Our fall photo shoot

Our friend Carrie came to my parents' property and took some pictures for us.  They speak for themselves.  I'm so glad I did it and wish I would have done it earlier.  Enjoy!

Halloween

We went to Zoo Boo at the Indianapolis Zoo on Saturday and Harrison got to wear his costume that his Aunt Stephanie got him.  It was a big hit with lots of kids we met.  Harrison always loves the elephants, giraffes, and penguins.  Little Nora just had a penguin hat on and slept the whole time we were there.  It was a wonderful evening at the zoo.

Getting some candy at one of the stations at the Zoo

Sucking her thumb

On Halloween some of Harrison's aunts and uncles came over IN COSTUME!  We made dinner and Harrison went trick or treating with some of his aunts.  He loved it!  Then Opa showed up and surprised/scared us with his Pumpkin head!  Harrison played his aunts and uncles well, getting them to open for him a few pieces of candy each.  Which added up to a lot and led to a massive sugar high!  Needless to say, we've hidden the candy and only distribute it in small amounts now.  Overall though, the night was really fun!

With his Pirate Aunt Kim

 Uncle Nate (The Scream mask), Uncle "The Situation" Austin, Dad as Allen from The Hangover, Scary Pumpkin Opa, 80's Jazzercise instructor mommy, and Pirate Aunt Kim

Off to trick or treat on the EAC dude.

Our little chubby girl!

Playmates

Harrison always wants to play with baby Nora.  This time I let him and she seemed to handle it well!  We can't wait until they can really play with one another.

The meeting of the cousins

Being the 5th grandchild on the Gapinski side, Nora had plenty of older ones to fawn over her.  And fawn they did.  Cameron (age 6) and the twins, Gavin and Kendall (age 3) love their little cousin.  Gavin is especially sweet and always calls her 'My baby Nora'.  She'll be well watched over by each of them!

The two granddaughters

Sweet Gavin and his baby Nora

A new face, well sort of...

We've been remiss in keeping this blog updated. Spring is a terrible time of year for both of us. With the greenhouse business for me and spring plays and end of school for Brian, we don't have much free time. And then this summer saw the addition to our family of our beautiful daughter Nora Elizabeth. She came 9 days early, a healthy 8 lbs 1 oz surprise on July 6th. She came quickly, only 5 hours of labor and was born (in water) only 17 minutes after arriving at the birth center.

She has been a precious addition to our family. Harrison is quite fond of her even though she was his "baby brother" for the first 2 weeks. With two kids now and no less of a hectic schedule, it may be hard to update this blog, but we will do our best.

Our kid is weird

There are so many things Harrison does that are just plain weird. We usually pull out the camera, snap the photo, and then try to decide who he gets it from. I will say, I always had an infinity for dressing up! So I think these shots come straight from the Gapinski side of the family.

In Brian's Browns shirt

His homage to Kenny Chesney, he loves this cowboy hat

I don't know. This is what we're talking about.


And sometimes, clothes just don't let him really express himself.
So he takes a more natural approach.

Toronto and Detroit

In the beginning of November, Harrison and I went to visit friends in Detroit and then over to Toronto. Harrison was an angel on the trip and truly enjoying visiting with Ryan and Teresa in Toronto and with Jill Osmon, my dear friend, in Detroit. And it was there in Detroit that Harrison learned two valuable things. Mr. and Mrs. Osmon taught Harrison to give "knuckles" (aka a terrorist fist jab.) He also learned that putting on a University of Michigan hat to amuse the Osmons would make his dad, a Buckeye fan, very unhappy! But Harrison LOVES hats. I can't tell you how many times he puts a ball cap on and walks around for hours refusing to take it off.

It was also right after this trip that we discovered that we are expecting our next child!! I'm due the middle of July and we are excited to add another precious child to our family. Harrison remains neutral on the subject, but we think he'll really like having a sibling.