Mini-vacay...without the kid!!!

In early October, Bill and I took a mini-vacation to the J.W. Mariott resort hotel in San Antonio, Texas. My mom came down and stayed with Hank. I guess you could kind of call it a little honeymoon since we didn't actually go on a honeymoon after we got married. I forgot to take pictures so here are the total of 5 pictures that I have on my phone from our 3 days in  San Antonio.

Salsa, guacamole, and pita chips - eating, eating, and more eating was one of the big themes of this trip

More food

Napping by the pool

At the Alamo

One of the several beers that Bill got to enjoy on our trip. I was probably about 10 weeks pregnant at the time so I had to stick to the virgin pina coladas.

Haircut #3

The first haircut was a breeze. Of course I was naive and thought that we were golden for all the haircuts to follow. I was so wrong. The second haircut was a nightmare. From the moment that the cover-up was around his neck, Hank was hysterical. Needless to say, his haircut looked terrible, and I was sure that this experience was so traumatizing that I would never get him to sit for a haircut for at least the next 5 years. Here's the one picture I have of that haircut:

That haircut quickly grew out, and it was time for haircut #3. I did my research this time and found a place that had a car barber chair. I came prepared with plenty of snacks to include grapes, raisins, and goldfish and Hank's favorite stuffed puppy dog. We opted to simply change his clothes after the haircut instead of using the cover-up. He may have swallowed a few hairs while snacking and his puppy dog ended up covered in hair, but it was well worth it. This haircut turned out much better.

Before

During - hugging his puppy and stuffing raisins in his mouth

After

Christmas Card Pictures

I was on top of it last fall and wasted no time getting our Christmas card pictures done. I set up a time with Herald Photography, and we met on a Sunday afternoon in late October at a little park here on Fort Polk. It took Hank a little time to warm-up to everything (probably because I should have woken him up from his nap a little earlier), but she managed to get some great pictures (with the help of a lot of goldfish crackers). Here are a few of my favorites:

Ok...maybe more than a few....

Oh...and...surprise!!!

Updates coming soon!!!

Catching up...Let's go back to October...

October! Yikes!! I'm way behind. In my defense, my blogging computer, our iMac, has been under construction for about 3 months now. Don't bring this up to my husband. It's a very sore subject. He continues to say this was one of our worst purchases and that he still can't believe that I was able to talk him into buying a Mac! Anyway, the sound stopped working a while back but we just dealt with it. Since we were nearing the end of the warranty, we planned a trip to Houston, Texas (3 hours away) to take it in to the closest Apple store. This was back in early November. The Apple "genius" on the phone failed to mention that there was an authorized Apple repair location only 1.5 hours away, but whatever, I enjoy visiting Houston (I'm sure the good shopping and good food has absolutely nothing to do with that!). We actually had to leave the computer in Houston, and fortunately one of Bill's soldiers who is from that area was able to pick it up for us over Thanksgiving. They replaced the logic board, but they must have replaced it with a damaged one because our computer still didn't work when we got home. The sound worked, but every time we opened a program, the computer went into failover mode and shut down. In December we took it to the closer repair shop, and one month later we finally have a working computer. Yay!! (because I really do love this computer, despite my husband's complaining)

So anyway, back in October we took Hank to a local pumpkin patch. I think his favorite part was throwing the pumpkins (while calling them "balls").

Not so sure about the cornfield maze...

Rearranging all the pumpkins..and throwing a few..or a lot...

Stay tuned...I will try to catch up!

Military Ball

In late September Bill and I attended a military ball for his battalion. I was a little stressed out about leaving Hank overnight with one of our friends - maybe more than a little. Of course he did wonderful, and we were able to have a good time at the ball.

With our friends, the Francos.

With the ladies

Splash Park

Here are a few pictures from a hot August afternoon spent at the splash park.

Family Reunion

Towards the end of July, Hank and I flew into Indianapolis to go to a family reunion in Nashville, Indiana. Of course, I didn't take enough pictures - I think I was too busy chasing my kid around and trying to keep him out of the hot tub. We had a great time which of course makes me wish that we lived closer so that we could visit more often. Maybe at the next duty station!

So not digging Mommy and Grandma's shopping excursion

Silly boy

Playing with Eli

Libby, Luke, and Harlan

Luke, Hank and Eli - maybe we can get a better one at Thanksgiving - and goofy Ellie in the background :)

Hank and Mike - I think he was about the only other person that Hank would let hold him other than Mommy, Grandma, and Grandpa