It's....

We went in for our 19week sonogram yesterday, just in time for Thanksgiving, which gives us another wonderful reason to be thankful. A new little boy will be joining us in April! He looked wonderfully healthy, very active and loves to suck his thumb!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween - Grumpy Cowboy and Princess

We are a little behind posting for Halloween...
Ella was planning to be a princess again this year, but was going to wear her "Belle" dress instead of "Cinderella", like she wore last year. Her "Cinderella" dress is a flower girl dress I wore in a wedding when I was little, and Ella loves to play dress-up in it. So much, that last year after Halloween, it got a little torn up from a bouncy house. I am not much of a sewer and it cost too much to get it professionally fixed. But, thanks to grandma Katherine, who volunteered to fix-it-up for Ella, she got be Cinderella again this year. Caleb requested to be a cowboy...not sure why/how he thought of that, but fortunately, Grandma Boo had a cowboy outfit and we borrowed red boots from cousin Cade. They both had a fun time, but as you can see from the pictures, Ella was definitely more into it than Caleb!
Here is me in the same dress...about 30 years ago...Here is all the little ones getting candy.Riding his horse...still not too pleased with pictures...My sister and her family. They came trick-or-treating with our Bible study small group.Here is our pumpkin we carved earlier that day.

Fall Fun

Here are a couple of pictures from some fall activities. We visited Sweet Berry Farms. We had only ever been out there to pick strawberries in the Spring so this was our first time in the fall. It was a lot of fun and we were very impressed with all the things to do and great picture spots. We got to go for a hayride, pet some goats, pick wildflowers, play on pumpkins, face painted, eat pumpkin ice cream... You could even ride ponies or paint pumpkins, but we were not able to squeeze all this in and it got crowded by lunchtime. Here are some pictures of our morning.We had a hard time getting a good picture of them together...this is the best we could do...
Petting the animals is a highlight. My mom and stepdad came with us along with my sister and her husband and kids who recently moved to Austin. Here are the kids with Grandma Boo.Later that week, we went to the Y to pick out a pumpkin for our porch. I tried again to get a "fall pumpkin" picture of the kids together, but again, no success...The day before Halloween, we decorated fall cookies and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" with our cousins.

Happy Birthday Grandma Katherine!

Jeremy's mother, Grandma Katherine, came to visit us last month from New Mexico. Since today is her birthday, we wanted to say Happy Birthday and post this picture of her visit with us. Thanks again for coming and we hope that you can come sooner to see us next time!

Backyard Updates

We just finished eating the last of our carrot "crop" this year in our garden. I am very pleased with how the carrots turned out. We are still harvesting jalepenos for our homemade salsa and bell peppers. Although, I am disappointed our bell peppers have mostly been dark purple, light green and dark green. I was not brave enough to try them...I was hoping for the sweeter variety - yellows, reds or oranges. I have also used a little of our green onions, but got uninspired to figure out how to use the rest of them. We also used thyme and rosemary for some yummy soups. And, our tomatoes just these past few weeks decided to arrive, but not sure they will actually ripen and turn red. I think my garden does not realize it is late October...
We added a sandbox to the bottom of the playscape. The kids favorite thing to do it in this fall has been to dig for hidden seashells and build ponds in the sand for plastic ducks. We finally opened a fire pit we received as a Christmas gift last year and set it up over the weekend. I think we were waiting to use it until we extended our backporch. But, just putting it out in the yard worked just fine...the grass was a little toasty underneath...but not too bad. We sat around it with my sister and brother-in-law and their kids who have just moved to Austin from Dallas and my mom and step-dad who were visiting. We roasted marshmellows and made Smores. It was a very fun, cozy and yummy time.

News!

We put this note in a little newborn diaper and sent them out by mail to our immediate family and some close friends who do not live nearby to announce the news. Now we wanted to share it with you too!

Minnesota

In August, we went on a family vacation to Minnesota. Part of Jeremy's family is from a small town up there - Vergas. There were lots of new things for the kids to experience on this trip - new cousins to meet, first time on an airplane for Caleb, first time the kids went fishing, first time on a canoe, first time for both on a 4-wheeler... Here are a few of our favorite pictures, but feel free to visit our Minnesota picture album over to the right. The vacation was wonderful! We had a very nice time with family. We stayed with cousins at their farm, no animals, but a barn, garden, cornfield, etc. Ella decided she wants to be a farm girl and pronounced as we drove away from Vergas to catch our plane, that "it had been the best vacation of her life!"...(in her short 3 1/2yr little life). Thanks to all the Franklins for a wonderful time!