Baby Nathan's almost here!

We're getting more and more excited to meet Baby Nathan in just a few weeks! One day this past week, Ryan helped Kim wash and rinse all of our baby toys.  Ryan, always a willing helper, loved this job! (Ian really enjoyed helping wash the toys before Ryan was born, too.)

Matt and Kim have been busy, too. The baby clothes and bottles are washed and put away. A good friend loaned us some newborn/3 month "warm" clothes since Nathan will be born at on opposite season from Ian & Ryan. The nursery is just about set (minus the fact that Ryan is still sleeping in the crib :)).  And, meanwhile, Nathan keeps growing. I feel like I'm just about the same size as I was when I was pregnant with Ryan, but after looking at my 32 week picture, I'm pretty sure that I'm bigger this time around. Whaddya bet that Nathan will be a big baby, too? :)  I'm still having to sit down more often during the day and take a nap most afternoons to ease the pressure/discomfort, but overall, I'm doing well. I'm still able to sleep great every night! :)

On Wednesday of this week, I took Ian to a Big Sibling class at the hospital. A drive that normally takes 25-30 minutes took 90 minutes this particular evening. Ian got a good nap on the way there, and my biggest lesson learned was to plan an alternate route for if I go into labor at that same time of day!

We were late for the class, but we got in on a tour of the family birth center, and the very sweet instructor, Nurse Michelle, gave Ian and another girl a lesson in diapering and swaddling a baby. She also taught other practical things about how to hold and care for a baby (including using a paper towel tube to check if toys are safe for baby or not). Overall, Ian seemed to think the class was okay ...

... but the custard that we got after the class was fantastic! :)

We can't wait to meet you and hold you, Baby Nathan! :)

Fall Family Fun

We've done some fun things together as a family this fall ...

After our siblings Amy and Jason gave us the idea of having a Family Game Night each week, we've been able to have game nights of our own most Sunday evenings. Each family member comes up with one game for all of us to play. While we sometimes play "real" games, we generally just make up own own games/activities that even little Ryan can enjoy.

One recent Sunday, Ryan suggested that we play "Trick or Treat." (Just the day before, the boys had tried on their costumes and we had told Ryan about how he and Ian would go from door to door and say, "Trick or Treat!" to get candy.) Ian readily agreed with Ryan's suggestion. The boys thought that each Matt and I should take a turn behind the front door to hand out candy to them. Matt was up first ...

... and then the pirate and cowboy took a candy-eating break

before I handed out candy.

I think that both boys are VERY excited for Halloween to arrive! :) They're all practiced up! :)

Last weekend, our family continued our annual tradition of going to a local church's fall festival with some friends from our small group. This year, Ryan enjoyed the games, too! Unfortunately, Ian wasn't feeling all that well. (Notice that he's wearing a sweatshirt ... which IS a strange sight in Houston in October!) So, we didn't stay very long, but the boys did have fun playing some games before we ate dinner at the festival.

This past Monday, we kept Ian home from school since he had had a fever all day on Sunday. Since he was feeling much better on Monday, I planned a nature scavenger hunt to keep the boys busy. Ian wanted to be in charge of marking off the items we found, and Ryan was excited to run around collecting everything.

We look forward to making more memories together this fall! :)

Guy Time

 While Kim spent last Saturday morning getting some professional development hours in (so I can keep my Texas teaching license current), the guys had a great time together!

Soon after breakfast, they went swimming in our neighbors' pool. Then, they headed to a local hardware store which was celebrating its 1st birthday with all kinds of special things ... a "tour" of a new fire truck and free snow cones, popcorn, and cotton candy. Matt said that the boys had a great time! They even saw one of Ryan's friends from Sunday school (and one of Matt's coworkers from school) there!

Thanks for being such a fun daddy to our boys, Matt! :)

Apple Day

 I was so happy to be able to volunteer in Ian's classroom last Friday for their "Apple Day." My sweet friend Kati watched Ryan so I could really be involved in the special day! :)

It was even just a special treat to see Ian "in action" in his classroom -- interacting with his classmates, going through their morning routine, etc. (This momma would love to hear more details about school than Ian is willing to share on any given day. Ha!) All of us parent volunteers heard the whole class recite the pledge to the American & Christian flags. And we watched the kiddos finish their "apple tree cycle" pictures.

Then, Apple Day officially began. All three kindergarten classes participated and rotated between three stations. The first station was watching a Johnny Appleseed cartoon movie.

The second station included drawing, weighing, and measuring one of two apples each child had brought from home. One little boy in my group, Ben, brought a HUGE Honeycrisp apple. He was elated that he had to use all 100 teddy bear manipulatives in the balance ... and even that wasn't enough to even out the balance.

The final station included many different parts -- seeing the "star" inside the apple when it's cut open, getting a picture taken,

taking out and counting apple seeds, 

 making apple prints with paint,

 peel, coring, and cutting apples,

 and even decorating some construction paper apples.

The teachers cooked up the apples that the kids (and moms) cored, cut, and peeled and made it into applesauce. Ian said that he didn't really like it because it had "too many lumps" and "too much cinnamon."

The kids did some other fun activities in the classroom after we moms finished helping. Each child tried a yellow, green, and red apple slice and got to vote on the best color. What a fun day!

You'd think after all of the apple activities that Ian would've been all "appled-out." On the contrary, Ian insisted that he use our apple corer-peeler-slicer immediately when we got home from school. He peeled six apples almost completely on his own, which we used to make apple cake. Yum! Ryan was a willing helper (and taste-tester), too!

Ryan at the museum

As our due date approaches, I'm trying to get in lots more "just Ryan" time. :) One day last week, Ryan and I met up with some friends at The Woodlands' Children's Museum. We were apart more than together as the kids bounced back and forth between stations, but we all had fun!

Ryan & Ethan at the train table

Samuel, Ethan, and Ryan at the "grocery store"

Sammy, mopper extraordinaire :)

We enjoyed eating lunch together on the patio. Sammy, Kati, Ethan, and Ryan

Train Show

Last Saturday, our family drove to downtown Houston to check out a train show. We've been wanting to go for the past few years, but it's never worked out. We figured that our boys were at the perfect ages to really enjoy themselves.

Unfortunately, we ran into some snags along the way. Part of the interstate on the way there was completely closed down, and it ended up taking us 1.5 hours (instead of 45 minutes) to get there. The boys started out the day tired after a later night at small group the night before, and (as we found out later in the day) Ian had impetigo on his face, too.  Needless to say, we weren't at the train show all that long before Ian said he was "bored" and wanted to go home and Ryan seemed super, duper tired.
After everyone got naps that afternoon (and we got Ian started on some antibiotic later that day), life seemed better. In fact, over dinner both boys identified the train show as their "good thing" of the day. It was pretty impressive. We'll have to try the train show again another year (and check the road conditions before leaving our house :)) ...


There were lots and lots of model railroads set up around the convention center. It REALLY bothered Ryan that he couldn't touch the tracks and the trains.

Ian got to climb into a train car and push the horn. Ryan seemed interested in doing this, too, until we got to the front of the line.

More model trains ...

Ryan's favorite part of the train show was probably the "toddler play area" complete with trains, tracks, puzzles, and other toys.

Ian's favorite part was riding this "train." He had to pump a lever back and forth in order to propel the train car. It was so cute seeing the kids ride around along the circle track.

One of the neatest parts for Matt and me was this amazing Lego train display. Everything (even the train cars) were made of Legos. Super cool!