Chicago and Halloween (Better late than never!)

The weekend before Halloween, we flew up to Chicago to see Nick's family.  His grandmother has a place in this community called Woodsmoke, and they do all kinds of fall/Halloween things.  It was great for Mason to get to be a part of what Nick did as a kid, and to see Nick's family that we don't see very often!

Mason enjoyed playing in the leaves!  Since Chicago has a real fall, there were leaves everywhere!  Nick made a small pile for Mason to play in, and then taught him to throw them in the air...it was so cute!

My Aladdin and Abu before we started Trick or Treating!

Mason was so cute waving hi and bye like he was in a parade!

Nick's mom made all of our costumes.  The boys' turned out great; however, don't judge mine.  It was in the 40's so I had to wear the thermal underneath eventhough it looks ridiculous.

He was the cutest little monkey!  And, yes, his costume is starting to come off, but considering he wore it for a good 2 hours and smiled for pictures, I was one happy mama!

Plus, how cute is this little town?  We had a great trip!

Never Long Enough

The weekends are never long enough, especially when it comes to spending time with my two boys!  We had a jam-packed weekend, but it was such a blast.  Saturday we took Mason to the Children's Museum of Houston.  Nick had bought a two for one Groupon, and then when we got there the guy at the register said he another one leftover, so all three of us went for less than $10, score!

My handsome construction worker!

Doing a little grocery shopping.

He loved picking things to put in his basket!  He was so mad when we made him leave.

Just like his momma, he put like 5 cucumbers in his basket!

I was trying to show him the cow's utters...

but he decided to just crawl under the cow instead!

The Tot Spot was amazing at the museum.  Mason loved that he had free reign to go wherever and touch anything he wanted.

Legos with Daddy!

After the museum, we headed over to Herman Park for a picnic.  The weather was gorgeous, and I love our little family of three!

How can you not love that face!?

My boys!

First push pop, he wasn't too impressed!  He was done after about 3 licks that we forced him to take.

We had the perfect day!  Once we got home, we all took a nap and then headed to the Dynamo game.  The couple that sits next to us at the games have a little boy 3 months younger than Mason, and they love to stare at each other, share toys, and play.  This game was the cutest because they were giving high fives to one another and talking away.  I wish I had gotten pictures, but there was too much going on.

Sunday we went to church with my parents, hung out at their house, and then had a great evening at home! I am so excited that the weather is getting cooler here, and we will be doing all sorts of fun fall activities.  October is going to be such a busy month for us with Scarecrow Festival, Dynamo games, and Chicago!  I love fall!

North Vs. South

I always knew that there some differences when it came to living in the north or south of the U.S.A.  Nick being originally from the north has given me some insight into these differences.  There are the ones that everyone knows...y'all vs. you's guys, pronunciations, etc.  However, the latest difference that I just learned left me shocked and appalled!  They don't have chicken fried steak!!!  I never in my life knew that chicken fried steak was more of a southern thing or Texas thing.  I mean who doesn't love chicken fried steak?!  This really makes me sad for northerners.

Another big difference that I learned when Nick and I got first together, that I find crazy, is that Dairy Queens in the north only have ice-cream and are only open in the summer.  They don't have the yummy steak finger baskets, burgers, hot dogs, etc.  They only have the ice-cream options, and it is a huge deal when they open up after being closed all winter.  They close in October and don't open again until like April, so weird!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...

I am super pumped because our Christmas plans are already booked and are completely perfect!  My family does our whole Christmas shindig on Christmas Eve, and we will be here to partake in all of it.  Then, we will fly out Christmas Day to Chicago to go to Nick's grandparents, meet up with his parents, and see his family for their Christmas festivities!  I love getting to see everyone for the holidays, and this year we have an added bonus...road trip to North Carolina with Nick's parents after Chicago family time.  Nick's parents currently live in North Carolina and decided it would be fun to take the week after Christmas as a time to road trip up there from Chicago, do some touristy things there, and get to finally see the house they just recently bought.  We will fly home from North Carolina after a week of Christmas, family fun, road tripping, and a mini vacation.

Nick and I are also very fortunate to be planning a Spring Break trip too.  His parents have a time share in Hawaii that we may use in Kauai for the week to relax and spend more time with his parents.  However, if the hotel is already booked for that week then Nick and I are planning to go to London!  I am secretly way more excited about London and hoping it can be a go.  We also had to stop ourselves yesterday and remember how truly blessed we are to even be having the conversation of, "well, if we can't go to Hawaii then lets go to London".  Our lives have been remarkably blessed time and time again, and we had to stop and remind ourselves of this fact.  So, here's to a wonderful God, a wonderful Christmas, and a potentially wonderful Spring Break!

Easter in Chicago!

Nick and I spent Easter in Chicago this year.  We were there for three days, and now I have cold; hence, the lack of a new post!  So, without further ado, here is our fabulous Easter weekend...

Day One:

We got to Chicago bright and early Friday morning, headed straight to Grandma Sally's and then to Navy Pier.  The weather was amazing, and we had a great time.  After the pier we headed to Lincoln Park Zoo.

Once we got the Grandparent's house, Grandpa set me up to do some egg dying!

Day Two:

Saturday I was told that I had to make a lamb cake...  Apparently lambs are all the rage when it comes to Easter up North.  I had never heard of or seen a lamb cake until this weekend (they were EVERYWHERE).  So, Grandma informs me that I am in charge of making a lamb cake.  Here is my just baked lamb...

Then there is my beautifully decorated lamb cake!  Very fun Easter tradition!

Then we had the big family Easter dinner.  It was exciting because everyone showed up, all nine of the children with spouses, and all of the grandchildren except three.  It was good to have everyone together!

Day Three:

Sunday, Nick's parents decided to wake us up super early to do our very own Easter Egg hunt.  We had a blast, had an egg stolen by a squirrel, and unfortunately I have no pictures of the event...  Afterward, we went to church and then just hung out with Grandparents all day.  It was an amazing weekend, and we enjoyed every minute of it, except the part where our flight home was delayed.  All in all it was a fabulous Easter!