Beach Retreat

Over the weekend we went down to Holden Beach with our small group from church for a weekend retreat! It was AMAZING! Adrienne and Caleb have friends whose parents own a beach house and they let us use the house for the weekend and only pay the cost for the housekeeping/clean-up!! Such a blessing! Every couple from our group was able to come and we even had babysitters for the kids!! (Caleb's parents graciously agreed to come along to watch the kids so the adults could get together by themselves for a while!) We had such a good weekend and the most wonderful food!!! We pretty much stayed full the entire weekend! Thanks to my awesome husband, meals were outstanding!!! The weather was absolutely beautiful the entire weekend - sunny, warm, BEAUTIFUL!!!

The house was INCREDIBLE!

What a group!!!


The boys LOVED playing in the sand!

Up on the Crow's Nest! It was HIGH!!!

I LOVE THE BEACH!

The boys playing football! (Some of them decided they are too old to still be playing!)

Beautiful weather!!

Such a wonderful view!

God's AMAZING sunset!

Ben and Brian!

Brian found a new place to play!

9 Months Old

We can't believe Brian is already 9 Months old!!! October 31st came very quickly, and we know that we'll turn around and it'll be January 31st and we'll be celebrating his 1 year birthday! Brian has been a VERY busy little boy in the past month! He has learned to play his drum, shake his morocco, clap his hands, and wave his hands bye-bye! He has also figured out how to crawl!!! He was walking around our coffee table for the longest time and we were sure he may just go straight to walking, but a week before he turned 9 months old, he figured out how the whole crawling thing worked and he is on the move!!! He is such a strong and determined little boy! You can see it on his face when he's trying to figure out how to pull up on something or get to something he wants. It may take him a minute, but he usually gets it! (Man, are we in TROUBLE!?!) Brian is eating more and more table food, and starting to decide that he would much rather have mommy and daddy's food than his!! He really likes cheese, apples, bananas, macaroni and cheese, dill pickles, and bread! He loves to eat with his hands, unless he's really hungry and then he would much rather us just shovel it in his mouth!! :) We continue to cherish and enjoy every day with are little one!!

My new favorite thing to do - blow bubbles!!!

Great-Mema Velma came to visit!

Great-Papa Leo thinks I'm the best!

I decided to help daddy cook! The best part is licking the spatula!

Yes, I knocked over my entire basket of toys!!

My First Ear Infection! YUCK!!

Brian has officially had his first ear infection!! Mommy and Daddy both got colds last week and Brian ended up with one, too. Unfortunately, his cold also got to his left ear - so, here we go with the "pink stuff"!!! Thankfully, he really seems to like his medicine and takes it like a champ! Drinks it right down! And, as you can see, after less than 2 full days on the medicine Brian was back to his old self!!

Hehehe!! I have learned to stick out my tongue and blow and make lots of fun noises!!!

Fun Day at Hillridge Farm

On Sunday, October 11th, we went to the Hillridge Farm Pumpkin Patch in Youngsville with our friends Jennifer and Brayden! It was so much fun! They have LOTS of things to do and see! Mommy & Brian and Jennifer & Brayden played in the "Corn Box" - it didn't have sand, it had kernels of corn!! Brian wasn't too sure about it at first, but then decided it was fun to kick all the corn around with his feet! Then Daddy took Brian down the BIG slide - that was fun, but daddy said it was really bouncy! There were LOTS of animals to see - goats, chickens, horses, ducks, bunny rabbits, fish, and even a Llama!!! Brayden & Brian liked to watch the train, too! But everyone's favorite part was the hayride and the pumpkin patch! Brian LOVED playing with all the pumpkins!!!

The Corn Box!!! What's this stuff??

WHEEEEEEE!!! Down the slide with Daddy!

The Llama!


We're goin' on a Hayride!!

My Pumpkins!!!

8 Months Old

Another month old and learning so many things every day!!! Brian loves to be on his feet and our coffee table is definitely his favorite place to be! Every day he gets better and better and cruising back and forth along the side of the table! Even though he will get up on his knees and scoot some, something tells me he's not going to be much of a crawler! I think we're going to go straight to walking with this little guy!!

This month he has just exploded with new things he has learned to do! Brian loves to play "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!" He doesn't make much sound when he claps, but that's really okay with mommy!! He has learned to wave and loves to wave bye-bye to everyone! He has also started putting some consenant sounds in front of his vowels, so we've heard, "ba-ba" "ma-ma" and "da-da"!! We did hear ma-ma before da-da, but his first official word was "uh-oh"!!

We still don't have any teeth yet, but Brian LOVES to eat his puffs, apple slices, and whole dill pickles!!! He'll gum almost anything we give him! His gag reflex has gotten so much better in the last month!! YEA!

We can't wait to see what month 9 holds in store!!!

My First Pickle!!

Mommy & Daddy had to lower my mattress when I learned how to pull up and stand in my bed!

The Coffee Table!


I found the laundry basket! So fun!!

Watchin' Sunday Football!!!