Halloween 2015

We started our Halloween morning with a special breakfast.

Parker and Claire enjoyed their tradition of carving a jack-o-lantern. Even the messy part!

Ready to head out and get some candy!

After trick-or-treating, we always watch It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Fall Break 2015

We enjoyed an exciting trip to Chattanooga and Atlanta on Fall Break. In Chattanooga, we visited the choo-choo, the Moon Pie general store, and the bridge, museum, and park downtown.

In Atlanta, we loved the Georgia Aquarium. The whale sharks are so amazing and humongous. We also loved The Varisty, Underground Atlanta, and the American Girl store.

It was nice to have a few days away as a family!

Lots and Lots of Catching Up

Well, it's been a while...a long while. I'm still trying to catch up from summer, and here we are at the beginning of the new year.

Lucy Cate's 4th birthday party

Fun at the fair!

Early fall fun activities

Claire in her school program (she was dressed as a Broadway actress)

Brian's dad had a wonderful retirement ceremony

We found out that Megan is having a boy!

I had a fabulous birthday

We surprised my mom with an 80th birthday party!

A trip to the mountains

Silas turned two!

Claire celebrated Halloween with friends

Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

Well I certainly haven't been doing a good job updating this blog! I recently took on a new role at work. I am excited about it, but it has been a little overwhelming and time consuming. Hopefully, I will be able to update more frequently soon.

Our Thanksgiving was so nice. Brian's parents came to our house to eat with us. The food was delicious and fattening. We are so very blessed.

Our thankful banner

We also had a breakfast with my side of the family that weekend. It can get a little crazy when you get that many Fridays in one room. Especially when there's food involved.

We enjoyed celebrating our little friend Tobiah's first birthday.

My two clowns

Do you recognize these crazies?

We put up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend. I'm so glad we got it up early so we can enjoy it all month.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Nashville

Over fall break, we went to Nashville for a few days. One day, we just explored Franklin. It is such a quaint town with lots of really fun shops and restaurants. We ate at Puckett's Grocery, and it was delicious!

We also went to The Factory at Franklin. It's a really neat place because it used to be a real factory. One the outside it still looks pretty much the same ~ like an old factory. On the inside, it has been totally renovated with shops, restaurants, and space that can be rented out for events.

We really enjoyed visiting with Andy, Miriam, and sweet, little Bear.

We also toured where Andy works on Music Row and ate at Bella Napoli for lunch.

Yum!

We took some time to look all over Nashville including the Capitol Building.

Opryland Hotel is so beautiful. The kids had never been there before, and they loved it.

What I Learned In October

1. Elderly frogs are surprisingly strong and determined. (More on this tomorrow...)

2. Claire officially has what my family refers to as the "Friday Foot". Listen people, my side of the family has big feet. Since my maiden name was Friday (yes, like the day of the week), we've always called it the "Friday Foot". I bought her some new boots. They are a size 8 1/2. IN WOMEN'S. May I remind you that she just turned nine years old?

3. Parker's foot is pretty big too. Time will tell whether it will officially be a "Friday Foot".

4. I really like to sleep in my own bed. (I already knew this, but since we traveled a lot in October, I got a big reminder.)

5. However, I really love to travel. I seriously can't get enough of exploring and seeing different places. New places, places I've been before, places I've never even heard of, etc, etc, etc. I love it all. (I already knew that too. Ha!)

6. We need a much longer fall season. The beautiful colors and the cool (but not yet cold) weather just doesn't last long enough.

7. I really love Pumpkin Spice Lattes from Starbucks. Since I'm not much of a coffee person, I never gave them a chance. Until this year. And even though I'm late to the party, I'm hooked. Now for the bad news...

8. Starbucks told me yesterday that they are out of Pumpkin Spice FOR THE YEAR! I looked at the girl like she must be seriously mistaken. She told me again. FOR THE YEAR. I just don't understand. PSL has to be one of their best sellers. Why would they quit selling them at the end of October? Please. Somebody. Do. Something. For. The. Love.

Let's just stop there. I'm not sure I have the will to go on. (See #8)

What did you learn in October (silly or serious)?

Halloween 2014

What a fun Halloween! On Thursday, we carved our jack-o-lantern. The kids drew on the face and took turns cutting it out.

On Friday, we made homemade pizza before heading out for a rainy, cold Halloween.

Claire was a beautiful butterfly and Parker wore his woopie cushion costume for the fourth year in a row. I'm not sure if it's just tradition for him now or if he really likes it that much. I don't mind though because it's a whole lot better than the costumes in stores for boys his age. They are all so evil and gross! Not to mention, reusing a costume is free. Mama likes free!

We have a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating. There are kids everywhere, and lots of fun neighbors who enjoy handing out candy.

They both came home with buckets overflowing! We definitely won't run out of candy for a long time!

We hope you had a fun Halloween!