Gingerbread Houses

We love these village kits from Walmart. It makes making gingerbread houses a little easier. :) Kids enjoyed the project and Caleb just snagged the candy whenever he thought we weren't looking. ;)

 

Family Pictures 2019

I love having updated family photos of our growing family. However, having a baby in the fall makes family photo planning time a little difficult so we decided to do something a little different this year. We simplified and set up a tripod in front of our garage door to take a quick photo of us all that I could photoshop into a different setting. :P It was a little chilly but not too bad so I just took the kids out one at a time to get a few single shots of them to update our wall photos. Anyway, here are the favorites and the before and afters. :)

 

Thanksgiving

It was a snowy Thanksgiving this year. It snowed most of the day. Scott still went to play football in it while we played inside and watched movies. :) Scott came home and made most of our Thanksgiving dinner this year. We joined with my parents and sister Lindy upstairs and it was great! My sister Lia and her family came over and joined us for dessert and a Christmas movie and games. Hailey slept for a good little bit which allowed me to eat dinner but she tends to get a bit fussy around a lot of people. She was a bit clingy and already seems to have stranger anxiety. :P It was a nice day though and I'm reminded about all the things I have that I'm so thankful for. I am extremely blessed. :)

Hailey's Blessing Day

My sister Lia makes beautiful blessing dresses and just like Claire's baptism dress she's able to make blessing dresses from wedding dresses. Not knowing we were going to have another girl and since she used my wedding dress for Claire's baptism dress I didn't plan on her being able to make a blessing dress for Hailey as well. She surprised me though and told me that she had enough leftover material that she could make a blessing dress! We talked about the design and she put together this beautiful dress in just a couple weeks. It turned out so beautiful and it's even more special because it was made from my wedding dress as well. :)

The day of her baby blessing went pretty well. We had family visiting and it was also the day of the Primary program so we made sure to get to church a bit early to save seats. Also, because it was the primary program we weren't able to bless her during sacrament meeting where it traditionally takes place but instead waited until after meetings to bless her with just our family. The chapel was being used and so we fit quite nicely in the Primary room. Hailey had a good nap during the second hour of church and so when I had to change her to get ready she was not happy one bit. She cried and screamed throughout the whole blessing. :( Caleb was a bit fussy too which made everything just a bit hectic. :P We were able to come back to relax and visit with family and eat sandwiches and celebrate our baby girl's special day. It was so nice to see and visit with everyone. :)

 

May the Bryson Force Be With You

Our kids chose a Star Wars theme for Halloween this year. Claire as Rey, Everett as Luke Skywalker, Seth wanted to be Chewbacca, Caleb made a perfect Yoda and Hailey made a cute R2D2. And then Scott and I had to go as princess Leia and Han Solo. :) Having a baby only 2 weeks before Halloween made costume planning a little harder for me this year. I usually enjoy making and putting costumes together but this year we mostly borrowed and bought costumes. I did make Hailey's onesie before she was born and cut up a shirt for Scott's vest, and I sewed a robe together for Everett but most everything else was already made.

Our ward put together a Fall Festival this year with games and trunk or treating. We walked around playing games, eating treats and then went trick or treating around to the classrooms cuz it was so cold outside.

The next morning we all went to the school to watch Claire and Everett show off their costumes at their costume parade.  

We took our usual photos that afternoon. It was so so cold so we had to be quick and kids played inside while I took individual photos of each of them. Hailey wasn't loving the photo op but she was a cute little R2. :P

Because we had gotten candy from most of our neighbors the night before at the ward festival and because it was so cold we decided to try something new this year. We went trick or treating at the mall. It was a new experience for us. It was really crowded (probably because of the weather) and it was slow walking through and many of the stores had run out of candy but we made it around and kids had fun. Caleb was completely worn out by the end. We got pizza on the way home and watched a Halloween movie and relaxed pretty early in the evening compared to past years. It was nice. :)

And our 2019 Halloween Poster :P

Pumpkin Painting

We like painting our pumpkins instead of carving them. This year was fun too. Caleb loved it and didn't want to stop and I love Seth's little tongue sticking out as he concentrates on what he's doing. :P

Newborn Hailey

It's so weird having a baby girl after having three baby boys. It's fun, but just different. Girly colors for her clothes and blankets, using Claire's old clothes, changing diapers and I keep catching myself wanting to say "buddy" or "little guy" when talking to her. :p

We've had so much help from friends and family and ward members. They've brought us meals and kept us fed for over two weeks. :) Hailey is a great eater, she picked up on the whole nursing thing pretty fast. She hates the pacifier already, she knows it's not giving her what she wants.

The kids are mostly doing really well. Caleb is definitely struggling a little more but seems to be excited. He smiles and laughs at her noises and says she's cute. Seth is a little more involved and wanting to help and be close, a little too close sometimes. :) And Claire and Everett have been busy with school and their own things so they don't seem affected by the change. Scott has been doing everything and I'm so grateful for him and all he does. The first two weeks with a new baby can be hard, but he's made it so much easier. I've been able to focus on her and recovering.

I tried to take newborn photos a couple different times, and I got a few good ones but I hate that I forget everything I've learned when doing my own baby. ;)