Black Friday

On Black Friday, I went shopping with Michele, Mom, Kaitlyn, Meriah, Jana, and Alicia.  We left home around 8:30am and got home around 10pm.  It was SO much fun!  We went to Kohl's, the mall, Target, and Jefferson Pointe.  It was just fun to spend time with the girls and get a little Christmas shopping done.  Lex stayed home with her sweet daddy!

We just happened upon the lighting of the big tree at Jefferson Pointe.

It was really awesome!!!:)

Thanksgiving 2012

Daddy had to work on Thanksgiving morning so Alexis and I started our day off with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!  She actually seemed to like it and especially took notice when a marching band would come on the screen.

Watching the Pillsbury Doughboy balloon

 

Saying hi to Santa at the end of the parade!

 

After Bryan got off work, we went over to my parents' house for the day.  We ate appetizers for lunch and had sukiyaki for supper.  We just hung out for the day and it was very nice and relaxing!

 

Our little turkey!

Our family of 3 on Lex's first Thanksgiving!

The turkey girls!

The cousins...love these kids SO, SO much!

Aunt Michele reading to Lill and Lex

Peyton and Zaya played Wii while Lex watched!:)

Thanksgiving Eve 2012

Our Thanksgiving holiday began on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  We got together with Bryan's side of the family and it was so nice to just be able to hang out without having to rush off somewhere else!  We had a traditional meal...Bryan and I did our usual turkey!

Alexis made sure it was thawing.:)

We brined it overnight using the Pioneer Woman's brine recipe.

Bry came home during his lunch break to help me get the turkey in the oven.  Love my man in a snowman apron!:)

Daddy and Lex with the finished product!

Grammy and Lex

Alexis had carrots, apples, and mango for her Thanksgiving meal!

 

Grandpa and Daddy playing with Lex

 

We ended the night playing spoons and it was so much fun!:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Today I am feeling very thankful for these two (or three, I guess!) turkeys!:) We are abundantly blessed!!!

Mrs. Pinky

I have been pretty happy (and surprised) that I haven't bought Alexis a ridiculous amount of "stuff" since she's been born.  However, on Saturday, I saw this big, cute, soft, cuddly, PINK bear for $10 and I couldn't resist!  She loves it!  I had a very large amount of stuffed animals as a child and I wouldn't be surprised at all if she follows suit!:)

We decided to call her new bear "Mrs. Pinky"

Relaxing on Mrs. Pinky while she watched Mickey Mouse

Giving Mrs. Pinky a kiss

Mrs. Pinky is bigger than her!

Daddy was making Mrs. Pinky bark (yes, it's a bear!) and Lex thought it was hilarious!

More Catch Up

Still playing catch up...

Lex got a new toy for her highchair from Aunt Michele and Uncle Shane...she loves it!

This girl loves to play with her football!

Smiling through her baby food!:)

Alexis really likes to play with feet!:/

With her new ball from Grandma and Grandpa C.

Me and my girl...she loves to look at her self on the camera!:)

What's Happening

I've gotten behind on blogging what's going on in our daily lives so here is a little bit of a picture dump to catch up!

Now that Alexis is crawling/scooting, she's been exploring different things in the house.  Her favorite: the laptop and charger cord!  "No-no" is becoming more frequently heard in the Hall household.:)

We went to visit Daddy at work last week.  We took him Arby's for lunch! 

Lex and Lill love to play together!  Lex LOVES her cousins.  She will always give them a huge smile!

My girl and I at the mall!  She's a pretty good little shopper!

A couple of weeks ago, we saw the Smart's hot air balloon by our house again.  We thought for sure that it was going to land in the field across the road, but it couldn't quite make it.  Hopefully one of these times we will get to see it land by us!

Today was a big day for Lex!  We lowered her crib and she got to sleep with a lovey for the first time!  I could watch her sleep all day.:)

Deer Camp 2012

Lex experienced her first "deer camp" last weekend!  It was opening day for shotgun season on Saturday and we went out to Grandpa and Grandma Hall's to visit Daddy.  

Alexis was happy to see her da-da!

Baby girl got to wear her pink camo jacket that we got her from Cabela's!

She also wore her cute camo onesie that Gma and Gpa got her this summer!

 

It was a very quiet weekend as far as opening weekends go.  There wasn't much action around the house and not much action in the woods either.  Most of the guys didn't see anything and the ones who did see some deer didn't see much worth shooting.  It was some of the best weather that we've had for an opening weekend in a long time (50's during the day, dry and sunny).  On Sunday afternoon, Bry was walking to his stand and called some does in.  He made a quick decision to shoot at one while sitting on the ground and made a bad shot.  He thinks he hit it low.  (He also saw a coyote and might have shot it.) He waited until dark to start tracking it and spent about four hours looking for it.  They followed a blood trail clear over to Mounsey's through extremely dense and thorny thicket and ended up giving up around 11pm.  He felt very bad that he wounded the deer.  Alexis and I were both very happy to have Daddy back home today!:) 

Alexis: Seven Months Old!

On Saturday, Alexis turned seven months old!  Such a big girl!:)                                                     

                                                    

Alexis, here's what you are up to this month:

• No doctor's appointment this month, so I don't know your official stats!  I feel like you are getting longer though!
• You are wearing 9 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 3 shoes. 
• You are officially sitting up unassisted and sitting up on your own from laying down.  You are pretty much a crawler.  Most often you prefer to scoot and flop like a seal to get where you are going, but you have shown us that you are capable of moving your arms and legs together to crawl!
• You love to play!  You love your activity gym, your exersaucer, your stuffed animals, anything that makes noise, and lots of other things.  You have started taking an interest in Mommy and Daddy's stuff (especially the computer cord for some reason!) so you have begun to hear "no-no" pretty regularly.:)
• Your hair is starting to grow!  It is especially getting thick in the back.  We can't decide if it's going to be blond, brown, or red like Daddy's!
• You do really well in the church nursery.  You go on Friday mornings for Bible study and on Sunday mornings for church.  You seem to love playing with your friends!  The babies you are most often with are Lily, Brody, and Hadley.
• You have been eating baby food this month.  We offer it to you at least once and sometimes twice a day.  You aren't really a big fan.  You seem to like carrots, applesauce, prunes, and bananas the best so far.  You do not like peas or green beans. 
• You have two teeth on the bottom...they are SO CUTE!:)
• You have been doing much better at sleeping through the night this last month.  I think it's a combination of a few things: your teeth finally came through, we started feeding you a bottle of breastmilk before bed, and Mommy made you fuss-it-out for a few nights.  You generally sleep from 7-8pm to 7-8am, getting up around 3 or 4am to eat. 
• You are still a very inconsistent napper.  I put you down for a nap in the morning and you sleep for about 30 minutes to an hour.  In the afternoon, you sleep for 1 1/2-2 hours.  You almost ALWAYS wake up after 30 minutes and either fuss for a while or I give you your binky.  I just don't think you're going to be a great napper.  Whose child are you, anyway?!:)

Sweet girl,

 

I look at your little face and still can't believe that you're mine!  Your daddy and I couldn't be more happy to be your parents.  We get the biggest kick out of all the new things that you learn and do.  You make us so proud.  I love spending my days with you and I look forward to doing so many fun things together in the future.  Your daddy asked me the other day how much money I would sell you for (joking, of course!:).  When I thought about it, I realized that NO amount of money or possessions could even slightly tempt me to trade you.  (You are happy about that, right?;)  I've got it all with you and Da-da!  I love you, my sweet petunia!

 

Lex's First Snow!

Today, Alexis experienced her very first snow! It wasn't snowing very hard when we took these pictures, but it ended up covering the ground with a fine layer of snow for a little while. Hopefully Daddy will be home the next time and we can go out in it for a little bit!:)

Fun Saturday!

We had a fun day today!  The weather was extremely nice (mid 60's and sunny) so we spent some time outside this afternoon!

 

Daddy went hunting this morning so I seized the opportunity to cuddle with my girl for her morning nap today.  There's no better way to spend a lazy Saturday morning, if you ask me!:)

We ended our day in Fort Wayne.  We went to Target to shop for our Operation Christmas Child boxes.  I hope that this is a tradition that is part of our family's Christmas celebrations for many years to come!:)

Little Shopper

Recently, Alexis has been trying out the big girl seat in the shopping cart! She seems so big. She doesn't really love it yet, but I'm sure she will once she gets used to it!:)

More Chicago Pics



Here are a few more pictures from our weekend in Chicago:

On the way to Chicago, we stopped at the Satek Winery.  It was fun! 

On the ferris wheel!:)

We ate deep dish pizza at Gino's East...it was yucky!

On the tour bus!

This was our rental house.  It was a newer home, but in a somewhat sketchy neighborhood.  Not sure we'd stay there again!:)

I can't wait until next year!  I wonder where we'll go?!:)