Happy Halloween

We decided to forgo the costume this year and just put Casen in his Halloween PJ's. He had a fun evening, though he did get upset because he wanted to be out trick or treating with the big kids.

Crazy Faces

Casen's Newest Friend

Yesterday, Casen and I went to visit his newest friend, Harrison. His mom Amy had Harrison 5 weeks early. He is now two weeks old and still so tiny. After meeting Harrison, Casen seems huge to me!

Baby Bjorn Blunders

You know, with all of the new baby equipment sometimes it's hard figuring it out. The Baby Bjorn is no exception. Above is the first attempt - which didn't go so well - and below is the final outcome. I’m glad we took time to experiment. Otherwise, Casen wouldn’t have been a happy camper. We decided that the Baby Bjorn was easier to use on a walk than the stroller, at least for now. I'm sure we'll rethink it when Casen weighs 20 pounds!

McKinney Staff Retreat

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, McKinney Church held their annual staff retreat.  We had a fabulous time of fun and fellowship.

The retreat was held at Pine Cove, a Christian camp that is located outside of Tyler. One of the highlights of the retreat was the zip line.

Almost everyone was coerced into going on the zipline. This is Judy, the financial secretary, getting all geared up.

Kathy, the senior pastor's wife, and Charlotte, the youth pastor's wife, posing before their big ride.

Kathy either praising Jesus or screaming in terror. I didn't witness this one so I'm not sure which one it was!

Chris and I flying through the air.

Jerry, our pastoral care pastor, and Jordan, the middle school pastor's daughter, hanging out.

Casen sacked out after and long, fun day.

Friends

Last week we had an exciting visit from some good friends that we met when we lived in Plano. We met the Leavers and the Williams while they were starting a life group (aka Sunday School) for people who had been married a few years but didn't have kids yet. Well, as most people realize, there is usually only a short window of time to be in that stage and this group kept it very short! It was fun to see Drew and Dawn as new parents and shortly after that Joy and Jason. We thought we would round out the trio by jumping on the bandwagon and having a little boy too. The Williams and Leavers are dear friends and I know our boys will have many more fun opportunities to play and grow together!

Ethan, Casen and Carsten lounging on the sofa. I can just picture the three of them 15 years from now laying around watching a football game together!

Carsten giving me his best smile!

Ethan posing with Mr. Bear!

I'm Ready for Christmas

Casen received a fun package full of Christmas paraphernalia the other day from his Aunt Katie and Uncle Blake who live in South Carolina. The Santa hat was Casen's favorite!

We're Making Progress!

Casen is a smiley boy now. It is so much fun to watch him focus on something and then see a big grin spread across his face!

He's also sleeping better. Sunday night Casen slept from 10:30 until 6:30! Amazing! Everyone told me that the first time he sleeps through the night that I would wake up and be so worried that I would run in to check on him. I thought they were crazy! I knew I would be so relieved and excited about sleep that I wouldn't dare get out of bed unless I heard a crying baby. Well....they were right. There I was up and out of bed at 5:30 tiptoeing into his room. Then again at 5:45 and 6 and...well you get the picture!

Friends and Family

Our friends, Amber and Jordan Peters. brought over dinner last week.

They also brought over their new puppy, Marla. Sutton did not know quite what to do with her at first. Marla ended up becoming feisty though and gave Sutton a run for her money.

This is Jenna, Chris' cousin, who is now a sophomore at OSU. It was fun reminiscing about all of the fun things you get to do in college. What a fun time!

The Bumbo

Casen seems to be having an issue with gas. He loves to be held over your shoulder and tends to kick his little feet a lot. He also seems to enjoy being upright so we decided to get out the Bumbo and give it a try. Now, I know it is earlier than the directions say, but I thought it would be worth a shot. Casen wasn't so good at it in the begining as shown here:




However, when I put him back in the Bumbo today, he did much better. I think the Bumbo is going to be a great thing!!!

Casen at 6 weeks

Casen sleeping peacefully in his froggy pj's.


Casen loves bath time!

I laid Casen down on my bed and Sutton jumped up there and chose to cuddle up next to Casen!

Amanda, the Psuedo-Aunt

Amanda, one of my best friends, came all of the way from Memphis to visit Casen.


Amanda is in the pediatric dentistry residence program at the University of Tennessee. Here, I caught her going for the pacifier so she could give Casen his first exam. She checked things out and says he has a perfect little mouth!

Amanda refers to herself as Casen's favorite pseudo-aunt. He liked her this time, but since Amanda will be Casen's dentist and will poke and prod around in his mouth, I hope the love continues to develop!

When Casen loses his baby teeth, Amanda has him already prepared. She bought him an engraved loose tooth holder. Isn't it adorable? The only problem is that apparently, from the patients she sees, the tooth fairy is currently paying at least 5 dollars per tooth. There's no telling what the going rate will be when Casen is old enough to lose his teeth! We'll have to start saving now!

Visitors!

Paul and Susan brought over Crawfish Etouffee for us last week and it was delicious. Yes, to those of you who know how picky I am, I ate it and honestly enjoyed it! Paul snuck in a practice round of snuggling with Casen. Paul and Susan just found out they are going to have a little girl.  We've already started planning Casen and Maddie's wedding!

We met Ashley and Cheryl Shaw at the church Chris worked at when we first got married.  Ashley was in the youth group. They are a ton of fun to be around and Casen just adored them. Ashley, with a tiny bit of brainwashing from Chris and I, ended up going to Oklahoma State University then to UCO to get a nursing degree. She's now back in Fort Worth racking up fun stories as an emergency room nurse!

Katie and Mitchell are one of the newest set of singles to have been married by Chris. They had a beautiful wedding this summer and honeymooned in St. Lucia, where Chris and I vacationed four years ago.

Molli, one of the girls in our Eikon ministry at church, graciously brought over an awesome King Ranch Chicken Casserole. These single girls can cook better than I can and I've had four years to practice!