It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

After living in Houston for the past 5 years, we have gotten use to the reality that it just doesn't get very cold here. So we do all the traditional Christmas things, but sometimes it doesn't feel all that Christmassy when you're wearing shorts and it's 70 degrees. Well, on Wednesday we got a little sprinkle of winter to help get us in the holiday spirit. It worked out perfectly because our sweet friends down the street had agreed to watch Lauren for us so that we could go Christmas shopping that night. So after a quick family photo, we dropped Lauren off and went Christmas shopping in the snow. Isn't that awesome?!

This is in front of our friends house down the street.
After this picture Scott went home and got a bigger coat!

It was about 7:00 at night, so all the pictures are in the dark.
The snow was gone by the morning.

Happy Halloween from Our Little Lady Bug

Lauren had been talking about trick or treating for several days leading up to the big night, so her expectations for this Halloween were pretty high. I must say, I don't think she was disappointed. She absolutely loved her costume and she kept calling her wings "umbrellas". I painted little black freckles on her cheeks, but we didn't make it out of the house before she smeared them and we had to wash them off. Oh well, maybe we'll try the face paint again next year. She trick or treated up and down the neighborhood, and by the end of the night her bag was so heavy that it literally dragged the ground. Lauren would not let Scott or I carry the bag for her and she would yell, "Let go", if we tried to help. She did get a little scared at a few of the houses that were decorated with scary things, which surprised me a little, but for the most part she thought the whole night was magical. I know I said this last year, but we really do have the best neighborhood in the world for trick or treating. Well, I pretty much think we have the best neighborhood in the world all the time, but during Halloween especially. There is no traffic, and the street is full of kids and families trick or treating, eating pizza, and showing off their costumes. I really do feel blessed to live in this neighborhood if you can't tell. And last but certainly not least, Lauren went trick or treating in big girl panties! She went the whole night with no accidents. We made a potty stop at the half way point and she was good to go! Scott and I were so proud.

Lauren had a sucker in her mouth the entire night.
I was surprised that I got any pictures of her without one.

It's the Great Pumpkin Lauren Grace

Lauren did not spend Halloween night in the pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin, but we did make a trip to the pumpkin patch in hopes of getting a few good pictures and to pick out our own great pumpkin. I had an easier time taking pictures of Lauren sitting the pumpkins last year because she would actually sit still for more then half a second. This year I think we chased her more then anything, but I did manage to get a few good pictures. Bonus: Dad came with us to the pumpkin patch this year so he joined in on a few silly shots. Oh, and you can bet that we will be watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown next week, it's one of my favorites!

Lauren called this scarecrow her baby. She's such a good little mommy!

This pumpkin looked like it needed a kiss

sitting still, but not for long!

Lauren put a lot of thought in to picking the perfect pumpkin

She gave this pumpkin a test run, but it didn't make the cut

Finally the perfect pumpkin! And Daddy agrees!

Backyard Party

We had a backyard birthday party to celebrate Lauren's 2nd birthday. Scott said that after all the time he spent working on the swingset, we had to have at least one birthday party in the backyard. Well, all the planning turned out to be worth it because Lauren had a twinkle in her eye the entire time. If you have ever wondered if a 2 year old really knows it's their birthday, I have the pictures to prove that they really do. Lauren put her hand in the cake and pulled the pizzas down on top of herself, to help provide us with a few hilarious toddler moments.

An Abby Cadabby party would not be complete without an Abby tattoo

Aunt Holly brought a jumper from Austin, and the kids went crazy over it

Daddy had to join in the fun

Sweet little handprint in the cake - It just screams 2 year old!

After opening a gift, Lauren would scream, "I love it"

Kirby waited until all the party guest had gone home before she wished her sister a Happy Birthday

Lauren used her princess wand to make a wish-the wish being that everyday would be her birthday

Our big 2 year old

All last week my mind kept slipping back to what I was doing 2 years ago at this time. I can still remember so clearly the days right before and right after Lauren was born. I am so thankful that God has etched those moments in such detail into my memory because I feel like I can barely remember my phone number sometimes. One moment that I keep going back to was about an hour after Lauren was born and I was sitting in the hospital room and all the craziness that happens right after you give birth had just died down. I was getting to feed my newborn for the first time and I looked up at Scott and I said," I love this". That exact moment was the first time I felt what it was like to be a mother. What an amazing gift! Happy 2nd Birthday Lauren Grace, Daddy and Mommy love you to the moon and stars and back.

I will be posting birthday party pictures soon!

Take a hike Ike!

Our wonderful house suffered no damage at all when Hurricane Ike hit Houston a few weeks ago. We our praising the Lord because we know how damaging this storm was to so many people in our city. I can't get the song "Praise you in this storm" by Casting Crowns out of my head these days. We left Pearland at noon on the Friday before the storm hit. Scott and I went back and forth on whether or not to leave which actually sounds quite crazy to me in hind sight. I think we were both terrified of having another 14 hour drive to Austin like we did during the hurricane Rita evacuation. When we woke up on Friday morning, neither of us felt right about staying so we took that as God's way of letting us know we should go. We drove to Austin (it only took us 4 hours YEAH!) and stayed with my sister and brother in law. We had a fun weekend visit but lots of anxiety about what was happening at our house. Not to mention, Kirby the cat also made the trip to Austin with us which didn't help ease our anxiety level. After expecting to be without power for a couple of weeks, we had power at our home in Pearland within 48 hours of the storm. Amazing!

Scott spent all day on Thursday boarding up the windows of our house. It was a big job!

The little tree in the middle of our cul-de-sac was blown down, but the trees in our yard were standing tall (well, slightly crooked)!

Along with a couple of missing shingles, this was the only thing on our house that showed signs of being hit by a hurricane.