Halloween Pictures - Finally

We went to College Station for Halloween this year since there was a football game on Halloween. Mama J and Papa J went trick-or-treating with us. We got the kids dressed up after the boys came home from the game and headed out. Our first stop was our cousin's house.

Cindy had the perfect reaction when she opened the door! She was excited that they had trick-or-treaters!


Lauren and Jackson heading out around Mama J and Papa J's neighborhood. It had been a couple of years since I had been in their neighborhood for Halloween. It is CRAZY! Truckloads of people come to trick-or-treat there. We never have figured out why. With that many people stopping at your house, you don't pass out much candy!


Lauren ended up going to sleep for the first part of trick-or-treating. Jackson had a blast though. He finally decided to dress up as a fireman. This is actually his costume from last year. He changed his mind at the last minute last year and ended up being a train conductor. The costume was used this year at least!

9 Months

Lauren is officially 9 months old. It is hard to believe that she is already 9 months old. Time flies. She is such a perfect fit in our family -- I know that sounds strange. I don't know how to describe it, but having her in our life just feels right. We are enjoying every moment with her.

Lauren and Jackson get along so well. I know that will change at one point in the future, but I am enjoying it right now. Jackson has been such a wonderful big brother. He adores his baby sister, and she adores him. When Jackson walks in the room, Lauren gets the biggest grin on her face. Lauren means a lot to Jackson as well. Yesterday, we decided at the last minute to switch which car we were going to ride in from my small car to Thomas' Explorer. Jackson started crying. We finally got him to tell us what was wrong. He wanted to ride in the smaller car so that he could reach and hold Lauren's hand. In Daddy's car, he can't reach Lauren. I thought that was pretty sweet.

To catch you up to speed on Lauren, here are some things about her:
* She LOVES her doll and stuffed animals. She crawls straight to them and hugs them. She will pat them and take them with her where ever she goes.
* Yes, she is finally crawling! She doesn't really like her knees to be on the ground. She crawls with one knee up and one down. Sometimes both knees will be down, and sometimes both are off the ground.
* Two days after she started crawling, she started pulling up.
* Five days later, she started cruising. The girl loves to be on the move!
* When she likes something, she makes a gasping sound and smiles. If she really likes it, she moves her feet too!
* Lauren loves taking baths. She doesn't mind water being poured all over her face (she is not like her brother or mama for that matter in this case)! She loves to splash her feet.
* She is brave. Lauren loves to be hung upside down and makes you do it over and over again!
* She can play pat-a-cake. She claps her hands and rolls them. She will make you say it over and over again, but will only do it if it is her idea. If you try to get her to perform, she won't!
* She can say four words: baby, mama, dada and hi.
* She waves hi and says, "hi". This started this Saturday. Lauren and I were in line at the mall food court. She was flirting with the people behind me. I finally turned to really look at them and her, and I noticed that she was waving! She was saying, "hi" at the same time! The people kept saying, "she's saying hi!" She has done this several times since.
* She loves shoes. The first time we put them on her feet, she gasped (that means she likes something), and kept waving her foot. Every time we put shoes on her feet, she gasps and smiles!
* She gives lots and lots of kisses. Sometimes she is very generous with them. If she doesn't want to give you a kiss though, she won't! AND she doesn't give them to everyone. If you get a Lauren kiss, she really loves you!
* Lauren loves to make different sounds. She has played around with several forms of raspberry type sounds. At first, it was with her tongue out, then it was with her upper lip over her bottom lip, now it is with both lips pierced together.
* Like Jackson, she has learned how to click her tongue from Papa J. When she sees him, she clicks her tongue! (I think that is what they should call him -- only how would you spell that name?)
* Right now she is a Mama's girl. When I walk in the room, she just lights up. The other night, I told myself that I need to remember that feeling of seeing her light up when she sees me because that won't always be the case.

That is just a little about my baby girl. She is a joy to my life. I can't wait to continue to see her grow and develop in the days, months and years to come!

Soccer, Uncle, and Cool Toys

In October, Jackson had soccer pictures.

Here's Jackson with our neighbors down the street, Jack and Macy.

Jackson's pose for his picture.

Jackson and Jack

The Team - Shooting Stars

Kaci and Uncle Jonathan came to the game. Lauren loved sitting in Kaci's lap!

During half time, Jackson and Jack ran on the field and started playing together. It was fun watching them!

Uncle Jonathan and Lauren

Jackson loved having Uncle Jonathan and Kaci at his game. He scored 3 goals! Every time he scored, he ran by us and grinned. He loved showing off! It was a fun game!

After the game, Jackson and Uncle Jonathan had fun kicking the ball back and forth.

Uncle Jonathan, Kaci and the kids.

After the game, we went out to eat. Uncle Jonathan told us that he and Kaci had been at Target and bought presents for the kids. I think Uncle Jonathan gets the award for the coolest present EVER! Look what he got for Jackson. . .

Spike! Spike is a remote control dinosaur. It is not just ANY remote control dinosaur. It is the coolest thing! It is so realistic!

Spike

Jackson loves Spike!

We all had fun looking at Spike.

Uncle Jonathan and Kaci also gave Lauren an adorable outfit and a box of diapers. Lauren is going to look adorable in the outfit, and we know diapers are much appreciated!

We were so glad that they joined us for the morning!

Mama J and Papa J Visits

Mama J and Papa J came to visit at the end of October so that Thomas and I could have a garage sale. We had our sale with three other neighbors. There is a group of four families that all have kids the same age. We have had a lot of fun getting together and doing stuff together. We get together with our neighbors next door every Tuesday night for dinner. We are both working moms, and this has been a nice tradition to take turns who fixes dinner.

Jackson loves his Mama J!

Lauren and Papa J

Daddy cuddling a sleeping beauty.

Our garage sale was a success! It is sad that after the sale, I walked back into the house and saw lots of stuff that we should have included. Next time. . .

Tailgating

Fall means Aggie Football! Aggie Football means tailgating! We love to go up before the game and tailgate.

Papa J with Lauren

Jackson is ready to go to the game.

Daddy and Jackson head to the game.

Lauren is such a happy baby.

And it begins. . .

This summer, our neighbors down the street that have a 3 1/2 year old son told us that they were signing him up for soccer. They asked us if we wanted to sign Jackson up too. My first thought was that Jackson was too young. I thought we would wait until he was in Kindergarten before signing him up for sports. When I told Thomas my thoughts, he asked me, "At what age are you going to sign Lauren up for dance?" Yikes! He just had to hit below the belt!! He did have a point. I'm sure I will be signing Lauren up for dance at 3, so I guess Jackson is old enough to do something he is interested in too. So, Soccer Tots, here we come!! Soccer Tots is a really neat program for 3 year olds. There are only 8 players on a team. Four play at a time. The coach is on the field, and the fields and goals are a whole lot smaller than the regular soccer field. The goal of the program is to teach kids the very basics. There aren't even goalies.

Jackson was SO excited to start soccer. He was especially pumped to get his "soccer stuff"! With all of the rain, he has had quite a few practices and games canceled. Oh well.

Jackson at his first practice. He LOVED IT!


Kick it in the goal!


Jackson lined up to get his ball in the goal.

Then it was game time. Jackson was so excited to get to play soccer. I was in charge of the video camera, so we didn't get any pictures during the game.

Here's warm up. Then the game started. Jackson went after the ball immediatly! In a matter of a few minutes, Jackson had scored TWO goals!! Thomas and I were beside ourselves on the side line! We were shocked at how fast he went after the ball! I mean, when you have Savell and Larriviere genes, let's face it. . . we weren't expecting much athletic ability! Jackson was having a ball out there! Everytime the ball was in play, Jackson had it. It was so much fun to watch!

Then it was the end of the first quarter. The coach had to trade players. Jackson came to the sideline and was so excited about the two goals he had scored. He sat down in my chair. And that is where he stayed. . .

He wouldn't go out there for anything! He kept telling us he scored two goals. That's all he wanted to score. Everyone kept begging him to go back on the field because several of his teammates didn't want to play. Jackson was just fine sitting in my chair though!

That's Jackson. When he makes his mind up to something. He follows through!!

I do have to say that he now plays through the entire game (40 minutes). Some games he kind of hangs back, and some of them he is the soccer stud scoring goal after goal and taking the ball away! Whatever he chooses to do, that is fine. I'm just glad that he is learning a sport and participating.

Oh, I do have to share one of my favorite quotes that my neighbor down the street told her son when he became upset when one of the other players took the ball from him:

"This is not a game of sharing. . . now go get that ball!!"