October 2016 Recap - Complete with Pictures!

I'm not even going to address the absence since my last post.  Even though I have this postdated early November (thank you, Blogger, for that feature), I know the break was there.
You know it was there.  And I know neither of us like it.  BUT, I know that it matters to me that I keep plugging away at this blog even if I do it so sporadically that there are probably only two of you out there who still read it.  My biggest goal is to get these stories, quotes, and recaps down so one day my kids (grandkids?!) can read them and know what our life was like.  Even if that's only a handful of times a year, it's better than nothing.  I don't know that I'll keep it up forever, but I know I'm not quitting yet.  

Shew - good thing I didn't address the absence.  

Here are some bullet points from October:

• Kara and I took our annual girls' trip.  This year we went to Asheville, North Carolina and it was awesome.  This trip was especially sweet because of all that she's gone through with her Guillain-Barre Syndrome diagnosis in March.  I remember sitting in the hospital in the spring talking to her about it.  I joked that I'd push her around in a wheelchair if I had to, but that we would have our trip!  On the trip I joked that I was glad I didn't have to push her around in a wheelchair because Asheville is very, very hilly.  ;)  We shopped, ate (even having cake for lunch one day because we are adults and why not?!), got pedicures, and solved all the worlds problems in two days.  I am so thankful for her, her friendship, and our time together!

 Kara and I in front of the Double D's Dessert Bus in Asheville

• David and I threw a joint 60th birthday party for his parents.  His mom's birthday was in August and his Dad's is in October, but since September was consumed with the Timber Trek, we had it in early October.  Most of both sides of the family came and we had such a good evening talking, laughing, eating, and celebrating them.  We even got a piñata since David's dad mentioned a few months prior that he'd never had one.  The colors were burgundy and gold, we had Ippolito's cater the dinner, and the cakes were from Nothing Bundt Cakes.  The slideshow we put together was by far my favorite part.  I loved getting to see all of those priceless photos of them!

Family that came out for Pam and Ed's 60th Birthday Party 

Breaking open the piñata

Pam and her family 

Ed and his family

Audrey and Luke with Pam and Ed at the party

• We took our annual trek up to Jaemor Farms.  I think this will be the last year that David lets us do the mini corn maze instead of the full one, so this may be the last time I ever mention Jaemor Farms in writing.  ("Honey.  Do you see them sweating, frustrated, and going around in circles?  I had to break off a corn stalk back there to remember where we've been and a swarm of bees nearly attacked me.  What makes you want to sign up for another 45 minutes to an hour of this?!"  Maybe his goal is to lose us.  That's the only logical explanation I can think of.)  The kids loved the big tunnel slide (Luke's first year giving it a try!), the petting zoo (they had pigs this time!), the hay ride (still doesn't actually have any hay), and the mini pumpkin "train" (first time letting them go solo!)  We ate our picnic lunch, chose a big family pumpkin and two littles ones for the kids' rooms, and headed home.  

Audrey and Luke on the little Pumpkin Train at Jaemor Farms

• In case you hadn't heard, Halloween is the new Christmas when it comes to school events.  There is so much to do!  It started with Luke's fall festival (the last preschool fall festival - how can it be?!) Praise Jesus I did NOT get fake tattoo booth duty during my volunteer shift this year.  I've done my fair share over the years and, without fail, get sick three days later from holding all those little germy hands while I slap a "Shine Bright" cross jack-o-lantern on them.  Luke loved the putt-putt station and the bouncy house the best, in case you were wondering.  We also did a morning of "special centers" one day that I planned and prepped for his class.  They painted a candy corn page with craft pom-poms, made a bat out of a paper bag, made a pumpkin tambourine stuffed with pumpkin seeds, and pinned the nose on the jack-o-lantern.  

Luke and I at his preschool Fall Festival

• Audrey had her own fall festival at school one Friday evening put on by the PTA.  I helped set up and then worked the ticket booth while David walked around and kept an eye on them.  They each got "crazy hair" (Luke's was just spray painted orange) and their faces painted.  The weather was perfect for the event and it felt so quintessentially autumn.  I made sure to be done with my shift in time for us to be home, in pajamas, and watching "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" by 6:30pm because after Jaemor farms, both schools' festivals, and our little town's festival, we were just about festival-ed out.  

AJ getting "Crazy Hair" at her school's Fall Festival

• Audrey also had a field trip this month that I got to chaperone.  The whole grade went to see "Gracie for President" at the Aurora Children's Theater in Lawrenceville and then had a picnic lunch at the town square.  The play was cute, the kids all enjoyed it and everyone was on their best behavior.  After they ate, her entire class played Duck-Duck-Goose together.  The other classes had split up all over the place and I just thought it was the most precious thing that her class stuck together.  The teacher told me they truly do have a very special group this year.  

My girl and me on her second grade field trip to Aurora Theater

• Audrey learned to ride her bike!  We took her out to a nearby park for a few concentrated lessons over the course of a couple of months.  She didn't love doing it and let us hear about it, but she stuck with it.  I will never forget letting the seat go (with her knowing) and watching her pedal away with tears in my eyes.  Oh my, what happened to my baby?! She's not a huge fan of it, but we're hoping that changes over time.  We celebrated the big milestone with dinner out and frozen yogurt.

• For Halloween, Audrey was a black cat and Luke was a lion.  We met up with the Kirkleys and several other families from our small group to go trick-or-treating.  The kids did great, even though it was quite warm (can lions have heat strokes?!)  There were definitely not as many houses participating this year as last, which I think was due to last Halloween falling on a Saturday.  However, in a neighborhood with over 400 homes, there was no shortage of places to go.  We had a lot of fun with our crew and came back to enjoy a few treats.  Even a hefty dose of sugar right before bed was no match for the 1.5 miles their little legs walked and they were out in no time. 

• 
• Our two cool cats ready for trick-or-treating 

• Other highlights:  We continued leading small group and had a family picnic night with them at a local park.  We also went on a date night, had a 12Stone Church volunteer vision dinner, I sold quite a few home decor items in a local consignment sale, and we had school spirit night at Chick-fil-A.  Also, I did early voting and my heart broke over our crappy presidential candidate choices, but that's all I'm going to say about that.  Audrey continued her weekly art club and Luke had Pirate Day.  

 Luke's Pirate Day at Preschool

Some of Audrey's artwork from art club

As you can tell, it was a very good month full of some very good things!  I hope yours was a great October as well. 

Sept/Oct 2014 Recap

Hello dear readers.  Let's go ahead and get the elephant out of the room: it's been a while.  I knew I wouldn't have time to blog as much as I liked once I started working.  Though I don't work many hours, the hours taken up by working are the hours I used to spend doing things like blogging, remembering people's birthdays, and returning library books on time.  (Oh my stars, they should name a wing of that place after me.  Or at least put a plaque by a tree outside.  Something for my financial contributions.  And yes, I KNOW I can renew online or by phone.  My brain doesn't seem to remember that fact when it matters.)

Anyway, let's jump in so maybe I can get Sept/Oct Recap finished and then post November's separately  (Quit laughing.  It's possible.)  It's gonna be fast, furious, and bullet-pointed, so hold on to your seats:

September:

• The four of us sent summer out in style and went to the Lake Lanier Islands Waterpark one Saturday.  I have zero pictures, but it was a great morning and the kids had a blast.  

• David and I did the KP Corporate Challenge 5K in downtown Atlanta with his company.  It was crazy crowded and, though we've done it for 5-6 years, this year may have been our last.  Too many people, too expensive, and too hot.

• We began co-leading a married couples' small group.  We meet every Sunday, but trade off who leads/hosts with another couple in our neighborhood.  

• We went to Suwanee Days Parade and Festival.  The kids liked getting their faces painted by the high school art club and watching one of the local dance studios perform on stage.  

• We went to a little friend's birthday party at Catch Air, had several play dates, and went to our first Spirit Night.  

• David traveled.  A lot.

• It seemed like all at once, Luke hit several "secondary milestones".  You know the kind of things I'm talking about - stuff you don't really notice changed at first, but when you do, you get really sad (especially if it's your last baby.)  Things like no more highchairs in restaurants, sitting on his own during a haircut, and starting to pronounce words correctly that he'd always previously gotten wrong (i.e "aldigator" is now "alligator", "lellow" is now "yellow".)

• I started considering training for another half and tried to run accordingly.  It was a pretty pitiful plan, but I squeezed in as much as I could.  

• We had Audrey's eye appointment and ortho appointment, which you can read about here.

• We tried potty training and quit after a week, which you can read more about here.

October:

• I took a girls' trip to Charleston, SC with my friend Kara, who you may remembered moved to SC in 2013.  It was the first girls' trip I've taken since my senior year of high school and it was fabulous.  We ran a 10K (I set a PR), got pedicures, shopped the local artisan's market, ate delicious food, and talked and laughed nonstop.  FUN and MUCH NEEDED. 

• Work finally began to click for me and my efficiency picked way up.  You can tell because I published double the blog posts that I did in September (only going from 2 to 4, but still...)

• David traveled some more.

• We got some great time in with all of the grandparents.  My mom came out for a visit, my dad and stepmom came over for dinner, and we went to see my father-in-law's airplane for the first time and have lunch with him and my mother-in-law for his birthday.  It makes me smile to look through pictures of October and see time spent with all three sets.  I wish it was like that every month!

• We had our two-story family room painted.

• Audrey had a follow-up eye appointment and the doctor was impressed with her improvement.  She told us to continue to patch for two hours a day for another six weeks.

• No news on AJ's legs.  We aren't the best at stretching, but we're trying.

• We took our annual trek up to Jaemor Farms to do the pumpkin patch, corn maze, and "hayride" one Saturday.  Other than being more crowded than I remember, Audrey pulling off a major pouting session because she didn't want to do the apple cannons (or even be near them, because they are TOO LOUD, MOMMY!), Luke whining to be held all through the corn maze, and David griping about me taking pictures, it was nice.  Surely one of those days we'll look back on and romanticize about how perfect it was.  

• Volunteering at Audrey's school and Small Group continued as usual.

• We had a Small Group picnic one beautiful Saturday.

• I kept training for my half and my knee started bugging me.

• David and I had TWO dates.  On one we went hiking around the Chattahoochee River then picked out plants for the front yard at Pike's and went to dinner.  The other we strolled around Walmart trying to get Christmas gift ideas for the kids and then ate dinner at a local seafood restaurant.  

• The kids had a great Halloween.  Audrey was a cowgirl and Luke was a cowboy.  We ate our traditional Mummy Dog dinner and set out for trick-or-treating a little after 6, before it even got dark (we learned last year that that's how this neighborhood rolls.)  We made it about an hour and fifteen minutes before it began to sprinkle and the kids were ready to pack it in.  We came home and gave out candy for about twenty minutes while they ate a few select pieces from their stash.  These ages are just a blast for holidays and I am trying to soak every bit of it up while they're old enough to get it and young enough to want us heavily involved in all aspects.  

So there you go.  September and October.  That didn't take to long to do...I wish I would've cranked it out sooner!

The pictures are in the gallery (which may look different now due to Google changes): 

September 2014 Photos

October 2014 Photos

Hope you'll come back soon for November! :) (And I hope I won't disappoint!)

October Recap

October held a very strange combination of things.  From alpacas to Letter P Parties to pumpkin patchin' to gun ranging, we've had a lot of fun activities going on around here!

The month began with Audrey and I participating in a food drive for CIA (Compassion in Action service day) at our church.  I wanted to stretch this experience for her as much as I possibly could, so we started by walking around and counting the houses while she made tally marks on a notepad.  A few days later, we printed out fliers and stuffed them into people's mailboxes together.  On the first Saturday of the month, we took her little wagon and dragged it around our section of the neighborhood, looking for bags that people had left out.  As I suspected, there was not much participation.  And by "not much", I mean any.  When we were far away from the house, I texted David to run a bag of our donations down to the front of our neighbor's house just so AJ wouldn't lose all faith in humanity.  As we rounded our corner and she trudged along, I explained that some people might have already given to their church.  She was disappointed and then her eyes fell on the lone bag sitting by Ms. Gail's curb.  Bless her heart, she was so excited.  And we narrowly avoided a jaded three year old. :)  We took our donations to the food pantry and she helped the other volunteers and me sort the food and throw out the expired stuff.  It wasn't as super fun for her as I'd hoped it would be (because I think that it should still be all fun at their age so they develop a love and a heart for it), but I think she did okay.  As I mentioned in a previous post, she wanted to play "buy food for the food pantry" with her coins a few days after that, so I gotta pray it's somewhat sinking in!

Other fun firsts:  Audrey's first dentist appointment (she did great!), my first painting canvas party with some women from Bible Study, our first visit to an alpaca farm, Luke's first trip to a pumpkin patch, and Luke's first Halloween.  

We also celebrated my father-in-law's birthday with a fun trip to a local airport.  We watched planes take off and land, played on the playground they have there, and ate lunch at an on-sight restaurant.  He loved it and we loved watching him enjoy every minute of it.  

On top of all that, David and I even managed to squeeze in TWO dates this month.  The first was spent shooting at a gun range and then we ate dinner and the second included Christmas shopping and Bonefish Grill followed up by Five Spot yogurt.  Both evenings were divine.  Turns out that eight years of marriage and two kids later, I still really like the guy.  

In addition to two date nights, I also enjoyed two girls' nights out!  I did the Masterpiece Mixers painting class and the next week enjoyed dinner and dessert with one of my closest friends to celebrate her birthday.  What can I say, we were CA-RAZY social butterflies this month!

Audrey also stayed super busy with school activities.  She had picture day, her "Letter P Party" that I got to help with (see previous post), and Grandparents' Day.  For the latter, her Grandmom, Grandpa, and Grandma Gloria went to her school for a special program.  Her class and two others sang 4-5 songs then they all ate lunch and did the hokey pokey together.  I wish I could've been there to see it, but parents were not invited. :(  I did get to see some great video my Dad took for me and it was so precious!  At the end of the month, she had Mother Goose Day and dressed up as Little Miss Muffet complete with a bowl and spoon for her curds and whey.

We soaked up plenty of the gorgeous fall weather with lots of trips to the park and picnics outside.  Later in the month, we drove up to a pumpkin patch we discovered last year and did all the corny fall family fun stuff - picking out pumpkins, going on a hay ride, navigating a mini corn maze, eating BBQ and hotdogs for lunch, racing ducks, etc.  I live for those cheesy family memory-making days.  

We ended the month with a wonderful Halloween night.  The weekend before, we let Audrey paint her little pumpkin and then the evening before, we carved our big one.  The night of, I made "mummy dogs"  (hot dogs wrapped in strips of crescent rolls) for dinner and then we dressed the kids up in their adorable costumes - Minnie for AJ, Mickey for Luke.  Starting out it was a little slow and we had to walk quite a ways in between houses to find people that had their porch lights on.  At one point, David took Luke back to our place to get the van and come pick us up to find another neighborhood.  We decided to turn down one more street in ours and we ended up hitting the jackpot.  It wasn't that we wanted a ton of candy for our three year old, but we did want her to have the experience of getting five or six houses in a row.  We finally got that and she absolutely loved it.  She was so excited and talking a mile a minute as we parked the van and walked from place to place.  She kept commenting on how beautiful everything was and how neat it was that we were out after dark.  She thought the trees looked a bit spooky, and she sure was glad to see someone had left some lights on for us.  It was adorable.  Luke enjoyed watching all the action first from the stroller and then in my arms.  Everyone raved about how cute they were.  About 45 minutes into it, we decided we'd had enough and headed back home.  When we got there, David took Luke in and I took AJ to three more houses.  We got home around 8, handed out some handfuls of candy to the few trick-or-treaters who would brave our nearly dark cul-de-sac and steep driveway.  We let her pick one treat and she chose a blue tootsie roll pop (I think last year's selection was an orange one?) and ate it all the way...even the nasty center part that no one likes!  We got to read two bedtime stories in an effort to help her calm down and she told me it was "the best night ever."  She was asleep within ten minutes of turning out her lights - a rarity for her.  I think all the fun coupled with the fact that she probably walked over a mile up and down hills tuckered her right out.  

On the house/moving front, we don't have a lot of news.  The latest is that we did receive the loan commitment letter from our buyers' lender and that we did get an extension from our sellers.  We are still in the process of seeking an extension from our sellers' lender for the short sale again and we're also begging for a firm closing date from our buyers' lender.  The best case scenario right now looks to be around the week of Thanksgiving.  After this disastrous ordeal, unpacking boxes in our new house would be a perfectly acceptable way to spend the holiday!

Now, on a much funnier note, here are some quips, quotes, and other don't-wanna-forget stuff from this month:

• Audrey has an imaginary dog named Abraham.  Or should I say, she HAD an imaginary dog.  Apparently he died this month.  Not to worry, though.  She assures us he's going to come back like Jesus is.

• Luke cut his first two teeth this month!  The first (lower left) was on Saturday, October 13th and the second (lower right) was on Friday the 26th.

• When we were working on a hide-a-picture/I Spy book together, she found something really tough right away.  She declared, "I have eyes like a penguin!"  "Do you mean, eyes like a hawk?" I asked, laughing.  "Yup!" she said.

• Audrey asked me how long she was going to live with us and I explained that she would stay until she was grown up and out of high school or college.  She started crying and said, "No, Mommy!  I'll be too scared to live alone.  I want to stay with you and Daddy!"  I promptly answered with what any good parent would have said and promised she could stay with us forever.  Let's see if she still feels that way in ten or fifteen years! 

• We were driving down the road the other day and she saw a cemetery and shouted "My school!"  All you can really see as we pass her school from the main highway is a cemetery, so now every time she sees one she thinks it's her preschool!  What a weird association for the poor girl!

• When reading one of her Fancy Nancy books, she suddenly points to two words on the page and says, "Does that say 'Mrs. Glass?'"  It did!  She found out just by sight and then sounding it out. 

• Audrey asked who got up with Luke at night when he cried and I explained that Daddy and I took turns.  She said that we should give each other high fives in the middle of the night when we work as a team.  

• Luke's hair is getting thicker and longer.  The other day I noticed it sticking up a bit in the back and it melted my heart.  He looked like such a little boy with a tiny cowlick!

• When leaving the mall, Audrey begged David to pick her up, saying,  "Carry me, Daddy.  My legs are tired!"  Then, she added for good measure: "And I really like cozying up to you."

• We were driving down the road and talking about being patriotic and flags.  All of a sudden, Audrey busted out with the pledge of allegiance in its entirety.  Apparently they say it every day at school and she already has it memorized.

• Luke is getting such a personality...and a temper.  He will pitch quite a fit now if you take something away that he was playing with.  He'll also be in the middle of a huge tantrum and stop the second you pick him up and smile two seconds later.  He's a wonderful baby, but I do believe he's got just a touch of spoiled in him. :)

• Instead of saying "sweep it", Audrey says "broom it" and I don't correct her because I think it's adorable.

• One night we were talking with Audrey about how Luke was going to be her kids' uncle when she had children one day.  She got very upset and nearly started crying, saying that she thought he was going to their daddy.  She didn't understand that brothers and sisters don't grow up to marry each other.  We decided to table the discussion for another time.  

• One morning I was dancing in the kitchen and danced over to the table to take her a napkin.  I was holding a butter knife up in the air as I did so, and she strictly cautioned me that I "shouldn't dance with knives, Mommy!"

And, to close, my favorite:

• We had her parent-teacher phone conference late last week.  Mrs. Lindsy was very complimentary and said Audrey does really well following directions, participating, etc. She said the one thing she's trying to work on with her is "getting her to be three...and play more" because she's "quite the little adult."  Uh-huh. She also said she's gotten very good at rhyming words and will often rhyme in conversation. For instance, the other day, AJ told her that her hat was "itchy, itchy, b*****!" The teacher was cracking up about it and knew it was completely innocent. So, goals for us to work on: Drop the potty mouth. Act like a kid. Got it.

October 2012 and Halloween albums are up in the Picasa gallery!  Enjoy!

Halloween 2011

Well, I thought I'd go ahead and post about Halloween before Thanksgiving got here.  Plus, it's 4:37am and I have nothing better to do.  Ah, pregnancy.  (And if any of you comments "Well, it's good practice for when the baby comes!" I'm going to block you from this blog.  That's one of the dumbest things I've ever been told while pregnant.  WHO needs practice not sleeping?  I'll gladly take the rest now, thank you!)


So anyway, back to Halloween.  On Saturday night, we went up to a fall festival at a nearby church.  I wasn't expecting much, but thought I'd seize another opportunity for AJ to wear her costume.  Plus, it gave us something free and fun to do.  There were a few games she could actually play, but it was a bit overwhelming between the crowds and the sweet older people making such a fuss and hugging all over her.  She thew some bean bags, did some leaf rubbing, and got a heart drawn on her hand.  We went outside to the parking lot where they had several inflatables set up, but she had no interest in them.  We all enjoyed a quick hay ride around the campus before climbing in our cars to thaw out and go home for dinner.


On Sunday night, I drew a little jack-o-lantern face on the pumpkin we'd picked out at the patch.  Audrey helped David clean it out and carve it.  She was way more into it this year than last.  She dove right in, pulling out the stringy goop and seeds, loving that part as much as I used to (still do, but I let her have it.  One more of the 18 million things you give up for your kids that no one tells you about.)


On Halloween morning, we went over to a friend's house for a little pumpkin painting, "spider" snack eating, and playing.  After we ate lunch with them, we came home for Audrey's nap.  I had been reminding her all day that when Daddy got home, we'd get to go trick-or-treating.  She'd been hearing us mention it here and there for weeks and was excited.  When she woke up, she asked if it was time.  I explained we had to wait a little longer and we busied ourselves with snack, dinner prep, and playing until it was finally time to get ready.  She put on her pink crayon costume and we went outside to take some pictures and wait for David.  As soon as she saw him coming, she waved and yelled, "Hey Daddy!  HEY!"  Before he could get out of the car, she ran to him and said, "It's time to go trick-or-treating!"  After they indulged me with a few (or 10) pictures, we set out our candy bowl and started up the huge hill outside of our cul-de-sac.


She began walking boldly up to the first house with their lights on and then slowed down as she got closer to the door.  We assured her, she found her courage for the sake of candy, and rang the doorbell.  When the lady answered, AJ whispered, "trick-or-treat" like a pro, chose one of the full size candy bars (though Hershey's over Kit-Kat...we gotta work on that) and even remembered to say thank you as we'd been coaching her to do.


After that first house, she was game.  We hit about five or six others as we made our way back down the hill towards home.  It was still light out, but we decided to go eat dinner and let her be on the giving end of handing out candy.  She chose a Tootsie Roll Pop (again, gotta work on the kid) for her treat and set it by her dinner plate, lest she lose sight of it while eating.  She kept rearranging it and sticking it in her mouth with the wrapper on.  Yes, it was cruel to make her wait, but hilarious and worth it.  We considered it character building.  The second she finished her last bite, she tore into it.  She worked on that thing forever before finally calling it quits prior to reaching the center.  Still, I think she got her money's worth out of it.


The rest of the evening was spent racing to and from the front door, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters who came by.  She loved seeing all the costumes and saying hello to everyone.  We turned out our light around 8:15 so we could start settling her down for bed.  Even after she was in bed, she still took a little longer than usual to fall asleep for all the excitement.


It was a great Halloween and, as is so often the case these days, we loved seeing and experiencing it through her eyes.  I've decided that's the consolation prize for having to watch your children grow up so fast - at least the older they get, the more they get into things and the more you enjoy sharing those new experiences with them and creating memories and traditions.  That probably works up until the bratty teenager years and then it's no fun for anyone.  But, until then, we'll savor these sweet times!


Hope you and your family had as much fun as we did!  Check out our pictures in the Picasa gallery.  Since the blog is now private, I've put the link back on the side bar under "Links" so you can access it directly from here.