End of October - November 2011 - Part 1

 The end of October and beginning of November was our first time of REALLY cold windy weather!  We got inside one afternoon after picking up Parker from school and my girl and I were totally windblown!  Caroline LOVES the wind, though. When it hits her face and her hair goes everywhere, she giggles uncontrollably!  It's precious. 

 And - this is her favorite spot to be when I'm trying to do the dishes.  Good thing she's a tiny thing... I think I'm secretly wanting this to break one day so we can get a dishwasher that doesn't require us to clean our dishes BEFORE we put them in the washer...

 Park is such a good cousin!  He goes along with whatever his cousin, KK, wants to do - most of the time.  He will be a wonderful hubby one day!

 Halloween was SUPER fun this year!  We met up with the Markhams so that Park and Sisi could trick or treat together for the first part of the night!  Park was Jake and Sisi was Jasmine! 

 Their little siblings were supposed to be their sidekicks!  Dylan was successful as Raja, the BOY tiger of Jasmine's in the movie.  Caroline was supposed to be a fairy to go along with Jake and the Neverland Pirates, but the freezing cold weather that came up a few days before Halloween did not allow that to happen.  She was a fuzzy wuzzy bunny instead!

 Our crew!

 Sitting on the Markhams front porch waiting for the big event!  Before we got out the door, a few TOT-ers came to their door and Parker had a ton of fun passing out candy to everyone!  We had to convince him that actually going TOT would be more fun!

The babies loved riding around in the wagon!

And the big kids were TOTALLY in their element running up to doors and ringing doorbells!  We had to keep reminding Parker to be sincere and actually thank everyone who gave him candy... nothing is worse than a rude trick or treater!  :)

 We headed home after we TOT-ed in Sisi's neighborhood then hit up a few houses around our house.  Park had a blast and so did mommy and daddy watching him live these moments!

 This bunny was a hand-me-down from Aunt Nitney and it was perfect!  Thanks Aunt Nitney!

 And what would a bunny be without a cute little cotton tail?!

 Park was thrilled to find these in his bag the next morning! 

 The DAY after Halloween, I started putting Caroline in her fun winter/Christmas outfits!  Tanner bought this cute snowman outfit for her birthday and we love it!

 Early November brought on yet another haircut!  I didn't get pictures there, but I did save a few peices of hair to compare to her hair color at her first haircut!  I was shocked at the difference!  Her hair is getting so much lighter than I ever thought possible!

 Chris and I had an awesome date night in early November, too!  We went to Macaroni Grill and actually really loved it!  We hadn't been there in forever, but our food was great and we happened to go on a night when they had 1/2 price bottles of wine!

 Early November also brought on Caroline's first ear infection!  Boo!  We were in Publix getting her RX when I took this pic... she was a trooper though!  Such a tough girl.

 We had an overnight play date with cousins KK and Garrett!  These two are two peas in a pod (when they aren't fighting!)... we had so much fun having them over!

 Pretty sure KK's parents don't let her jump on the bed, but it's allowed at Park's house! 

 The next morning was full of cartoon watching!  The babies couldn't care less about the cartoons but at least it kept the big kids occupied while I cooked breakfast!

 This is a pic I randomly took with my phone coming into our neighborhood one afternoon.  I LOVE the fall colors and our neighborhood entrance is so full of color in the fall.  Love it!

 Whitney and I headed to Savannah the second weekend in November for Ashley's baby shower!  We loved being able to see Bubba, too.

 Garrett and Caroline showed off their precious turkey outfits!

 But Garrett wasn't so thrilled about matching his girl cousin!

Grand kids and great grand kiddos with their great grand dad!

 We went out to lunch at this amazing burger place for lunch while there and had to wait for like an hour to get in!  We kept the kids occupied with sunglasses and hats!

 My burger - possibly the best burger I've had.  I think it was called the Green Truck or something?

 The two babies had to get side-by-side diaper changes after lunch.  These two are seriously two cute.

 We headed to Petite Feet after lunch!  We needed some smaller shoes for Caroline because all the hand me downs from cousin KK are much too big for her tiny feet!

 That night my sisters and I had a fun girls night out at Sundae Cafe on Tybee Island!

 And on Saturday afternoon, we had the baby shower.  Everything was beautiful!

 Whit and Ash at the shower.

Ash was loving getting all the pink stuff!  Especially stuff monogrammed with Ivy's name.

 Here's Ash with our mom and her mother in law.

 All the "Hopkins" girls

 Chris sent me this picture of Parker on Saturday morning.  He took Parker fishing at my boss' house in Woodstock.  They caught lots of fish together and Park had a blast but was over it about 45 minutes into it.  I'm glad they got to experience one of Chris' favorite hobbies (before kids).

 Daddy found other ways to entertain Parker while the girls were gone for the weekend!

 He even taught Park how to shake hands with Jack!

 Just a random craft Parker made at school - this is by far one of the cutest I've ever seen!

 And... this is one for the record just to show that our sweet smiley baby is not so much all the time.  Teething got the best of her in November and in December we knew why when her two 2-year molars popped through!

We also dealt with a little bit of sickness in the family!  I don't have any pictures to show it (thank goodness!) but the entire family got hit with a 24 hour stomach bug!  It started on our way home from Savannah.  Caroline threw up twice in her car seat.  All over her!  Whit and I were traveling alone, remember?  So we stopped, took out the car seat, cleaned everything up, put everything in a bag, put her back in and prayed she'd keep her barf in at least til we got home!  And she did!  She actually didn't get sick anymore.  Well, the next day was fine!  Until that night.  I was laying on the couch downstairs after Chris went to bed because I just felt a little "off".  Then I started throwing up.  I HAVE NEVER wanted to die so much in my life.   I am not sure I've ever thought that before.  Maybe I have.  But for about 2-3 hours that night, while laying on the bathroom floor, with not enough strength to call up for Chris to help me (he was sound asleep!), I laid there, feeling TERRIBLE on the bathroom floor and literally thinking that death must feel better than I felt at the moment.  A few hours later, I was able to crawl back to the den and lay on the couch.  Then I heard it.  Parker was throwing up, too!  THANK GOODNESS Chris heard him and he came out to see me and was shocked that I was sick!  I sort of wanted to kick him in the head, but instead just pointed to Park's room and he went to take care of him.  I stayed on the couch the rest of the night.... Parker only threw up a few times and was 100% fine the next morning.  Just really hungry!  THEN.... drumroll... Chris got it!  He came home early from work and was sick the entire next evening and day.  He definitely got the worst of it.  Caroline and Parker got the best of it.  I guess that's the way it should be!  :)

 Ash asked me to take a few pictures of her belly when they were in town in early November.  I was honored and was actually really happy with how they turned out!  She was a beautiful pregnant mommy!

Jac and KK were so cute with each other.  They love playing together... I think KK is just thrilled to have another boy besides Parker to play with sometimes.  :)  I love this pic I snapped of them!