HALLOWEEN

Well this year for Halloween, I was going to be the "good" mom and make sure we got pumpkins to carve (we didn't last year). But Halloween just kinda snuck up on me and it was quickly Halloween day and no pumpkins were carved... Blah! So instead I got out the markers and let Brianna have at it. To be honest I really think she had a lot more fun doing this than she would have if we'd ended up carving them. She loved drawing on them and even ended up drawing on them every day for about a week.

Creating her masterpiece.

She was SO happy!

She wouldn't even let us save the big one to carve later - she was having so much fun.

Our little monster. (Thanks Kristy for the cute outfit!)

Giving his Halloween "Growl"

Oh I LOVE these cheeks!!!

We decided to go to the zoo this year to go trick-or-treating. I thought it sounded like fun and Brianna was super excited to go get candy AND see the animals. Well... it was a total bust. I didn't realize that they actually put all the animals away before they let the trick-or-treaters in. DUMB! I mean what's the big deal about having trick-or-treating at the zoo if you're not going to let the kids see the animals???

Posing with dad before we headed into the zoo.

Trying to get a picture of Brianna and her horse Pinto.

She's so silly.

Here's what Ryan did the whole time trick-or-treating.

This random boy wanted to be in the picture. (And yes, it's a boy - I totally called him a girl and his mom got mad. Um hello - he had this long, beautiful ponytail - How was I supposed to know?)

There were different Halloween scenes set up around the zoo that were sponsored by the companies that handed out the candy.

She wanted to be eaten by the shark.

I think Ryan got so scared he had to cover his eyes. ;)

In the spooky smoke of the dragon.

She was so concerned about this spider and wanted to set him free.

She got a little scared of the moving trees.

Checking out the fairy's forest.

Take a bite, my dearie.

She was so over trick-or-treating at this point. She was tired and didn't want to walk anymore and was complaining that she was hungry (someone wouldn't eat her dinner before we left the house). She even started telling the people that were handing out candy that she didn't want any, that she just wanted to go home.

We ended up stopping at McDonald's on the way home and got her a Happy Meal. And she tells me to turn around and says, "Look mom, I'm happy now!". Sadly I think this was her favorite part of the night! LOL!!!

SISTER LOVE!

Brianna is the best big sister. I was really worried about what she would do when we brought Ryan home - I mean she loves babies, but she doesn't really love mom with other children. I was really nervous that she would be jealous, but so far she has been great! You can tell she doesn't get quite as much attention, (she'll want to sit right next to me when I feed Ryan, she asks to cuddle with me more, or she's really loud when she's playing, and she's been more on the whiny side lately) - but she's never been mean or mad at Ryan. She's such a big helper too - which mom is loving. She loves to hold her baby, give him a TON of kisses, and is always concerned when he's crying (which she's getting a lot better at tuning out... he cries a lot :(). There was even one morning Ryan fell asleep so I put him in his crib and went to take a shower. About the time I put the shampoo in my hair he started to cry. I heard Brianna run by the bathroom saying that she'd help and take care of him. She tried to give him his binkie, but he just kept spitting it out and the crying kept getting louder and louder. As I was hurrying and getting out of the shower she comes into the bathroom crying herself. I ask her what's wrong and she sniffles, I just can't get Ryan to stop crying. :) She's too sweet!

First time holding Ryan.

Smoochin on him.

She kept telling my mom that you had to "pat" him.

She loves to hold him and asks me ALL the time.

This is her favorite, when I leave him sitting on the couch and she can crawl up next to him and "play" with him.

More kisses!

I've had to correct her a couple of times because she likes to "make-out" with him. LOL!

Another time I was in the bedroom for a minute while Ryan and Brianna were on the couch together. He started to fuss and I asked Brianna if he was ok. She yells back ya, he's good. He stopped crying so I thought she'd put the binkie in his mouth, but when I come back to the living room she's all smiles. She says to me, "Don't worry mom, he started crying so I just stuck my finger in his mouth!". She was so proud of herself. (We had to have a talk about that too.)

She also wants to be in every picture with him. :)

And sometimes just like him. Ha,Ha,Ha!

Can I just say I HAVE THE CUTEST KIDS EVER!!! I love them so much and am just so blessed to have these two little munchkins be mine. My heart is full!

GRANDPARENTS

So my parents came out when we had Ryan to take care of Brianna. It actually worked out perfectly! I had originally had told them not to come, that we had some friends Bri was going to stay with, and to wait and come when Ryan was about 2 wks old. We just really wanted to have some "family" time with just our new little family of four before we had everyone come visit. (This is what we did when Bri was born and it worked out really good for us).

But unfortunately our sweet friend that was going to watch Bri ended up having a family emergency that she had to go back home for. So I got on the phone with my amazing parents and they were so so so nice and changed their plane tickets to come out early, after I had just told them no don't come then. This was such a blessing in disguise for me - little did I know at the time, I really couldn't have done it without them here.

So the day before we had Ryan my parents took us to the State Fair. (I say they took us to the fair, because when we got there we went to go get cash from the ATM and realized that the card in Justin's wallet was expired. So after making them go to the fair with us, we then made them pay for everything too! :) Nice!) It was, well... ok. Basically it was hot, I was huge, swollen, and in pain - I'm not sure what I was thinking. But we did get to eat some yummy fair food and Brianna had fun, so I guess that's all that counts.

Found some shade to eat our lunch at.

(I love how you can't see Bri's face behind her stroller.)

Bri's all time favorite ride - she didn't want to go on anything else.

LOL!!! (The funny thing is that it was Justin's idea to get the fairy picture!)

We bought crazy expensive tickets to ride the big ferris wheel because it was the only thing that we could all go on together. Well, they wouldn't let me on! I guess they were afraid of me going into labor on their "wild" ride. :)

Waving to mom.

All the way up at the top.

Waving with grandpa.

After a forever long walk, we finally found the petting zoo.

She wanted to hug all the animals. Too cute!

Give me a HUG!

And she got to ride a REAL horse!

This is the next morning after we sent the first text telling everyone Ryan was here.

My mom said she was so cute, she just couldn't stop smiling and staring at the phone.

Oh I am so grateful that my parents were here - like I said I couldn't have done it without them! First, it was so nice to have Justin stay the whole time with me at the hospital and not have to worry one bit about Brianna. And second, it was a such a blessing to have them here when I got home. (I didn't quite realize how down and out I would be after a c-section). It was so nice to have meals cooked for us, the house cleaned, Brianna taken care of, and the best part - I could go take a nap whenever I needed. Oh and not to mention they totally spoiled Bri and Ryan!!! I was so sad to see them have to go home because they were such an amazing help to our family.

Snoozing with grandpa. I mean if you're not old enough to golf, what else would you do with my dad! :)

Oh I LOVE my parents!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

About a week after my parents left, Justin's parents came. They were on there way through to their winter "home" in Arizona, so they only stayed a few days. And since Ryan was still so little and I was still pretty sore, we had a really low key visit with them. Just sitting around visiting, playing with Brianna, and cuddling with Ryan. It's so nice being able to see them more now that we're down in the lower 48 - they were only able to come see us once the whole time we lived in Alaska. It's fun to watch them watch their son be a dad - I'm positive they first, never thought he would be one, and second, they never imagined he be this good at it! :)

Cuddling with Nanny.

Snoozing with Papa. I'm pretty sure Howard was never the "baby" type of guy, so it's really cute to see him always wanting to either hold Ryan or play with Bri.

(Oh and this is the great man that Ryan's middle name comes from!)

We love our family so much and were so happy that both sets of grandparents got to come and share in our excitement of our new baby boy. We are so thankful for all the love and support they give us!!!