Family Visit and Halloween

     On Friday, Mary, Alex and Bailey came to visit from Missouri. Rylee and Bailey get along really well, so it's always a lot of fun when they come to visit. We all went to middle Tennessee on Saturday to visit our parents and eat an early Thanksgiving dinner. We always have trouble working Thanksgiving around everyone's schedules so we just do it super early. It was a blast. The kids all love being outdoors, so we spent some time outside taking some pictures before lunch, and then after lunch, went on an afternoon hike and they all fell asleep in their strollers.

      On Sunday, we spent the morning catching up on some sleep and just hanging out. We ate breakfast, played some video games, played with the babies, and talked. Then around 4 we got the kids into their costumes to get ready to go trick-or-treat!

     Bailey was a cheerleader, Rylee was a giraffe, and Kaden was a lion. They were all so cute! We went to see Kaden's meme at her work and got some suckers and Gerber snacks, we went to Granny and Pawpaw's and got some chocolate candy, we went to Nonna's and Grandada's and got some goodie bags that included rubber duckies, cups with straws, and candy, and we ended our trick-or-treating at Kala's where we got goodie bags filled with Gerber snacks and rubber duckies! The kids got hooked up! :) After trick-or-treating we had a ice dinner at Olympic and then headed home.

     Today is Halloween, but we went trick-or-treating yesterday because I have class tonight and I can't go. Mary, Alex, and Bailey headed back home this morning and I headed to do some field hours at Crestview. I have been doing field hours there for the past week, and I love it there. I just hate all this time away from Rylee. But after next week, I'll be completely done with field hours for the rest of this semester! :)

Two Babies, One Shower

      On Saturday, October 22, we had a baby shower for the two new expected arrivals to our family. Ryan's sister, Melanie and Ryan's cousin, Matt are both expecting babies this winter. Melanie's son, Austin Charles is due on Christmas day and Matt's daughter, Jenna Brooke is due on new year's day.

     Rylee is excited about being a big cousin again, can't you tell? Haha! She doesn't really understand what's going on, but once she meets the babies I'm sure she'll warm up to them. She's kinda frustrated now because it's not comfortable for her to be held by her Aunt Mel and so she doesn't know what to do.

    Rylee and Kaden had fun for a while at the shower, but soon they were ready to go outside and play. They both adore being outdoors, so it was torture for them to be able to see it but not go there! After the shower, I took Ryles outside to play for a while.

Fall Break

      This Monday and Tuesday have been my Fall break from school. I don't have class on Fridays, so I got five whole days to spend with my baby girl! Friday, Daddy went in to work early for some overtime, so I took Rylee to Granny's to visit and pick up some gifts they got her while they were out of town last week. After our visit, we went grocery shopping. When we got home she took a nap and I got some homework done. Then it was playtime. Rylee is teething pretty bad and she was running a fever, so I stripped her down to her diaper and took her outside to cool off. She had a blast. She walked around outside with her horsey for over an hour and cried when I took her inside for dinner.

      Saturday we went to Ryan's parents' to do fall pictures. After we were done with pictures, Rylee went home with Ryan and took a nap while I went to Liz's to help sort through the pictures and pick which ones would be keepers. After we got done, Liz and Kaden and Ryan, Rylee and I had dinner at Olympic. It was delicious, and the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

     Sunday, we slept in because Ryan wasn't feeling well. When he finally got out of bed around noon, he felt much better, so we decided to make it a date night. We dropped Rylee off at Granny's to play while we went to see Real Steel and have dinner at Applebee's. Real Steel was such a good movie. We both had a wonderful time. We even stopped and picked out some frames to hang the fall pictures in. When we got home Rylee wasn't feeling well, so I had to rock her to sleep, but, of course, I didn't mind. I love snuggle time with my baby girl.

     Yesterday, I spent pretty much all day doing homework. I took a few breaks to play with buggy and snuggle her, but I had a lot to get done. Today I have spent all day playing with my buggy. I've read her a dozen stories, snuggled her a thousand times, and just enjoyed being with her. I love my little girl so much. She is a ball of life and I just love to see her smile and hear her laugh!
     I'm halfway through this awful semester, then all I have left is student teaching and I'm done with school! :)

Fall Photos

     Saturday, my wonderfully talented sister, Elizabeth Jones, did our family fall photos. They turned out really good! :) We spent the entire afternoon walking and exploring the land behind Ryan's parents' house. They don't own all of the land that we took pictures on, but they have wonderfully understanding neighbors! :) It was absolutely beautiful. I told Ryan we definitely have to take more walks when we go over there. This was my first time seeing much of the beautiful land surrounding such a beautiful home.

     Rylee was in a really good mood, which was perfect for taking pictures! She adores being outdoors, so after we let her crawl around in the grass and initially explore her surroundings, she was ready to smile and laugh for all the pictures! also, this was the first time we had any family pictures done (other than a few I took last Christmas using my camera's timer function for our Christmas card), so we were excited that they turned out so well. Ryan and I went and bought some new frames last night and I can't wait to hang these prints on our walls! :)