Fall Festival

Our church put on a little Fall festival on Sunday afternoon.

The girls who planned and set up for it did such a cute job. Lots of different groups and families ran all the booths and the kids all seemed to have lots of fun.

There was face painting, a bounce house, a leaf pit, snow cones, cupcake decorating, Lucky ducks, a ring toss, cookie crafts, pumpkin painting…so many fun things!

We tag teamed the photos with Pappy. We had a fall backdrop and then the silly props, too… AB loved the “photo boof”

Adam, Lauren, Me & DW

Adam & Lauren manned the cotton candy.

AB had fun going around to all the different booths.

Nie-Nie is always a good sport and agreed to dress up as a Scarecrow for the festival. (She borrowed Lauren’s scarecrow costume).

It was a fun Sunday afternoon for sure!

~amw~

Orange & Blue

It’s been a gator weekend around our house!

We’ve taken part of lots of Gator festivities to celebrate UF’s Homecoming 2012.

Friday, I decided to take the girls to the parade. I’ve never even been, and thought this was the year to start. I called Stephanie, who goes every year to find out where I should park and had planned to follow them. In the meantime, though, I had also talked to my friend, Mandi, who was taking her boys and since I was already in Gainesville, I decided to park where they did and watch the parade with them.

The parade was LOOOONG. We had a good time, though, and the kids enjoyed (most of) it.

I will say if we go again, I will get there early enough to be able to sit on the curb – standing for close to two hours is for the birds. Ha.

I only got a couple of pics on my phone, because I held Mamie the whole time. My right arm is officially bigger than my left now.

It was great to meet Mandi’s sister, Nikki, and her girls, who are adorable, and get to spend some time visiting with Mandi and the D’s. Thanks for letting us crash your time, girls! :)

Friday night was Gator Growl. This year, we’d heard that it was really family friendly- plus, Josh Turner was going to be there. AB is REALLY into music right now and DW thought she might love getting to go to a “concert”, so we decided to take her.

My parents came over to keep Mames while we took AB on a little date. :)

Uncle Adam & Aunt Nen came with us, too, and we got a quick dinner before. Of course AB chose Sonny’s… as always. Good thing we like tea & BBQ, too. :)

Gator Growl was lots of fun and AB did great. She was really funny during the skits when everyone would laugh, she would laugh really loud, too, even though she had no clue what they were talking about. :)

She loved getting to see Albert & Alberta, again, the cheerleaders and the band. (She said that was her favorite part, along with the main event…

Josh Turner!

When he started playing, she stood up and told her Daddy that she needed to take her jean jacket off, because she had to dance.

It was a fun night for sure. It’s hard to believe she’s old enough to start doing “big people” stuff with us! :)

This was taken after Growl, on the way out- (and even though I look terrible- I was having a heck of an allergy attack- I can’t help but love it…look at AB’s sweet face, massive grin and chubby hands wrapped around our necks. Precious.)

 

Saturday was Game Day! DW had promised to take AB to another game this year and he had  planned to take her to either the Homecoming game or next week’s. Since the weather was so great, he decided to take her to homecoming.

I knew her Aunts would be there to be on call for the potty, so we weren’t worried about me not going to the game with them. (Mames and I stayed home and made a little trip to the Hobby Lobby).

The Homecoming 2012 Crew – Pappy, AB, DW, Amber, Warren, Elliot, Van, Kelsey, Lauren & Adam

We got the crew sent off and they headed to Publix to get subs for the tailgate. (Nen introduced AB to Bubble Tape there, too…and she came home with a roll in her backpack…she told me she “had bubble gum almost as tall as Daddy” and I could “measure wif it” – I’m accredting this to Nen, too, who is a teacher through and through.)

Lauren texted me this insta-collage before the game:

Warren & AB, Kels & Lauren, & AB with Nen

 

AB had such a good time at the game and DW said she did really good. He said she did drive him crazy the whole first quarter wanting cotton candy, though. The guy never came by, so during the second quarter, he had to break down and take her to find some. :)  She sat by her Pappy & Aunt Kels for part of the game and then in between her Uncle Van & DW for most of it.

I listened to most of the game on the radio while we were out and the Gators were playing so terrible, that I wasn’t so sure that it was the best game for AB to have gone too… I was hoping she didn’t come back with any new “vocabulary” words. :)  DW said when it got intense in the last quarter, that she was doing the “Come on Gators” cheer as loud as everyone else. Adorable.

When I asked her what her favorite part of the game was, she said the cheerleaders and the band. But I’m pretty sure she loved it all.

Orange and Blue memories at their best!

~amw~

We voted…

& We’ve got our sticker to prove it!

I have always loved election day. Always. I can remember being a little girl and loving to get to go down to the “voting house” (that’s what I grew up hearing our precinct’s location called) – and it literally did look like a little wooden house. I’d get to go to the voting house, almost always twice on election days, which also meant I got two stickers. First, with my grandparents, and then later in the evening with my parents when they got home from work. They always went together to mark their ballot. I remember them always being very serious about it, too. Not as serious as “The Lord’s Supper”/ communion at church, but almost. I grew up knowing that it was a right, responsibility, and privilege to vote.

DW and I voted together this morning, just like we have since we were married. I pray our girls will look back someday and remember their Momma & Daddy always voting together and feel the same sense of patriotism and appreciation that I do.

I’ve read a lot of things on Facebook and Twitter today about this election. I am praying for our country and it’s leaders, but also remembering that as Rick Warren so beautifully tweeted today: “Our hope is not in the man we put in the White House, but in the Man we put on the Cross.”

~amw~

Phone Photo Dump….

I almost always have our “big” camera with me, but there are so many things about “everyday” life that I use my phone to take pictures of.

Since it’s the little everyday things that are really the big things, I figured it was time for a photo dump…

Our niece, Taylor, is a middle school cheerleader this year. We made it to her last game a couple Mondays ago and loved getting to see her cheer! The other game we went to got rained out. AB thinks Taylor is the coolest girl ever. We all think she’s pretty great. :)  AB tells Taylor that she’s her best friend. :) Mamie was especially excited to see Tay cheer…she kept jumping and yelling, too! It will be fun to see if either (or both) of our girls cheer one day. I cheered for a couple years, but I am sure the only reason I made it was because I had a loud voice and could paint cute run-thrus…I have NO coordination and cannot dance AT.ALL.

Wednesday night of that same week, was our night to cook for family supper at church. We did a chili bar. It was 90 degrees, so I decided to take a few of my pumpkins to put on the food table…My thinking was it would be easier to eat chili if it looked like Fall, even if it didn’t feel like it. That’s Kellee, Lauren, Kelsey and Mamie and me with my lunch-lady gloves.

Cattlemen’s meeting at the lodge. I love the picture of Van & Elliot slicing the meet before dinner…

 

I’m so not a pet person. But after lunch and dinner every day I wish we had a little dog to clean up the mess under Mamie’s high chair…

AB woke up with a little stomach bug one morning a couple weeks ago. DW had an appointment in town, so I had him pick her up some Pedialyte on his way back to work.... He picked up a few other surprises, too, for his sick baby girl and her momma who was taking care of her. :)  This was SO something my own Daddy would have done, which made it even sweeter.

AB has joined the children’s choir at our church. She LOVES to sing and loves music. So far she’s loving it… her favorite is getting to play the instruments…

She also sang with the choir in church two Sundays ago. She had only been to one practice and I didn’t think she would do it, but she did. She sang along and even did the motions! We were so proud of her! The song was called “There’s no refund on Salvation.” She has busted out singing it (LOUD) at the most random times over the past couple of weeks…I’ve gotten some pretty funny looks at the grocery store. :)

Maybree has discovered the kitchen in the playroom and LOVES it. She loves to stand up and pull as many toys down as she can. None of my good organization efforts are safe anymore.

AB’s favorite thing these days is playing Barbie's. I’m not ashamed to admit that I love playing with her. She’s chosen Barbie as the theme of her 4th birthday party and we’ve – I mean SHE’S got her eye on a few new Barbie play sets to add to her wish list. :) 

Last weekend was the GA-FL Game. No need to get into scores or any of that… The best part was getting see my cousin, Amy & Gabe during half time, even if they were wearing red and black. Two things about the pictures below: Adam & Lauren did not go to jail at the game and my head is not three times bigger than DW’s in real life. Maybe two, but not three.

I brought the princess tent in the living room one morning last week for the girls to play…AB dressed up as Tangled and told Mamie she could be Pasqual. (Tangled’s pet chameleon.)

On Monday nights after dance class, we eat at my parent’s house. AB always puts in her request of what she wants Grammy to cook. This was last Sunday night when they were on the phone talking about Monday’s dinner and I couldn’t get over how grown up she looked sitting there.

Maybree had her 9 month well check visit on Friday morning. (We’re a little late, since she’ll be 11 months on the 15th) – BUT… She’s in the 85th percentile for height & 10th for her weight… She is up to 17 lbs. now, though!

On our way home from her appt, we stopped at Publix and picked up some pizza dough and peppadew and made homemade pizza for dinner. AB loved it and it was seriously so good! Definitely a fun Friday night at home and something we will be doing again. Next time, though, we’ll have to plan ahead better so Adam & Nen can eat with us- because seriously this pizza was a lot like our favorite one at Blue Highway.

Saturday we had a shopping day with my mom while DW was at the gator game. We shopped for AB some new jeans and clothes for Fall and then had lunch at the Olive Garden. Mames enjoyed having some Fettuccini Alfredo…

This morning was Sunday School and church. Afterward, we went to lunch at Outback and then DW made the mistake of asking AB what she wanted to do this afternoon… Her idea of a good time is going to Toys-N-Us (that’s what she calls it) and looking around. She sat in the Barbie car, took a stroll down the Barbie doll isle and tested out a few big girl bikes. Her idea of a perfect afternoon! I’d have to agree, it was pretty good.

~amw~

Pumpkin Patch 2012

This past Sunday evening, we finally found the time to take a trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

We had waited so late in the month, that we almost didn’t get to go, but we made it down to the Pickin’ Patch (where we went last year) on their last night open.

The field was a little picked over since it was the end of the season, but there were still lots of great pumpkins and they had the big tent with all the cutesy photo ops again this year.

AB had a ball on the hay fort.

I couldn’t believe how she just ran right up and climbed to the top! Usually she’s a little more shy and cautious and takes a little while to warm up.

We strolled through the patch to see the pumpkins and tried to find a sunflower, too…

AB loved the hayride with her Daddy while Mames and I watched from the wagon… Mamie loved riding in the wagon like a big girl.

The cool weather made it feel like Fall and made our night even that much better!

~amw~

Pumpkin Party 2012...

I’m still playing catch-up… I’ve got to get all of our Fall fun documented so we can move on to more fun, which I hope in the next couple of weeks means dragging out our Christmas stuff! :)  Not sure if I can convince DW to let me put it all out before Thanksgiving again this year or not.

We were so excited to be able to do the kids’ Pumpkin Party again this year. It’s something we had hoped would be an annual thing, but we couldn’t do it last year since Carrie was days from having Whitt and I was as big as a house pregnant with Mames. Speaking of Mamie, she wore her big sister’s piggy costume and she was equally as cute as AB on her first Halloween! :)

We had the party at the lodge with costumes, food, games and lots of fun. Of course we took a hayride, too!

We decided to keep the party for our friends with small kids, to make it easier in planning activities, which were a little different than our first year.

We had a pumpkin toss – which after I’d painted, looked more like an orange toss…but it’s Florida, right? Oranges grow better here than pumpkins anyway. :) Carrie saved the pumpkin toss cuteness with the bean bags she’d sewn.

We also had a witch’s hat ring toss. I saw on Pinterest where someone had done a witches hat toss using party hats…It kind of popped into my head that construction cones look like the shape of a witch’s hat. And I happen to have an “in” with a man in the road construction business. :)  DW brought one home for me and I wrapped it with brown kraft paper and then painted that black. I gave it a band and a shiny buckle and it was done! Wrapping it with paper was so that after the party we could tear it off and take the cone back. :)  Did you know those big orange cones weigh 34 lbs? Now you do.

Carrie added Face Painting to our party this year, and it was a hit. She had a little frame of all the things the kids could pick. I love that they could have their monogram done. :)

We also did a photo booth/snap station…

I’ve been seeing them in all kinds of parties online and thought it would be cute. Especially the mustaches. I got some cute scrapbook paper at Michaels and cut out the props and then glued them to dowel rods. We also threw a few other props on the table and let the kids dig in. I wish I had really stood there and took pictures, but hopefully all the mommas got some of their own cuties.

Of course the corn bin was a hit.

I think when the kids are 15 and we’re having parties I will still drag it out. It’s been a lot of fun over the past few years and made it through a lot of parties… oh if it could talk. Ha.

The hayride was bumpy and fun, but we forgot to give out our glow sticks until AFTER we got off. Oops.

For dinner, we did the same things as last time- chili, baked potatoes and hotdogs. Dessert was a table full of fun Fall treats.

I tried my hand at caramel apples. At home, they turned out beautifully… But after a few hours in the Florida heat, they were more like apples sitting in a caramel puddle. Boo Hoo! It’s hard to do Fall in Florida! We were all drenched with sweat, and were nearly carried away by mosquitoes before the night was over.

Carrie and I had fun throwing the party together, and I use the term “throwing” literally. Our conversation about the decorations went something like this: “Just bring whatever you have and we’ll put it out.” 

She had just had both of her kids birthday parties the two previous weekends and I know they are all partied out by now.

Because I think people need to know the “real” side of things too- I will share a little funny about the party…(even though I am sure no one has made it to reading this far…This is what happens when I don’t blog about something right away…it takes me ten million words to recap it)…

Anyway, Carrie and I were both feeling a little stressed the day of the party when we were setting up. It was going slow and we had my two little helpers with us, which meant if we were going to get anything done we had a small window of time to do it in. We finished up about two hours later than I hoped we would and I flew home to cook the chili and finish my desserts and to get the girls a nap. Carrie flew toward Trenton to do the same things. I was running around the house all afternoon and literally took my last batch of cookies out of the oven and put them in the car on the cooling rack. I didn’t have time to do my hair, so it was in a pony tail but I had my bangs wrapped around a big Velcro roller and pinned on the top of my head. I was going to wear my new boots that night, which gave me the blister of my life in Nashville, so I was trying to wear them all afternoon to “break them in” a little more… I looked down and couldn’t help but laugh at what I was wearing- gym shorts, a T-Shirt with chili splatters on it and my boots, completed with my bangs in a Velcro roller. I was a sight for sure. I was having a good little laugh at myself, but it turned into a full belly roll when I got this text from Carrie:

“I stepped in dog poop. Glass in my finger. And Whitt’s snack went down back of my jeans. LETS PARTY!”

We pulled up to the lodge about the same time and quickly discovered that the potatoes that were supposed to be baking all afternoon… hadn’t been. Good times!

By party time, the potatoes were baked, I was dressed and the roller was out of my hair and Carrie’s Whitt-soaked pants had dried. We were finally ready to party! 

After we ate, we had the hayride and then everyone just made their way around to all the games and activities and just visited (and swatted mosquitos) :)

Sweet Marnie & Baby Elliott

My girl is quite fond of her Uncle Adam & Aunt Nen…She thinks there’s none like them… I can agree!

The cutesy Locke Sisters

Sure, there’s some work and even a little stress involved in doing anything- but it’s always worth it. Our friends who came and all their kids were so sweet. Not one of them left without thanking us and telling us they had a great time (even if they were just saying it) :) As Carrie put it, we are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

I hate that we didn’t try to get a picture of all the kids together… We had 27 little dressed up cuties. It’s on the to-do list for next year for sure!

Pumpkin Party 2012 was a hit!

~amw~