Hines Family Joy: Oops, sorry!

I realized that it's been almost 3 weeks since my last blog. Whoops! I've had it open many many times, but something always seemed to come up, and I'd never get to it, so here goes!

My mom and Grandma Alton came to see us in October. They got ere the 23rd, and left November 1st. We had such a great time. We took Austin to a pumpkin patch, and he got to pick out his own pumpkins, he loved that. I will upload a picture blog, so you guys can all see the pictures from the past few weeks. My mom, grandma and I went to see a concert, Darius Rucker, for my birthday and it was a blast. He is soooo awesome! It was nice going out without the kids and getting to spend some quality time with them both.
While they were here, my mom bought me the HUGE chocolate cake from Costco (Why I didn't get a picture, I'll never know) and it was delicious. I ate entirely too much of it, but it was worth it! SOOOO good! We made Halloween sugar cookies with Austin, carved pumpkins, made Caramel Apples, did a photo shoot with the kids and just hung around and enjoyed each others company. I really enjoyed them being here, and we were all sad to see them leave.

The kids and I both ended up sick after they left, and got better after about a week. My mom came down with the dreaded H1N1 virus on Friday after she left, and has been pretty sick for the past few days. She is starting to feel better now, thank God, but she was feeling pretty crummy there for awhile.

We had over a couple on Saturday whom I'd never met. The guy, Anthony, is in Bryant's shop, and his wife Jennifer. Bryant had met them both, but I never had. So we had them over for dinner and cards, and had a blast. They are super nice people.

Our church moved into a new building, so this past Sunday was the first service we attended there. (The second service in the new building) and they're doing a great job with it. They bought the old Thrifty car lot and building and are completely renovating it. There's a ton more room there, and looks pretty nice.

Wednesday (Yesterday) was my (gulp) 25th birthday. Bryant made me breakfast in bed, and I was SHOCKED! It was a very nice surprise, and he earned big bonus points for that one! Afterwards we hung around the house and relaxed for a little while and then got us and the kids ready and headed to Boise with Anthony and Jen for the afternoon. We shopped around a little bit, and I got my birthday present at Maurices- a sweater. I needed one, so I decided to do it for my birthday. We also got Sydney's "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament while at the mall. Then off to Toys R Us-- they have a Babies R Us in the back part of it, so I got Sydney's Christmas outfit, but didn't find anything worth buying for Austin's. Then we all met up with another couple and their kids at AppleBee's for my birthday dinner. Since it was Veteran's Day, and AppleBee's was having the whole "Vets Eat Free" deal going on- it was a big bonus! We had a good time (after the hour and a half wait to get in...) and took dessert to go...YUM!

Onto Today, of course, I came down with yet another cold--- must be the time of the season I guess, seems they're coming back to back lately. Hopefully it's just a quick one, and I'll feel better by the weekend!

The kids are doing great- Austin is as ornery as ever, and Sydney of course is an Angel....hahahahahahah!!! Still not sleeping through the night- but I'm trying to look at it in a positive light... I get an extra couple hours a day of bonding time with her.... right?! She's now sitting in her Jump-a-roo and having a blast, she lays on her blanket in "her" spot on the floor and plays with toys, and is starting to chatter non stop. Austin is all about it being "his" turn to watch cartoons, and for some reason LOVES to stay in his jammies lately. We have a few pairs of the full bodied footie PJ's for him, and he LOVES them.

Sydney is going to be 6 months on the 29th of this month (Where did the time go???) and has her 6 month check up scheduled for the next day. (Which means shots... not fun for either of us... she doesn't do well with shots!)
Austin is 3 years and 3 months old. He doesn't have to have another check up until this next school year when he will be starting pre-school. (WHAT?! No, No, NO! I am not ready for my baby to be school age already!!!)

Bryant is doing well at his job. He's in charge of the shop again, which yes, means he's the boss. It's a good and bad thing at the same time. With being boss, obviously comes all the stress and responsibility. He will be sewing on his Tech stripe in just a few short months, and I know he is so excited. Movin' on up!

Anyhow, I've put a couple pictures on here in case I don't get the rest uploaded today, just so you have a couple to look at! Hope everyone is well, and I promise I'll write more this month! =)