October in Review

When you live in Texas...October has to be one of best times of the year.  The dropping temperatures means no more of those stifling heat days and glorious time outside!  October is also my birthday month AND the best part of the baseball season...especially when your team is in the Series!

But my very favorite thing about THIS October is that it's the beginning of Carson's first holiday season and the bigs are at the age they are enjoying everything!! We made lots of memories this October...

We kicked off the month celebrating our favorite kinder girl with Whataburger lunch at her school and painting pumpkins with sweet friends!

We spent our Saturdays at the ball fields with our bigs!! Baseball with Will was always a full family affair, and soccer was specifically Daddy-Daughter time. We made some new friends and learned lots of valuable lessons.  I'm pretty sure our soccer days are behind us, but I'm betting we have countless more days watching our little ball player!

Our B-dad ventured out to lots of Cowboys games while we cheered them on from home! We definitely loved having him home during the away games to cheer with!

And then it happened...those glorious temps we'd been waiting and hoping for finally arrived!  I got to take Sister to the bus stop in a cool 60* and then that afternoon, the boys and I took our first walk to the neighborhood pond.

We couldn't keep the pond to ourselves, especially when we spotted a NEW spot that was accessible from the next street over...so we took Sister and Daddy as soon as we possibly could!! (The very next evening...)

October absolutely means STEW TIME...Hopkins County Stew to be exact!  I am confident it will be on the menu in heaven.

October was full of family trips to the pond, and hopefully there will be more in these cool-weathered-months to come!

My very favorite day of this month was hands-down our family day. Bryleigh was off school for Columbus Day, so Brad took off work, we loaded the babes up and headed out for a day of adventure!  Our first stop was Fort Worth for the PlayStreet Museum, followed by lunch at MacAlister's, then a trip to the mall for some fun at Barnes & Noble and treats at Paciugo!

We miss our girl fiercely while she's away at school, but we do the best we can to get by! ;). The brothers keep us busy and on our toes, plus there's no shortage of laughter!

 

The highlight for our family every fall is our annual trip to Shadowcreek Pumpkin Farm in Midlothian, and this year we got to share the trip with our community group.  The weather was perfect!!

One of the best things about an October birthday is all the fun ways to celebrate.  One way I never have but always wanted to was at the Arboretum...and that dream came true this year with my parents and my boys. The weather was so beautiful!!

 And we can't forget about lunch!! We took Will for his first Shake Shack experience.  He was a fan!!

Crushing crackers! ;)

I got to spend my 34th birthday with my best girl on her first ever school field trip!  She had a blast at the Green Meadows Petting Farm, and it was such a fun day watching her have fun and explore with her friends.  My sweet husband spoiled me good with surprises when I got home, followed by stew for dinner!! Best. Day.

Started the day with waffles and Will!!

Our HamFam kicked off Halloween Week with a Saturday full of fall fun... a soccer game for Bryleigh (that ended in forfeit!!), our very first Willie Brown Academy Fall Carnival, and our second annual ECC Trunk or Treat. Bryleigh rocked her Ariel costume all day while Will didn't even rock his firemen costume all the way out of our bedroom.  There's always next year, right??  Carson looked super cute in his festive onesie, and he was a champ of all champs all day long!

  

A few days shy of Carson turning six month, we started introducing some foods to him.  Thanks to the bigs issues, we are always super slow and super cautious with this, and it always takes me a little longer than planned because I just get nervous!! But we started practicing with some oatmeal and everyone got involved! His brother and sister are constantly cheering him on end encouraging him.  It's so fun and make me excited to watch as he continues to grow.  Since he was up in his seat for his food, we officially had our first meal as a family of 5! ;)

We do things different the 3rd time around! ;)

It's hard to believe it, but our littlest guy is already SIX months old.  It seems like he just got here, and it seems like he's been here with us forever.  He is the absolute joy of our lives and he has all four of us wrapped around his tiny little fingers!  It is so fun to watch as he grows and learns every day.  We are definitely looking forward to all the ways he will grow over the next six months!

He is doing great developmentally and growth wise, and we are just so thankful! He's rolling over front to back and back to tummy, and he's quite the little mover when he's on his tummy.  He's mastered holding his head up and we've started working on sitting up. Holding up that big ol' head is a lot of work!  He sleeps absolutely awful, but we love him enough that we think we will keep him around! (By awful, I mean we celebrate 4 hour stretches, 2 hour is more the norm, and occasionally I'm up with him every 30 minutes to an hour. We are running on fumes and coffee over here!!) He's also not big on eating, but he's growing right and track, and that is all that matters!