Blake ~ 3 months

Our little man is already 3 months old! It seems like time has went by so fast but, on the other hand, it seems like he's been a part of our family forever. He is the perfect baby. Sure, at times he'll get fussy (usually a belly ache) or he'll just want to be held for awhile. For the most part, though, he is content sitting back and watching everything that is going on. And there is usually a lot going on. :) He's the most smiley baby EVER! I love it. He just melts my heart every time he smiles. He's really starting to coo a lot. We have our own little conversations.

Blake is a wonderful sleeper. He'll usually nap a few times during the day.....mostly while we're out running errands. That makes things a little easier on me. Unfortunately, I don't have him on a good schedule. I need to do that after the holidays are over. Night time is pretty set though. The girls go down between 7-7:30 and Blake is getting ready for bed by 8. I'll wake him between 10 and 11 for a diaper change and a quick feeding and then he'll be out until 5 or 6 in the morning.

He's a very efficient eater. He's done within 20 minutes! He sure is gaining weight though. Our little tank is weighing in at 13 lbs now. He's officially out of his 0-3 month clothes!

Some nicknames we've given him so far: Blakey, Blaken, Buddy, Bubba, Blake the Tank, Blakers. I'm not even sure I really like any of those but that's what comes out when we're talking to him.

That's him in a nutshell.

Fall Family Fun

We were seeking some fall colors and decided we'd head to Lost Maples State Park. After more research we decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to go. You see, this park, is a HUGE attraction this time of year because native Texans don't get to see the fall colors that often. Well, since the park is at it's peak colors right now you know it's going to be packed and I read if you don't get there early you won't be able to get in the park because they only allow so many cars in at a time. It's an hour away and we weren't up for taking that chance.

So, our plans changed. Last year we went to this cool little park called the Cibolo Nature Center. We still need to make our Christmas cards soooooooo we all showered and coordinated our clothes and then got in the car and headed to the park for our very own fall family fun photo shoot.
Here's a preview (our faves won't be shown just yet!)

Thanksgivng Break

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Not very traditional, but we made the best of it while being away from family. We spent the morning putting up the Christmas tree and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then we went to SEA WORLD for the day!!! Way more crowded than what we had anticipated and because of that we didn't stay as long as originally planned. Our intentions were to stay while it was dark and see all of the lights and visit Santa but we were done with the crowds well before that.

Derek tried so hard to get Allie to go on this with him. It's the one "adult" ride that she's tall enough for. I don't blame her for not going though. It was in the upper 70's but everyone else thought that was too cold for water rides here in Texas. There were no lines so Derek was able to go over and over again without waiting.

Avery wasn't able to ride the rollercoaster when we were there a couple weeks ago because she was too short. She was turned away again this time, but we went back later and snuck her through a few times by having her walk on her tip toes. She LOVED it! It's hard to see in the picture but she's smiling and has her hands up!

 We did get to have somewhat of a Thanksgiving meal. We warmed up a ham when we got home and fixed some corn and fried potatoes to go along with it. We were all starving and ate very well!
The girls and I even made a couple of pies on Wednesday so we'd have some dessert!

My first ever homemade (from scratch) apple pie!

While we were eating Allie had each one of us say what we were thankful for.......Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and family were the most said.

Allie's Thanksgiving decor

Now on to the rest of our week........
Here in Texas, at least for the school district Allie is in, we get the whole week of Thanksgiving off. I thought it was funny when Allie came home from school on Friday excitedly saying, "We have 9 whole days off of school!" That's not like her. She would love to go to school every day if she could. I think her teacher was ready for a break and got the class excited about it too!

We made the most of the break and partook in lots of fun activities.

MINITOWN

NEW BRAUNFELS/GRUENE/SAN MARCOS
Derek was able to take Tuesday off of work so we spent the entire day out and about. First stop was the Mckenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels.

Okay, so he may not have physically been at work.....but really he's always working. 

Blake thought hanging out in the tee-pee with his sisters was very cool!

Love you to the moon and back

Then we went to the outlet malls in San Marcos. I've been twice before. They've both been super quick trips. We were there a lot longer this time and didn't even get through half of it! It's, seriously, one of the biggest outlets I've ever seen!
Then we stopped for dinner at the Gristmill Inn in Gruene. I'm so glad I looked up a good place to eat before we left on our outing. This place was AMAZING! The best ribs and gruene beans I've ever had!! The atmosphere and views were really nice too.......and we avoided rush hour traffic by stopping here. Perfect ending to a great day.

We even made a trip to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa. Both girls were super excited this year. Allie kept practicing what she was going to tell him that she wanted. She wanted to say a Fijit Friend but was having a hard time saying it so she switched to My Walking Dog. Avery asked for the same thing. No crying kids this year!

And, yes, Blake was on all of our outings too. He is cross-eyed in most of his pictures or else doing this:

His new thing

End of the Soccer Season

Last week Allie was thrilled to have Mony, Ashley and Conner at her soccer game. She even scored another GOAL!!!

perfect form

Yesterday was her last game of the season.........

I think we have a soccer star on our hands!!

VIDEO - Who Are We? MIGHTY STARFISH!!!

Little Momma

Guess what I caught Avery doing yesterday? Take a look and see if you can figure it out.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I've seen her do it. I'm actually surprised she hadn't done this sooner.

Watch out! Poppin' a wheelie w/ her baby.

Now a quick pic of my baby boy.

River Walk

We went on the boat ride....

Dinner @ Casa Rio. We had to sit at separate tables but we were right along the water.

The kids had an incentive to be good during dinner.......

aie, aie, ai, in the middle of the night

Mony, Ashley & Conner Visit!

{ FYI - I will be adding several pictures to these posts over the next couple of days}

We went to Story Time at the library......except there was no Story Time, so we created our own.

Blakey and Mony talking to one another

Puzzle Time

Burning off some of that energy

Snack time