Things I Love Thursdays!

It's been a while, eh?

These are things filling my heart these days....

Bible Study - I was invited to attend a Bible Study at Hope Fellowship and started it this week. I don't know if this makes sense but I feel positive that I am 100% where I'm supposed to be right now. The ladies at my table and the bible study specifically have been put in my life at the most perfect time and for good reasons, some I'm sure I don't even know about yet. My heart is full and hopeful and I'm encouraged and excited to grow my prayer life and that of my family! Grayson knows about God and prays every day (his night time prayers are SO cute!) but I want him to KNOW Him. Anyway, I'm excited for the things to come!

I'm loving Priscilla's videos. Just about everything that comes out of her mouth speaks to me!

Walker's smiles and belly laughs - Oops. I just realized he was 8 months yesterday and I had no intention of doing a milestone blog post. Coming right up (yeah right!). 

This was taken at 5:30am. He smiles ALL the time.

My parents' generosity - Y'ALL. There are no words for their kindness and selflessness. Their beautiful dining room has turned into a make-shift storage unit, there are toys and clothes covering their usually-spotless house. Crumbs and spills on a kitchen floor that used to be so clean that you could eat from them (and sometimes Walker does). We have turned their house upside down from a 2-person dwelling to 6 and have added 2 extra vehicles. And a fridge and gun safe. And they haven't complained ONCE. They have saved us a lot of stress, tears and money and we will never be able to repay them!

My wedding dress, lamp shades and spices/teas cover their table. Safe to say they won't be entertaining for a while. :)

Fall - All that this brings: cooler temps, Fall clothing, football, the holidays, family and a busier and more joyful time. I love, love, love this season!

The progress being made on our house right now. There have been workers there just about every day for weeks. Even Saturdays. But I know after paint, there is a real possibility that it will sit idle again. Our neighbor's house hasn't been touched since the painters finished and granite went in a week ago and the builder has mentioned delays with brick and tile. Praying for no more delays and have loved seeing the activity over there! The houses around ours all have their pumpkins out and front doors decorated and I only wish we were moved in and could join them! :)

Latest progress: primer!

Kitchen drawers galore! Oh, and the tub is in.

Girl Time - Until recently, I experienced few breaks away from parenting and have had the chance to feel just how truly exhausting it is. I have a great respect for women who don't have family or help nearby. Like most of the out-of-state girls in my play group! We cherish our time together when we do get out, especially when it's kid free! Last night was sushi at Sake Toro and drinks and karaoke at Lemon Bar. 

A gentleman sent over a round of shots that no one drank. Thoughtful gesture but we've got kids to take care of!

Beau and Grayson time - Watching these two bond as Grayson gets older is so fun to see. Grayson adores his Daddy and as he becomes more and more of a chatter box, it's really cool to hear their conversations. When they're awake, that is! ;)

Snuggles in the hotel room. Gray likes to sleep shirtless just like his Dad :)

He's a terrific Daddy!

We have a new niece! And other not as cool things...

Fall is in the air and things are picking up with our schedules around here! A welcomed shift from the long, hot summer. My friend Alison writes beautifully about this in her blog entry titled, "Doing the Seasons." This term plays in my head a lot and I love it. :)

Most importantly though, we have a new niece!
Edi Jones was born Wednesday night weighing about 8 1/2 pounds, beautiful and healthy. All we can ask for! Beau's sister, Kara and Todd took Edi home on Friday and we went out to visit them on Saturday. She seems to be such an easy baby so far and slept most of the time we were there. :) 

Cousin Payton (Reyn's daughter) holding Edi. Now all 3 Reynolds kids have kids. :) 

The 3 Reynolds grandkids. Payton loved her some Edi. Grayson was more interested in playing with tools and bubbles outside.

Look. How. Cute.

Silhouette
My mom and I took Grayson to a silhouette artist at The Posh Petunia yesterday. This guy is incredible! Armed with just a black piece of paper and some really sharp scissors, he cuts these from scratch with absolutely no sketching or drawing and is finished in under 5 minutes. It's really cool to watch him work! He's from California and his work is offered in Restoration Hardware - Baby & Child (umm, for $160 and it's not even your kid! Shaa right, we paid $25 :) ). But cool nonetheless since I originally got the idea to do this from the Resto catalog in the first place! Total coincidence that it was the same guy. I really look forward to having the new baby's profile done since my vision is to have them hanging on each child's bedroom door facing each other :) Possibly the only perk to having their bedrooms so close to each other :)  

Eyelashes!

Week 3 of school
What a weight off my shoulders that this transition back to school has been so easy. Grayson kisses me goodbye and walks right into Ms. Jenny and the other kids, sits at the table and begins the morning's project. He seems so grown up to me when this happens. I'm still expecting last year's tears! Gosh that was hard. Also, the Director of the school greeted Grayson by name this morning. She's either really good at what she does or he has given her reason to know his name! Time will tell...

Lunching 
I feel really fortunate that I'm free to coffee and lunch with friends and fellow-organization members (more on that below.) Here are some recent favorites that I recommend: Butternut squash ravioli - It's like dessert! And only at Maggiano's for a limited time. Oh, and Lori and I split the huge chocolate cake. Pregnant girl heaven for both of us! Also, the sweet potato fries at both Breadwinners and Mooyah are awesome! Not sure why I had been doing regular fries all along. New places you should try: Chocolate Angel for lunching in Plano - but make a reso - amazing place! And for lighter/healthier, Cedars Wood Fire Grill in Frisco.  Last, I know everyone raves about the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbuck's but it's too perfumey-tasting to me! I ask for 1 or 1 1/2 less pumps than usual and it brings it down to manageable. I'm sure I'm the last to know but thought I'd share.

Hope Park
I have officially joined the team of volunteers for Hope Park, a first-of-its-kind development for children with special needs right here in Frisco. The kids have had a hand in designing it and there will be features that just don't exist in our parks thus far. It will be 100% funded by donations and sponsors so we have a big mountain to climb to reach the projected $750,000 it will take to build in early 2013. I'm helping with the marketing side of things (duh) and submitted my ideas for our next event last week. They were really well-received and I'm feeling so proud and happy to be a part of it all! More to come on that event, Pairing for the Park, a wine pairing in October!

Play dates and birthdays
Beau and our neighbor Scooter were rather spontaneous last Sunday and decided at 4:30pm that we should do margaritas and dinner at our house. I swear they weren't this fun when I wasn't pregnant and would have loved a margarita! The Asels emptied their pantry in about 15 minutes and we actually pulled off a really good meal! And Beau loves to get the outdoor speakers cranked up with a good game of corn hole so there's that. Overe all, a lot of fun.

How do you feed 8 people in a pinch? A grill, a boxed cake and A LOT of mac and cheese and beans!

Brayden turned 2 this past weekend and Martha and John had his party at one of our favorites, My Gym! We hadn't been back since our membership expired so it was fun to see Grayson go back. 

Brayden is far right in the plaid shorts. Happy Birthday, buddy!

Grayson (center) put his hands to his mouth when he was in suspense - thought that was pretty precious :)

MOPS
These girls are always doing something! Several times a week in addition to the regular meetings. I enjoyed a MNO with them last night and last Thursday. They also do a dinner during the week for those of us with traveling or coaching husbands. I do that with my play group too so it's nice to fill up those week nights with other activities besides showing up on my parents' doorstep - ha! :) 

What Grayson's been up to...

He's a creative scavenger!

Why are the turtles on top of each other? Uhhh, they're playing leap frog. Moving on....[I have got to become more knowledgable on random stuff]

Oral hygiene, y'all!