Saturday, November 18, 2017

Halloween 2017

Halloween is always a fun time! 
One Saturday morning, I made the kids pumpkin waffles
The Dojo had a trunk or treat. Adelyn was excited to sport her Mal costume (from Descendants). She did NOT like the wig. 
James was a ninja 
Oak Grove had their trunk or treat on a Wednesday night. I got zero pictures of James, but here's Adelyn with her friend Leah
The Siemons hosted their annual pumpkin carving party. This year, Adelyn and I carved one pumpkin and the boys took care of the other one

Finished pumpkins (James was in the bathroom during the picture)

Seth's aunt and uncle always host the family for dinner at their highly decorated house. The cousins all wear their costumes 
Conner as an astronaut is hilarious!
Skeletons sunbathing 

I am the room mom in James's class and had to plan the Fall Centers party. I am not very crafty, so I ordered 3 crafts from Oriental Trading and the kids also made a fall snack bag (pretzels, candy corn, m&ms, chex cereal, etc.). 
On Halloween (a Tuesday), we went to the Abernathy's neighborhood to trick or treat. They set up a haunted house in their garage. 

Tatem and Adelyn
James and Myles
Police went to various neighborhoods in town and handed out candy to the kids
Melissa and I trick or treating with the kids
The next morning, Seth and I played our typical "We ate all of your candy!" trick. This year, we upped our game and had been saving wrappers for a couple of weeks. It really looked like we had eaten a boat load of their stash. James was boohooing! 

Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!




Sunday, November 5, 2017

Fall Fun

I love fall! It does make me feel like the wintery cold weather is looming, and I start already missing summer. However, this fall has been filled with some fun and warm days! :) 

 I've done some baking. Our garden was still producing tomatoes so I made one final giant batch of roasted tomato sauce. That'll make the winter days a little more bearable! I love making pumpkin bread!
We got friends together at Milton's to celebrate Seth's birthday

 Happy 41st, honey! Seth left the next day for Belgium. He did his first European race over there. He was gone for 8 days. It was a 12 hour race that he did with 3 other friends. They ended up finishing 2nd! So happy for him!!! 
 My mom came in town while Seth was gone to help me with the kids. Are you wondering why the kids are eating breakfast in the floor?? That would be because we got pantry moths. I had never heard of them, but they will rock your world. We have a very large pantry. I had to take everything out and clean it all. I wiped down pantry items (and tossed a lot) and shelves with hot soapy water, disinfectant, and then sprayed with a vinegar/water/peppermint extract mixture (and used Raid). It was a tedious project. So glad my mom was there to help me! 

The kids' school had their first Color Run! 
 Adelyn ran a lot of it!
 Our friend's son was one of the high school volunteers. He made sure to get my kids pretty good! 
 James and Nana afterwards. He insisted on tucking his shirt in. He's a cute little dork. 
 Adelyn and Nana
 James had a baseball game this week and Nana got to attend!
 Seth's birthday was actually while he was in Belguim and the kids never got to celebrate with him. I made him chicken parmesan and we enjoyed chocolate eclairs on the night he returned. 
 Of course, we hit up the fair while it was in town! Tatem and Adelyn had fun riding rides together!
As did Myles and James
It was insanely crowded on the night we went. We met up with the Abernathys and Scotts. We were there for 3 hours and the kids just rode a handful of rides. Long lines, but it was still fun! 
James was scared to ride the swings, but did it anyway and liked it!


 Sweet Mrs. Rachael (James and Elijah's teacher from Young 5s) came to see one of their last baseball games. That warmed my heart! 
 My girl Randy came in town! We have been best friends since college and she moved to Florida 2 summers ago. It was so good to spend a Saturday with her at her friend's house and at Ponce City Market. 
 We met up with her again on Sunday at Kinsey Pumpkin Farm
 I frame these pictures of them at Kinsey every year! It's fun to see them from infants up to now. 



 James was so happy to see Bella (they were in PreK together) and Gavin!
 Late night ladies golf cart ride at Stuart's birthday party 
 Girl Scout meeting at Kinsey Farms
 Red Ribbon Week- camo day. James couldn't be more excited!
 Seth was the Watchdog Dad that day. I happened to also be subbing, so the whole Thomas family was at the school that day. We all ate lunch together. :)

I used to attend Birds on a Wire meetings (a local Christian Moms group) when the kids were little. Karen Stubbs is the woman who runs/leads this. She's a mom of 4 with a wealth of knowledge on how to raise children in a Christian manner. She's written books and bible studies. My sister in law and I attended her conference (SOAR) on a Friday night and all day Saturday. It was rejuvenating! I got so much out of it.