Fun Friday Night

Daddy and Anna were exhausted at the end of a long, crazy week.

Halloween at Nana's

The night after Halloween, we all went over to Nana's so she could see the kids' costumes.  Anna was excited that she got to dress up again!

Snow White and Jack-in-the-box posing for pictures.

Anna loves Nana's tea bears.

"Hey everyone, I'm with Pops!"

Jack Is 9 Months Old!

I can't believe Jack is 9 months old!  I know I say it all the time, but it just goes by so fast!  At his 9 month well visit to the pediatrician, he weighed 23 pounds, 8 ounces (89th %ile), was 31.25 inches long (99th %ile!), and his head circumference was 18.5 inches (87th %ile).  He is a big boy!  He is wearing 18 month tops and 12 month bottoms, size 4 shoes (wide), and size 4 diapers.  He is on the go!  He can crawl, but army crawls much faster, like a snake.  He is discovering everything from my peace lilies to the doggy door to the stairs to Murphy's dog bowls to cabinet doors.  He is showing a bit of stubbornness because when I tell him "no" and squeeze his hand, he looks at me and does whatever he was doing over again.  Here we go! :)  He pulls up on everything he can and cruises between pieces of furniture.  He is starting to let go and stand for several seconds before falling on his bottom.  Nannie keeps reminding me that his Daddy walked at 9 months...Jack might do it, too!  He is starting to revolt against baby food because he wants to do it himself!  As long as we are eating it, he will eat it.  He is doing so well with his sippy cup by himself.  We are finally free of ear infections!!  Yay!  We did go to see Dr. Kirse to see if Jack needed tubes, but Dr. Kirse wants us to wait a little bit longer and see if he can outgrow them first.  We'll see.  Jack's new favorite thing is to wave.  He sticks his arm straight up in the air and then wiggles his fingers with his arm straight.  It is so cute!  And he is already a huge flirt with the ladies...and age doesn't matter!  He is still sweet with big kisses and is going through the "I want Mama" phase.  On one hand I love it, but when he won't go to anyone else when I'm trying to get something done, it's a little frustrating.  I want to cherish it, though, because I know it is so fleeting!  We love our Jack-Jack!  Here are some pics from the last month...

The first time we found Jack standing up in his crib
was the morning he was 8 months old!

Already a Tar Heel fan!

So proud of himself!

Cruising around at Nellie's birthday party.

"I like this pumpkin!"

Hi y'all!

Happy Jack on his 9 month birthday!

Hello from Jack-in-the-box!

Happy Halloween!

Anna and I had a blast carving pumpkins this year!

Anna with her finished product.

I helped with her class Halloween party, so Jack and I got to go hang out in her class.  Jack was a huge hit with her friends!

Mrs. Long getting ready to sing "5 Little Pumpkins".

Cinderella decided she wanted to feed baby Jack before she transformed into Snow White.

So cute!

Snow White and Jack-in-the-Box

Anna trick-or-treating at our neighbor's, Sophie and Ellie's house.

The wagon became Snow White's carriage half-way through the night.  After about 5 houses, Anna turned to me and said, "Trick-or-treating is hard work!".  I asked her if she was ready to go home and she said, "No, I don't have enough candy yet!" Ha!  Happy Halloween!

A Weekend with Family

We usually only see my dad's side of the family once a year at Thanksgiving.  My dad is one of five children so there can be as many as 40 or 50 people there in total.  As we have gotten older,  my siblings and I have started feeling like there are so many people that we don't get to visit with the people we really want to see.  Plus, my grandmother has 15 great grandchildren, but rarely gets to see some of them because of distance and logistics.  So, we arranged a weekend for my sister and brother and I to take our kids to Rocky Mount to visit with everyone.  We stayed with my cousin David and his wife Claire. They were such gracious hosts even though they have 7-week-old Haley Grace!  It was so wonderful to get to spend hours sitting and talking and laughing rather than minutes.  And I don't think I've ever seen my grandmother as happy as she was watching all those children running (and crawling) around.  It was great!

Jack and Anna with Great-Granmama.

Granmama and all the Zoo great-grandchildren.

Caroline pretty in pink with her tu-tu!

Everything is fun with Aunt Cathy....

...especially a bath when she makes shampoo hairstyles!

All the babies playing in the floor.

Cousin Wes brought the big girls a Halloween doughnut!

Caroline and Aunt Cathy

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Back to the Pumpkin Patch

We had to go back to the pumpkin patch because it was so crowded the day of Anna's field trip that I wasn't able to get the pictures that I wanted.  I'm so glad we did!  We had the place to ourselves and got some great shots!

Hi y'all!  Jack can wave now!

CMP Fall Festival

Each year, Anna's preschool has a fall festival so that parents can come in and see the classrooms.  The kids love it because they get to wear their costumes and have snacks.  Anna wanted to go as Cinderella again.  We tried to talk her into something different since she went as Cinderella last year, but she wouldn't hear of anything else.

Cinderella and Rapunzel (Amelia)

Cinderella and her pirate friend, Reece.

Barbie Princess and Cinderella

Ellen and Anna

Singing their pumpkin song for all the parents.

Penelope's 1st Birthday

Jeff and Johnna decided to have Penelope's birthday here in town since more family was here than in Wilmington.  It was such a perfect day to be outside!  We watched the kids play, grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs, and watched Nellie open presents.  She was so cute!

Anna ready for a party!

Jack with the birthday girl.

Jack loves to swing!

And so does Caroline!

Nellie opening her monkey-in-a-box with Anna's help.

She looks so cute in her tobog!

Mimi and Papa even got a picture with all of their grandkids!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PENELOPE!