Showering Baby Andy

So much catching up to do!  After a fun week in Georgia for Thanksgiving & several days of busyness around here, I'm finally finding a moment to update the blog.  I'll get to all of our Thanksgiving fun soon, but first, a baby shower!

I was recently honored to host a shower for my sweet friend, Cari.  Little Andy will be here in a few short weeks!  We did a polka dot theme for this shower, & everything turned out so cute.  Here's the sign-in table, with favors done by Michelle.  The boxes contained multi-colored M&Ms - edible polka dots!

t

Sausage balls, mini muffins, fruit & polka dot cake - yum!

Cake by Haylee Cakes, of course.

 

Hattie, Ashlee, Cari, Rachel, Jenn & me

Me with the beautiful lady of the hour

  

Cari, thanks for letting me be one of the first to spoil Andy.  I can't wait to meet him!

A Day at the Zoo

A couple of weeks ago, we took advantage of a beautiful, warm day & headed with some friends to the Dallas Zoo.  I decided to purchase a family pass since it only takes three visits to make it worth your while.  We're looking forward to lots more zoo days over the next year - for free!

My crew excitedly waiting for our friends at the entrance

Jake sort of bee-bops when he's excited.  It's a quality of his that I really love.

Between Andrea, Anna & myself, we have a total of eight kiddos!  Here's the whole gang:  Hagan, Beau, Reid, Jake, Colby, Mallory, Karl Mikal & Heidi.

During our visit, we checked out some penguins,

 

stopped to see how we measure up to them,

rode an elephant or two,

& enjoyed a beautiful day with minimal crowds.

We got some up-close views of elephants,

 

zebras, gazelles,

& giraffes.

Thanks to Mrs. Andrea, the kids even got to feed a giraffe!

 

We oohed & aahed over huge lions,

 

lazy gorillas,

& pretty flamingos.

After a picnic lunch, we ended our adventure in the children's area & got to pet a few goats.

 

It was a fun day! If anyone wants to go to the zoo, let us know!

Beau Harrison at 8 Months

The Beau Man is 8 months old!  It's ridiculous that his pics for this months show him wearing shorts, but it was hot this weekend!  Anyway, here's what he's up to this month:

I didn't weigh Beau this month, but I'm guessing he's around 17 pounds.  He's wearing 9-12 month clothes & size 3 diapers.

We call this his Pac-man smile

Could he be any more handsome?

Utilizing his latest skill to leave our little photo session

In addition to crawling, Beau can sit himself up from crawling or laying down & can pull up to his knees or to standing.  He definitely has a fondness for mischief & likes to see what he can get into that falls into the "not for Beau" category.

 

"Not for Beau" is the most commonly heard phrase around our house.  Jake & Mal say it repeatedly any time Beau is actually doing something he shouldn't & also just whenever they want the toy he has.  We've had many lessons on the appropriate use of the phrase.

My little man has gotten much more into his toys lately & will play happily by himself for a while as long as we're nearby.  He loves his music table, any kind of ball & books.

This cutie is a loudmouth & babbles constantly.  He can say "Dada" & also says "Mama" when he's fussing for me to pick him up.  Today he said "Nana" twice, much to my mom's delight.

We're continuing to add finger foods to his repertoire, & he's pretty talented at getting most of them into his mouth.  He loves veggies, toast, cheese & Cheerios.

 

As you can see, Beau is a man of many expressions & is full of smiles & giggles.  I'm so thankful I get to be his mommy.  Happy 8 months, Beau Harrison!

Halloween...again

I know it was two weeks ago, but I didn't want to miss documenting the rest of Halloween!

I'm one of the room moms for Jake & Mallory's class, so I helped put together their fall party, along with my fabulous counterpart, Angie.  We started off with a scarecrow craft, using the cute placemats Angie had made as a workspace.

Then it was on to snacks!  The kids enjoyed making their own snack mix & eating rice crispie pumpkins.  Mallory stayed at her table after all of the others were done to make sure she savored every last bit of her pumpkin.

Me & my cuties!  I'm so glad that I get to do fun things like this with them.

 

Next up - pumpkin bowling!  I love the dumbfounded looks here as the rules were explained.  They all got really into it though & had a great time.

Class picture!

My trick-or-treaters were eager to hit the streets that night.

And backtracking to Friday of that weekend, we attended a Halloween story time at the library.  Miss Molly leads story time each week & is beloved by all of the children.  I promise Jake & Mal were excited to get their picture made with her, but the tootsie rolls in their mouths make it hard to tell.

And our trusty tag-along, Beau!

 

Okay, finally done with that holiday.  I can't believe Thanksgiving is almost here!  Where did my year go?

8th Annual Small Group Halloween Party

Our Halloween activities continued last Sunday afternoon with jack-o-lantern carving.  Daddy went hi-tech this year & used his drimmel to carve instead of a knife.  MUCH faster!

Mal, ready to go with her scooping spoon

Once the scooping actually started, Mal wasn't such a fan.  Miss Priss doesn't care for icky things on her hands.  Jake had fun helping, though!

Guess who did most of the scooping?

Jake supervising Daddy's carving

 

As usual, Beau chilled & watched the action.  He was happy with his rings.

t

Somehow I missed getting a pic of the final product, but they were great, I promise!

That evening, we hosted our small group party.  Our group has evolved over the years as different families have moved away, formed other groups or joined us.  The Halloween party has been a constant through those years & is always something I look forward to.  Here are a few of the costumes:

The Powells - Christmas Past (Emmie), Christmas Pregnant (Cari) & Christmas Future (Logan)

 

 Charlotte as a cute little Goldilocks with her bears

J & I went with the economical/lazy costume & chose to be an "e-male" & attachments (those are paper clips on me).  Apparently our choice had dual meanings because each person who guessed what we were went with "eclipse."

Caroline as Snow White with Michelle as the Mirror on the Wall

Avery the little pageant queen with her #1 Stage Mom, Rachel

There were several others that I missed getting pictures of.  I blame Justin.  Thanks everyone for continuing a fun tradition!