All Things New

The last six weeks have been a whirlwind adventure for the McGowan clan. We have:

-Listed our old house - kind of on a whim

-Sold it - kind of a week later. Praise Ye the Lord and Big Strib our realtor.

-Bought a new house - had only one day to search

-Moved - with lots of help from Nana and some great friends, including Eddie McKinzie (Pastor John's dad) who quipped my favorite quote of the past few months. He would be taking a break and someone would ask him if he was alright. His response was, "Just sittin here waitin on the world to catch up." Nice. I will be using that one.

-Experienced daylight savings time in a whole new light. Fall back used to be a semi-annual highlight. Yeah, it's all fun until your 4 month old thinks it's 6:30, but just kidding... it's really only 5:30. Haha... gotcha... not too funny... but still cute.)

-Been verbally assulted, insulted, battered, etc. by our new neighbor. Vengance is the Lord's..... oh wait, um... No one is beyond His reach...there's pow'r in the blood... yeah that's what I meant!

-I can walk to work in about 8 minutes. Love it! And Jen and Grady can come and visit me at the office.

-Grady finally figured out how to roll back to his tummy! This is a/an historic accomplishment!

-Introduced the little man to cereal, a.k.a. mushy grits, and he is seriously takin to it like a champ! He loves to get a spoon full and wash it down with a little thumb sucking before the next. I am working on a video for that!

-One day Grady gained 5 lbs from the time I left for work to the time I got home. OK that's a tiny stretch. But no joke, sometimes he grows and changes hour by hour.

-Implemented our weekly Family Menu! Seriously saving some cash and loving the time we get to cook together as a family. Daddy grills the meat, Mommy cooks the veggies, Grady's the taste tester, and Riley mops the floor. Like a well oiled machine! (ok, just kidding about the taste tester thing... don't be so uptight... laugh a little... I never knew that babies loved jalapenos)

-We finally had room in our new house to break out the exersaucer. Yes, I totally wish that they had one my size. Envious I am, but so proud of Grady. He's doing so good at holding his head up and grabbing everything in sight.... such a big boy! We love him so much!

That's enough news for now... Even though America's Funniest Home Videos begs us for mercy and threatens to file Chapter 11, 13, 19, and 84 everytime we say it, here is some riveting new footage of our little guy. Just meeting the demands of the public... Sorry Bob Saget and that other guy that's not really funny on the show, Grady Lane is comin at ya live and commercial free! Enjoy!


Sir Laughs-a-lot from AUBREY MCGOWAN on Vimeo.


GradySaucer from AUBREY MCGOWAN on Vimeo.


A Sad Story from AUBREY MCGOWAN on Vimeo.

~A

Happy Halloween!

Okay, Okay...so I'm a bit late posting this but hey, give me a break! We put our house on the market, sold it, spent a week in Minnesota, found a new house, packed up and moved...all in 4 weeks! Stresses me out just typing it!:-)

We took Grady man to the Fall Festival at our church last week! After a long day, he wasn't exactly thrilled about being a zebra!:-)

cutest zebra ever!

My photographer friend, Shannon took this one...

Daddy & his little zebra

Grady & Eme (birthday buddies!)

Shannon also took this one of Grady w/ her son, Christopher & hubby, Jonathan!

~jen

Pumpkin Patch

We took Grady to a pumpkin patch today & let him pick out a pumpkin!:-) Here are a few pics...

~jen

MinnesOta

The McGowan family just returned to Texas today after a week in Minnesota. We were invited to lead worship for Northwestern College's homecoming week. During the morning chapel services, it was just me, Aubrey, a guitar and 1,800 students singing at the top of their lungs! It was an amazing sound and experience! It was such a beautiful campus w/ trees everywhere turning shades of red & yellow! We also led worship for an alumni candlelit communion service on Friday night in the most gorgeous chapel...it's actually the #1 wedding site in all of Minnesota! This trip was such a blessing in so many ways! They flew us there...payed for our hotel, rental car, food and for the "gig"! We really only spent a few hours each day on campus and had the rest of the time to relax and check out the Land of 10,000 lakes!:-) Here are a few pics from our adventure...

Grady all bundled up! Goin' out to eat...
First rainbow I've seen in years!
The Mall of America...

Cathedral of Saint Paul

Grady had to take showers w/ Daddy all week! I totally forgot to take a picture of the redneck roll-away crib that Aubrey made towel bumpers for...it was a little crazy to be in one room w/ a baby!The chapel at Northwestern...gorgeous!!!Last but certainly not least...SUE! Our new friend who hung out w/ Grady all week!

~jen

A Few Of My Favorite Things - Baby Edition #2

In all my years, I have still not accomplished the great feat of reading the Bible through in a year... until now!!!!! No longer is that guilt trip to be lain on my shoulders by greedy read-the-Bible-in-a-year manufacturers and their holy-literacy regimes. In the past month alone, I have read the Bible through more than FOUR times... count it faithful brothers and sisters!!!!!! Back off you Gifters of Guilt... You Deliverers of Dissention... Take That!!! Of course, I have to admit that it probably does not meet the publisher's standards for the specifications of an adequate study Bible. Actually, it has cardboard pages and cool colorful pictures. Oh and it summarizes the whole of Biblical truth, wisdom, and knowledge in less than 20 pages! So, if you are feeling burdened by the guilt placed upon you by the "one year one-ders"... pick up your copy today, of my #2 Favorite Thing - Baby Edition

Little Golden Book Bible!

Happy Guiltless Reading!

~A

Gone Country!

One of our favorite country sayins around here is "I tell you what..." It's a common coloquialism at the McGowan household used for everyday things like describing the weather and talking about the price of gas. (i.e. "I tell you what, it's hot out der." or "I tell you what dem gas prices are chewin up my life savins.") The proper way to read/say it is to pause slightly after the phrase before you continue... for a dramaticized effect! Go ahead and try it... you know you want to.

Well, today... I tell you what, that kid of ours is growin like a weed! He's got more appetite than a bunny's got hops. I tell you what, that kid is talkin like he's got somethin to say to the world. I mean he ain't messin around. We been rollin around, squealin, squirmin, kickin, cooin, conversationalizin, sneezin a little, snottin a lot, smilin, and everythin else! Oh... and let's not forget (drumroll pleeezz) SLEEPIN!! I tell you what, that little boy of mine can snooze like a hibernatin grizzly bear in the dark of winter! Yeeehooo!

Ok... enough of the country talk. All that I'm sayin is that our little man is growin and changin every day. He tells us stories and listens attentively to us as we read him the Bible every night. (more about this to come in "Favorite things Baby" post #2) Oh yeah... big points for mommy and daddy.

And finally after much Tom-foolery, here are some pictures and yes, in leiu of the much awaited, debated, and ultimately terminated Bush 700 Billion dollar bail-out plan, here are some new videos for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy and hors d'oeuvres... I mean au revoir... wait.... see y'all later!!! I tell you what!

PICTURES

The man in black!

Shady McShadykins

I told Jen that she was drinking too many Diet Cokes while she was pregnant, but she wouldn't listen! It's not his fault!

VIDEOS

Look Who's Talkin' - another language! from AUBREY MCGOWAN on Vimeo.

~A

Our little steam-roller & Nashville part 2...

We got back safe & sound from Nashvegas last Thursday night & hit the ground running! We had a jam packed weekend at church, so Grady & I have spent this week resting & getting back into our routine. Grady also learned a new skill this week, which he would much rather practice than sleep! He figured out how to roll over during one of his naps on Monday! It's so cute b/c he has the most startled look on his face every time! The only problem is that he doesn't know how to roll back over, so naps have been a bit challenging this week! We're so proud of our little steam roller!:-)

Our trip home was wonderful w/ LOTS of spoiling involved!(including me b/c when Aubrey's around, he doesn't let me change a diaper!) Grady was dedicated at our home church on Sunday with both of our families in attendance...it was such a special day! We also took a trip to the ol' college town of Murfreesboro to visit my Aunt Barbara and stopped in to let Grady meet his great grandparents, Grandmother & Pop! He met his friends Emery & Liam for the first time & got to be there to congratulate his Aunt Sasha at her engagement party!!! I could go on & on...it was so neat to introduce our son to folks that have been such a huge part of our lives!

Click on the picture below to see more pictures from our trip home...

The McGowan Boys...

We have a ton of video to upload that we'll post soon!!!

~jen