Preschool Thanksgiving Party

This was the first party I've been invited to attend at preschool.  Hayden was very excited to see me in her classroom and show me her cubby box and all the pictures on the wall.  Here she is in her Indian costume:

Here is her Thanksgiving Feast: chicken nuggets, hash browns, fruit, suckers and ice cream! 

It was fun to see all the kids she tells me about each day and visit her classroom, although I was a bit disappointed there was no song or anything, just lunch.  

Baby Shower

Even though I don't much like being the center of attention and having everyone watch me open gifts, I felt so loved and celebrated at my baby shower on November 9th!  My friend Stephanie Heinhold planned and hosted the open house shower and it was just perfect!  She went above and beyond in all the yummy food she prepared.

Getting ready to open gifts.  Me, Carolyn Baggett & Teresa Anderson

Brittney Curby 

Erin Barnes & Carrie Krogh

Sally Buttle, Michelle Price, Heather Strickland

Kimberly DeLeon & Laurie Shell

Ali Mendenhall, Carrie Cheney, Shelby Blakely & Katie Sugden

Opening gifts

My beautiful baby bedding that Anne Johnson volunteered to make me as a gift!

Lots of people had already left, but here's one group shot!

I got tons of cute boy clothes and lot of way cute homemade gifts.  Aren't those the best?  Like I said I felt truly celebrated and special and I am so grateful for good friends who care so much about me and who are so excited for the arrival of our miracle baby!

Belly Shots

The last pregnancy pictures I posted was at 24 weeks and my how things have changed now that I am 37 weeks along!  Here are the pictures to show how my belly has grown.  Remember I said that Hayden has a baby in her belly too?  She also needs pictures to show the growth...

Everyone said my belly exploded around 33-34 weeks.  They couldn't believe how much bigger I had gotten.  My belly is much bigger than it was with Hayden.  Even some of my pregnancy shirts barely cover my belly and I have 3 weeks left!

Odds and Ends

Hayden had her 4 year check up on September 25th and had so much fun she didn't want to leave once the appointment ended.  She is really into Doc McStuffins recently and was very excited to get her shots. and have a check-up.  The past few visits she has not cried at all when getting her shots and this day was no different.  She weighed in at 39.6 pounds (79th percentile) and her height was 41.5 inches (83rd percentile). And blood pressure was 92/62 :)

Hayden's new favorite game is to pretend she has a baby in her belly too.  I don't know if it's even pretend at this point, she seriously talks about her baby all day long!  This is how she is most days when we are at home:  baby under her shirt.  She even has me play the doctor and "deliver" her baby so she can hold him and feed him.  She is quite the character!  Anytime I say, "he kicked me" "he's moving" "ouch" or anything else, she says her baby did the same thing!

And lastly, I've been gone so much lately and Hayden and Paul have had lots of time to do fun things together.  One evening Paul planned a Daddy-Daughter-Date.  He came home from work and brought her flowers, then took her to Chick-fil-a, the book store to get a maze book, then they went out for dessert and got cupcakes and ended the night by watching a movie at home.  Paul said that everywhere they went she took her flowers and sang that she was on a daddy-daughter-date.  That is another funny thing about Hayden, she is really into musicals right now.  She loves The Sound of Music, Annie, and just started watching Pete's Dragon.  Anyway, she sings out her daily tasks like she is in a musical, it's pretty awesome!  Hayden is lucky to have a dad that plans such fun things!

October Fun

We had so much fun in October!  We started the month off with a hike to Amicalola Falls with our friends the Mendenhalls.  The hike leads to a beautiful waterfall.  Then there is about 1,000 stairs to the top and it is also the beginning of the Appalachian Trail.  I was so proud of Hayden for hiking the whole thing on her own and proud of myself for climbing all the stairs with my big belly :)

Eating lunch at a picnic area

First part of hike to the waterfall 

After the hike we headed to R&A Orchards to pick apples and of course enjoy apple cider, apple donuts and apple fritters!  

Later on that month we went to a pumpkin patch right by our house!  My friend Carolyn told me about it and I was so excited because all the others I knew of were far from our home.  It was the farms first year hosting a pumpkin patch and it was so much fun!

There was horse races

Duck racing contests (Hayden's favorite spot, she loved pumping the water)

Pumpkin launcher

Horse Riding (Hayden's first time on a horse)

She also went down a zip line, a huge slide, and we went on a hayride!  

And of course she picked out her very own pumpkin in the end

Love fun days like this one!

The next activity for the month was making Halloween sugar cookies.  Hayden loves to make them and I hate it!  Such a process!  But we did cats and pumpkins this year and of course Hayden insisted we throw in a Christmas tree because she is already excited about Christmas.

We also did Halloween fingernails 

Next we painted and carved our pumpkins.  Hayden is NOT a fan of pumpkin guts, she thinks it's disgusting!

She painted our family members faces on her pumpkin and had a great time doing it!

She also helped me carve

Next was the Trunk or Treat party at church! For awhile there Hayden really wanted to be a Conehead for Halloween.  Thank goodness she changed her mind, this costume was much easier!  How awesome is her red hair?

Hayden with her friend Maddie and her older sister Macey in the background.

Lining up for the costume parade

Trunk or Treating outside with Dad

Hayden absolutely loves Dyson Douglas.  He is always so nice to her at church!

Halloween finally arrived and that morning we had a playgroup at Sara McLeod's house.  So after preschool I took her over and she played all afternoon.  We then went home and got ready for Halloween night.  

We went trick or treating with our friends the Heinholds like the year before.  Hayden was so much braver this year and went to every house and said "trick or treat" and "thank you" after receiving her candy.

Love this picture of her hair flowing in the wind!  She seriously had so much fun.  She kept telling me that "this was the best Halloween of her whole life!" 

October really was a crazy month.  On top of all that, I was invited to speak at a church function on how to form healthy relationships, we had about 3 birthday parties, our birthing classes, and we were suppose to have family pictures (but got there all dressed up and her camera was broken :( )

We are packing in the fun before this baby arrives!