The first snow!

It snowed for the first time this year on November 9th, as opposed to September 21st last year! I, for one, welcomed this change with open arms! It has been fun seeing Porter get SO excited about the snow, even though it has been sparse so far.

And where there is snow, there is hot chocolate! Cheers!

Here's to a warm and cozy winter, snuggled up to these two cute boys :)

Goodbye, old friend.

Thankfully a material friend, but a friend nonetheless. I think this picture explains itself for the most part. This is Porter kissing the t.v. goodbye before the garbage men took it away. (Actually someone still took it off the curb before morning...do you REALLY think we put it out there without making absolute sure it was broken?!)

Neither one of us saw what happened, as I was making dinner and Craig was changing clothes upstairs, but we like to think it was an accident. Sigh.

Halloween!

This year our little man wanted to dress up as a firefighter! My friend, Amber, let me borrow this adorable jacket and Porter was THRILLED! He wouldn't take it off for hours at a time!

We attended our ward Trunk or Treat, which was INSANE. I think 5 times more people came than they expected, but surprisingly they didn't run out of food or candy, so a good time was had by all! Porter even won a prize for having one of the top 3 cutest costumes in his age group!

Here is Porter getting deadly peanut m & m's...don't worry, Mommy ate...err, I mean confiscated them to protect the little guy :)

Here is Daddy helping him go from car to car. Daddy was dressed as a baker, and I wore my "bun in the oven" costume from when I was pregnant with Porter. It was a big hit! I only have a few pictures from that night because it was pitch black and all of them are of the back of Porter.

On Halloween night we spent the evening with Craig's family. The kids had a blast trick or treating and came home with tons of loot!

Here are the pretty princesses!

I had to carry Porter's bucket for him because it got so heavy with candy that he couldn't pick it up!

This is our wonderful neighbor, Tom. Can you see how concerned the little firefighter is with that raging fire?!

The kids doing their Halloween duty!

Afterwards we decorated Halloween sugar cookies. Our neighbor, Kaleb helped the kids trick or treat and decorate :) Porter ADORES him!

Check out Lissie going straight for the icing! Who needs the cookie?!

It was indeed a Happy Halloween!

Anderson Farms

On October 30th, Porter and I headed out to Anderson Farms for a fun day at the pumpkin patch with Granny, Auntie Shannie, Abby, and Lissie. We had an absolute blast and came home exhausted! I have never seen a pumpkin patch with so much to do! The kids had a ball and it was definitely worth the hour drive.

This was my best effort at getting a group shot!

I think Porter's favorite part was this huge wooden train (did you know he LIVES for trains?!) He inspected and played on every car, starting at the back. When he made it all the way to the front he pretended to drive and, of course, shouted out the window "ALL ABOARD!"

Riding this little guy was fun, too! He kept yelling "YEE HAW! YEE HAW!"

Now this is not a pumpkin patch view we are quite used to yet. This picture does not do justice to how gorgeous the mountains were in the background. This was taken from one of three different rides that day, and Porter was pretty darn excited about that green tractor!

Granny likes to have the kids help her find the ugliest pumpkin in the patch. I think Porter may have the winner, here!

They had pedal cars which the kids went NUTS over. Abby was an absolute natural and Lissie only needed a little help from time to time. Porter couldn't reach the pedals, but he did a fair job at steering. Unfortunately Granny and I had to take turns pushing him, and we got pretty wiped out! Especially since the kids asked to do this about 5 times that day :)

We did so many fun things that day! They had a barrel train, hay rides, wagon rides, pedal cars, a sort-of-petting zoo, pumpkin patch, we got to feed a buffalo and some cows, and mostly enjoy time with family and the gorgeous weather. I think we will definitely make this a tradition every year!

AND....now I shall leave you with the final outcome of trying to get your two year old to LOOK and the camera and SMILE!

Oh, well. They sure make me smile now!

A Boy and his Blankie

I am taking advantage of this night without my husband to get some serious blogging done. I really feel strongly about journaling about our family, and I wish I had never gotten out of the habit! I hope to be better at documenting our lives not just for our far away friends and family, but so our own little family will have the memories that one day I know we will cherish. Now, onto the recent-ish happenings in our lives!

The other morning (okay, like a month ago), Porter was watching for the garbage truck to come and pick up our trash, which is one of his favorite things to do (almost as much as helping Daddy take it out on Thursday nights). He had his blankie with him and I couldn't help snapping a few photos of him with his best buddy.

The satin edges are almost disintegrated from being loved and washed so much. I have noticed that in the last few months he loves to stick his fingers underneath the torn satin, especially when we snuggle in the chair and read books before bed.

He adores his blankie, although he is happy to leave it in his bed unless he's not feeling well or extra tired. He doesn't carry it around or leave the house with it. He lights up when he snuggles with it, though! Another funny thing is he won't go to sleep unless his "blue blankie" is spread across his pillow in his crib. He will ask me to "fix it" if it's not on his pillow so he can sleep on top of it. I wonder how he ever got into that habit, but it's been months that he has been sleeping that way!

We are thankful for "blue blankie" and for the sweet friend, Cathy, who gave it to Porter when he was born, embroidered with his name and birthday. We are definitely going to get one for his little sister when she arrives so they can have matching blankies!

It's a...

We were super excited (and I was TOTALLY SHOCKED!) to find out today that our little bean is a GIRL!!! I was 100% sure it was a boy, so there goes Mommy's instinct! The baby looks wonderful and perfectly healthy. We are so excited, and it's a thrill to think about bringing a little baby girl into our family!

Here is her sweet little profile today at 20 weeks, 2 days... Do you think she looks like Porter?

The classic alien face :)

Her perfect little beating heart :)

Her fingers on her left hand.

And, of course, the money shot :) It's a GIRL!!! I can't believe it!

Here is an awesome video where you can see her move her tongue, open her mouth, and swallow, as well as see her perfect little heart just beating away :) It is so amazing!

We are already in love with our little girl. I still am in total shock and I can't believe I'll have a daughter of my very own! I am so excited, and can't wait to fall in love with her even more.

As far as the pregnancy is going, it has been a breeze. I suffer from horrid, horrid, nasty, evil acid reflux, but medication helps a ton, and I feel great when it's under control! I am feeling wonderful, and I hope it continues to go as smoothly as it has been. Heck, I may even do this again :)

p.s. I know I haven't blogged much AT ALL. I have some seriously cute photos of Porter's fall and Halloween, and I promise to be better about posting!

Surprise!

Craig and I are so happy to announce that we will be adding another sweet little one to our family!

I am due March 30th, so I am a little over 12 weeks along. I am feeling great and enjoying the pregnancy so far! My doctors/midwife are AMAZING...a much different situation than in Jacksonville and I couldn't be happier with them! We had our 3rd ultrasound this morning and everything looks really great with the baby. The ultrasound tech tried really hard to give us a guess on the gender, but it's just too early (which we all knew :) We are just so excited that our little one looks really healthy!

Porter is very excited and talks about the baby a lot! He says the baby will "grow bigger and bigger and then come out!" He and Craig both insist the baby is a girl, but I have other feelings :) I even asked Porter what we should call the baby and he said "Cinderella!" It doesn't matter to me...I just want to know!

Here are a few pictures and a sweet video of our little one! It was moving around SO MUCH that she could hardly take measurements this morning :)

We are so thrilled and excited to bring another sweet little person into our family! We are so thankful for such an amazing blessing!

House photos

Here are a few before and after photos of the house...

This one was taken in October, before the house was even ours. Quite possibly the worst paint job I've ever seen. We saw it's potential :)

This photo was taken in June, after the much-needed paint job, new light fixtures and house numbers, and some landscaping. You couldn't really tell how bad the grass was since it was snowing in the before picture :) This was before the roof was replaced.

And here is the after picture! This was after the new roof, and some new plants on the baker's rack (finally!). We are very happy with how things have turned out. It doesn't look like the "foreclosed house" when we come around the corner anymore! We feel so blessed to have this home and we love it so much! We are very happy with the progress :)

Aaargh, matey.

Ships ahoy!

Cheesy little swashbuckler.

Porter's Birthday Party!

We had a blast at throwing Porter a big birthday party for his special day! Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy, so the outdoor festivities were relocated indoors. We didn't get to put up the bounce house, and Craig had to grill under an umbrella, but we still had a great time!

This is the birthday banner I made for his special day!

Cupcakes!!! I spent many, many hours on those cupcake toppers, but I just love how they turned out!

A close-up of said toppers. Nothing can make a cupcake cuter than my boy's face right on top :)

Party time!

I hung 2's from our light fixture and it looked so cute! The party favor was two little goldfish for the little ones to take home.

I fancied up a party invitation and displayed it along with some fish food for the little fishies that left with Porter's friends.

More party favors. The boxes contained stickers, goldfish crackers and, of course, a cute picture of the birthday boy!

Porter's family that loves him so much :) He is a lucky boy to have family so close by!

Our neighbors, the Kaylor's. They are precious in every way!

Opening presents :)

Loving every minute of it!

A semi-failed attempt at getting a group shot of all the little ones. This was the best of all of them.

Shay and Lissie are turned around. Lexie and Abby are at the top. Slade, Brock, and Tylie are in the middle (how awesome is Tylie? She was so ready for pictures!) The bottom row is a relatively unhappy Peter, a perfectly-posed Ayden, and an I-refuse-to-sit-down Porter! This picture cracks me up!

Here is a video of the birthday song. I love this so much! Look how happy he is!

Thanks to all of our friends and family for making it a special day for Porter!