paradin' and partyin'

Last week Pearson had a fun day at school full of Halloween fun.  

It started with a Costume Parade of all the kiddos.  

I loved seeing all of the other kids from his class and the rest of his school in their precious little costumes.  

Pearson's sweet little class all in their costumes after trick or treating through the church offices.  

 During the day, his teachers told us that they went through a cave (a dark sanctuary) with flashlights looking for bats.  Pearson couldn't quit talking about it.  He thought it was so fun and now loves to play with our flashlights at home.  

 Preschool parties are all about the food.  Juice boxes are a rarity at our house so he sucked it down before even touching any of his snacks!

(No black eyes……just leftover eye black)

Our craft was making these cute little foam pumpkin jack o lanterns.

 We also dug for plastic spiders in shaving cream.  

And then it turned into practicing writing our names!!

 What a fun day parading around and partying with Pearson's class. 

meal planning monday

Monday: Fajita Pizza

Tuesday: BLT's Chips & Fruit

Wednesday: Leftover Tortilla Soup

Thursday: Meteor Burger w/ Family 

Friday: Matt: Men's Conference Me & Boys: Leftover Fajita Pizza

Saturday Breakfast: Chiloso $1.50 Breakfast Tacos

Saturday Lunch: Sandwiches

Saturday Dinner: Chicken Spaghetti, Caesar Salad, & French Bread

Sunday Lunch: Leftover Pizza

Sunday Dinner: Out w/ Family

nash {9 months}

 

Dear Sweet Nash-

You have officially been out of my tummy longer than you were in.  It's so crazy how much faster these last 9 months went.  I really do just want to stop time because you are at such a sweet age.  You continue to be a super smiley happy boy.  Everyone that is around you always comments on what a happy baby you are. I pray that you always have such a joyful demeanor.  Your joy is truly contagious.  

Sleeping: 
FINALLY, we are sleeping again.  We put you to bed around 7 or 7:30 and you fall asleep pretty quickly on your own with your sound machine and glow worm on.  You sleep until 7ish.  Sometimes a little earlier and sometimes a litter later.  Most mornings you are up a little bit before Pearson which gives us a little time to nurse in bed before big bro is up for the day.  Naps are also going much better.  You are still inconsistent on when and how long you nap, but for the most part you nap from 1.5-2hrs.  Some days I put you down around 9:30 and you nap til 11 then nurse.  And some days I nurse you around 10:30 and then you nap until around noon.  It just depends on the day and when we are home.  Most days I nurse you around 2 or 3 and put you down for your afternoon nap around the same time I put Pearson down.  I don't have to rock your or anything.  You fall asleep pretty quickly if you are tired.  We are all much happier now that you are well rested.  Happy, well rested baby means a happy, well rested Mama!!

Eating:
I nurse you 4 times a day around 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm.  You eat 3 meals a day around 8am, noon, and 5:30.  We haven't introduced any table food yet, but I know you are ready because you are a pro at eating puffs.  I did introduce greek yogurt this month.  Not "big people" greek yogurt, but the kind mixed in the Plum Organics baby food pouches.  I still have small supply of breastmilk in the freezer so when you do have to have a bottle you still get breastmilk.  I rarely give you bottles, though.  You will eventually drink the whole bottle it just takes you forever and you can't hold it yourself.  I only give you a bottle if someone else is taking care of you.  If I am with you, you nurse.  I tried giving you a formula bottle once this month and you barely drank any.  It smelled awful so I don't really blame you for not liking it.

New Tricks/Activities/Accomplishments: 
You are rolling all over the place!!  You aren't technically mobile because you aren't crawling, but you can definitely get around.  If you see something you want, you figure out how to get there.  It just takes you a while because you don't take the straight shot.  You have to roll, twist, turn and scoot until you get there.  You are babbling a lot.  We mainly hear "buh-buh" but we also have heard a few more sounds. ( /d/, /g/, /m/) You love to try to repeat after us, especially if we make a growling sound.
You starting clapping this month and it is quite adorable.  You are so proud of yourself when you do it. You also starting waving and saying "hi".  You wave your arm and make a high pitched "ha" sound.  You will mainly just do it to yourself in the mirror.  Sometimes when we say it or a strangers says it you will do it back.  You will not wave bye-bye though!

Likes:
Puffs, babyfood, your paci, your lovey, us rubbing your back while you fall asleep, the jumperoo, Pearson, being tickled, playing with musical toys, clapping, playing with the remotes, rolling around,
finding crumbs and tiny things you shouldn't have. 

Dislikes:
Diaper changes, pulling clothes over your head, when brother pokes you too hard, hats, hoods or anything on your head, when you run out of puffs, when no one pays you any attention, when you are overly tired, getting your nose wiped.

Other Random Facts:

• Your other bottom tooth came in.  Your two bottom teeth are different heights. It's so cute!
• At some point at the end of the month one of your top teeth came in.  I didn't even know it.  
• I took you to the doctor because of lots of congestion and a little cough.  You had fluid in your ear but not a true ear infection.  They gave us an antibiotic though for all the sinus stuff.  
• You are such a trooper being drug around to all of Pearson's activities and running errands with me. 
• You love anything that doesn't look like a baby toy! Remotes, phones, my glasses, cords, paper, big boy books etc.  Obviously, some of those things we don't actually let him play with, but he loves to go for them. 
• The nursery ladies always say how sweet you are.  Sometimes I think you don't ever get held in the nursery because you are happy to just play on the floor.  There are always screaming babies around you that need the teachers attention so you just get left on the floor!!
• Every Sunday morning and Monday for MOPS, you take a nap (45ish minutes) in the pink swing in the nursery. You never liked the swing much at our house so we packed it up, but you love it at church.  
• You play well by yourself at home, but sometimes if you see me leave the room you get soooooooo sad.
• 

Happy 9 months baby boy!!

Love-

Your Mommy

{9 month Stats}

Weight:    22 pounds 10 ounces

Length:  29 1/2  inches

Eating: nursing 4 times a day (around 7:00am, 11am, 3pm, & 7pm) along with 3 meals a day (around 8:00, noon, & 5:30)

Bedtime: around 7:30pm

Awake: around 7:00am

Naps: usually 2 1.5/2hr naps around 10am and 3pm

Diapers: size 4's

Clothes: 12-18 month, 18 months, and a few 18-24 month hand-me-downs

Teeth: (3, two bottom, 1 top)

Here is Pearson at 9 months and Nash at 9 months.

Look how you've changed.

i like cars with candy

Goodness, last week flew by. 

We were so busy with Halloween festivities that I didn't get a single 

blog post up and now I have lots of catching up to do!!

The week before Halloween we passed a church that was setting up for their own Fall Festival.  Pearson immediately said, "Let's go there."  We explained to him that our church was going to have a Fall Festival the next week.  He began to ask questions about what exactly was a Fall Festival.  We told him there would be a petting zoo, face painting, inflatables and cars with candy.  He then said in the sweetest high pitched voice, "I like cars with candy!!"

Who wouldn't??

This was the first Fall Festival I feel like we really got to experience and we had a great time.  

We enjoyed walking around as a family to all of the activities.  Pearson had such a short attention span, he didn't last long at each activities.  If the line was too long he wasn't interested.  

After we finished walking around the Fall Festival, we hung out at our ABF's booth to work for a bit.  Pearson enjoyed seeing a few of his friends and munching on some candy while we worked.  

And as always, Nash didn't really get photographed during the evening, because he pretty much stayed in his stroller the whole time.  He was absolutely perfect all night!!

What a fun night!!

meal planning monday

Monday: Dinner @ Nonnie's 

Tuesday: Eggs in a Basket & Bacon with Fruit Compote

Wednesday: Garlic Chicken Farfalle Pasta & Garlic Knots

Thursday: Me: Countdown to Christmas Boys: Ham Rolls & Chips

Friday: Parent's Night Out

Saturday Breakfast: $1.50 Chiloso Breakfast Tacos

Saturday Lunch: Ethan's Birthday Party/Leftovers

Saturday Dinner: Baked Spaghetti, Veggies, & Garlic Knots

Sunday Lunch: Tortilla Soup

Sunday Dinner: BLT's & Chips

meal planning monday

Monday: Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos, Charro Beans & Rice

Tuesday: Baked Ravioli, Zucchini, & Garlic Knots

Wednesday: Dinner @ The Church

Thursday: Grilled Honey Balsamic Chicken, Swiss Potatoes, & Broccoli

Friday: Out to Eat

Saturday Breakfast: Pigs in a Blanket

Saturday Lunch: Taco Soup

Saturday Dinner: Out to Eat

Sunday Lunch: Chili After Church @ The Hjertstedts

Sunday Dinner: Cook Out w/ My Parents

state fair of texas 2014

A few weeks ago we dropped off the boys at Lolly & Pops and had a date night at the fair.  

We were given two tickets and $50 worth of coupons from #ChevyStateFair so it was a pretty cheap date night considering we only had to pay for $15 parking.  I love going to the fair, but the expense of it is definitely my least favorite part.  I'm glad we got to enjoy it on a dime.  

The first thing we did was test drive some of the new 2015 Chevys.  I didn't test drive the Stingray Corvette, but I did sit in it.  Man, I would totally drive this if I could fit two carseats in the back!!

We were both starving so we started off our fried food experience with our must haves.  I got my usual Corny Cheese and Matt got a Fletcher's Corn Dog.  

One of the award winning foods was a Funnel Cake Beer.  I don't like beer so I didn't try it, but Matt said it was pretty good.  

We had to get a picture with our favorite man at the State Fair of Texas.  Big Tex!!

We were both still a little hungry for some more real food before we got dessert so we split the new Deep Fried Twisted Texas Taco. It was a fried piece of brisket in a tortilla with cheese, roasted sweet corn, fried okra,  & coleslaw served with a salsa and queso.  We both thought it was delicious!!

Next up was a stop in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame Exhibit.  This was right up Matt's alley.  I didn't care about it all that much, but I did think it was cool when we saw Drew Pearson's jersey.  Pearson was sorta kinda of named after him.  Not really.  Mainly we just though of the name after we saw him walk into a restaurant we were at right after we found out he was a boy.   

The next fried food we indulged in was the new Fried Sweet Texas.  It was a mixture of pecan pie, peach cobbler and buttermilk pie all wrapped up in pie dough.  Oh my word. So good. 

We felt a little funny going to the petting zoo without our kids, but we had fun looking at all of the animals.  We even found an animal that would take a picture with us!!

Once it was dark we hopped on Top O'Texas Tower.  It holds 99 people on it and we were literally number 98 and 99 to get on!! We got lucky that we didn't have to wait in line another round.  It was such a great view of the State Fair and we could see downtown Dallas all lit up too!

I learned something new at the fair this year…….

We had one ticket left at the fair (which is worth 50cents.  I didn't think you could buy anything with just one ticket but right before we left, we passed the Salt Water Taffy stand.  You can sample taffy for one coupon!  We did good, we spent every last ticket we were given!!!

As we were walking out,  I saw the perfect place for us to take a selfie!  Hot Links!!

What a fun night with my favorite guy!  

As you can see our favorite thing to do at the fair is eat.
What do you like to do or eat at the fair??

pumpkin patch playdate

In 2012 and 2013 we went to Owen's Farm.  Sadly, last year was their last year to be opened before they closed the farm down.  It was such a fun little pumpkin patch and was super close to our house.  I was ready to make it an annual tradition.  

Last week our MOPS group had a pumpkin patch playdate at Chesnut Square in Downtown McKinney.  We had to travel a little further to get to this pumpkin patch but as you can tell by the pictures, Pearson had a great time.  I don't know if we would drive the 40 minutes to go to this pumpkin patch next year, but if you live in the McKinney area, it was a cute little pumpkin patch.  It was very small and in a closed in area.  It was perfect for preschoolers and easy for me to keep an eye on Pearson while also having Nash with me.  There were so many great activities for Pearson including……

{a corn maze}

{petting a goat}

{making and eating homemade butter}

{face painting}

{decorating a pumpkin}

 While Pearson was enjoying all the activities, Nash was equally enjoying himself eating as many puffs as he possibly could!!

 They charged $8 for each child that could participate.  Adults and babies were FREE.  Price of admission included a pumpkin, all of the activities, and a little treat bag.  

 The treat bag included a little snack bag of pretzel (or princils as Pearson calls them).  It was the perfect little snack to munch on by the old house since Mommy forgot to pack a snack!

And of course, it wouldn't be a pumpkin patch trip without the obligatory pumpkin patch picture.  

I placed the boys where I wanted them then proceeded to tell Pearson to "put your arm around brother and smile"!  He obeyed and he took me quite literally!!

While these pictures might not be Pinterest perfect, I just absolutely adore them.  They reflect so perfect who my little boys are at this age.  Pearson is a litter stinker and Nash just goes with the flow and doesn't let anything upset him!!

 Looking forward to many more pumpkin patch visits in the future with these two crazy boys!!