big news!

i guess it's about time we made the announcement: WE'RE PREGNANT AGAIN!!! we could not be more excited about the upcoming addition to our family. the due date is currently set for may 16, which makes us 14 weeks along. i'm hoping we will be able to find out the sex at the next appointment in december, we'll keep you posted. we'll also try to post some sonogram pictures soon.

in other news, my mom came to visit for a few days last week and a few days this week. she was headed to north carolina for the weekend to attend a baby shower for amanda and it worked out to be a better deal for her to use us as a pit stop on the way there and the way home (unfortunately i did not get to go to the shower with her). we girls did quite a bit of shopping while she was here, which is always fun. we found a new children's boutique that i love and while there we found an adorable christmas outfit for baby luke's first christmas (amanda's baby that is due in just a few short weeks!!!). every morning since 'mams' left mary claire asks about her first thing. luckily we will be seeing her along we most of the rest of my family for a whole week starting saturday.

on friday night, dan and i went to see the get up kids with carissa and brian at the house of blues. once again, the hankins were kind enough to watch mary claire for the evening. she always seems to have a good time with them! on saturday, we watched football all day and had friends over to grill out for dinner.

now for some mary claire updates. she can now count to "two-teen", which is the number after twelve. she also knows most colors and some shapes. she can somewhat sing a few songs, including: 'the itsy bitsy spider', 'rockaby baby', and 'patty cake' (if you count that as a song). she surprises us everyday with things that she knows. here's a little video proof:

boo.

one holiday down....two more to go. as usual, halloween this year was a great time. friday, we carved the pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch. mary claire just played with the 'guts' and while she napped dan and i each carved one (mine was the best if you ask me!).

all week long, in preparation for trick-or-treating, mary claire practiced knocking on doors and saying 'trick-or-treat'. she was very excited about her ladybug costume, which i let her try on several times before the big day! halloween night, she put on her costume and dan and i put on our bank robber costumes and we started our rounds of the neighborhood. we opted to pull mary claire around in her wagon, provided by 'anana' or amanda, and let her get out at the end of each driveway. unfortunately, not many people in our neighborhood participate in trick-or-treating, but mary claire got more than enough candy (not to mention the large amount we have left over since we didn't stay home to give it out). now every time mary claire wants a piece of her candy she asks me for 'trick-or-treat'.

our neighbors across the street take halloween to a whole new level. they spend the entire month of october in preparation. we have to take mary claire by their house before it gets dark because they are dedicated to scaring the you know what out of all trick-or-treaters. the screams they evoke can be heard all around the neighborhood. this year's theme was what i would call a creepy carnival complete with clowns, a fortune teller booth, and a giant jack-in-the-box with one of the said clowns inside. they even put a disclaimer at the end of their driveway before you enter.

that night mary claire stayed at the hankin's house, our good friend leah's parents, while we went to a halloween party and then downtown with leah and a few other friends. halloween in downtown orlando is like a whole other world. it is fantastic for people watching! we saw everything from giant tetris pieces to the entire cast of sesame street (sadly we did not have the camera). it was great for dan and i to have a night out sans mary claire, which is a very rare occurrence around here. overall, halloween was great and now we have thanksgiving to look forward to!