Ruffner Mountain

Found a nearby nature preserve to enjoy!

Nice hike to the top

Picture doesn't give the view justice.

Camera was propped on a branch.

Splish Splash

So I'm trying to get better at the technical aspect of taking pictures.

I feel like the more I learn, the more I mess up a picture and the more critical I become of myself.

I love these pictures of my kids in the bath.... their expressions... their happiness.

But not so much the editing.... oh well. I'll keep trying.

This one of Margaret Gray was a total fluke. 

My camera was on all sorts of wrong settings when I clicked. 

But then played around with it using Lightroom.

 Might be my favorite.

Owl Prowl

On October 6th, Henry participated in his 1st Fun Run.

His school puts on this run, called the Owl Prowl, for all the grades.

Each grade runs by itself.

The course is partly through the driveway of the school and also through blocked off streets in the neighborhood. 

Kindergarten only has to run a half mile.

Parents can run with their kid... Tom wanted to run with Henry, but I had volunteered during the race and someone had to be with MG and S.

I think Henry was ok with that. One of his friends gave his dad the boot before the race started. ha.

They also have members of the high school track team running with all the grades... encouraging the kids as they ran. Pretty cool. 

Henry was pretty nervous about it, so I practiced with him the day before... a very slow run of the route.

Kept reminding him that when I ran my 1st (and only) race, I didn't win, but I was so proud of myself for finishing.

I volunteered to help hold a direction sign during the race, but lucky for me, a sweet middle school girl took over my duty so I could watch Henry... even though I was a bit worried she wouldn't be paying attention and a kid would run the wrong way onto a busy street...

Tom got to capture these pictures, while I stood on one of the neighborhood street corners to cheer on our big guy as he ran by.

Henry is in the middle...

Getting pumped up

Woo Hoo!

Starting to get nervous

Man, the nail biting has come in full force this year

This picture makes me laugh... look at all those boys rearing to go... and then there is nervous Henry....

... who obviously got over his nerves and had a good start.

Until he accidentally tripped a girl and fell over her.

Scrapped his knee pretty bad, but got up and kept on going... bloody knee and all. 

We were very proud of him. Ha.

The other girl had some trouble getting over her tumble...

About to cross the finish line.

Proud of their brother. 

The way Simon said "Owl Prowl" was the cutest thing!

He finished!

It's a .....

On September 26th, we found out if our family was going to add another little boy or a little girl to our brood.

I wanted to find out the sex together as a family.

And I wanted Henry and Margaret Gray to be able to find out at the same time.

I had several ideas of how to reveal the gender, but nothing seemed to work out.

After I picked up Henry from school, we drug MG and Simon out of bed from their naps, piled in the car, and decided we would figure it out on the way.

I did bring an card and envelope, along with a pink and blue marker, for the sono tech to write down the gender.

Figured maybe Henry and MG could just open the envelope at the same time and be able to tell the rest of us ???

Waiting...

Turned out the sono tech wasn't too keen on the idea of writing down the gender in it's appropriate color, and told me she would just put a picture in the envelope. Alrighty. 

We all looked away while she checked out the baby's goods.

At some point Tom came up with the idea to incorporate Steel City Pops into the reveal. 

We have loved going to this local popsicle place since we have lived in Homewood and I'm glad Tom came up with the idea.

After the appointment, we went out to eat at a nearby Greek Restaurant.

I'm really not the best communicator.

And when I walked into Steel City Pops and saw that there was only a high school boy working, I knew we were in trouble.

I wanted one popsicle to tell us the gender in one bag.

But I also wanted a couple of other popsicles (kids' choices) in another bag.

Poor high school boy, I confused the mess out of him.

He was confused about the sono pic.

He was confused about which flavor I wanted for boy/ girl.

He was confused that I was going to walk out of the shop while he looked at the picture and packed up the special pop.

And at one point, he was confused that I was the one who was pregnant.

Somehow, I cleared up the situation, and he was excited to be a part of the reveal.

Ha.

Went to our local park to find out.

I couldn't have asked for a more perfect reveal!!

Depicts our sweet crazy family perfectly.

The video makes me laugh everytime.

And poor Henry... the kid is a bit frazzled these days after a long day at school... any little thing sets him off.

And Margaret Gray was obviously confused that her popsicle was in the other bag... the girl loves lemon lime.

And Simon just wanted to eat the silly thing.

And I had tears from laughing so hard.

I'm sure people were very concerned about our sobbing family.

 IT'S A GIRL!!

Always a bummer when the camera focuses on the lady walking her dog instead of your family...

Everyone regrouped after enjoying their treat... but only for a while.

Many tears were shed when we left the park without playing on the playground... but it was a school night!

Yay for another Baby Girl!!!

I know she will bring much delight to our family.

We are getting closer on finalizing her precious name.

Road Trip- Beach!

Waaaay back in September, Tom came home one day and asked, "Hey. Want to go to the beach?"

Sounded like a good thing to me!

He booked a condo and we were only 4 hours away from sandy fun.

We didn't do much but eat, play in the waves and sand, and swim at the pool.

It was the perfect family vacation.

Henry LOVED playing the in waves.

Simon was content running back and forth.

Margaret Gray is in this picture, you just can't see her. The waves went over her head.

She went back to get on her life jacket.

Better

Resting and shivering... it was a little cool that 1st morning.

Snacks

Pretty sure my camera was propped up on sand bucket

After naps, we headed back down to the beach

(didn't realize how spoiled we had become staying at houses on the beach... kids were troopers walking back and forth with all the gear, though)

The next morning, Tom and Henry ran to the donut shop.

And more beach fun that day.

Simon loved chasing the birds.

It was a different story when the birds realized Simon had snacks.

Pool fun that afternoon.

Went out for dinner.

Swam the next morning while Tom packed up the car....

It was a short and sweet stay at the beach. 

Good family times.

Love that we can take advantage of our location in Alabama this year.