Happy Halloween!

Our Halloween weekend started off Saturday morning with these Halloween treats from Kris.py Kre.me.

Yum. Yum. {nothing like prefacing a weekend full of sugar with chocolate covered doughnuts!}

Saturday afternoon, we headed over to the house of some friends from Carter & Callen's school for a Pig Roast, some football, and a bounce house for the kiddos. It was a nice time, and while I didn't document it with any pictures, Nick managed to bring home a strawberry on his arm from the bounce house!

This afternoon, after Carter and Callen woke up from their naps, we donned costumes and headed out to our block party. My Die.go and lamb were ready to go!

We really enjoyed the block party. Our neighborhood has lots of children, but our particular stretch of street doesn't have that many, so it was nice to get to meet some of the families in the neighborhood. Sadly, though we have been here almost a year, we haven't been able to make it to any of the neighborhood gatherings before now. At the block party, there was face-painting, a treat walk, a bean bag toss game, and lots and lots of food.

Coloring their bags at the block party.

After the block party, it was time to head home to eat dinner and get ready to trick-or-treat. {Carter helped Daddy get Callen home}

When we got back home, Carter & Callen were excited to see that Bamma and Big Pat had come by to see them! We also had Aunt Emily, Uncle Steve, Aunt Stacey & Uncle David come over, too!
Then, it was finally time to trick-or-treat. We probably went to about 8 houses. Carter had the gig down. It was pretty funny, though. I mentioned that there aren't many children on our stretch of our street, and I think we were the only trick-or-treaters most had. They kept encouraging Carter to take LOTS of candy and then he would grab LOTS of candy for Callen's bag. I had to pull him away at two houses! Our neighbors were very kind.

Finally, we made it back to our house to trick or treat, and Aunt Stacey let them pick through our stash of candy.
Of course, they had to inspect their loot!
And...this is about as good as it gets for a family Halloween picture.

We hope you and your family had a happy, safe Halloween!

Halloween Preview

Sunday evening, we had plans to go to B.oo at the Zoo with friends. One someone in our family was very excited to dress up in costume and one was not. I'll let you decide which was which.

Callen, while not at all interested in having her costume {which is ridiculously cute, BTW} put on her, was all about walking around like the diva she is toting her treat bag.

She also condescended to pose for some pictures with her costumed brother. I couldn't help but wonder how cute this picture would have been had she left her costume on.

Then it was off to the zoo. Carter and Carson posed for a picture.
This was my best attempt at getting a costumed picture of them both. Callen WAS. NOT. a fan of the costume. She didn't crack a smile the entire time that she had it on. {only when I finally changed her out of it just before heading home} I am sure it didn't help that the costume is probably pretty warm and it was 80 degrees outside.

Carter and Daddy on the train ride through the zoo.
In the Child.ren's zoo area, they had activities for the children to participate it--football toss, bowling, etc. There was also a DJ and a "monster mash." This is Carter while dancing in the monster mash!
Before we left, Carter and Dad posed with Big Al to celebrate a Tide victory over the Vols this past weekend!
While I don't have any pictures of the animals, we did see some of them. We also got to trick-or-treat a bit. It was a nice adventure, and we were glad we got to kick off our Halloween festivities with our friends, the Lillys.

Reading

Since Callen has been a little under the weather the past couple of days, Nick and I have been frantically juggling our schedules so that one of us can be home with her. Tuesday, while I was home with her, I was working in my office upstairs when she disappeared.

Usually when she disappears and I call her name, she'll giggle--giving up her location. However, this time I called and called and she didn't make a peep. I got that panicked feeling and jumped up to go find her. I looked in her room, the playroom, and the bathroom. Finally, I looked in Carter's room and found her perfectly content, sitting in his chair "reading" a book.

She was so proud of herself!

Fall Festival

Tuesday night, Carter and Callen's school had their Fall Festival. Callen had been sent home sick earlier in the day {and has been home sick since! yuck!} so she and Daddy stayed home, but Carter was raring and ready to enjoy some fall fun!

First up...the bounce house! To say he loved it is an understatement. He is still talking about it. They had it at the school all day, so all of the classes got time to jump on Tuesday before the Fall Festival, and then he jumped in it twice that night! It was, believe it or not, the first time he has ever been in one. Not a conscious decision we'd made...we just realized on Tuesday night that it was his first experience. {the picture's not the greatest, but he was having a grand time!}

Next while the big kids were bouncing, Carter went to dig for critters!
He enjoyed finding them and showing them to me. When he found a roach and he tried to show me, I shivered {hate them!} and he proceeded to chase me with it. What a stinker!
We went inside to enjoy a dinner of chili and grilled cheese while visiting with friends and their parents, both of which were delightful. Then, one of the teachers came in with funnel cakes for dessert. It was quite a hit with Carter.

In his classroom they had a cake walk. This is Carter's idea of how to maximize your chance of winning. Smart child we have here! Everyone was laughing that he straddled two numbers. He did, in fact, win a very cute El.mo-decorated cupcake!

Other than the bounce house, his favorite activity was bowling with pumpkins {any time he can roll/throw/kick something inside, he is happy}, but it was crowded and I couldn't get any action shots of his bowling skills. He didn't have any strikes, but he managed 2 spares!

Each room had an activity, so he also got to paint pumpkins, stamp Halloween stamps on a small canvas goodie bag, get a tattoo {he chose a football player}, play the duck pond game, and play in the tunnel & ball pit.
At the end of the night when we were on our way out, one of the teachers was making witches' brew bubbles that the children could hold and pop. Carter thought it was pretty neat!
We really enjoyed the Fall Festival and were sad that Daddy and Callen couldn't be there to experience it with us this year. We hope she'll be up for it next year!

Blackberry Jelly Biscuits

This post has been a while coming. I've just been waiting for the morning when I serve biscuits with blackberry jelly so that I could capture the aftermath. You can compare with her dad's first blackberry jelly experience here.

I am not kidding when I tell you this girl likes to eat.

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday morning, we headed down to Old Ba.ker Farm to the pumpkin patch. The children were VERY excited to go, and I was excited to get some pumpkins for our front porch.

We got there around 9:45ish, so it wasn't too crowded yet. Carter immediately spotted these "tractors," and because there weren't tons of people there yet, we stopped to let him ride for a bit.
Callen thought she wanted in on the action, too, but she decided to push her tractor. We tried to tell her it would be easier for her to ride it...
They had a hay maze, a trailer of cotton that you could jump and play in, a barn with farm animals to pet, and a hay bail tower to climb. Carter wasn't interested in any of it...all he wanted to do was get to the pumpkin patch.

So, we headed over to take the tractor/trailer to the pumpkin patch. As you can tell, the ride was our time to wrestle Callen {who is really liking her newfound mobility and prefers NOT to be held still} and refuel with snacks.

Then we were in the pumpkin patch. Carter helped Daddy find the "big" one.

Carter also picked out a Carter-sized pumpkin and helped Dad twist it off of the vine.

I, of course, attempted to take a picture of my children with our pumpkins. I suppose I should give up on trying to get shots where they are both looking at the camera. They are, after all, 3 and 1.

The whole family at the pumpkin patch. {Carter insisted on holding the pumpkin in the picture!}

We had a great time and were back home in time for lunch, naps and football!

Something about the Pantry

Not sure what it is about my youngest child...she seems drawn to the pantry. When we were on our beach vacation, it was her favorite place to play. I posted pictures then. It seems that her fascination has not worn off. If our pantry door is open, she is in it!

Surveying the scene

Hmm...what's over here?

Mom, if you are taking pictures again, I'm out of here!

I suppose, save the wine, there isn't much in there that could cause trouble. She has even taken to pulling items of interest off the shelves.

She keeps us on our toes!

Bi-pedal

Callen took her first steps the night before my brother's wedding, but I wouldn't say she started walking thereafter. Over the past month, though, she has gotten rather proficient at walking. Just in the past three weeks, she has really decided that she likes it as a mode of getting around.

It is funny to watch her on the weekends...she seems as though she likes walking and is determined to get good at it. She will walk and walk and walk...often in circles around our den and kitchen.

Below is a video of her walking from last weekend. She isn't quite as stiff anymore as she is in this picture, but she is still a little unsure of herself.

My baby is growing up!!!!

Begging for Food

Every morning, Nick takes his breakfast and sits down in the chair in our room off the kitchen to eat a few bites and enjoy the morning news, sports updates, etc. And, every morning, as soon as he sits down, our children flock to him to see if they can beg some scraps.

The scene looks a little like this:

It is almost humorous. I have to laugh, because as soon as he sits down, they stop what they are doing, bee-line it to him, and beg until he gives in. On weekend mornings, sometimes I am successful in diverting their attention to their own breakfast so that Nick can enjoy his, but I wasn't fast enough yesterday.

Yes, I do know it is October and not December. Why do you ask? {some battles aren't worth fighting}

Roll Tide, by the way...