A guy named Norman Rockwell

Growing up there was this strange man my mom talked about during the holiday seasons. Norman Rockwell was his name and she would always say “this is just like out of a Norman Rockwell painting”…. I never paid much attention to this comment but did notice that we had a lot of these “moments” as children.

As we gear up for the fall season, my absolute favorite time of year, I am reminded of my parents commitment to our childhoods being filled with wholesome family traditions that would ultimately lead me to think that we had the “picture perfect” family and the best childhood anyone could ask for. I realized that our family isn’t perfect but through a child’s eye, one would beg to differ.

I was so excited to find out that we were going to be having a baby in February because that meant I would be in my glorious second trimester during the fall!

Jorde and I are looking forward to creating the same nostalgic memories for our kids. This past weekend kicked off our fall festivities. From this point forward it is 200 miles an hour to the delivery room. Ignoring the Rangers Friday nights loss in the 7th Game of The World Series our weekend was “out of a Norman Rockwell painting” to quote my mom. Saturday was the annual carnival for the school down the street from us. They kick off the day with a 5k and a fun run. The fun run always takes off down our street so the last few years we have made a tradition by sitting out in our front yard cheering on the runners with our coffee in hand. After the run was finished some friends who participated in the run came down to join us for donuts and coffee. I love our neighbors. They are simply the best! After a few hours of front yard congregating we retreated back inside while they went home to get their kids ready for the carnival.

The real treasure of the weekend was our annual pumpkin carving party that my in-laws host every year. I have really come to look forward to this event but next year will be one for the books as we get to carve with our little pumpkin! I can’t wait to see her face when she touches the inside of her very first pumpkin!! If she is anything like her momma she will make a gross face and cry about it.

It has been a while since we have seen this side of the family and friends because we are all just trying to keep up in our own rat race. It was just great to see everyone and get to answer questions about the baby, being pregnant and everything else we have going on, as well as talk to them about their busy lives. Max, Jorde’s youngest cousin was particularly curious about the bump on my belly. I am so glad his mom got a picture of him rubbing my belly to wake Sloan up. She didn’t cooperate so he moved on but this picture is priceless!

(That is not a bald spot on my head, it's the sun, I swear)



Last night was Halloween and while that is a not a holiday I grew up “celebrating” I certainly enjoy the joy that dressing up and “trick-or-treating” brings to the kiddos. Another reason I have found to love living in the city, we actually have trick-or-treaters. I grew up in the country so we never had trick-or-treaters and we just went to the fall carnival at our church every year and to our grandparent’s house so the act of trick-or-treating is somewhat foreign to me. I love how some kids are so shy when asking for candy and others totally own their costume. Here are some of my favorite little trick-or-treaters.

From top to bottom these festive cuties are: Trapper, my cousin's two year old. He is a Blue Monster. Ethan, our neighbor who could not have been any cuter. Kacyn, my other cousin's kid who was Woody. I talked to him yesterday while they were getting ready and he was sooo excited! He told me he was “oody” like 5 times until his mom told me he was “Woody”...oops. Kyler, my nephew was Nemo and was really wanting to run around more than take a picture to send to his Aunt JJ. And our beautiful McKabry Dawn. She was a bumble bee. She is Kacyn's big sister and such a priss. There were so many more kiddos that I want to share but I don't have pictures of them. Lilly and Alex, our neighbors girls that are 3 years old were leading the charge last night in their big group of trick-or-treaters. Lilly shouted from across the street "JJ, is the baby happy it is Halloween?!?!?!" and then ran over to see if she was kicking. They take such good care of me :)

Tonight Jorde and I celebrate 3 years of marriage. I know people say marriage is hard but when you are both trying EVERY SINGLE DAY it really isn't that difficult. I bet it helps that we are each others best friend and really do enjoy hanging out together. I was talking to my mother-in-law this weekend explaining Jorde's commitment to the Texas Rangers and actually compared it to our marriage. I said that "when he commits to something he really commits to it, just like our marriage" as funny as that is, it seems to be a great explanation of why he is such a great husband. He is not a fair weather Rangers fan. He has season tickets with his buddies, researches the injuries, knows the stats, reads up on the fields they are playing at, knows their strategies.. Shall I continue? My point is, when he decided to commit to the Rangers He didn't want to just go to the games he wanted to understand THEIR game. The last 8 years have been magical. Marriage just solidified our commitment to one another. The day was picture perfect but the day after is what made it so magical. I am so blessed to call him my husband, best friend, and my "baby daddy"! Tonight we will celebrate our 3 years of marriage, our eight years of togetherness, and our lifetime commitment to one another and our precious baby on the way.

The way we see it, we can not give Sloan everything we want to give her if we are not rock solid. My dad told me one time when I was young that he loved my mom more than me. As a child my feelings were hurt and didn't understand how he could love my mom more than me.. I was pretty awesome afterall... But as an adult I understand that the kind of love he has for my mom and the kind of love he has for his kids are different. In order for him to give his children the best childhood he could, he had to love my mom and put her needs first. That way they could be better parents. He didn't love my mom "more" He loved her first so that they could love us without any distractions.

As I wrap up this post I am so thankful for this experience. Every moment has made us a better couple and allowed us to grow as individuals. We have 16 weeks to go until our little girl arrives and in that time we are moving, becoming landlords, hosting 2 Thanksgivings, our Annual Grown up Christmas party, and Christmas for the Scotts, the CF Wine Mixer that we are speaking at, 2 -3 baby showers,Learning more about Cystic Fiborosis and becoming parents, and continuing to prepare for Sloan’s arrival. We have so much to do in so little time but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am truly overwhelmed with thankfulness. What a “picture perfect, Norman Rockwell” time in our life.