Getting ready for Christmas...

I can't believe Christmas is upon us already!  Ok by me - I love this time of year.  We've been starting all our preparations...

 

We took a trip to the Dallas Zoo last weekend for Breakfast with Santa!  It was awesome...we had a great breakfast buffet, we decorated Christmas cookies and we got to see Santa!  It's all Carter could talk about all week...and all morning...and the entire ride there...and as we walked into the zoo...and as we looked for Santa.  And then, we saw Santa.  And of course, Carter was not having it!  Check out the pic...priceless! 

Had to zoom in on his sweet little face...

Had to feed the giraffes...

And see the lions of course!

Check out these Santa pjs I got for Carter.  So cute!

 I was busy wrapping Christmas presents one night, and C decided he needed to help me.  THEN he decided he needed to wrap his own presents.  So he got one of his books from his room, and wrapped it.  At first he said it was for Alex...but then he said it was HIS!  It's still wrapped...I think it's IN his tree...not UNDER it...but IN it.  That's where he thought it went!  Hilarious.

Had to break out Elf!  I think we've got C hooked...

This is Carter's personal Christmas tree in his room...he was so excited to have his own tree!

Emmerson Marie

That's right - baby girl finally has a name!  Emmerson Marie.  No special story on why we picked it...let's just go with the fact that it was one of the only names we both liked ;)  Marie is my middle name though...so at least she gets to share that with Mommy :)

Baby girl...in 3d!

Last week we went and volunteered at the Dallas Pregnancy Resource Center for a 3d ultrasound (this is the same place that we volunteered with Carter).  They are an organization who counsel women thinking of having abortions.  They train their volunteer nurses to do ultrasounds so they can show the mothers their babies, so they need pregnant volunteers to train and "practice" on!  Our nurse was AWESOME!!  I was definitely not her first ultrasound ;)  She got some great pics - although baby girl was snuggled up behind the placenta for the majority of the ultrasound.  Very weird to see the placenta in 3d, haha! (Which you can in one of the pictures). 

Here is her sweet face!  The left side is where the placenta is (somehow they were able to rotate the ultrasound wand and get most of it out of the picture).  But you can see her cheek, nose and eye are a little smushed - where the lighter, whiter portion of the picture is.  We actually have a picture of Carter where he is a little "smushed" like this too and they definitely resemble each other!

Well here is part of the lovely placenta - with her hiding back behind it, all snuggled up.  But what a beautiful view of her hand!  You can even see her fingernails...and the umbilical cord...and that is also her leg near the bottom.  Amazing!

And then she turned and went to sleep...so here is a view of her ear, arm, shoulder, back, etc.  So sweet...

Baby girl...

Last Friday, we had our big sonogram at the doctor's office.  Everything looked great with the baby - and the sonographer said she agreed it was a little girl!

Trip to Houston

Had to get some baseball in while we were there...

Love this...you can see Carter's eyes on the ball!

Alex got to be catcher during one inning of his t-ball game - too cute!

Watching the big boys play...

Warming up in the car after the game - it was chilly!

Scotty, Gram and the boys

All the boys :)

Me and my sweet boys :)

Me and my sweet angel :)

Family pic!

LOVED climbing in the pumpkins this year!

We were kind of not paying attention...and we look over, and Carter is taking every sticker off every pumpkin and putting them on his face! 

Hysterical!

Had to pet the goat!

A few of these little cuties watching the instructional video at Pump it Up for Alex's 5th birthday party!

C went down this huge slide all by himself multiple times!  He looks so tiny!

Alex & his friends loved it too :)

And of course C's favorite part...basketball with Daddy!

Slam dunk!

C and Pappy :)

Check out these tired faces...after t-ball, pumpkin patch and 2 hours at Pump it Up, they were worn out!!!

Happy Birthday Alex!

Such a cutie...time for bed! 

Baseball obsession...

I am not kidding when I use the term "obsession."  This kid LOVES baseball!  In fact, when he got this baseball helmet (pictured below) he slept with it the first night.  Yes, that's right, the helmet, in his crib, the whole night.  He even took it to "Show & Tell" at school!  Should we be worried?!  So needless to say, every spare moment we get, we play baseball!  And he loves it...

Go Rangers!  His favorite players are Murph & Josh :)

The video below was actually taken in June.  This is how good the kid was at hitting the ball out of the air, even then!  2 years, 4 months old.

 

At the practice softball field near our house one Saturday afternoon in early September...

The wind up...and the pitch!

The video below was in the yard after work one day a few weeks ago, when C and I were playing.  I was taking a video to send Tim because he had a late work function that night and wouldn't get to see C.  He literally almost killed me hitting this ball!  Haha!  But he sure is getting good...;)



 

Catch up!

I have been so bad about posting since our trip to Galveston this summer (other than the ultrasound pic of baby girl).  And we have done a lot of fun stuff since then! So I'm playing catch up in this post...July - September :)  Explained as we go...not even CLOSE to being in order!  ;)

 

Grandparents Day at Primrose with Pops!

And DD!

It was so fun to have them there, and let Carter show them a little about his school day :)

 

This video is Carter doing the pledge of allegiance, the first week of July on our way to swim lessons :)  Apparently they do the pledges at school - so I started doing it with him this summer, when I realized he knew parts of it.  And he became obsessed with American flags in July - so EVERY DAY on the way to swim lessons, we looked for American flags and practiced the pledge :)

 



 

Legoland trip with Mommy, DD, Ayden and Colson.  So cool!

 

Racing the lego cars we made!

Found the baby bathtub in the guest room...and just HAD to chill out in it to watch TV.

Meeting his newest cousin, Nolan Colson Williams, born on August 27.

Bye bye pacis!

Hello big boy toys in exchange! 

Time for big boy underwear!  (About 10 minutes after this pic was taken, he peed all over the floor while he ate dinner, lol!)

A quick visit with Gigi...

And sweet Grandma.

Making cupcakes with Mommy!

Delicious!

Practicing his hook 'em horns sign!

Even while wearing the Purdue jersey that Uncle Michael got him ;)

An expert at it, just in time for Longhorn Football Season!

First Rangers game!

Carter and Daddy.

Family pic!

The phones were lifesavers from about the 4th inning on for Carter and sweet Emmarie.

Fireworks after the game!  He was a little scared at first...as you can see I am holding him pretty tightly :)