BOO!

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

Sometimes it's still so weird to me that I live in Texas... It's October 31st and Tate's got on a t-shirt and shorts so he doesn't roast in the 80 degree weather outside. I'm definitely not complaining - it's just crazy that we didn't have to bundle him up to go trick or treating. Growing up, I remember always being so disappointed at having to wear my big winter coat over my carefully planned out Halloween costumes. And this year I worried about Tate being too hot in his! He chose to be "Little Frankie" which is a little boy version of Frankenstein. It's actually pretty cute and he loves it.

My heart is heavy today as I want so much to have both my boys here. I've always loved Halloween and celebrating today without Nash is so hard. I'm sure he would've made the cutest spider or pumpkin or puppy. But at the same time, I have faith that heaven is better than a million Halloweens put together...

This morning Tate and I went to an outlet mall to get some clothes that actually fit him... he's been running around in jeans that look like capris and shirts that barely cover his belly - poor thing! I let him wear the top part of his Halloween costume so that he would be sure to be in the Halloween spirit by the time it was trick or treat time...and actually so he could just wear it for more than an hour today. He got lots of comments on it from the people working at The Gap and Children's Place. One lady even gave him some Halloween stickers to put on his shirt. He happily called out "Happy Halloween!" to the store clerks when we left each store.

Then we headed over to my parents house for an early dinner before going trick or treating. I'm not sure how much of this Tate really understood before we got started. He's been practicing saying "trick or treat" and "thank you," but that's about it... Well, let's just say our "Little Frankie" got the hang of it pretty quickly. He was pretty much running from house to house, checking to see if the lights were on, and then climbing up to their front porch and knocking on the door. He would say "trick or treat" as soon as the door opened. It was so sweet watching him carefully choose which piece of candy he wanted... he had no clue what anything was.

When we got home, we let Tate go to a couple of our neighbors' houses too. I bet he went to at least twenty-five houses total. By the time we got inside it was after 8:00 and Tate was ready to dig in to his candy. He started with a green sucker and then switched to a Twix Bar. He continued eating the sucker in his bath along with a Tootsie Roll. Am I a good mom or what???

So now that today is done, my first Halloween without sweet Nash is over...another "first" that can be crossed off my list. I'm not sure that next Halloween will be any easier, but at least I know more of what to expect. Thanks to all of you who keep us in your prayers. We feel them constantly and are grateful for them. Happy Halloween.

Love to y'all!

Tracy

A Busy Weekend...

So much has been going on in the past few days. First of all, my mom and I took Tate to the pumpkin patch. This was the third year we've taken him and he had a blast! He was so obsessed with feeding the animals - he was running around in circles, back and forth between the pens. His favorite was definitely the sheep - he's pretty much obsessed with the song "Baa Baa Black Sheep" at the moment and he couldn't believe he actually got to see them in real life!

Yesterday was spent celebrating my 30th birthday. It was a day of mixed emotions...which is how my days are more often that not right now. Brad was great and tried so hard to make my day special. He got me some cute pink tennis shoes and some much-needed sweats - just what I asked for. My parents came over to have lunch and gave me a generous gift card to The Gap and my mom also made me a really cute book on Shutterfly - tons of pictures of me growing up (so many bad haircuts and even worse teeth!). Thanks, Mom!

Last night, Brad took me out to dinner to a fun Mexican restaurant where we met up with nine other couples. After dinner, we went to a bar called Martini Park...who knew how good a Cucumber Martini was??? Obviously not me, since I'm usually in bed by 9:30! It was really fun and we had a great time. I'm so thankful to everyone who was there - it took my mind off things for a little while and reminded me how amazing my friends are.

Today my mom took me to see "The Secret Lives of Bees" (go see it!) and then we came back to our house to celebrate my dad's birthday (which is technically tomorrow). Tate is now a pro at blowing out candles and eating cake!

I have to say that all last week I was sort of dreading this weekend. And yesterday was really difficult - not because of how old I am, but because the one thing I wanted most I knew I couldn't have. I spent much of the day fighting back tears. But as hard as it was, I am sure of one thing: my sweet little boy was sending me birthday wishes straight from heaven.

Love to y'all,

Tracy

Joining the Bandwagon!!!

Okay, so here we are...the newest members of the "blogging" community. Is that what ya'll call this? Anyway, after much convincing by friends who have already taken the plunge into keeping a blog, I have finally sat down and made one!

I'll keep this one short and sweet because all I really want is to see if I can figure out how to post and add a picture.

With Halloween quickly approaching, here's a cute pic of Tate enjoying his festive cupcakes yesterday... Yummmmmmmy. Isn't that appetizing???

Hopefully I'll write again soon once I have this whole blogging thing figured out.

Love to y'all!
Tracy