Family Update - End of 2015

Well, you have probably noticed that I haven't posted since Little Man's birthday back in April. We have been so busy lately blogging has been pretty much the last thing on my mind. Hubby had his busiest summer yet with the youth group, and since then we haven't stopped moving. Our little man is growing so quickly it is really hard to believe how much he has changed over the last 6 months. Here is a little recap of our life over the summer, fall and winter of 2015.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

 Last night we gathered with some friends to see the Christmas lights at Botanica. It's our local botanical gardens and during the holiday season they cover then entire place in over 500,000 lights. It really is amazing.We all got bundled up, and sipped on Hot Cocoa while oooh-ing and ahhh-ing.

His stroller toy is in the way, but he has a HUGE smile on his face.

This rainbow is in the Children's Garden over the yellow brick road-too cute!

My Little "Gingerbread" Man-only fitting since he is always stealing my gingerbread cookies right out of my hands

Look at that red nose

 We even got to meet Santa. Little Man just kept looking up at him wonder who that was.

Gammy(my mom) and Santa are friends, so she joined in the picture too

Halloween 2013

I'm sorry I am just getting this post done we have been at a Youth Retreat all weekend and have been very busy.

Last year when I was pregnant at Halloween (we had high ambitions to go as characters from the movie Juno, but ended up going as cowboys and cowgirls) I had come up with all kinds of creative family costumes that I could make for this year. I won't name them in case we go as one next year. But this year as it came around as that time to make costumes, I was busy making items for other people (I'm not complaining, I love doing that), but I lost out on precious time to make our family costumes. We were walking around Target and I found an adorable Robin onesie complete with a cape for Little Man. That's when we decided to go with the Batman and Robin idea. Originally I  was going to be Catwoman, but I didn't want to be a villain, so Hubby and I went as "Mr and Mrs Batman".
We found Batman shirts at Wal-Mart and I grabbed some black fabric and made us capes. I used this amazing Heat Bond product and cut out the Batman logo and the "Mr" and Mrs". Put on black pant and black undershirt and we were good to go.

I'm sorry the picture quality is so bad, the sun was going down and I only had my phone with me

The Saturday before Halloween we had our Church's annual "Trunk-or-Treat". We decorated our car as the "Bat Cave" complete with flying bats, and dumped TONS of candy in the back.

Excuse my dinner in the picture, I didn't realize it was in the picture until now :)

 I made the bats out of construction paper and attached them to fishing line at different levels. The best part was it was so windy that day that they were flying all over the place.

It was a lot of fun to see all the kids from church in their costumes, we had so much candy that kids were coming back 4-5 times for more. I did find out that most trunks had some sort of game to go with it, so I'll be brainstorming to come up with something for next year. There was a competition for both costumes and trunks, sadly we didn't win, but we still had an awesome time.

Halloween night we joined up with Hubby's two little brothers who are 10 and 4. They were dressed as Sonic the Hedgehog and Woody from Toystory. We spent the night Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood. Little Man was fascinated by all the candy in his bucket, but Mommy is the one who got to eat it! Everyone thought he was adorable, and we actually saw a few other superhero babies as well.

 Halloween was great and I can't wait until next year, when he actually understands whats going on. I hope you and your family had a great Halloween too!

Happy Pumpkin Pickin

We took a trip out to the pumpkin patch Saturday night to get Little Man's 6th month photos done. (I promise the chalkboard update is coming) My dad has been traveling on business lately and he was finally in town this weekend so we could get some pictures taken. Unfortunately, Hubby was taking his teens to a corn maze on the other side of town and he was not able to witness the cuteness firsthand.
I think Little Man is finally liking taking pictures because in both his newborn and 3 month shoots he was upset for most of the time (although Sally our photographer was able to get GREAT shots during the "smiley times"). This time around was nothing but smiles, and some adorable faces when he was trying to eat the pumpkins, or at least lick and gum them since he still doesn't have any teeth.

Pumpkins for sale, he's so happy :)

Not sure what this face is, but its adorable

I just love this guy so much

Right before he tried to chomp down on that pumpkin

Apples for sale

My Dad's head got cut off a bit, and we were loosing our light so had to use the flash, but still turned out cute I think.

Little Man and his Poppy

I can't believe how big he is getting, but so glad we are able to capture these moments forever. Hope you and your family have a great pumpkin season

Little Man's 3 Month/Family Photos

A short 3 and a half months ago a good friend of mine Sally of Sally Manlove Photography took Little Man's newborn photos. Last week she also took some family photos and his 3 month photos. It was nap time and Little Man was fussy, so we didn't get as many of Little Man as I would have liked, but the ones she did capture are just adorable.

 

I'm so happy how these turned out and thank you again Sally. If you live in the Wichita area and are a high school senior or getting married, she is your girl, check her out!

Family Fun in Branson

As you know I was on hiatus last week. I was spending the week with my family in Branson, MO. We used to go there all the time as a kid and since Hubby had never been we decided to show him the best Branson could offer. Unfortunately, it rained the ENTIRE week :( but we were able to sneak in some fun stuff in between the downpours.

The first day we spent shopping and walking around at one of the local outdoor malls. While we were there we stopped in to take some old time photos. Little Man did awesome and the photographers were very impressed.

 Sorry for the quality. I had to take a picture of the pictures with my phone. They have this special paper that if you try to scan it, it creates a watermark right over the picture and they are ruined. So this is the best I can do :(


We stayed in my parents time-share, which is always nice. It's basically a little apartment with a complete kitchen and washer and dryer. We saved a lot of money by cooking breakfast and dinner while we were there.
-Side note: We got ranged into one of those time-share sales presentations. I felt so bad for the guy, he said that ministers were the hardest to sell to, and on top of that, my parents are already owners so we can use it whenever we want. But we went along with it and in the end collected our $150 gift card, BONUS!!

Oh and if you didn't know, when you travel with a baby you bring a car load FULL of crap. OK not crap, I needed all of it at some point during the week but seriously, he took up more room than I could ever dream of. Between his own suitcase since I had to take extra outfits in case we had a blow-out, his jumpy, his tummy time mat, a stroller, baby carrier, car seat with base and my giant diaper bag, we were surrounded by baby stuff.

On Thursday we went to Silver Dollar City, an amusement park in Branson. This is my all time favorite amusement park (aside from Disney), and I have been to many. The reason I love this one so much is that it is so family friendly. Not only do they have 3 awesome roller coasters, water rides and other rides for older kids and adults, but they have a whole section for smaller kids. We even got to take Little Man on a ride! Also they have tons of shopping, and since its based in the 1800's its also educational for kids complete with  live glass blowing and a blacksmith.
If you have never been to Branson, it is a great family friendly trip right in the middle of the country. Only a 5 hour drive for us, and they have something for everyone. Shows, putt-putt and go-karts, Silver Dollar City and shopping, Branson is fun for all.

Now that I'm done plugging Branson - just kidding, these are all of my own opinions, but I really do think its a great place. Here are some pictures of the rest of the week.

Hubby and Little Man hanging out at Silver Dollar City

Little Man passed out from all the fun

Little Man's first ride, the Flooded Mine, he was very confused but wasn't scared at all when it went dark, or at the sound of the guns shooting

Swinging bridge, my boys had fun jumping up and down

We went to putt-putt and Little Man got to be a pirate. Hubby was actually very good while having a baby strapped to his chest.

Overall we had great time, it was great to spend time with family. We are back rested and ready to finish up this busy summer.

A Mother's Day to Remember

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the wonderful mommies out there. I spent the day celebrating with my family and enjoying time with my Little Man.
We were able to be a part of the baby dedication at church on Sunday. Surprisingly there were 9 new babies this year, which is very exciting to me, because Little Man will have lots of friends to grow up with. We even got him a tiny suit to celebrate, well I'm not sure if he enjoyed it, but it made me happy to see our little gentleman. :)

We decided to have the In-Laws over for lunch because with both families, it would have been a nightmare to try to go out to eat on Mother's Day. So both my mother and grandmother and Hubby's mother and grandmother came to celebrate the day with us.

Here we are pictured, mother's and children gazing at each other. It was such a special moment, and I am so happy that I have these strong women around me to help mold me into the best mother I can be. Little Man is so lucky to have all of these women sharing their love with him.
I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day and enjoyed your time with your little ones.