Shutterfly Love

If you haven't already heard Shutterfly is doing a really fabulous promotion right now for bloggers where they can receive 50 free Christmas cards. If you have never checked shutterfly out it is definitely worth a look!!

I started printing my pictures out on Shutterfly soon after Addie Kate was born. It is so easy to upload my pictures and then pick which sizes I want and have them delivered to my door.

http://www.shutterfly.com/prints

I have also used them for Christmas cards, Valentines cards, and photo books as well. For all my pregnant friends out there they also have the cutest birth announcements.

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/baby-cards-stationery

Now for my favorite shutterfly product. Two Christmas's ago I made photo books for all the Grand-Parents and Great-Grandparents and they were a huge hit. So much so that we have continued the tradition every year since. I don't scrapbook so it is my way of recapping the year in picture form. These not only make great gifts but are also really fun to make. You forget how much life you live in a year's time and its fun to have a photo book for each year to look back on. Photo books are the type of gift that is looked at over and over and never gets old!

For Gabe's mom's 50 birthday me and Lauren made a photo book of her life. Lauren spent hours scanning in pictures that hadn't been looked at in years and the finished product was amazing. If you aren't into scrapbooking either, you should definitely check out shutterfly's photo books:

http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

This year I am so excited to get our Christmas cards made and sent out. Last Christmas I bought Addie Kate and Owen matching outfits for our Christmas pictures this year. Let's just say Gabe was not crazy about Owen in a smocked outfit. I figure he is only little once and when he gets much older I won't get away with these matching outfits so I had to do it while I can! It was so much fun putting our Christmas cards together! Shutterfly has great cards to choose from and makes it easy to get your Christmas cards together. Check out all the different layouts and designs they have available:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Here are some pictures we will be using in our Christmas cards this year. Getting a two year old and an eight month old to cooperate for pictures can be tricky to say the least. We eventually, with all our great parenting skills, resorted to bribing Addie Kate to smile! Luckily we got some good shots so here is a sneak peak of some pics you may be seeing on our Christmas cards this year.

And some fun out takes...

Can you guess our surprise?

Tonight at youth, Gabe made a fun little announcement to our youth group. When I got back from picking Addie Kate and Owen from the nursery this pic was on the projector screens. Can you guess what our little announcement was??

Seven Months

Owen was seven months yesterday, which is really hard to believe. I have tried to get a picture of him every month on the 9th in the same spot, but we have been out of town some so some of them are kind of random. It is crazy how much he has changed already!

Birth Day

One Month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Five months

Six months

Seven months

Owen adds such joy to our family and I cannot imagine life without him!! He is such a sweet, happy baby and is very laid back. This month he is sitting up and getting into everything. He isn't crawling yet, but he is gets around very fast none the less. I have to be so careful about what's on the floor because everything goes in his mouth. He also got his first tooth with another on the way!

Yesterday Addie Kate had a rough day. She goes to the daycare/school at our church for a few hours in the morning twice a week. She has been doing really well with it until yesterday and they said she cried the entire time. When Gabe brought her home the first thing she did was hug Owen for a good minute or longer. Then she kissed his cheeks about ten times. It was precious (he just smiled the entire time). I so wish I had a video of it!

Halloween

Dressing babies up is so much fun! This year I made Addie Kate a candy corn costume and Owen was the cutest pumpkin in the world! Gabe really wanted him be the Hamburglar, but we just couldn't get it together (not to mention I bought the pumpkin costume on clearance last year when I was pregnant).

A crying candy corn, but still so cute!

I actually made these babies dress up two nights. The first night we went to a little Halloween party and we walked the kids around to a few houses (Addie Kate kept asking to "knock, knock more" all night). The next night we did Trunk-or-Treat at church. But I have to stay her favorite part might have been waiting for kids to knock on the door and pass out candy. Unless they were wearing anything remotely scary, in that case I passed out the candy and she should about 10 feet back. She is not a fan of any type of mask!

Happy Birthday Eden!

Last night my little sister's college roommates blind folded her and drove her to our house for a birthday dinner. They were so sweet to think of that and I was so excited to do it for her 18th birthday! Unfortunately the night was kind of hectic and I didn't get any pictures of Eden and her roommates. My mom was supposed to come help, but couldn't get off work and Gabe had guys small group so it was just me and the babies getting dinner ready for the girls!

Here is Eden's birthday oreo cheesecake. Thankfully I made it the night before because I dropped the first one I made right before it was going into the oven. Yes, I dropped it. There was no salvaging it. I cried about it, got Gabe to go to the store, and started all over. Sometimes you just have one of those days.

Here is the beautiful birthday girl. This is right after we re-lit the candles. Re-lit because Addie Kate thought it was her birthday and blew the candles out the first time. She is looking guilty huh?

Here is the chalk-board I finally finished for my kitchen. I love it and it has been so much fun! Happy Birthday Eden! Love you!

Pumpkins

This weekend we took Addie Kate and Owen to pick out pumpkins. Addie Kate loved it and has been carrying her little pumpkin around everywhere; she even wanted to take it to church with her on Sunday but I talked her into taking her baby doll instead.

We got them both pumpkins and are trying to decide if we should carve or paint them. I'm thinking paint sounds like the better option. Knives can be tricky with a two year old and a six month old!

Owen is sitting up like a big boy! He has gotten so big so fast! Literally so big...Last week both Owen and Addie Kate had check ups and there is only a seven pound difference between the two of them. Owen weighed in at 20 lbs 4 oz, which puts him in the 90% for weight and height. Addie Kate weighed in at 27 pounds.

Owen laughing at Addie Kate. I hope they love each other this much forever. I love driving and hearing them laughing at each other in the back seat. I mean really belly laughing. I have no idea what is so funny, but it is simply precious!

Corn Maze

While Daddy and Big Papa were at the Alabama game, the girls and Owen went to a corn maze in Foley, Alabama. We didn't actually go in the corn maze, but we did do everything else.

Taking their picture in the cut-outs. They were such good sports!

Sliding down the slide made out of a pipe

Running through the hay maze with Aunt La La. Who knew this could be so much fun?

Going to the pumpkin patch.

Playing in the corn box...and trying desperately to get a good pic with everybody smiling or even looking at the camera.

What a little stud!

And getting buried in corn!

We had such a fun day the the corn maze! It wore us all out!

Owen's Dedication...

I mentioned earlier that we did Owen's church dedication the same weekend as Addie Kate's birthday weekend. We are so grateful for our church and feel so blessed to have our children dedicated here.

Here is Owen before we left for church. Notice the nice bib he has on. He drools on everything!

The dedication service was so sweet. Pastor Mark had all the youth come up to the front of the sanctuary and pray over Owen. I love our youth group and love that they love our children.

Our sweet family! Yes, that is my brother making a face in the only (of oh, maybe 15) picture where Addie Kate and Owen are looking at the camera. Thanks Jed!

Alabama

This past weekend we went to Alabama so Gabe and his Dad could go to the Alabama/Florida game. I mentioned before our little deal about college football, so yes Owen is wearing an Alabama jersey to take pics with the boys before the big game. Luckily for him Alabama is having another really good season!

While we are on the subject of football let me just say how sad I am about Georgia's football season. More than that, I am sad about how mean Georgia fans are being about our coach. I understand they pay him to win, however, I have a very special place in my heart for him. I don't know if it's that I feel connected to him because he was the coach while I was in college there or if it's that he is a Christian man who has been very vocal about his faith. Whatever it is, I really am sad for him and his family. I will always love, love coach Richt regardless of how many games we win or lose.

Okay, back to Alabama football. Gabe and his Dad haven't been to a game together since 1992, and loved every minute of their time is Tuscaloosa.

This is before they left. Owen didn't get to go on this trip, but he did look so cute in his little jersey. Maybe in a couple of years he will make the trip with Daddy and Big Papa.

Have I ever mentioned how obsessed Gabe and his Dad are about Alabama football? This is the truck they drove to the game...ha ha just kidding but this could be a possibility in the future.

All kidding aside Gabe really is obsessed with everything that has to do with Alabama football, including Nick Saban (or Nick Satan, whichever you prefer).

Here they are with Tyrone Prothro (he is the player who broke his leg really bad in the Alabama/ Florida game a few years back). He also made a really good catch earlier that season and Gabe has a picture of it in his office (now he has a signed picture).

And yes, this is the National Championship trophy (It is really hard for me to get excited about this). Maybe its the fact that we are currently watching the game that Gabe was at this weekend. Really? We already know what is going to happen, must we watch it again?