Halloween Hayride and Family Night

The Halloween festivities started tonight at Veterans Park as Hoover City hosted it's annual Halloween Hayride and Family Night. There was trick-or-treating, Halloween movies playing on a big screen, hayrides and FREE food. There was A TON of people there and by the time we went to get some of that free pizza they had run out and had to order more. We still had a great time walking around and seeing all the kids in their costumes. We also got to go on and tour Hoover's mobile police center, which Lillian and Eli loved it!

Me, Whitten, Alli and Shepard

Shaun and Korey giving a thumbs up after Auburn scored a touchdown. They were keeping up with the game via blackberry. 

I was trying to snap a picture of the Nations Family for Alli, but Lillian got in there at the last second. Sorry Alli...it's the Nations Fam plus Lillian.

helping Uncle Korey push Eli

Grammy walking w/ a cute puppy dog and Snow White

Eli sitting with his Granddaddy in the mobile police station

Lillian taking her turn at the wheel.

We were trying to get the kids to take a picture w/ this very nice Sargent, but they weren't so sure about it. Eli definitely wasn't sure about it. 

Mommy, Lillian and sweet Whitten

 Our Snow White and her prince!

I love this picture of Lillian. She lights up when she is with her Daddy.

by 8:00 she was ready to go home...

My "Momma Duggar" moment as Alli called it-nursing Whitten while we walked to the car.  What can I say, he was hungry and we were trying to get somewhere.

Boo @ Zoo...Kind Of Anyway

We have had SO much going on these last few weeks and never found time to go to BOO at The Zoo this year. So when we met some friends at the zoo on Friday I used it as my opportunity to take some pictures of Lillian with the different Halloween props they had set up. Lillian wasn't really in the mood to take pictures-when is she ever- but I was able to get a few.

Lillian and Colton

Lillian and Hudson

 

Colton, Eli, Hudson and Lillian looking at the Lemur (Lillian kept calling it a cat)

Lillian and Colton waiting on the train

 This is usually the kind of picture we get when we try to get a group shot...

this is usually as good as we can get. Two out of three looking in the same direction isn't that bad...

Whitten And His Daddy

I know that I have said it before but I am going to say it again...seeing the kind of father that Shaun is makes me love him that much more deeply.

My Snow White

Today Lillian got to wear her Snow White costume/dress to school for their Halloween party. She was SO excited and wanted to put it on an hour before we were even suppose to leave. Her teachers had asked the parents to send extra clothes for them to change into after their little parade, but Miss Lillian insisted on wearing her "princess dress" for the whole day.


Lillian and I usually stop some where special after I pick her up for a fun after school snack- yogurt lab, dreamcakes, Savages Bakery- but today Lillian asked for a "taco". We settled on french fries McDonalds.

and here is a quick picture of both of our babies

6 Week Check-Up

This morning Whitten and I dropped Lillian of at PDO and went to visit Dr. Walley for Whitten's six week check up. My sweet boy is HUGE, much bigger than Lillian was at this age. But seeing him tip the scale didn't surprise me to much because I am the one who feeds that little boy and he eats constantly! Whitten's check up was pretty uneventful-I remember having a lot more questions for Dr. Walley the first time around- and we were out of there pretty quickly.


Here are John Whitten's stats:


• Weight: 11 lbs 13 oz (75-95th percentile)
• Height: 23 1/4 inches (90th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 15 inches (50th percentile)


Just in the last week Whitten is starting to stay awake for longer periods of time during the day. And as of right now he is only getting up once or twice a night to eat. Last night he slept until 4:00 AM before waking up to eat and then went right back to sleep and slept until 7:30 when Lillian woke him up. Shaun and I argue over whether or not he likes to be swaddled- I say yes but Shaun swears he hates it. Already I can tell a big difference in Lillian and Whitten's personalities at this age. When it came to nursing Lillian was all business. She was in and out in five minutes or less. But Whitten will hang out forever if I let him; and I usually do. He will stare up at me and make the sweetest sounds. I LOVE IT! The other big difference is that Whitten likes to be held much more than Lillian did. She did not really care if I put her down or held her, but Whitten definitely wants to be held and cuddled.

Time seems to be flying by and we have gotten use to being a family of four. Lillian loves to Whitten a so much and is constantly asking to hold him and change his diaper. She is so loving and already so motherly to him. Oh! I almost forgot...Whitten went to church for the first time a couple of Sundays ago! Shaun and Lillian had been going without us, but for the past two Sundays we have gotten to go to church as a family. Whitten is still too young for the nursery, so we have just been taking him to Sunday school with us. However I think in a few weeks I will feel more comfortable leaving him in nursery.

Halloween Play Date

Last Friday was our MOM's Club Halloween party. Lillian had a great time playing on the playground, eating fun Halloween snacks, getting her face painted and painting pumpkins. Whitten had a pretty good time too- he slept. It seems like we have been doing Halloween things for weeks now...and as fun as it has been I am ready to move on to Thanksgiving!



we tried forever to get these three to sit still for a picture and this is the best we got...

The Hardest Job

Being a Mom is hard. Wonderfully, amazingly and exhaustingly hard. Everyday I question what I am doing; wondering if I could have handled one of Lillian's melt downs with a little more understanding, or if I was too quick to discipline her. I feel like I spend some days in constant prayer asking for patience's, guidance and LONG nap times.  I am not sure that I will ever be the kind of Mom that I want to be, but I honestly try every day to be a better Mommy than I was the day before. My two babies deserve that...they deserve so much more than that actually. God calls us to give him our hearts greatest desires, and I do that daily. Lillian and Whitten are my deepest treasures, and I daily hand over their lives to Him. It is actually a wonderful sense of comfort and relief to Shaun and I to know that we are not on our own in all of this. That God's hand is just as active in our parenting as anything else in our lives. To even think that I might have to navigate these choppy waters of parenthood on my own makes me queasy. Thank goodness I have a loving, understanding, forgiving, always present God to help me raise these two wonderful children.

AUBURN vs LSU

 My friend Martina invited us down to Auburn to tailgate with her family for the Auburn/LSU game this past weekend, and I cannot even tell you how much fun we had! I was pretty worried about how Lillian and Whitten would do, but Lillian had a great time playing with her friends and Whitten slept six of the eight hours we were down there (must have been all that fresh air Martina...).  

Whitten loved cuddling Daddy while watching football

Lillian and Parker

Lillian and Colton

Shaun did a little face painting to get Lillian ready for the game

Lillian and Colton were obsessed with watching the blimp flying over the stadium

I couldn't stop laughing at Parker's love for Diet Coke!

"WAR EAGLE!"



Lillian and Colton watching the game together

Shaun throwing Lillian in the air...she LOVED it!

Colton decided to get in on the action too!

 

We had such a great time this weekend and it was just another wonderful reminder of how blessed Shaun and I are to have such wonderful friends in our lives. Thanks again Martina for inviting us, Lillian had so much fun playing with Colton! Even Whitten enjoyed it!