Nick's First Halloween

Here are some pictures from Nicholas’s first Halloween. He had his gymnastics class today and then we went out to lunch. We also carved his pumpkin. It was too cold here to take Nick trick-or-treating so he just helped pass out the candy. As you can tell from the pictures, he was a HUGE help ;0) Jackson and Nicholas would wait at the window and then go to the door when the kids rang the bell. All the kids loved Jackson. He enjoyed all the attention and pets he got :0) The trick-or-treaters thought Nick was pretty cute too. We all had a pretty fun day!

Nicholas & his pumpkin

Our little Nick-o-Lantern

The boys waiting for Daddy to come home

Mmmm...lollipop

Nick helping pass out the candy

Gardner Village

After the MyGym Halloween party we took Nicholas to Gardner Village. It is a cute little outdoor shopping area that was built in 1853. There is a petting zoo, carriage rides, and much more. They have a really big Christmas store that I will have to go to soon (since I was on bed rest last year I didn’t get to decorate much). We tried to get some pictures of Nick on the hay, but he was too interested in playing with the hay to look up. I also put the one picture I look at the St. Olaf’s Halloween Carnival in this post. It is of Nick and his girlfriend Abby. She was in the first Kindergarten class I taught there. Nicholas loves Abby and smiles the whole time he is with her :0)

LANDSHARK!!!!

We took Nick up to the Halloween Carnival at St. Olaf’s (the school where I used to teach) on Friday night. It was great to see my old friends and students!! Nicholas was quite a hit in his shark costume :0) He had a blast! I didn't get too many pictures there. We were busy catching up with everyone. We also took Nicholas to a Halloween party at MyGym this Saturday. He had such a great time:0) He loved seeing his awesome teachers and playing around in his shark costume. It was so cute to see the little shark crawling around! It was fun to see John play with Nick on the gym equipment. He loves to play with his Daddy :0) We all had such a fun time! I’m glad we are getting a lot of use out of Nick’s Halloween costumes.

Pumpkin Patch

We took Nicholas to the Pumpkin Patch last week. He was very interested in the vines and dirt. So much so that he was not interested in smiling for the camera. It was pretty cold and Nick had just woken up, so it was a short trip. At least we made it to a Pumpkin Patch (for me and my scrapbooking) for Nick’s first Halloween :0)

Nicholas & Dr. Wilde

I never got a picture with Nicholas and Dr. Wilde (the doc who delivered him) in the hospital. Dr. Wilde was great to me the entire pregnancy. He said that he has never had a patient that he actually looks forward to seeing so much (I was always entertaining)! I guess I entertained the whole office with my self diagnosing, etc. :0) Some of you might remember that from my weekly pregnancy emails. Well, I finally got a chance to get some pictures and Nicholas screamed the whole time! John says it is just like Nick would have acted in the hospital...haha! Nicholas usually loves Dr. Wilde, but he was pretty sick this day. So, after 10 months of waiting, here are some pics of Nick and Dr. Wilde :0)

More Texas

We got to visit with my cousin Sabrina, her husband Patrick, and their two sons, Carson & Connor. We saw them for dinner Saturday and Sunday nights. It was cool for Nicholas to meet some cousins. We took them all to the playground to play for a bit before dinner. Nick went down the slide by himself for the first time. He LOVED it! He just laughed and laughed :0) He went down the slide so many times. John & I also took him down a few times. My mom and dad took turns pushing Nicholas in the swing. The other kids (Kate, Carson, & Connor) had fun playing too. My mom followed Nick as he crawled all over their house. He also had fun playing with their cool ABC magnets. We didn’t get any pictures of all of the cousins, aunts, & uncles. We’ll be sure to get them next time!

We visited some friends, Scott & Julie, and their baby, Wyatt. They live in Denton where John’s sister used to live. Wyatt is 6 months old. Nicholas loved playing with Wyatt and all of his cool toys. He also loved their dogs and cats. We went out to lunch and got some ice cream. We attempted to get some pictures with both of the boys looking. It was almost impossible since Nick was more interested in playing that posing for pictures.

We left on Monday at the same time as my parents. We got to hang around the airport together for a while. Nicholas kept us all entertained. He got all of his energy out playing because he slept the entire flight home! It was so nice for us. All in all we had a GREAT trip!

Unlce Joe & Nicholas

Aunt Jena & Nicholas

Grandpa pushing Nick on the swing

Nicholas, Grandma, & Grandpa at the park

Grandma & Nicholas

Nicholas, Wyatt, & Julie

The boys

Nicholas being real cooperative

Awwwww

Nick with Grandpa & Grandma at the Dallas airport

Family picture at the Dallas airport

Nicholas after some of his Delta cookies

Texas State Fair

On Saturday we went to the Texas State Fair with my parents, my Uncle Joe, my cousin Joe, and Kate. We got to see Big Tex, who by the way seems way more exciting on King of the Hill. I finally got to see a Jeep Patriot, which may be the “family” car we get. It looks pretty nice. Everyone but me got a Corny (yes, it is Corny not Corn) Dog from the original place that it was invented at the Texas Start Fair. I got my Frito Pie (if you are a huge King of the Hill fan like me, you’ll understand :0). Gretch and my cousin Joe got some of the famous turkey legs. Nicholas went on the Texas Star Ferris Wheel with my dad, John, & I. He loved it. He liked to look at the scenery and the car behind us. He was trying to get down and crawl around, so he got a little agitated towards the end. Then we saw the 2nd largest pig in the world, Boris II. He was 4 years old and over 1147+ pounds! John and I took Nick into the petting zoo. There were kangaroos, goats, zebras, emus, ostriches, camels, cows, sheep, a giraffe, and much more. We decided not to have Nicholas pet the animals since he puts his hands right into his mouth. He did like to look at all of the animals. Then, we all headed to some pig races. My dad warned us that they weren’t too cool, but we had to see for ourselves. Jack was right; they weren’t much to write home about. We had a fun day at the fair.

Family photo in front of Big Tex

Another family photo

Waiting in line for the Texas Star

Looking down on the ferris wheel

Nick, Grandpa, & Mommy on the ferris wheel

Nick & Daddy in front of the Texas Stas

The Texas Star

Gretch enjoying her turkey leg

Nick inspecting a turkey leg

Kate flying a plane

Our Trip to Texas

We’re back from our trip to Texas. We got back on Monday. We had such a fun time visiting with my family :0) We flew out on Thursday, October 19th. We found out the day before that Nicholas had an ear infection in both ears! This trip he reversed it…he usually comes home with an ear infection. We were pretty worried about Nick’s ears bothering him on the flight, but he seemed to do ok. He was very active on the flight. He didn’t want to sit still at all. He didn’t scream. He just fidgeted. The flight attendant gave him some Delta cookies that kept him busy for a while. They were extremely messy, but worth it for the rest. Nicholas finally fell asleep during the descent into Dallas, of course! Our flight got in within minutes of my parent’s flight. Luckily, we came into the same terminal (just a few gates away). So, we just met up at the baggage claim and went to the rental car place together. We stopped at a Whataburger (my first time in ages!) on the way to my Aunt & Uncle’s house. We stayed with my cousin Joe, his wife Jena, and their cute daughter, Kate. Kate will be 3 in December. They live in Allen, TX. Nicholas loved his cousin Kate :0) He especially loved playing with her and her fun toys.

On Friday, we went to the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas. It is not really a great place for kids, but Nick & Kate did great. It was an interesting place to visit (not really too uplifting though). Then we all went to the Spaghetti Warehouse for lunch. While we were there, Nicholas finally got his foot all the way into his mouth. Very exciting, I know!

Nicholas on the plane

Nick playing with his cousin, Kate

Nick finds time to smile for the camera

Kate & Nicholas at the Spaghetti Warehouse

(Kate was great with him...she had to put up with A LOT!)