Greg's New Job

Greg was laid off a few weeks ago from his job. For those of you who know Greg well, you know that his favorite job is unemployment so this wasn't really terrible news. Well, he's not quite unemployed anymore since I have employed him as Stay-at-Home Dad in the meantime, and he is loving it.

Right before he was laid off, when vacation days were non-existant, we went to Tennessee for a quick weekend. I've always wanted to see our nieces and nephews in their Halloween costumes.

Cousins Alex and Luke loving on Julia

Tommy's boys, Greg and poor Julia who is about to be kissed by all of them! She'd better get used to boys' attention....I think she's going to have a lot of boyfriends!

The cousins all went Trick-or-Treating at Cherokee Cave. It was really cool!

Jake, aka Tigger, was impossible to get a picture of

Julia is the only one with a true smile. We have here Miles the Bumblebee, Julia the Tinkerbell, Quinn the Ladybug, Kaitlin the Indian Princess and Natalie the Pirate.

Tom and Betty were hoping to get some pixie dust so they could fly just like Tink.

Tink and her wand. Okay, so it's just a piece of straw.

AND THEN....

Greg was given the news...his company had to let him go to reduce budget expenses.

Our reaction?

Joy! And confusion as to why they would let such a wonderful worker go! And just a little bit of anxiety...we'd been preparing for this day for a long time!

But this gave Greg a chance to work on his Halloween costume.

Although I wanted Greg to be Captain Hook last minute, he had decided months earlier that he was going to be Aang from the Avatar Last Airbender series. Now that he was unemployed he had time to make this costume from scratch, including the staff. He did an amazing job! I don't think he could have pulled this off with a long work day.

Everybody kept saying, "Oh, Robin Hood and Tinkerbell!" Seriously? Come on, people! It's PETER PAN and TINKERBELL! Sheesh! Turns out the same hat is sold on Amazon for either costume. Who knew Peter Pan and Robin Hood looked the same.

FAMILY HAPPINESS

BYU fans at the BYU vs Georgia Tech game. Julia's face perfectly describes my feelings towards football. Like mother like daughter!

Oh yes, we did! Matching shirts!

Ben and Jenny and Jo and Robert all came into town for the big game. Jason went to GA Tech but he graciously agreed to sit in the BYU section with us while he cheered on his alma mater.

Sisters: Jo is pregnant with a girl and Jenny is pregnant with a boy. Kayla is excited to get a few more cousins!

Tyler's memories of Julia were "She threw up a lot" from his first visit with her. We told her to not throw up on her cousin this time, and she happily obliged.

Aunt Jenny is having a 2nd boy, so for now she will have to live vicariously through Julia's hairbows.

HIKING

Since Greg is now Mr. Mom, we invested in a hiking baby backpack and tried it out at Amicalola Falls. He goes hiking with Julia a couple times a week, but I was actually able to go with them on this trip.

The backpack is not only comfortable, but delicious too!

They both seem to like hiking A LOT.

Must stay hydrated while hiking! (Um, I won't mention here how we forgot to bring a bottle on the hike and she cried the last 10 minutes down the  mountain.)

Emily and Anne were able to join us as well. Since they live pretty much in North Georgia, we rarely get to see them.

This picture led to the not-mentioned-earlier crying spell of 10 minutes down the mountain.

TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Sometimes Greg lets me hang out with our daughter too.

Like father like daughter.

SO WHAT GOES ON WHILE I'M AT WORK, BEING THE SUGAR MAMA?

Greg has taught her how to roll her tongue sideways

And eat Cheerios without choking (a major feat for our little puker!)

And eat graham crackers!

Stand!

And this is what happens when Greg changes her diaper WHILE WATCHING TV. Funniest part is he didn't even notice it until 15 minutes later.

He's also trying to teach her piano.

But let's face it, I do a much better job than he does! That piano is for sissies...now THIS is a piano!