Making Lemonade

Last weekend, my father-in-law, while trying to upload some pictures of Jordan's trip to Colorado, accidentally deleted the pictures section of our share site. It freaked us all out for a bit because we weren't sure what he had deleted (we were in the car when they called us). BUT, it was just the share site, so it really wasn't a big deal (all the pictures were still on my Shutterfly account).

Our internet has been acting ridiculously slow lately, so I haven't gotten around to fixing it (because I know that any time I do anything with Shutterfly, I better have a good connection or it's going to take F O R E V E R). We got a free upgrade from AT&T today to the next speed and it seems like it really made a difference.

So long story short, check out our NEW AND IMPROVED Shutterfly Share Site. I actually was able to do some organizing that I had been putting off and learned a lot about the site and different features it has. I took lemons and made lemonade. :)

18 Months

Holy Cow. 18 Months. I can't believe Jordan is already 18 months. I'll do a longer post later (with pictures, etc). I just wanted to get her stats up now. I've been under the weather the past couple of days, so the post is going to have to wait. Here are her stats:

Height: 33.5" (91 %ile)
Weight: 29 lbs (94 %ile)

She's just slightly smaller than Allison was but still a big healthy girl. Oh, and our doc saw Allison and said, "Wow! She looks thin!" Whoohoo!! Jordan is healthy and right on track (if not ahead) on all of her development stuff. Hooray for 2nd kids! (Allison was still not walking at this appointment, so needless to say, we're a lot less stressed with Jordan. Check that....stressed about different/normal things like what she's getting into/climbing on). :)

Allison's Branson Trip

As mentioned before, Allison went to Branson with my mom last weekend. (By the way, do you know how hard it is for me to type BranSon and not BranDon????).

Mom and Allison went with my Aunt Pat (the Christmas aunt who it is my goal in life to be like), my Uncle Gary and their almost 3 year old grandson Nicholas (he actually shares a birthday with Brandon's brother).

Anyway, Pat and Gary go to Branson a few times a year. And the first weekend in November, Branson gets in the Christmas spirit!

Note: These are my mom's pictures and I copied them from Shutterfly since I don't have the originals yet. So they're a little grainy. Sorry.

Allison and mom actually took 2 flights (connecting through Dallas). There's an AWESOME kids area in Dallas. Here is Allison enjoying it!

She and Nicholas had a lot of fun together. Although occassionally, he would take her toy and run (just like Jordan does) just to hear her scream. But most of the time, he's a VERY sweet boy! (If he got a treat, he made sure EVEYRONE else did too!)

My Aunt Pat has a hookup with the founder/CEO of Build-A-Bear. She has been informed of just how OBSESSED I am with the store. (I even got an autographed baby bear when I was pregnant with Allison!!). So she called ahead to the Branson store. Allison and Nicholas got the VIP treatment! :)

Allison made a Hello Kitty doll (that meows...) for herself and a Frosty the Snowman for Jordan.

You have to kiss the heart before you put it in your animal!

And you have to give your animal a bath!

Getting ready to get ready to GO HAVE LUNCH WITH SANTA! Yay!! This pictures cracks me up because Allison and Nicholas are only 4 months apart. But they had to bring Allison's birth certificate just in case (because NO ONE believes she's 3 and 3 and under get into Silver Dollar City free).

Singing Christmas songs and waiting for Santa

Yay! There he is!!!

She LOVES Santa. Nicholas wasn't so sure but because Allison was, he went up there too. But it was VERY had to get a picture of both of them looking at the same time.

They played at Silver Dollar City.

And waited in line for the train. This is what happens when Allison gets up at 615, has lunch at 1145 and hasn't had a nap by early afternoon. Apparently, she snored. Loudly. And slept through the train coming into the station, leaving the station and coming back.

They went back to the condo, took naps and headed back for the parade. The kids LOVED the parade.

Then, it was 6 am on Sunday and Allison was awake. This is INSANELY early for our kids. They normally sleep till I wake them at 715 or they sleep till about 8 on their own. Well, Allison does anyways.

Then she and Nicholas had to say goodbye. They are so cute together! And she keeps talking about him (and her trip). We'll have to get them toether again soon.
My aunt Pat's comment on Allison - "She never stops talking after she wakes up, does she?" No, Pat, she doesn't. :)

Random Pictures

Last weekend, I had a MUCH needed break. Allison went to Branson with my mom and Jordan went to Colorado with Brandon. The Branson trip had been planned for a while and since I've been in a funk lately, I asked Brandon to check on flights to Denver. They were cheap so he and Jordan decided to go. Plus, it was free weekend at the Denver Zoo. So Michael and Bri came up on Sunday and joined Brandon and his folks with Jordan at the zoo.





Here's Jordan getting ready to go....





The trip worked out really well. We didn't buy a seat for Jordan but both of Brandon's flights were relatively empty, so he was able to take her seat on. We have a Go Go Kidz Travelmate and LOVE it. It's basically a souped up luggage cart that you attach to your kids' car seat. It enables you to use the car seat as a stroller. This is PERFECT for us because his folks have a wagon we can use while we're there so we don't need a stroller. And the wheels detach so you can send it through the x-ray machine still attached. (Well, most seats you can. Ours is too big). This thing was TOTALLY worth the money. You can then gate check the seat or take it on. For Jordan, we take it on. She's too wiggly to sit in your lap but zonked out in her car seat on both flights.

I don't have any pictures from that trip yet because Brandon didn't take my camera (since I was supposed to update the blog). I'll post those when I get them from Kevin.

Here's a random picture - library time in our house

Halloween (FINALLY)

Well, I finally fixed whatever was wrong with my USB port and was able to upload our Halloween pictures.

Since Halloween was on a Saturday, we had a TON of events to choose from.

We decided to go to Little Gym on Friday for their party. We REALLY enjoyed it last year. This year, not so much. I think word got out how good it was last year so it was REALLY crowded. Plus, it was not as organized. We won't go next year (we'll try the YMCA Fall Fest again instead). The girls still had a good time!

This guy was new (at least since Allison stopped taking classes). She wasn't too sure about him!

On Saturday, we did the Trick or Treat Trail sponsored by our city park and rec department. Last year it was at one of the parks. This year because we had SO much rain that week (and the park was a swamp), they had it at the high school football stadium parking lot. SOOOO much better than last year! Last year, you had to park at the high school and take a bus over. A school bus. So strollers, wagons, etc were very difficult. Plus, it was on the trail at the old park in town so lots of tree roots, unevenness, etc. So last year, we carried Jordan (she was 5 months old) and ended up having to carry Allison a lot too. This year, you parked at the high school and could walk to the stadium. PERFECT!!! We were able to take the stroller which helped out LOTS. Plus, it was MUCH better lit so you could see everything and really take good pictures. I really hope they do it here next year too!

What they do is have local businesses sponsor booths and the kids go from booth to booth Trick or Treating. Plus there's moon jumps, funnel cake, roasted corn, costume contests, etc.

Since we were going to be walking a lot and since Jordan HATED her costume, she just dressed festively (with a bow in her hair so people didn't call her a boy).

One of the booths had a fishing game

There were LOTS of costumed characters. Allison LOVES costume characters!! (Even if she has NO idea what they are....). Here's the Book Worm from Half Price Books. (Jordan - you can see her head - was not so sure of them).

Allison SPRINTED to HEB Buddy. She knows him and loves him "very much".

This was as close as Jordan would get.

One of the local churches does pictures that they print right there for you. This would have been a good one....but, as you can see......

Allison and Nana split Allison's first funnel cake!!

This is AFTER she was eating the clumps of powdered sugar on the plate. (I ate roasted corn!! YUMMMMMM!)

Jordan's favorite game of the night

This was the armadillo from Texas Roadhouse. Again, Allison LOVED him. After we said goodbye, we left. And had to hug Book Worm about 10 more times on our way out.

Overall, a GREAT night. The kids had a blast and got tons of candy. Unfortunately (for mommy) most of it was Dum-Dums. I picked out the handful of good chocolate and then a bunch of Tootsie Rolls. But that was it. LOTS of Dum-Dums. The girls were THRILLED (that's their favorite).

And I'll close with this. Does anyone else find this blowup inappropriate? Or do Brandon, my mom and I have the only dirty minds?

Thank You

Happy Veterans Day!

To those who have served, thank you for your service for protecting
our nation and our way of life.

For the wives, husbands, mothers and fathers, and children of those who have served,
thank you for your service and for protecting our nation and our way
of life.

Jordan's Musical Beginnings - The Recorder

Brandon's mom and dad got Jordan a recorder (remember playing your recorder in elementary school!? Ah, the good old days!). They played it for her but she doesn't quite understand that you're supposed to BLOW into it. This is HER version of how to play the recorder