Dallas Arboretum Pumpkin Festival

On Saturday morning we headed to the Dallas Arboretum for the morning. They were having the annual Pumpkin Festival and it was so awesome! :) They had the best picture spots and Braden just LOVED it! He thought it was so neat and he loved exploring. :) We were able to get a lot of fun pictures of our little man out there. :)

Look at the flower pumpkins. :)
And there were so many cool pumpkin houses. :) Trying out the first pumpkins that we saw...just to see what B thought. ;) These are bigger than ME! :)Riley liked them too. :)
Koshkin family photo....... :)Bugbee family photo...Papa Bugs with his grandkids......

Mama Cox with her grandbabies........Still trying to figure out this pumpkin patch... Ok...I LIKE IT! :)

I like to hang out with Dad in the pumpkins! :)Hi MOM! :)

Go Miss Riley....

Yep, I am still having so much fun! I love holding the pumpkins! :)

Hey guys....look at these! They are so different! :) Dad and I had so much fun walking around the Arboretum! I really LOVE my Dad! :) He is just the coolest! :) Riley hanging out by the sprinklers..... Mom is looking at us through the sprinklers....Hi again! :) I am a good waver. :)More sprinkler fun..... Another Koshkin family moment... :)
Checking out the bridge and the pond... Feeding the fish is fun....

Mama Cox and Jay....

Some cousin time.....Linda, Katie, and Chris. :) And some father/kiddo time.....Papa Bugs with his two oldest. :)

I have to take a break for cheerios!! :)Thanks for all the fun everyone!! We had such a great time! :)

2nd Trimester-HOORAY!!

First of all, I am STOKED to have started the 2nd trimester of this pregnancy!! I love this season b.c I get all kinds of crazy energy back, and I want to do things like make sure my house is in top notch shape, purge everything, and get the nursery all ready!! :) HA! :) But during this time I actually enjoy it...which is the funniest part of all to me. :)

Once we made our big announcement last week about the pregnancy, we got so many fun emails, texts, phone calls, Facebook posts, etc. You guys are so awesome! Thank you for being such good friends and for supporting us in another fun journey for Baby #2! :) You made us feel very special and like we could do this! :)

Within all of those responses that we got from folks, we also got a lot of fun questions too. :) I thought it might be good to answer them right here. :) Just in case anyone reading had the same questions too. HA! :)

1) Q: When did you guys find out you were having another baby? A: Wednesday, July 28th :) And we announced to the world on Sept 29th when I was into my 13th week.

2) Q: Did you have any inclination that you were pregnant? A: Yes, b.c my sense of smell was insane! :) I could smell dirty diapers a mile away. Gross. :) And I started having crazy dreams before I took the pregnancy test.

3) Q: How far apart will your kiddos be? A: 19 months. :)

4) Q: Did you plan to have them that close together (real question you wanted to ask-"are you really that crazy?!!")? A: Yes, b.c I am 35 (refer to a previous post-ha!), and b.c we thought it would be super fun to have them close togther. :) I have heard from MANY of you that it is hard work but a blast!!

5) Q: Do you think it is going to be hard? A: Um, yes!! But we think it will be super fun too. :) We know that our life will probably be put on hold for a little while and we are prepared for that.

6) Q: How do you think Braden will be as a big brother? A: I think he will do great b.c he is awesome with other kids and he loves being around them. So I think he will enjoy having a playmate in his own house. And he is pretty fascinated with brand new babies in general. :)

7) Q: Are you finding out what you are having? A: Yes, for sure! :) Sometime in the beginning of November. We will keep you posted on whether it is pink or blue.

8) Q: Do you have any idea what you are having? A: Nope.....but the only dreams that I have had so far have been about baby girls. I have NO idea if that means anything at all...but I never had dreams with Braden.

9) Q: Do you have a preference? A: More than anything we want a healthy baby!! :) I think it would be blast for Braden to have a brother that is 19 months younger than him. I think they would be best buds. Plus we have everything for a boy already and TONS of clothes. :) So we would be all set. At the same time, I think it would be super fun to have a girl that I could dress up! :) HA! Either way we will be thrilled about a new addition. :)

10) Q: Are you going to have a 2nd nursery? A: Yes, and I cannot wait to decorate it! :)

11) Q: Have you been sick? A: Yes. I was never sick with Braden...not really a day. I was tired during the first trimester but that was about all. It was a super easy pregnancy and very easy labor/delivery...which I am praying for again! :) But this time around the pregnancy has been different for sure. I was sick off and on from weeks 6-12...and that stunk big time!! I was nauseous, really tired, headaches, flu like symptoms, hated everything that anyone put in front of me to eat, had a hard time looking at Braden's food or making it, etc. Plus I got 2 stomach viruses during that time (Chris had them too). Not fun! :) But right before week 12 started, all of that just stopped. :) I was in heaven then. :)

12) Q: What has been one of the most fun things for you so far? A: I think one of the super fun things about this pregnancy is that I get to be preggie with my best friend of 22 years, Jenn (she is due in Feb), and my sister in law Jennifer (she is due in December)!! :) I think that is quite cool...and I love that our kiddos will grow up being so close in age. :)

13) Q: Will you have anymore or are you done at two? A: Oh gosh..I really don't know. I don't think you can ask a pregnant lady that question just yet. :) That has to come after the labor and delivery. I would be content with two but think life with three would be fun too. Let me make it through this one first. :)

I think those were the top questions that we got over the past week. :) You guys are fun with the questions that you ask. :) Hopefully this cleared everything up..hee hee! :)

Once we found out in July, we decided to tell our families at Braden's birthday party weekend in the end of August...so we were about 8 weeks along. We wanted to do it then b.c everyone was in town. :) So once everyone was here on Saturday afternoon (before Braden's party), we put him in his Big Brother shirt and brought him downstairs. We just waited for everyone to notice. :)

There was a lot of squealing....which ended up scaring the tar out of him...and he just bawled!! LOL! :) Poor thing. :) It was fun to be able to tell everyone at the same time. We just wish Chris's brother could have joined us...but he was in Georgia. We called him to be sure he was in the loop with the rest of the fam!

Here were a couple of pics from that announcement to the family. This picture is kind of when everyone is starting to notice the shirt but is looking at one another in a really awkward way like "Did YOU read what I just read?" :) And "Oh look at his cute shirt!! WAIT...WHAT?" :) The squealing which then was followed by the crying. :( A excited family... A kiss for Aunt Katie to celebrate! :)Mimi-I am going to be a big brother! :)

Some time with Aunt Jen to share the excitement. :)And some good time with Cousin Lainey to talk over what being a big brother and big sister really means. :) Are we sure we want to do this? :)Uncle Cory...wake up!! I need to celebrate with you! :) YAY!!! Fun times ahead and many more stories I am sure!! :) Happy 2nd trimester! We love you! :)

Bringing Some Tennessee To Texas....

Our sweet friends Mandy and Susanna came to play in Austin this past weekend. FUN!! :) They were my good buddies when I lived up in Nashville about 8 years ago and I miss them a lot!! It was great to have them in town for a few days...and I loved being able to be an Austin tourist with them and just catch up. :) Ladies-thank you so much for coming...we had a BLAST! :)

We ate up some good Mexican food and took them to a few different places. We also did a little shopping at the Round Rock outlets and at The Domain. We ate some yummy chocolate chip cookies (our tradition)...and we talked about life and all of things that have happened over the last few year. :)

Here is a pic of the hotties at Hula Hut. Susanna was a huge fan of the salsa...so I think she might really be a Texan deep down. :) Braden loved spending time with them at Hula Hut. :) We all love Hula Hut! :)

Mandy and Susy...come back soon! We miss you already, and Braden wants to hang out some more! :) Big hugs to both of you! :)

Gymboree Is For Me...

We decided to sign Braden up for Gymboree for the month of October b.c he loves that kind of stuff. :) He has a great time and loves giving all of the new things a try in the gym.

He had a fun time on Saturday and completely wore himself out. He slept like crazy when we got home...and he was still down for the count after 2 hours. :)

Some pics of the little man exploring the gym... :)

Here I go....I am a climber.
Daddy is so funny!I LOVE slides! :) Wish I had one in my backyard! :) Dad? :)This bridge is pretty fun....and it has soundmakers on it. I am into staring at new things today. :)Any place that has balls to play with is the place for me!

So much to go and see...... This is my favorite thing in the gym!! I kept coming back over to it so many times.Tubes!!

I am not 100% sure about going through this tunnel just yet...even though I see Daddy on the other side! :)This was the most fun part of the class! I loved pushing the air log!! So awesome! BUBBLES!! :)

I am super excited right here...can you tell? :)

Looking forward to more Gymboree fun for the rest of the month! :)

Walking Practice.. :)

I think we discussed in a past post that Braden is 13 months old and still not really caring a ton about walking. Well with me being 14 weeks pregnant and him weighing about 25-26 lbs, something has to give. :) Since Braden can walk pretty darn well by simply holding just one of our hands/fingers...we decided that he might just be being a little bit lazy on the walking front. :) So we decided to go ahead and try a new strategy in order to make sure he understands how much fun walking can be. :)

As of the past few days we just started having him walk everywhere instead of carrying him. For example, he walks to the car in the mornings to go to school. He walks from the parking lot of his school and all the way into the classroom. He does the same thing at the end of the day and so on. And he actually really enjoys it!! :) He smiles and gets all excited like he is a big boy. And he is so cute walking around. :) This morning he even reached out for my hand when he wanted to go somewhere. Now we are moving in the right direction.

The only issue left is that when you let go of his hand he either just stands there or he sits down. :) He does not want to walk unless he can hold that one hand. While it is stinkin cute, I KNOW that he can do it! Today I caught him when he thought I was not looking...and he took about 4 steps on his own from a door to a bench. I saw that Mister! :) He is such a smartie. :)

So the goal is to have him walking on his own (no hands) by Halloween, so he can walk around in his costume. :) Let's see if he can do it! Come on Braden! :)

Another Birthday Boy!

Mr Jon turned ONE and he had his birthday party on Saturday. :) He was having a great time at his party and running all over the place. :) He had a construction party and his family did a great job with the cakes, cupcakes, and the fun favors for the kids. :)

I love that all of Braden's little friends are turning one right after one another. So fun. :) Seems like these kids will all be very well versed in bday parties before the year is out! HA! :)

Here are some pics of the event... :)

Jon was showing off his birthday shirt.... :) Here are the cute cupcakes...all set up like a construction zone. :) Cookie cake...mmmmmmmmm. :) And the cupcakes up close with the little tools and hard hats on them. :) Here was the first attempt at the pic of the kids. You do not have to look too closely to tell which child is once again not cooperating. You guessed it...MINE! :) He decided that instead of sitting up for the picture that he would just lay down on his stomach on the floor. Of course that makes sense. :) And yet another attempt...this time with their hard hats. And here we have another example of Braden deciding to do his own thing. He just decided that since all of the kids were wearing their hard hats then he would not. Oh we have quite the rebel on our hands these days. :)Braden is seriously checking something out. Joshua looking cute in his hat. :) What a big smile!Braden decided he would put his hat on later in the party...and he thought it was so funny to completely hide under it. :)Jon was getting all ready for his birthday cake debut. He had his big bib on in case he got super messy.Getting down with the cake....Loving it!Sweet mama and son.. :)
Some folks just hanging out having a good time...Tommy and Sarah were having fun watching their nephew turn ONE. :)Braden seriously would not get out of Jon's new chair the entire party. He has the same one at home but for whatever reason he felt like he had to sit in this one the whole time. The poor birthday boy could not even sit in his own birthday present. So we had to have a chat with our little man about how he needed to let Jon sit in his chair for awhile. :)The Carmichael Fam...Chris was having a good time.... :)Happy Birthday Jon!! We hope you had a fabulous day!!