Halloween 2012

Our Halloween was pretty low-key. Panera lunch date with my little man and Trunk or Treat at church! Poor Jason had class, but he graduates in December and he won't have to miss stuff like this in the future!! :)

My sweet little pumpkin at Panera!

SCOOOOOOOBY DOOOOO!!! 

In case you can't tell from the pictures, I'm Velma! (That's why I wore a nametag. :) 

Right after we took this photo, my friend Stephanie let us borrow her son's old Scooby Doo costume (the exact same one) in a bigger size! {Side note story: I bought this costume last year after Halloween at like 75% off in a size 2T. Then the day before Trunk or Treat, I noticed on the package that based on their size chart, the 2T was going to DROWN Jack! So I spent an hour driving to two different Walmarts to try to exchange it for the 12-18 month size, but being the day before Halloween, they didn't have them. So the day of, I tried it on him expecting it to be too big, and lo and behold - it was too small!!} It worked out so perfectly to have their bigger sized one, because it was getting colder and you can see that this one wasn't covering everything it needed to cover!

We had such a fun time - especially in the little kids area! There was a "ring toss" game that he was CRAZY about. And they had cozy coupe cars to ride around in and a slide that he wanted to play on all night long. 

There was even a photo booth! So fun!!

Right at the very end, we saw the Walkers! We snapped a couple quick photos and Leighton tried to grab Jack's paci. Haha! He wasn't having any of that! :)

I can't believe that next year I'll have TWO little boys dressing up for Halloween!!!

Houston - We Have a Walker!

As of this weekend (his last week of being 15 months old), Jack has REALLY taken off on walking! Just like everyone said, it's like a switch flipped and now he LOVES walking!

Here's a little video of him taking off all over our living room, but so distracted by the lovely TV that was on. (Disney Junior - it's a love/hate thing.) 

We laugh because he's got this bouncy step thing going on and his hands are out - he looks like a penguin! 

So proud of my walker!!

Sweetest Video of All Time (& Gender Reveal!)

Jack had been saying "I seeeeee you" and I wanted to get it on video. Little did I know that he would give me so much more than that! I literally tear up every time I watch this - I know it may be the pregancy hormones, but seeing this helps me know that Jack is going to be the best big brother. 

And.... surprise!! If you don't already know, you will get to find out the gender of Baby Lawhorn #2 in this video!! We are so thrilled!!

Excuse me, I have to go find my tissues.

Connect Group Dinner & Play Group Lunch

On Thursday (10/25/12) we had two couples and their kiddos over for dinner! The H's and the L's and our combined 5 little ones (6, 4, 3, 18 mo, & 15 mo) had a great evening together! 

Here's all the sweet kids scarfing down their spaghetti, and Jack, of course, hollering for MORE FOOD in the background. :) 

We laughed because we were all getting our kids taken care of (rightly so, of course) and by the time all their plates had been made, milk and water taken care of, etc., they were back in the living room playing! We adults hadn't even made our plates yet! :) Haha! Such is the life of parents!

We had such a good time in fellowship with our friends and look forward to MANY more dinners and other outings together.

Then on Friday, I hosted playgroup for the first time! Casey & Audrey and Ashley & Hank came over and hung out for a while at our place. We usually meet at Casey's, so Jack and I were excited to have everyone at our house! He even did pretty good sharing - since he had learned how to share with 3 big boys and 1 sweet girl the night before!

Here's a shot of Jack and Audrey sitting in the sunshine. Sweet!!

Playing in the Yard

Last Wednesday (10/24/12) when it was sunny and breezy and just felt plain amazing outside, Jack and I went out to get the mail and decided to hang out for a while.

playing with a leaf, studying a leaf, crying after trying to eat a leaf, 

and bear crawling through the grass

trying to walk in grass on a slanted hill... it worked for a second at least

And here's the video to prove it. 

Aquarium and Reunion

Last weekend, we met Jason downtown to go to lunch and the aquarium! The last time we went, Jack fell asleep, so it was fun to see his reactions to everything now that he's a little older. And awake. :)

Penguins!

Ahhhhh!! We're in the shark tank!!!

Checking out a reef. 

Family photo. :)

I had to throw this one in there... Mr. Too Cute has on his too cute pajamas, and his too cute belly is poking out. Love it. 

And this was the only shot I took at the Family Reunion this year! Last year, Jack was so little! This year Brycen was the little guy! NEXT year we will have 4 little ones (Jack, Brycen, Hunter & Elizabeth's new baby, and our new baby!)

[Reunion post from 2010]

Then we headed over to Ketner's Mill where I promptly forgot to take any pictures. :)

Another fun fall weekend!!

Baby #2 - {19 weeks}

No full update because I'm super late in posting this, but here was a picture I took (yes, in the bathroom...) on the day I hit 19 weeks! I feel like I FINALLY just started to pop out! People are noticing more, rather than saying "Are you SURE you're pregnant?"

This was the day we found out the gender of Baby #2!! 

Reveal post to follow!!

Bread Fail

At the beginning of this endeavor, I didn't know that it was going to end in failure. :) But I took pictures in hopes of being able to share my "wonderful homemade bread" recipe with all you fine folks... So I'll hit the highlights and then hope that next time will result in MUCH better bread.

The local honey I bought at the Chattanooga Market this weekend.

wet ingredients

mixin' it all up after adding the dry ingredients

letting the mixer knead for me

about to begin the rising process

the recipe made enough for 1 1lb loaf and 12 dinner rolls

The finished products!

So here's what went wrong. First, I had one recipe in mind that I wanted to use, but accidentally used a different one (same website, but two different recipes). Then I didn't really think about the fact that it's been a long time since I bought yeast... so yeah, my yeast didn't end up working. And last, I used a 2lb loaf pan instead of a 1lb pan, so that resulted in much flatter bread than expected. 

My wrong recipe, flattened, unleavened bread is so dense and heavy... Still edible, but only just barely. :) 

Better luck next time to me!!

Eatin' Chili

Hangin' with Granny

I updated the Our Travels page at the top of the blog, to include all our fun summer antics. We love to travel and we definitely got our share in this summer. Check it out!

Mom & Nick were on Fall Break this week, and Dad took the week off too, so we went down to see Granny on Tuesday! Jack was a busy bee the whole time we were there. :)

walking around with Granny

On our way back home, we stopped at the outlet mall, and Jack racked up some new fall duds (not this hat though, even though it was cute).

Then someone was restless in the stores, so Mimi took him out to the cool cars! 

It was a fun day!

Baby #2 - {18 weeks}

How far along?: 18w {18 weeks w/Jack}

How big is baby?: The size of a sweet potato.

Weight gain/loss?: About +3 lbs? I truly feel like I have POPPED in the last 2 days. 

Stretch marks?: No new ones.

Maternity clothes?: Not yet, just using a rubber band to make my jeans bigger.

Sleep?: Sleeping pretty well even w/a 15 mo. old!

Food cravings?: Loving hot tea in the mornings. And the afternoons.  

Gender?: We will hopefully find out in a week!!! Right now, Jason and I both feel like the baby is a boy, a little brother for Jack-Jack! But of course, I could be totally surprised with ribbons and bows. :)

Movement?: Yes! Anytime I'm settled down, I can feel the little thumps! So fun!! 

Belly button?: Definitely have a 2nd baby belly button!

What do you miss?: As I said last week, I've been feeling a little yucky the past week or so - headaches, stomach issues... I don't know if it's completely pregnancy related or not, but I do miss feeling good. 

What are you looking forward to this week?: Feeling more movement, and hopefully finding out the gender!

Too cute not to share. This is a perfect example of most days - puppy boy and baby boy hanging out at my feet. 

Hodge Podge and a Snuggle Bug

On Saturday, Mom, Mamaw, Jack & I went to Hodge Podge (a local craft fair) together!

It was REEEEEEALLY cold and poor Jack didn't have any warm weather clothes - EXCEPT, our sweet friends Ryan and Evelyn had just gotten him this adorable one piece sweatshirt/suit. It was 18 months so I thought it would drown him, but it was perfect and PRECIOUS!!! So stinkin' cute. 

Jack was quite the snuggle-bug while we were there. I caught this great shot of him snuggling on Mamaw. :) 

Then our friends Hugh, Alison, and Ethan gave us a couple donuts and Jack was all over that. Haha! I've been calling him my little vulture lately. If you have food, he says "a bite! a bite! a bite! a bite!" over and over until you give him some! Little stinker!

Then we went back over to Mom's for a bit and Jack played on the piano - he loves that thing!

It was such a fun day!