October Randoms 2

A little late, but...here is the second half of October happenings.

I came home from a photo shoot one evening to flowers that my boys had cut from the yard and a sweet note. Love them.

Sutton brings home crafts and drawings each time he goes to Kids Day Inn. Usually they do something with a letter of the alphabet. I believe he was the only one who glued the F backwards on his fish...

We stopped at Hobby Lobby one day after we were at the Y to pick up supplies for his Halloween costume. We browsed around a bit, and Sutton found these fake succulent plants that he carried around for awhile and kinda threw a fit about putting back before we left. He's since become obsessed with Hobby Lobby and sometimes asks if we can go when we're leaving the Y.

My cute Panera date one evening.

After Panera, we got ice cream and had a fun time eating it and snuggling on the couch before bed time.

We had to take lunch to Adam's class one day for a prize that some of the students had won. Adam wanted Sutton to show off his sweet dance moves, so he put some music on and Sutton taught the kids how to properly hokey pokey.

I went to a baby shower for Adam's cousin's wife and they had these super cute cupcakes that Adam's other cousin had made. I loved them! The whales are so cute.

A couple weeks ago, I had to make a whirlwind trip up to Kansas City for an engagement session. I'd had to photograph a birth here in Wichita that same morning, so we weren't able to leave for KC til around 11 or so. My co-pilot fell asleep early, ruining my plans of him napping once we got to our destination. Oh well.

Rachael was awesome and kept Sutton while I went on my shoot. We stayed with her that evening and got to spend some extra time with Baby Rowan. So sweet.

I'm a big fan of hers. She's just so sweet and cute all the time.

The next morning we had breakfast at her house and Sutton looked so little sitting at this big table all by himself like a big kid.

We walked to the park by Rachael's house and played a bit before heading home. We left KC right at nap time (I figured since he slept in the car on the way up, I'd take advantage of that and let him sleep in the car on the way home). BAD IDEA. Screaming and irrational requests for the last hour of the trip because it was 3:30pm and he still hadn't napped for the day. Agh!

After his nap that day, we went downstairs to have some down time and play. He made himself comfortable in his toy box. :)

Rachael had fed him plain noodles and peas for his dinner while I was working. He scarfed them down! So when we got back to Wichita, I promptly bought peas. The first time I made them for him, he ate several like candy before realizing his mistake and refusing them from then on.

Listening to tunes while eating breakfast.

On our way out the door one cold morning, I told Sutton to go get a hat. Not quite what I had in mind.

Snuggling and watching Veggie Tales on a cold day.

Trying on the half-way finished Timmy costume.

Ginger and I shot my last 2012 wedding a couple weekends ago. We went out for donuts afterwards to celebrate at the Donut Whole. Mmmm....

Being cute.

Sometimes when we go for a walk, Sutton insists on walking "on his feet" instead of riding in the stroller. So we often take short little walks around the block. This particular day, we decided to bring Diesel along. Diesel would stop to sniff every little thing, and then Sutton would go over to the same spot, bend down and smell it too. It was super funny, but I guess kind of gross at the same time. Ha.

And that was our October!

Weekend Whirlwind

We had an intensely busy weekend! Lots of fun to be had though. And lots of photos to be taken. :)

The above photo wasn't technically from the weekend, but Thursday evening while Daddy was at class, we went to the park and then over to Sutton's cousins' house for a dance party. We were at the park for a good hour, and Sutton was in this swing 90% of the time!

Friday morning, we went over to my friend Jess's house for a playdate with her kiddos and also Ginger and her kids. Ginger and Jess went to high school together, and I've taken photos a couple times for Jess. It was fun to get all our kids together for the first time. It was a bit chilly out, but it seemed all they wanted to do was play outside.

Ginger had to carry both the babies at one point. These two are only a month apart.

Levi, Sutton, and Avery all played in the sandbox.

Sutton was kind of a mess this day...he was the only one there who doesn't have a sibling, and sharing is really tough. BUT luckily both he and Levi are the kind of kids who'll basically do anything you ask if you tell them you want to take a picture. So I got them to pose on Levi's pile of pumpkins. :)

Levi had this cool 4-wheeler that actually goes by itself when you press a button. Sutton was obsessed. And he liked to carry a tractor on the back.

Lots to play with out at the Mac's farm!

All the kids got mac n' cheese for lunch. Yum.

Then Levi, Sutton, and Avery found this sweet hiding spot.



We played a little more after lunch before heading home. We left at nap time, so Sutton fell asleep in the car. He slept about 40 minutes on the way home and was really mad when I woke him up to go inside to bed. I was able to final wrestle him into bed after about tantrums and time outs, and then he slept for maybe 15-20 minutes before being all done with nap time. That makes a total of not quite an hour of napping, and for a kid that's used to a 2-3 hour nap every day...I was worried about our evening.

When Adam got home from work, we loaded up and headed to Newton to my parent's house for dinner. Sutton fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got to their house.

So Adam dropped me off at my parents and drove around to let him get a little more sleep. We had a great dinner at my parents house before heading to see my Grandpa and Grandma's new house.

They just moved into a new house in another nearby town a couple weeks ago. Before that, they'd lived in the same house since I was 1 year old (or maybe younger?), so that was the only house I'd ever known. Their new house is so great, and perfect for them! I was smart (note the sarcasm) and didn't take any photos of them or their new house. :(

BUT! My brother Michael and his wife Sara came into town this weekend. Michael and Adam share the same birthday - November 5th. Adam is turning 29 tomorrow and Michael will be the big 30! So for his birthday, Sara bought him tickets to the K-State game this weekend since that's his alma mater. They drove here from Colorado and we celebrated the birthdays Friday night before they went with my parents to the football game on Saturday.

Sutton was ALL about the cake. Very impatient. We pretty much had to light the candles and sing the second we got to my grandparents' house. 

Sutton was very intent on explaining something to Uncle Michael.

The birthday boys!

It looks like 2,930, but the candles are supposed to be a 29 and a 30.

We sang and then Sutton had to help blow out the candles.

...and guess who got the first piece of cake. :)

We drove back to Wichita to put the kiddo to bed, and our friends Rachael and Matt and their daughter Rowan arrived late that night. We hung out for a bit before heading to bed since we're now old and have kids that get us up early. No more late nights for these parents! :)

Weird but really really cute to see Adam holding a baby. It's been so long since ours was this little!

Saturday morning, we got up, got ready, and headed over to the east side of town so Adam and I could run the Inspire Hope Run. Adam ran the 8K and I did the 1 mile. The 8K was first, so Sutton and I stood at the starting line to cheer for Daddy. It was COLD. So cold. So so so so cold.

Our friend Val was also there, cheering on her hubby Luis.

Sutton was so cold. It was really sad. I felt bad. So after we saw Daddy cross the finish and gave him hugs, Sutton and I went and sat in the car with the heater on until it was time for my race.

I'd been training so I was hoping to do the mile in under 8 minutes and I did! I think my time ended up being 7:53 and we *think* I placed 7th overall out of like 260 people. The official results aren't in yet, but I'm pretty excited about it! This was my first ever time to run a race. I about died. And it was just a mile. Whew.

Our gross (well, he's still handsome) post-run photo. He's the best. I really wanted someone to come run with me to push me to go faster, and he was going to have to stay in the car with Sutton while I ran. So I went to the starting line by myself and waited all alone for the starting gun. Once I crossed the start line, Adam swooped in from the side to run with me. He'd gotten Val to sit in the car with Sutton so he could run with me! Totally made me push myself, especially at the end when my lungs were hurting from the cold. Love him.

Rowan had slept in longer than expected, so Matt and Rachael ended up getting to our race location just as we were done. We didn't end up staying out for the awards ceremony because it was just too cold. So we went and had an early lunch at Noodles & Co. before heading home for naps and to chill.

While the kids were napping, Rachael, Matt, and I went for coffee. Adam stayed home since he doesn't like coffee and Rowan ended up waking up while we were gone. So we came home and Adam and Rowan were just chilling on the couch. Super cute.

That evening, we took some 4 month photos of Baby Rowan. Here she is all dressed up and ready to go:

We got some REALLY cute photos, but she wasn't her normal smiley self since it was a bit chilly and since her napping was kinda off that day. But at the end, she cuddled in her mommy's sweater:

Stay tuned to my photo blog for the photos of Rowan and her fam soon. And once she was all cozy in her car seat, she gave me a bunch of smiles.

Adam had cooked us dinner when we got back to the house, so we ate and then played until bedtime. After the kids were in bed, we watched a movie and then Rachael and I stayed up late talking. I love our late night chats. Even though we usually go months between visits, she's the person I feel I can be most open and honest with. Love you, lady!

This morning, I made us french toast and eggs before they headed back to KC. After breakfast, Sutton asked to hold Baby Rowan.

Then Adam held both kids. I like seeing him with babies, but...I'm kinda glad that we only have to keep one of the babies. :)

It was all very cute, but it was unfortunate that there was giant window behind him that ruined all these photos.

Just before they left, we had to get some photos of the tiny BFFs on the front porch. Matt was being all sorts of ridiculous to try to get Rowan to smile, and he only succeeded in making Sutton crack up. Rowan had her poker face on.

They left, and I've spent all day playing catch-up with work. I feel like I barely saw my boys today, but hark! Tomorrow is Adam's actual birthday and we have nothing on the calendar, so we can hopefully celebrate together all evening. :)