A couple of weekends ago we went out and had our annual family pictures done by Wend (http://gigglengrin.blogspot.com). She took our pictures last year when I was pregnant with Grayson so she was excited to take our pictures this year with a 9 month old. 
This was the first year Jackson had any type of understanding about dressing up for Halloween and going trick-or-treating. He is really into candy so the thought of going around and having people give him candy was really appealing.
We had a few friends over so Michael went with Jackson and one of our friends older girls to take Jackson trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. There were several houses with lights on so Jackson got pretty good at ringing the doorbell and saying, "Trick or Treat" although it took him a few houses to learn to wait until the people came to the door to say his phrase. We are the one of the only houses in our little group of homes who has little ones so Jackson is the hit of the neighborhood. We even had some reverse trick or treating...some of our neighbors brought gifts to our door for Jackson!
My little Grayson is now 8 months old. I know I've heard people say it over and over, but it really is hard to believe he's been around for 8 months. I don't think it hit me until this morning when I went to drop him off in the nursery. I had to move him up to the next baby room (this is his 2nd move already....only one more room to move to until he's out of the nursery area). As you can see in his pictures, he's sitting up on his own very well now. He can even go from being on his belly to sitting up all by himself. He's army crawling very well but can't seem to figure out how to crawl on all fours. He'll get up on his knees and rock forward but just can't get going. I know it won't be long. He's still the most content little guy and loves to smile and laugh at anyone who says his name or smiles at him. Making him smile is the fun trick to do when he's up at the church....everyone gets a kick out of his smile. I attended a conference a few weeks ago called "D6". It stands for Deuteronomy 6 where it talks about how we, as parents, are responsible for raising our children and talking about the Lord when we wake up, as we walk, and as we rest. It really made me conscious of the "teachable moments" I have with Jackson and Grayson and how it is my job to teach them the Scriptures and to love the Lord.
Tonight as we were driving home from dinner, Jackson told me that one of the girls in his preschool class said that there was a witch in her bedroom. Jackson has been learning Genesis 2:7 "God created me." so I decided to use that verse to talk with him about what is real and what is not. I told him that God did not create witches so they are not real. Jackson proceeded to say, "God did not create witches, so they are not real." I was pretty excited that he was learning this so we went further and talked about how God wouldn't create things that scare us and I said, "Because God loves us." To that, Jackson replied, "1 John 4:8". How awesome is that, I said a Biblical truth and Jackson knew right where it was in Scripture. The stuff he's learning at Awana really is sinking in.
Lord, please allow these Biblical truths to stay with Jackson as he grows up.
Michael had to work this morning so we decided we'd take him lunch and have a picnic while he worked. He was just doing traffic for the Make A Wish bike ride so he wasn't too busy. (For those of you familiar with Dallas....they started at 75 & Renner, Michael was stationed at Midway & International, and the ride ended at Legacy & 121....yikes, that's a long ride!) Jackson really enjoyed playing outside in the gorgeous weather and watching daddy "catch bad guys".
Since Grayson started eating cereal and fruits/veggies, he has not had his own chair to sit in (it was packed away with everything else). We finally found the box with all the parts so Grayson now has his own seat at the table.
We finally have all of our stuff in the house but we are by no means settled. We have a lot of boxes and "stuff" that we still need to find places for. We've almost got a few rooms done but I thought I'd post a picture of the front for those of you who keep asking for house pictures.
Our front door. I wanted a nice fall wreath for the door but couldn't find anything that I really liked for the price I wanted to pay. Since I'm so picky, I decided to just make one myself. I made it for half the price of the cheapest ones I saw and I think it turned out pretty good.
Here is the house from the sidewalk. We're in the curve of a street so it's a pseudo-cul-de-sac (at least that's what I call it). We have some nice trees out front...just enough to give our large front windows privacy but not too big to keep the house from getting any light.
So this post is a little late. Grayson turned 7 months on September 6th. He's still one of the happiest babies I know. He's becoming quite the ham. He rolls everywhere and is trying his hardest to learn to crawl. He babbles non-stop just like his older brother did. Needless to say, our house is never quiet....in fact, when it is, Jackson asks, "Why is it quiet? Mommy talk to me." 
