Marine Corps Birthday Ball

So Jason and I had to attend the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, and while the thought of getting dressed up fancy for a night out would normally appeal to a girl like me, doing it when I am 7 months pregnant was not exactly ideal.  I remember how difficult it was finding a dress in high school for dances that were modest was a difficult task, but now adding that to finding a dress that would fit my pregnant belly to the mix was an even crazier task.  Not to mention that our budget for a dress I would wear once was virtually nothing.  So who would have known that the dress my mom picked out for me to wear to my junior year homecoming dance ten years ago would actually fit my now large pregnant self.  My sister even had a matching jacket that worked perfect with it.  The evening was still pretty horrifying.  It felt like prom all over again, except I was huge a pregnant with a 2 year old at home.  I definitely felt like a spectacle with all the other tiny girls that still looked like they were in high school wearing gowns that covered the bear minimum were all around.  Not that I can be the only one to complain, Jason's dress blues looked far from comfortable, he could barely move his neck poor guy.  The dinner at the ball was pretty awful so afterwards we went with another couple to the Golden Corral for some fancy buffet dining.  If I didn't feel like a spectacle at the ball I definitely did at the restaurant with everyone staring at the crazy people who were wearing formal gowns and dress blues to the Golden Corral.  We are praying that next year we don't have to do that again!! 

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Well our annual pumpkin carving contest came and went.  We had it later this year since Jason was in California for his pre-deployment training over Halloween.  We took votes and Jason's mater won.  His was a little more difficult I admit, but I am still proud of my Elmo.  Ethan liked both, but of course Mater was a shoe in for him.  Oh well, what matters is that we had fun, and that i am going to beat Jason next year :).  

Trick or Treat!

Halloween 2011

Ethan had a little too much fun Trick or Treating this year.  I am pretty sure that I ran a couple of miles chasing after him, since he would not walk or hold my hand.  He ran from door to door, yelled out "trick or treat" and most the time didn't even wait for the candy before running to the next house.  I went with my sister and her family and luckily Ethan's uncle took over for a while so I could catch my breath.  Being 7 months pregnant and chasing a mini pirate around the neighborhood got quite a few giggles from other parents.  Oh well, Ethan had a blast so that's all that matters.  Can I just say that Halloween is so much more fun with kids!!  Stay tuned for next weeks delayed annual Pumpkin carving contest.  Jason comes home from training and we delayed our pumpkin carving until he gets home.  I know everyone will be anxiously awaiting!  In the meantime, enjoy the pics...

Cheese!

I don't know why, but for some reason Ethan does not like letting us take pictures of us with our own camera, but for some reason its the coolest thing in the world to do with someone else's camera.  I had borrowed my sisters cool camera to do my assignment from the last post and while I was working on editing the photos Ethan kept coming in and saying cheese and giving me huge grins.  How could I refuse. So here are a few cute Ethan smiling pics, I am enjoying them now because they are so few and far between these days :).

Where we live

I had to do an assignment for my Photoshop class and create a travel brochure for the town I lived in.  I thought it would be fun to post some of the pictures I took and edited to give everyone a feel for where we live.  It is gorgeous here, and I am finally starting to enjoy it since the weather has cooled down and I am not sweating profusely every time I go outside.  Obviously I am not a photographer but it was fun to take my own pictures and edit them with my very beginning photoshop skills.  So now that you all have seen how pretty it is here, you should come visit :)!

Once a slacker...

My husband threatened that if I didn't update the blog soon he was going to take it over, and as much as I would like to see how that would turn out, I figured it was about time to get back on the ball again. So we moved to North Carolina!! Jason was stationed here and we have been in our own place since August, it has been wonderful to have our own place and space and our family back together again. For those who don't know we are expecting a baby boy due January 16th!! He is a wonderful surprise addition to our family. Sadly though, Jason will be deployed in just a few short months and will miss his birth. We are devastated about that, but know that everything happens for a reason. It should be an interesting time for me and Ethan. Ethan has LOVED having his Dad home, they are best buds and it is going to break my heart to explain that Daddy won't be home for a while again. We are trying to keep a positive attitude and are praying that the time will go by quickly. I am scrambling to try and finish my online line web design certificate program before the baby is born, so that will keep me busy for a little while anyway. It has been so nice being a stay at home mom these last few months, it is so much fun to hang out with Ethan all day!! I go a little stir crazy some days since we are a one car family, but overall it is such a huge blessing. Here are a few pictures of our time here in North Carolina so far, we are loving being so close to the beach! Plus it helps that my sister Heidi and her family are only 5 minutes away!

                           Apparently I can't even have a foot soak by myself :)

So we had a hurricane here just a few short weeks after moving in, we were very fortunate though and didn't even experience a power outage!

The only person Ethan will let cut his hair without throwing a huge fit, Daddy has the magic touch!