Our Fall/ Halloween festivities

October seemed like it came and went so quickly! Last year I went to a popular pumpkin patch in North Georgia called Burt's Farm with my sis-in-law, Annie, and this year I was determined to find a time that Isaac could come up with me and the kids. The only day we could make it up there was the Saturday before Halloween and it was pretty cold and very busy! But they still had tons or pumpkins! Dylan was so excited and kept on saying, "pumpkin patch".





I insisted that we take the hay ride that they have there as well. It was fun minus our guy chewing tobacco and speeding through our ride.


That same day, we went right up the road and visited Amicolola Falls. The last time I was there, I was pregnant with Dylan, and hiked the first half up the falls. This time I hiked (or climbed stairs) from the top to the mid point. I was so excited to be able to say that I have done the whole thing now carrying a child each time. It was so beautiful to witness the changing of the seasons from up there in the mountains.






I was so nervous despite the fence about Dylan getting loose and falling down the waterfall that I didn't dare let him go!


The week of Halloween, Dylan, Owen, and I went to our ward's playgroup; which was so much fun despite Dylan's erratic behavior!


Here he is with his cupcake he decorated!

The night before Halloween was our ward's trunk-or-treat. It was so much fun especially because my sister, Kara, and neice, Madeleine, were there with us.



Here is the activity my Beehives were in charge of. The kids got to go fishing and attached to a candy corn looking fish was their prize, a bat ring.

The funniest part of the evening for me was when we had finished making our rounds trunk-or-treating, Dylan sat next to Isaac, who was busy still passing out candy, and would say, "trick-or-treat", then grab some candy from the bowl and put it in his pail.


Getting ready for bed that night, Owen wanted to wave hello.

Finally, Halloween rolled around. Kara and Madeleine spent the night, and the next morning we had YUMMY pumpkin pancakes. That night, we went to my in-laws house and went to Publix for their Halloween activities. Then, we hit up some houses for some trick-or-treating. Dylan's pail got so heavy he had a hard time carrying it! For the most part, I had him on my shoulders so that we could keep up with his cousins. It was such a fun day!


My cowboy and Indian. Thanks to Annie for helping me fill in a few pieces of Dylan's costume that I left at home that evening! By the way, I was so proud of their costumes! I made both of them this year without patterns.


My boys with their cousins.

Owen's two month appointment

Here's another catch-up post for you! On the 21st of October, I took Owen in for his two month checkup. I predicted that he would weigh 14 lbs., and I was off only by an ounce! So, in one month he put on 2 lbs. Owen is so sweet and has become a lot more social. I love it when he smiles up at me and coos! It's hard to capture because when ever I pull out the camera he stops looking at me and studies the lens instead. Oh well! Owen is still SUCH a good baby. He loves to swing and takes a fair amount of naps there. I also think he somewhat enjoys being swaddled. It doesn't seem like he fights it too bad and sleeps much more soundly when he is swaddled. Owen will take a pacifier on occasion, but is by no means addicted or dependent on one.

Here are his two month stats.

Weight: 14 lbs 1 oz 95th percentile
Height: 23 1/2 in. 75th percentile
Head Circumference: 40 cm. 50th percentile


Dylan and Owen in their matching Sunday outfits on the day Owen turned 3 months. Now that I have a pattern, I can't wait to make them matching ties!



Already getting so much bigger!


Dylan couldn't resist getting in the picture too!



Such a happy boy!



I loved these pictures SO much, I couldn't resist to post two of them!

Georgia Aquarium

Wow! I have gotten myself SOOO far behind with my blogging. So, before I get to all of our fun Fall/Halloween activities, I am going to go in order of the events as they happened. The day after Owen's blessing, we went to the Georgia Aquarium with my parents and my Grandma. It was fun to be their with them and also a BIG help with Owen and Dylan. It was Dylan's first time to the aquarium and he was really excited to see all of the fish.



I love how when you go to the aquarium your pictures all come out blue and dark.


Dylan loved the places where he could stick his hands in the water.


Our best family picture we could get while we were there.


Another not so great picture of everyone minus Mom.


After so long, Dylan got bored with the fish and decided to run his car on the tank.


This picture is kind of cool of Dylan on the other side of the tank.


I love this picture of the boys and me with Depot. Dylan's expression says it all!





Going down the slide


Dylan and Mommy. I think all in all he had a great time.

Owen's Baby Blessing

On Sunday, 10/11, Isaac blessed Owen at church. Owen was so good during the blessing, as well as for the rest of the day. Dylan's blessing outfit was going to be too big for Owen, so he got to have his own. It is SO cute! It is a little sailors outfit complete with a sailors hat. I appreciated everyone that was able to make it (and am sad for those who wanted to but were unable)!


This is the best shot that I got of everyone. I hope that my father-in-law got some better ones than I did!

After church, everyone came back to our place for lunch. I made crock pot lasagna and it was quite a success. I think that I will have to remember to take advantage of my crock pot more often! Everyone kept on asking for my recipe for the chicken lasagna, so, I decided to include it here on my blog.

Crockpot Chicken Lasagna Florentine Recipe

2 (10.5oz) cans condensed reduced-fat cream of chicken
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach (10oz) thawed, drained and squeezed
1 (9oz) package frozen diced cooked chicken
1 (8oz) carton reduced fat sour cream
1 cup 1% milk
1/2 cup (2oz) Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
Cooking Spray
1 cup shredded part skim mozzarella

1. Combine first 10 ingredients in large bowl and stir well.

2. Coat CP with spray and place 3 uncooked lasagna noodles in bottom of cooker. Break noodles in half as necessary to fit. Spread 1/3 spinach mixture over noodles; sprinkle with 1/3 cup mozzarella. Layer 3 more noodles, half REMAINING spinach mixture, and 1/3 cup mozzarella. Top with remaining noodles and spinach. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

3. Cover with lid; cook on high 1 hour and reduce to low 5 hours or until done.

8 servings (1 cup) 7 points each serving

2 starch, 2V-L Meat, 1M-F meat, 1 fat 339 cal, 12.5 fat, 2 fiber

What a YUMMY and EASY recipe!

Here are some more pictures that we were able to capture from Sunday.
Mommy, Daddy, and Owen (Dylan was too busy to want to be in any of our pictures)


Daddy and Owen.


Mommy and Owen. Here's a funny little story for you. I was so paranoid that Owen would have a blow out while he was wearing his blessing outfit, and sure enough, later in the afternoon he did. Most of these pictures were taken with a little bit of poop inside the back of his outfit. I changed his diaper, but held off on changing his outfit for a few minutes because I wanted to make sure I had pictures from the day that Owen was blessed!


One of the most special parts of the day was to have my Grandma Mills with us visiting.


My father-in-law, Kevin holding Owen and my new niece Leightyn. They are only two weeks apart in age, but Owen is much bigger.


We had so much fun getting to catch up with everyone!

My precious little sailor boy.