Ty's 5 year pics

A few weeks ago we headed down to the new Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham for Ty's five year pictures.  They have some amazing areas for pictures.  We also took the opportunity to have some family pictures taken.  Here are some of my favorite.

This is one of my favorites.  This is our boys EVERY day.

 I am having some issues having a five year old.  He has really lost ALL of the baby/toddler face.

"Hey you kids, get out of my yard!!" 

 LOVE THIS!!!  These moments with Nolan are short lived.  He loves Abbie but won't sit still long enough to love on her lots.

 I think this is the winner for hanging up in the house.

Thanksgiving

So a week before Thanksgiving we broke all the "NOT till after Thanksgiving rules" and let the boys set up the tree in their room.  Tyler had been asking to so it and Andrew and I were ready to jump into the Christmas spirit.  You would think since we started so early I would be done but I'm not.  The boys had a great time.  They did all the decorating.  Ty put the garland on the tree and him and Nolan put all the ornaments on.  Nolan had a hard time getting the hooks on the tree so he told Andrew where to put his ornaments.

We snapped some pictures before we left for Thanksgiving with Andrew's family.

I LOVE this picture.

Sweet, sweet kiddos.

Abbie and her great-grandmother 

We also spent time on Friday watching the Auburn/Alabama game.  Abbie was very happy about Auburn's win.  Isn't she the cutest thing EVER?!

WAR EAGLE!!!

Pumpkin Patch

One day after naps we loaded the kids in the car and headed to our nearby Pumpkin Patch to find out they closed about 2 hours earlier.  Drew went back to work the next day.  So I ventured to the patch the next day with the kids by myself.  We got through it without any tears or screaming.  Of course we only stayed about 30 minutes.  I had to go over the rules and expectations before we got there:  NO bounceys but we would do the train or hayride.  They picked the train ride.  The train was a tractor with cars attached and it was very, very bumpy.

Here's the boys on the "train" ride

Ty had a great time

Nolan spent some of the ride grabbing on to the side.  He is our dare devil and I was surprised he wasn't laughing the whole time.

This is what Abbie did until she fell asleep.  I wanted to get a picture of the three kids together but since she slept the whole time I gave up.

Ty found his pumpkin, he picked out a gourd.  I LOVE it!!! Thinking outside the box.

Love all the fall gourds and pumpkins.  These make me happy!

 Nolan picked out his pumpkin.  It was a little heavy.

 The boys barely fit in the wagon with all the pumpkins.  One for each of our family members.

 We went home and had pumpkin pizzas.

Nolan has really been into football he ask to watch it everyday.  I think he was dreaming about Auburn football this night.

Des Moines, pumpkin guts, puking and Trunk or Treat

The last weekend of my maternity leave Abbie and I tagged along on one of Andrew's trips.  We flew up to Des Moines, Iowa and spent the afternoon with Drew.  Attached to the hotel in Des Moines is a Bennigan's restaurant.  I LOVE the Monte Cristo sandwich from there.  It's basically a club sandwich that is battered and deep fried.  They then sprinkle it with powdered sugar and you dip it in raspberry jam.  Weird you think, but it is delicious!!!

Abbie with her Daddy on her first trip with him.

funny face by Abbie

Andrew's parents kept the boys while we where gone.  Oma took them to a pumpkin patch and bought them each a pumpkin.  Ty really wanted to carve his.  So one afternoon I decided we would try it.  Just for the record I DO NOT like carving pumpkins.  They stink, they are gooey and just a few days later the are molded.  But I took one for the mommy team and started the carving.  I cut the top off, Ty looked in and said, "that's disgusting."  He then proceeded to run off and play on the swing set.  I did get him to help by scrapping the guts off the top.  

Nolan wasn't intrigued by the pumpkin guts either.

This is Ty's "this is gross" face

This is the finished product.  I kept it inside for a few days so I could enjoy it.  When it began to get extra smelly and grow unhealthy amounts of mold it was sent to the front porch.  Ty picked out the bat.  He wanted something scary.

Our little girl is getting so big so fast.

TRUNK OR TREAT

Sunday night was trunk or treat at church.  Since I just got back from maturity leave I was not in charge of the planning.  I was at the building all day helping with set up but it was so nice being able to enjoy just enjoy it with the fam.  

Here's the cutest looking crew of the Millennium Falcon ever!!!

Nolan had a blast the entire night and we are on night two of trying to bring him down from the crazy sugar high.

This is where Ty spent the entire evening.  He is getting over a puking virus and did not want to participate.  All the candy and he didn't move.

Nolan caught on to the trick or treating pretty fast.  This is him visiting Mr. Butch.  We love Mr. Butch!  He is quickly becoming like an additional grandparent to our boys.  

6 1/2 weeks later the nursery is DONE!!

Well I put the last items into the nursery this evening and I am not declaring it done!!  Just in time to make a little mess in it while I switch out clothes.  Our sweet little Abbie is finally outgrowing the newborn size so a purging will be happening soon.

The whole idea for her room started with the paint color.  They boys' room is painted the same color and I love it.  I have to say I LOVE gray walls.  It's a neutral but different then the khaki/ brown color that is always used.  I wanted her room to be feminine but not girly.  For her bedding I couldn't find anything I really liked for under about $700.  So I made it and I really enjoyed it.  It turned out to be the perfect maternity leave project.  The room also has to function as a guest room so I didn't want it to be too baby.  So here it is......

Her bed.  And yes we will finish putting the bed together before she sleeps in it.  We are borrowing the crib and we are missing a piece of hardware we just need to get from them.  But it made for a better picture.

This is a bulletin board.  I found the frame in the Lowe's parking lot, cleaned it up and added some paint.  I should have gotten a better picture of the details.  It is gorgeous and FREE.  The ink print is one I did in Middle School.  It will be replaced with her art work when she gets older.

A candy dish now holds her extra pacies

 I'm not thrilled about the glider.  Since I use it everyday I don't know if it will get redone.

The daybed has a trundle.  When we have guest it can be used as two twin beds or made into a king bed.

The small canvases where painted by Tyler and Nolan.

The butterflies were my grandmother's.  I gave them a coat of white spray paint.  I also spray painted some sticks from our backyard and made a mobile.

And every girl needs a place to keep her hair bows.

So where's the changing area?  Well most days the bed looks like this....



One of the best things about it is I estimate the room was completely redone for about $200.  Luckily we didn't have to buy any furniture.  The bed and dresser came from Drew's parents.  They were Julie's when she was growing up and Abbie and Julie also share a birthday.


So there it is and of course I have to include a picture of our sweet girl.  I think this picture is hilarious!