedule. The picture above is from Monday. Emma was so tired that she fell asleep at lunch while I went to answer the phone!

And below is one of two videos that Ryan took the second time he got ahold of my camera. Most of them were 2 seconds of the bed. But this one was pretty good.

Portland

Last week, Kris and I flew to Portland, Oregon for the MIT/LFM conference. My wonderful parents came down to take care of Ryan and Emma for the long weekend. They seem to have had a great time, minus a little stomach upset all around - although Nana was sure tired by Sunday!

Kris's conference was on Thursday and Friday, so while he was learning about sustainability - I was taking Portland's train around town seeing the beautiful town and visiting the few attractions I wanted to see. Thursday, I went to Grant Park to see the Ramona Quimby statues and to Powell's Bookstore - the biggest bookstore in the country. It was very overwhelming! Friday, I went to the Pittock Mansion and Washington Park. I had a great time not having to live with the schedule the kids are accustomed to - although it was really hard to sleep in! On Saturday, Kris and I visited the Bluebird submarine (where Hunt for Red October was shot) and the Portland Maritime Museum. Later, we took the Portland Underground tour. We had done the same tour in Seattle a few years ago and really enjoyed it. This one wasn't as good, but still enjoyable. Sunday morning, we enjoyed a Voodoo donut while waiting for the train to the airport!

Daniel's Petting Farm

We spent this past Sunday at Daniel's Petting Farm. Both kids had a great time. Emma loved feeding the animals and the animals in general. Ryan loved all things about the farm - except feeding the animals! We went on a hayride and played on their playground. Here are some shots from our day!

Pigtails for the day!

Emma's hair finally grew enough that I could attempt at pigtails. She still looses half the front bang hair, which of course is what I'm trying to get out of her face. But she looked so cute - and she thought so too. Of course, by the end, Ryan was pulling them out and throwing the pony tails down the gutter (his new facination, since he threw his shoe in earlier this week).

Ryan has been enjoying school. He comes home with new dances and new phrases that his teachers say (when have I ever said 'sit on your bottom'?). He had homework a few days ago, and wanted more! He seems happy and hasn't had an accident at school or on the bus yet. He's had a few in the last few days here, but both times it was where he just didn't make it quite fast enough. And that I'll take!

Emma is enjoying her new mommy time. Although she is either sleeping or eating for most of the time that Ryan is at school (what a nice day for mommy). We've made a new weekly calendar to schedule our gym time and allow us to start taking Emma to a library class. I've felt bad because we did all that with Ryan and haven't with Emma. Of course, we did it for socialization of both Ryan and Mom and now we're not in need of that now! But Emma really enjoyed her first story time. She paid attention and even participated a little bit. She had a big smile on her face the entire time. Emma's other big news is that she has used the potty twice now. She thinks it's fun to sit on. Once we've finished the diapers we currently have (and the diaper study we're doing which ends on the first) I am going to try pull ups to see if I can get her trained before the baby comes. Wouldn't that be a treat!

We've also been making the rounds of doctors appointments. With the ultrasound last Friday, and OB appointment on Monday. Both which went well. Then we had the eye doctor today and the dentist in a few weeks. Pictures from the ultrasound are here. Yes, it's a boy! We have confirmation of that again.

Besides that things are going well around here. I'm about to embark on one of my major projects - pictures, photo albums and baby books. I hadn't ordered pictures since last July! So I have a lot of work cut out for me. Emma's baby book is very sparse and she has no photo albums of her. So I'm setting out to change that before the baby comes. And I need to finish that project quickly because the next project also needs to be done before the baby. This is the 'Move Emma' project. And to do that, we need to paint her room and figure out what we're going to do with all the stuff in there! Lots of fun going on around here!

1st Day of School!!

Woo Hoo! We made it through the summer! I can't believe it's time for school to start again. Ryan was very excited. We finished all of his homework this morning (a page of family pictures) and only had a small mess when Ryan got into the glue while I was getting ready this morning! I drove him to school to take some pictures and he seemed happy to see his teachers and his friends Nicholas and Carson from last year.

Emma was also excited for school. She sat with Ryan and stood in line with him and was so excited to walk to his classroom - she was ready to join in! We enjoyed our lunch and playtime alone before naptime - which I am enjoying now! Can't wait for Ryan to get home on the bus and see how he enjoyed his first day!

New York City

After the Wible Reunion and trip to Cowen's Gap, we left the kids with Grammie and went to New York City. I had never left Emma overnight, so I was a little worried about her, but she did great. Ryan was in the midst of an 'accident' week (probably because he was away from home because he's done great since) - so he gave Grammie a little trouble. But the both had fun over there playing with new toys and going to the park. And of course having some one who will give them cookies!

Kris and I drove into NY on Tuesday. We had lunch and got tickets for Rock of Ages later that night. We really enjoyed the show - anyone who is around our age will love it. The music is totally 80's rock. The story was built around the music and while it had a little too much 'stripper' story, we had a great time - even though we missed the first 45 minutes because we didn't check the start time!

On Wednesday, we visited the UN building. The tour was good, but there was too much information that they throw at you and don't give you time to read all the information on the walls. We could have been there for a few more hours if we had. After that, we walked across the island to the Intrepid, a WWII air craft carrier (both the UN and Intrepid were at 45th - just one was on one body of water and the other on the other side). The Intrepid was pretty cool. They had a bunch of planes and helicopters from many different times of the past; as well as exploring the carrier. It also had a submarine and a Concorde jet (which we found kind of disappointing for the cost to fly on it!). We rested a bit after that and then went to dinner in Little Italy (which was one block off from Chinatown).

On Thursday, we stopped in NJ to have lunch with our friend Liz and then visited Menlo Park mall - the Brookstone of course. It was so nice to get to visit with some of our friends while we were out there. And Kris enjoyed driving like a New Jersey vet! He swears no one has ever seen some one with Kentucky plates drive so fast! Then we drove back to Grammies.

Overall, we had a great time getting to spend some time together. We thank Grammie/Diane for the chance. On Friday (my birthday and half way day of the pregnancy), we drove home! What a way to celebrate the day. And here's a picture of the cake that Kris and Ryan made for me!