Baby #2- First Ultrasound

Today was our very first ultrasound for baby Kelly #2! We heard the little heart beat and got to see the little "gummy bear." I just loved it! When we first saw Owen, I just started crying and was so emotional. With this one, I smiled really big and just loved looking at it. Matt mentioned that in the car that I didn't cry this time. I said, 'I know. Poor baby. He/she is already getting treated like the 2nd child!" Haha!

Precious little one!

Here is a pic from this week. Only 9 weeks and I already have this crazy bump! With Owen, I was about 15 weeks before I started showing. I was scared it might be twins..haha! But, today's doctor visit proved that it wasn't. So yay for that! It is funny, with Owen, I couldn't WAIT to wear maternity clothes and just BE pregnant. Now, I'm like nooooooooooooooo!!! I am not ready. But, such is life. So bring on the stretchy, comfy, elastic!

The doctor said baby looks great and she'll see me in 4 weeks! Easy peasy so far! Thankful & blessed. Prayers for a smooth pregnancy and healthy baby are appreciated!

Trick or Treat! (and another baby!)

We had so much fun this Halloween! Owen, being 3, is really fun now at holiday time. He totally "gets" it and understands everything. It is so neat to watch! He trick or treated like a pro. He knew JUST what to do! Ever since this spring when we took him to Medieval Times in Dallas, he loves to pretend to be a knight. So that is what he was for Halloween. 

This is our first holiday season in the new house & new neighborhood. So we decided to host a Halloween party for friends. We trick or treated then just had dinner together. Our neighborhood is PERFECT for trick or treating. It was a lot of fun!

Our cute little boos & ghouls! 

Front row, L toR: Reed(4) Owen(3) Bella(3), Aubrey(16 mo), David(3)

Back row, L toR: Luke(5), Davis(5)

A special treat, not a trick: We are having another baby!!!! We are SO thrilled! We found out on Halloween, so that night, after the party, I changed Owen into a "big brother" shirt and had him go walk out to the living room where the fam was standing around talking. I told him "This is your special shirt, go tell GiGi to read it." He said, "What does it say?" I told him I'd tell him later. 

Once they read his shirt, there were squeals and giggles all around. It was great! We called the other family members who live out of town to tell them. Everyone was so thrilled. Finally, Owen said, "WHAT DOES MY SHIRT SAY?!?!"  Haha! He realized it must have said something exciting by everyone's reactions! So I told him "Mommy has a baby in her tummy. You are going to be a big brother!" He was SOOOO excited and started screaming and running around saying "I'M A BIG BROTHER! I'M A BIG BROTHER!!!"  It made me cry. It was so sweet & special! 

The big brother is so excited!

We are so blessed & thankful and excited about a new addition to our little family! Little one should be here around July 1. Thank goodness for having the neighborhood pool this year! ;)

Weekend in Cowtown!

So Matt's cousin is married to a country music songwriter. How cool is that?! He is the main songwriter and executive producer for Brad Paisley. But he has also written songs for  Darius Rucker, Josh Turner, Lee Ann Womack & Blake Shelton(maybe more?). He's had over 20 songs hit top 20 and several #1 hits. He has even won song writer of the year!

Both Chris & Shanna are EXTREMELY gracious, kind, giving people who I enjoyed getting to know better over the weekend. We are wanting to plan a trip some time to go visit their neck of the woods in Nashville. I'm ready to go now! ;)

So, anyway, they were coming to Ft. Worth and invited the cousins to tag along! We made our way to Ft. Worth & got to see Jerrod Nieman & Wade Bowen. We were able to get on Jerrod's bus and check out all the pre-show stuff and see how he "lives" while on the road. It was a super cool experience and we are so thankful to Chris & Shanna for inviting us! Here are some pics from the trip!

Headed to Ft. Worth....my honey surprised me with new boots! 

I LOVE them and they are exactly what I would've picked out!

Friday night backstage with Jerrod Niemann

 Jerrod put on an AWESOME show.

If you ever get a chance to see him, GO! It was very entertaining!

 Backstage at Billy Bob's

Us with Matt's sweet cousin!

On Saturday, Matt & I slept in late(AWESOME!) 

and then strolled the stockyards. We had Cooper's BBQ for lunch. Yum!

 Saturday night, the rest of the fam arrived! 

And we ate Cooper's again for dinner! ha! We couldn't get enough!! 

Sisters in law!

The sisters in law! Clockwise from bottom...me, Heather, Erin, Melody!

The WHOLE gang! 

BJ & Melody, Doug & Heather, Erin, Matt & I, Shanna & Chris

The girls! We had a blast backstage waiting for Wade Bowen.

Wade Bowen performing.

The brothers! Matt, Doug & BJ

The siblings, minus 1...he's still to young to get in! ;)

Matt, Doug, BJ, Erin

 

Matt & I with Wade Bowen. 

His show was not as "rockin" as Jerrod's, but still great! 

I enjoyed visiting with him...he has 2 little boys and we got to talk golf. It was fun!

I LOVE this man! We had SUCH a great time. 

We missed our Owen boy but had a ton of fun with it just being us. 

We need to do this more often!

Many thanks to Aunt Bekah & Uncle Michael and Nonna & Poppa 

for taking such great care of our little boy so we could get away! 

Start of Fall!

The weather is getting cooler...I had to wear long sleeves Sunday..the smell in the air is a little different...we are entering our favorite time of year...FALL! With Fall comes so many fun activities! Here's an iPhone photo dump to play catch up on my ole bloggy blog. :)

The weather was great for a BIG garage sale at Mom & Dad's new casa. While we were tagging & setting up the night before, the boys found antlers, a flashlight & a toy gun. Therefore, "Deer hunter" game was played all evening. :)

Our Girls Night Out(In) for September was at my house & we had a 

"Saw It, Pinned It, Did It!" Party! (aka- craft night!) 

We all made fall wreaths for our doors. 

FUN FUN FUN and lots of cute crafts( and LAUGHS!) 

came out of that evening!

My Fall Wreath

Pumpkins on candle holders...great idea, Pinterest! :)

Bekah brought us all a cute pair of socks for Girls Night IN! :)

Close up of my wreath. Turned out SO cute! I love it!

My cousin Carrie had her SWEET baby girl, Adilyn Grace, so we headed to Houston to meet her! Road trippin' with my boys! What we do best! 

Just a pic of the back of my camera of Miss Adilyn. PRECIOUS PRECIOUS angel! More pics (and better quality!) can be found at www.facebook.com/mandlphotography

Back in Tyler it is FAIR TIME! We had a blast  together just the 3 of us. Sometimes it is so nice to do things together without a big group. We had corn dogs for dinner and spent under $100! ha! Pretty successful for a night at the fair! Owen loved the little pig races. He is still saying "soooo-weee pig!" 

My sweet lil family!

Shooting game...seriously he would have sat here all night...

Riding the dragon ride! Look at his face! I'm obsessed. LOVE watching my boy have fun! Even "dinky" old fair rides are fun when watching through their eyes. :)

                                  

His Halloween costume came in the mail! :) He loves knights ever since we took him to Medieval Times. There is also a show on Nick Jr. he likes called "Mike the Knight." So this costume is perfect for him this year. 

Mom & Dad got "grandkid corner" set up on the side of their new house. A sitting swing & a horse. 

All they need now is a pool! ;)

Seriously...obsessed with shooting. 

Ready for a pumpkin farm & carving them & leaves & fires & s'mores and wearing layers...bring on more Fall weather! 

GiGi & PaPaw move!

So my parents have moved from Houston to our little East Texas town!! We are so thrilled! I feel sad that they left my older brother, his wife & family behind, but at least we are in 1 town (only 2 miles apart!) when they come to visit. 

On August 12,  Owen & I (and sock monkey) headed down to Houston with Dad to help him get the last load of their things. I'm SO glad I was able to do that. They still had a TON of things left.

The next morning was August 13, Dad's bday! My sweet sis in law, Jen, made pancakes and put a few candles in Dad's. We sang 'Happy Birthday' to the birthday boy then headed over to their old house to get busy working!

After many hours of working, we were ready to head North!

Completely cleaned out!

Goodbye, 19807 Big Timber Drive in Humble! It was a great house for my parents and my Granny,who lived there in a garage apartment with them before she died. Many memories were made here and to me, it is always a bit sad to move on from any house, but also exciting to create new memories in a new place!

Since it was Dad's birthday, I let him pick where we would stop for dinner. 

Bueno in Lufkin it was!

We were DEAD tired that night when we got back, so the next day, we went to Mom & Dad's NEW house to celebrate Dad's birthday, for real! :) Dinner & carrot cake. :) 

Already making memories at the new address! 

Owen turns 3!

August 4, 2012, we celebrated Owen's 3rd birthday! We had our family &  friends over for snacks, cake & swimming! The kids played upstairs in the play room for a little while, then we sang 'Happy Birthday' and cut the cake! Everyone snacked on snacks & cake while Owen opened presents. After that, everyone changed & went swimming. It was a great day!

*Side note: I finally found curtains! I still want to add some sheers in between...but I was glad to have SOMETHING up on this window before Owen's party! :)

Just a swamp themed bday banner I made for the fireplace. 

The backgrounds I used were alligator skin & burlap. :)

The AMAZING cake my mom in law & sis in law made! 

It was just as yummy as it was awesome looking! 

Our big THREE year old!

All the cousins after the bday festivities were over. 

They enjoyed playing bows & arrows and guns outside. 

I just love these little boys!! 

Owen in his "cowboy" clothes that his Nonna got him for his bday. :)