Raleigh Christmas Parade

We ventured out to the Raleigh Christmas parade for the first time this year. Our friend Chris and his little girl Addison joined us (sadly Jen had to work and couldn't come). It was a cold morning, but we had a lot of fun. We didn't stay until the end because Joshua was getting very sleepy, but we enjoyed the time we were there.

I think next time I will take some more snacks for Joshua. Before we left I grabbed the bag of goldfish crackers and stuck it in the diaper bag. There weren't a ton left in there, but I figured they would due if Joshua got hungry. Little did I know that Derek was going to need a snack as well and would eat most of Joshua's goldfish. It was okay, though. Addison had a large snack cup filled with Cheerios. Joshua helped himself to those Cheerios plenty.

Hmm......I think I want some of those Cheerios

Yes, I think I'll help myself

Ha.....she didn't see that one coming.

Joshua, there's no need to steal my Cheerios. I would be more than happy to give you some.

Better yet, I'll just feed them to you.

To Ashley and Brandon's We Go

At the beginning of November,while Derek spent the weekend in the mountains with the boys, Joshua and I headed to Huntersville to get some quality time in with Ashley and Brandon. My friend Jennifer from high school came over on Friday night with her little boy Cole and cooked us all dinner. Cole is about 6 weeks older than Johsua, so it was fun to finally get them together! On Saturday Holly and her little guy Palmer came over to visit us! Later on after Joshua's nap we took Joshua to their neighborhood park. Then they cooked us a yummy steak dinner Saturday night! It was a great day! On Sunday we got up and went to their church. I got to stay in the auditorium for the worship time, but as soon as we sat down to hear the pastor speak my (Joshua's) number flashed up on the screen. I have never experienced this before at our church with Joshua. He was in the nursery just crying is eyes out. He looked so pitiful when I got there to get him. He and I sat in the lobby and watched the rest of the service on the tv screen. After church Joshua and I stopped by Concord to visit my family for a little bit before we headed home. It was an awesome weekend, and we can't wait to do it again when Derek can go with us! Thanks for having us Ashley and Brandon!

*And don't hold your breath looking for pictures from our fun weekend. Derek had our camera with him in the mountains.

Baby Caleb

Meet baby Caleb with his mommy Kara. Little Caleb is just so sweet and cuddly.

See, I told you I would write about baby Caleb.....just never really imagined it would be over a month after he was born....ha! Caleb Hadyn McLendon made his grand appearance on November 4th. We got to go meet him on November 5th in the hospital. He has the sweetest little head of red hair and is absolutely beautiful!

I think you can tell that I'm a little smitten....

Derek thought he was pretty awesome, too!

At just three weeks old Caleb made his first visit to Holly Springs. We had planned on taking Kara and Christopher dinner, but they suggested they come to our house so that Joshua could get to bed on time. It was a great night with lots of Caleb snuggles! We can't wait to see him again. (You hear that Kara.....we better hang out again soon ;))

Roar Little Dragon

Joshua was the cutest and sweetest little red dragon for Halloween! The morning of Halloween we went to Holly Fest here in Holly Springs. It was at a local park. There were rides and blow-up slides, lots of food, and good fun! We even got to see a pig race! Joshua's Grandma sent him a cute little race car driver uniform for Halloween. He got to wear it to Holly Fest and was so stinkin' cute! I'm so sad we never even got our camera out while he was wearing it. I still have plans to put it back on him to take a picture for my Granny. She is a huge Nascar fan and would be tickled to death to see him in it. That night we dressed Joshua up in his dragon costume and let him hand out some candy to the neighborhood kids before we headed off to our friends' Shane and Anna's house

When we got to Shane and Anna's we took Joshua up to their door and rang the doorbell and ran away. Shane opened the door and Joshua fell in.....ha! Shane started cracking up. They kept saying how cute he was, and I had to agree! We hung out there for a little while. Greg and Nichole stopped by with Ayden. It was a fun night.....well really an entire day of fun!

Joshua and his "friend" Grace....Shane and Anna's daughter

Lion Ayden, Flower Grace, and Dragon Joshua....so cute!

Side not about the dragon costume.......I was outside with Joshua a few days before Halloween when our neighbors came outside. We talked to them for a few minutes before they asked what Joshua was going to be for Halloween. I told them I wasn't even sure we were going to dress Joshua up this year because we hadn't really planned to go anywhere for Halloween. I'm pitiful...I know. So our neighbor ran into her house and yelled for us not to go anywhere. I was a little confused, but then she came out with the cutest little red dragon costume. Their son wore it last year, and it was practically in brand new condition. It was just such a neat surprise and such an adorable little costume!

Hill Ridge Farms

Can I just say that Hill Ridge Farms is such a fun place to go!! I think we might have even enjoyed it more than the state fair. There was so much to do there. We.......

Found our way through a little maze

Jumped in a bounce house

Saw some animals

Rode a huge slide

Played on a fort (which we have no pictures of)

Jumped in some hay

Played in some corn

Rode a hay ride

and Picked out some pumpkins!

Kara and Christopher ventured out with us which made it even more fun!

I think next year we may even go twice. The only downside to it is that it is about an hour from our house, but the ride there was well worth all the fun that we had.

State Fair 2009

At the end of October we headed out to the NC state fair with David, Pamela, Hudson and Katy. We have been loving having them close by! We ate some yummy food, saw some animals, and rode a few rides. We were a little disappointed in the number of rides Joshua was actually able to ride. Even some of the rides that had the sign saying if you were under a certain height you could ride it with an adult wouldn't let us on. His favorite thing by far was the carousel! We had to ride it several times.

Joshua had his first taste of a funnel cake....and then he had quite a few more tastes ;). We had a great time and can't wait for next year!

Our Little Family

Kara's Havin' a Baby!

Our good friends, Kara and Christopher McLendon, just had a baby! Little Caleb is just precious! I'll introduce him to you in another post. (I'm a little anal and feel the need to keep the events in our lives in the correct order on the blog....ha! I guess that means I should update it more often.)

In October Derek and I had the opportunity to go to Meredith College (where Kara and I went to school together) to take some maternity photos for them. It was a lot of fun! Joshua came along and had a great time running around the amphitheater. I think we got some really good shots for them!