Smores, Catan & Bears....Oh My!

Last weekend was full of quality time with good friends. We started off the weekend with our community group coming over to our house for dinner. The original plan was to cookout, but because of the weather, we brought the activities indoors. The highlight.......Smores! Forgot how much I really love these tasty treats. Made me want to have another Smores night very soon.

Todd & Steve

Lauren enjoying her delicious treat

Y U M M Y.

And what community group night would be complete without a little competition? Of course "Settlers of Catan" made an appearance.

Let the games begin.

The following day we made a road trip to......you guessed it.....Waco. The Bears played the Aggies and fans that we are, we had to cheer them on. Will loved playing with his friend, Carter, and we enjoyed the yummy gumbo Todd made. It was a perfect day for tailgating....not so perfect night for Baylor football. Even though the Bears lost, we had a great time enjoying the Fall weather.

The boys playing together

Lovin the mohawk Carter!

So fun!

Can you tell they are teething?

Will LOVES Lauren.

The girls: Lauren, Dana, me

Melissa and Griffin stopped by! All of these guys were born just a few weeks apart from each other. I foresee many fun times ahead with these boys!

Hangin with Dad

Becky stopped by too!

How we all felt at the end of the game. Sad day.

One more weekend to cheer on the Bears! Sic'Em! Beat OU!

Fight for Preemies

November is "Prematurity Awareness Month" and today, November 17th is The March of Dimes "Fight for Preemies" Day. The rate of premature birth has risen more than 30 percent since 1981; one in eight babies are born prematurely. In half the cases, we simply don’t understand what went wrong (just like Will's story). The March of Dimes is leading the fight for answers. And, ultimately, preventions.

There's not a day that goes by that I don't remember those days in the NICU.....our story could have been so different. You can read all about Will's story here. We are fortunate and blessed that we have a happy ending. Will is strong and healthy today because of the care we received in the NICU. The Lord has blessed us more than we could have ever imagined--we are so thankful for our little boy.

February 2010

Many preemie stories don't have a happy ending, like ours. I encourage you to take a few minutes and visit The March of Dimes website, and if you're a blogger join Fight for Preemies Day (or click on the button on the top right).

November 2010

We love you, Will! We are so thankful for you and your sweet smile and personality. You bring us more joy than we ever could have imagined!

GJ, Popa and Ashlyn

Last weekend my parents came to visit! I'm so blessed that they come to Dallas not only to spend quality time with us, but their visits allow me to work on Saturday with free childcare.   :)

While I was working, Will had a fantastic time with his GJ and Popa. My mom and dad were sweet to send me pictures all day, documenting what fun they had! Will absolutely loved spending time with them!

Swinging at the Park

Cheering on the Bears

Cheering on the Hogs

Even though I worked all day Saturday, we still had plenty of quality time together. On Sunday we went to the Arboretum--yes, I know it seems like we go there every weekend....we are regulars! :)  The weather was perfect and we had fun taking lots of pictures with Will.

Can you tell he loved GJ's earrings? :)

Will & his Popa

GJ, Will & Popa

GJ & Will

Isn't this neat?! An entire house of gourds!

GJ, Popa & Will

Sweet boy

Me and my love

To end the weekend, we met baby Ashlyn!! My sweet cousin Debbie had a beautiful little girl 3 weeks ago, and we finally got to meet her! She was wonderful. She slept the entire time and didn't mind being passed around to all of us. Debbie looks fantastic--you'd never believe that she just had a baby! She's amazing. I'm so happy for their new family of 4! Can't wait for playdates with the cousins! :)

Sweet baby Ashlyn

GJ & Ashlyn

Me & Ashlyn

Me, Debbie & Ashlyn

What a fun weekend! GJ & Popa--we can't wait to see you in just a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving! Thanks for coming to visit--we always love it when you come to Dallas. :) We love you!!

Halloween Weekend

We had quite the weekend! I feel like I've had the last few years "off" from Halloween--Matt has always had to work and I typically spend the evening with Jama handing out candy. The game changed this year, and it's amazing how many festivities are available when a little one is involved! Luckily Matt was off all day Saturday and Sunday night, so we were able to do tons of things together as a family. :)

We woke up on Saturday morning and went to "The Great Pumpkin Festival" at the Dallas Arboretum. It was wonderful! We got there right when it opened and left before it got crazy busy. The weather was nice and cool--it actually felt like Fall!

Pumpkins Everywhere!

Me & Will

We love to "people watch"!

My precious boys

Will's absolute favorite thing right now....the higher the better!

Teething boy loved the straw

Kisses from mommy

So happy!

Hangin' with dad

Best dad ever.

Family Photo!!

After the Arboretum, we came home and rested a bit before the afternoon festivities. My playgroup got together at the park down the street for a costume picnic. So fun! All the babies were adorable!

Round 1 of group photos: We had Bentley the Dragon, David the Pumpkin, Wesley the Shark, Will the Lobster, Noah the Lion, Felicity the Elephant, and Emery & Ethan: Pebbles & Bam-Bam    :)

Will aka "The Lobster"

Emery loved Will's eyeballs!

Father & Son

Matt, Joel & the boys

Will & Wesley: The Lobster & The Shark

Very Serious.

View from the Back

Round 2: add in Gage the Monkey, Thorsten the Dragon, & Max aka Superman

Dads and Babies

One last family photo

The night ended perfectly with friends coming over for dinner to watch the Bears beat the UT Longhorns! Sic'Em!!! :) What a great weekend! Let the holidays begin!