Pictures and More

For the past two weekends, we have taken some family pictures - one set for Christmas pictures and the other for Talan's 2 year pictures/Christmas. From the two sessions, we DEFINITELY should have some quality pictures. We should hopefully get them within the next week and I can't wait to see them and share them with you all.

Beyond that, we are just trying to figure out budgets for Talan's birthday, Hunter's arrival, and Christmas. We purchased Talan's backyard play gym on Friday night. It has 2 swings, a glider swring, a slide, a clubhouse with a chalkboard, sand box, and monkey bars. We got a VERY good deal on it, but now we have to purchase ground covering for the rocks and the sand for the sand box. It's all rather expensive, but the boys should be able to use it for a long time to come.

Speaking of boys, we should meet Hunter very soon! I'm getting excited, but nervous at the same time. Today, I'm 30 weeks along, which SHOULD mean that we have another 10 weeks to go. For those of you who don't remember or weren't around for Talan's birth, I went into pre-term labor at 32 weeks with Talan and was put on bed rest until he was born at 36 weeks. So, although we should have another 10 weeks before Hunter arrives, you just never know around here! We have a lot to do around the house to prepare for Hunter and I'm not even close to being ready to give up my classroom to Emily yet (although I know that she will do absolutely wonderful things for my students) - so I hope that Hunter stays content "cooking" for another 8-10 weeks without any bed rest ...

Below are some pictures of Talan coloring from last night. He went into his closet on his own and got out his bucket even. He's getting so big and starting to put together 3-4 word sentences now! It's hard to believe that in less than a month, we will have a 2 year old on our hands (although we are reminded almost everyday that the "terrible twos" are here).

Lazy Sunday

If there isn't a Cardinals home game, we often spend our Sundays being lazy watching football on TV and playing. Talan picked up the camera this morning and repeatedly said, "Cheese!" How could we not take his picture? Here is our little ham ... Enjoy!

Swim Lesson

Last week, Talan officially started his advanced swim class. He was a little intimidated by the new instructor and the kids in his class, but he slowly started to warm up to the class. I'm sure that within a couple of weeks, he will be doing fantastic things! The other two kids in his class were 2 1/2 and 3 1/2, so Talan is significantly younger. It was amazing to see all of the things those kids were doing, though. At this pace, Talan will definitely be swimming by summer!

Halloween Fun

I love that Halloween fell on a Saturday this year! We were able to enjoy a relaxing breakfast in bed, have lunch with some good friends, get in a nap, and carve pumpkins before Trick-or-Treating began ... what a great day!

Aaron and I had left over pumpkins from our class activities on Friday. While Talan was napping, he started to carve all of the pumpkins. Talan was so excited to see them when he woke up from his nap and loved taking the lids on and off.

Talan then "helped" Aaron finish up the last big pumpkin.








Here we are off to Trick or Treat with Talan for the first time. Talan did a great job and some how knew exactly what to do.




After we went Trick-or-Treating, we ate some dinner and watched Spookley the Square Pumpkin and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. We had a wonderful, relaxing night at home. Tomorrow it's time to switch out all of our Halloween movies and books for Thanksgiving books to start to get us in the Thanksgiving mood.

Mini Me

I was just looking at the pictures that I added to the right side of the blog. Talan and the 3D picture of Hunter look almost the same - almost the exact facial features. I can't wait to meet Hunter and see if he really is going to be a mini version of Talan.

Halloween Cookies

We have started a tradition of making Halloween cookies every year. This year, Talan was old enough to partake. We definitely won't be sharing these with anyone because it wasn't the most sanitary of cooking processes with a 22 month old involved, but it still was an adorable, lasting memory...

Maternity Band

I ordered a maternity support band recently to hopefully help relieve some of the back pain I've been experiencing this pregnancy. It came in the mail yesterday and I was so excited to try it on to see if it would help. Talan had other plans for it, though ...Not a bad way to come home after a long week of parent-teacher conferences. How can you not love this boy?