Trunk or Treat

Tonight was our church's annual trunk or treat. Here are our little munchkins all ready to go dressed in their Halloween costumes.

It took about 20 pics like this one before I got the above shot of both of them looking somewhat towards the camera.

And here we have super dad helping out his little superman.

Allie loved everything about trunk or treat. Candy, games, and she got to see a bunch of her buds from church. This is Lauren. Allie loves her some "rawllin" (she can't say Lauren).

This is silly Grayson showing off his stash.

Love this little guy! He invited Allie over to his house to play Friday...we're looking forward to it Grayson.

Gabe, surprisingly, was all about trunk or treat too once he realized free candy was involved. He would squeal and walk right up and grab a handful of candy and drop it in his pumpkin.

Allie loved the little games set up and had no hesitation in participating. She is getting so big!

We decided to let the kids dive into their candy. I believe Gabe's final count was: 2 packages of twizzlers, 2 pieces of chocolate, and 4 suckers.

What a better way to end the night after letting your kids overdose on sugar!

We were here, at a standstill, for an hour. (Notice the lady asking me if I can see anything...I was hanging out the sunroof).

To add to the mess, our friends (Grayson and his parents) were 3 cars behind us when their car overheated. So, we then went from this traffic to the median of I-85 picking up extra passengers.

Last week

I'm a little behind getting these pics up from last week....the kids and I spent the weekend in Al with my folks. We had a great time and appreciate you guys taking such good care of us while we were there.



This little girl had the privilege of spending the week all by herself with Pop and Maw-maw. She is still asking to sleep in our bed at nights....and to eat meals in the den....and unbuckle her carseat when we pull in the neighborhood, etc. Thanks guys!


It's always good seeing Uncle Benny. Allie talked him into coloring and a game of chase around the backyard. Funny how kids are so persuasive. Thanks for playing with her Ben! It means so much to her.



We had lots of family time. This is my Aunt Joyce playing dominios with the kids.



And we got to spend time with old friends. This is Alyssa, an absolute sweetheart. We enjoyed spending time with her and her mommy and daddy while in town this trip....and hope to see you all again real soon!


As for Gabe, he just hung out doing his own thing. This is him playing in the bubles one chilly afternoon.


A trip home is not complete without a trip to feed the ducks. Mom and dad are always so good to take Allie to do special things like this. We love you guys....see you in a few weeks.

Allie's new haircut

Here is a look at Allie's new haircut. Love the short do on her!

On a completely different note. I just have to share this story with you. This is a conversation my grandma Dot had with mom:

Grandma: The lady that manages the apt. complex got a new car.
Mom: What did she get?
Grandma: Oh, one of those SOBs.
Mom: I think you mean, SUV.

Miss Addy

Once upon a time....we lived in Nashville, very close to this precious Miss Addy. Miles close. Unfortunately, Addy and Allie were too young to appreciate each other.



Well, times have changed! We spent the evening at Juju's house tonight eating chili and watching football. The girls had a blast today hanging out and playing together.



We even managed to squeeze in a mini photoshoot in the freezing cold weather.



It's amazing what can be accomplished in 5 mintues. Addy was so cooperative...as was Allie. I had to push her out of shots!



In Addy's words, "I want to spend the night at her house, I like her".



We like you too Addy (and your parents), and we hope to get to do this again real soon! Until next time...and maybe, just maybe, we'll let you girls have a sleep over....at JuJu's of course!

Flash vs. no flash

No flash (above)


Flash.


This is a prime example of why I never use my flash. Both of these photos were taken around 4:00 pm on a dreary, rainy afternoon. The lighting was terrible, so I cranked my ISO up to 1600 for the no flash shot. It is a dark (and grainy) photo, but much better than the blown out photo above. And look at the shadow the flash cast behind Gabe. Bad. Bad. I don't like it. I'll stick to no flash.

Reason #468 why Izzy no longer sleeps with us...

Izzy showed up at the backdoor this morning begging to come inside looking like this.

Needless to say, she was not granted immediate access.

Only child (at least for the week)

Gabe is experiencing what it is like to be an only child this week while Allie is spending the week with my parents in Alabama.



Even though there is still a very lively and active 15 month old in our household, it is still strangely quiet without her. Gabe is definitely missing his older sister. He will walk around the house looking for her, calling "aaaaieeee, aaaaiieee". Too cute!


I understand Allie is living it up with her Pop and Maw-maw. The first night I called she was eating dinner at 8:30, and she has been sleeping in Pop and Maw-maw's bed with them. Then last night she was taking a jet bubble bath. Oh, for dinner last night - steak! She might not want to come back home!

Bad Haircut

I got a BAD HAIRCUT!!!!!

I wanted to do something a little different. (See random girl above...I found this super cute cut on http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/).


I was on the fence all week as to whether or not I should just go for it! In the end, I said, "let's do it".


But, I left my salon looking nothing like that cute picture I found. Besides my mullet cut I got when I was in my early 20s, this is one of the worst. The picture above is actually it looking as good as it gets.


When I don't have my bangs pulled back, I have an entire layer of hair that runs super short all around the perimeter of my head making me look like I have on a helmet. Or, it also resembles a heart.


And I don't want any "oh, it looks cute', comments. Because it doesn't. And I am very well aware of that.


It's so bad, I can't go to a different salon to have it fixed....then I would have no hair.


Anyone have extra prenatal vitams I can take to help this mess grow out?????

Zoo day with Gabe

Gabe and I had a playdate with some friends of ours at the Greenville zoo this morning. The weather was absolutely PERFECTION!


And so was this giraffe. I love cooperation, even though I was interrupting his lunch.


I really enjoyed spending time with Gabe today. He was really interested in the animals this time and would point and make noises at them.


Here is my little monkey playing on the playground before we entered the zoo. I can't get over how quickly he is growing up.


Zac and his momma joined us today.


As well as Greyson and his momma. And let me just add, as soon as Greyson saw I wanted to take a picture of him, he proceeded to dance the craziest dance, headbanging in the air, circling head; doing anything in his power to make getting a picture difficult. I'm surprised I ended up with a shot of him looking into the camera. LOVE those curls!


The zoo officially wore Gabe out. It was 12:15 when we left the zoo and he had not eaten lunch or napped. We got to the car and I handed him a vienna sausage...he fell asleep eating the first one. He was pitiful.

2 princesses

I woke up this morning to a pleasant surprise in my inbox. These cute pics of Allie and her friend from church, Sydnee.

We have small group every week on Sundays. Sydnee's parents have their small group on Tuesdays. We struck a deal to keep each others kids. Allie LOVES Sunday evenings and getting to play with Sydnee.

These pictures started my rainy Monday morning off to a good start.

Thanks Melanie and Jeff for your friendship and helping us out with the kids.

Week 2 Soccer - with jelly bean bribery

I bought Jelly Bellys and put them in a glass jar in sight where Allie would be tempted. And I told her she was only allowed to have them if she ran after the soccer ball this week. (Last week she walked and told me she didn't want to run in the wet grass.)

I am happy to report she ended her day eating jelly beans.

She even kicked the ball....three times....and it was intentional! But, she was going the wrong way. And it ended with her on the bottom of a 3 kid pile-up. Needless to say, she was crying hysterically and had to be carried off the field by her coach.

Her soccer games really are quite entertaining. See #6 there (with his dad helping out a bit)? Last week he was running around the field pretending he was a motorboat making neat noises with his lips. Then another little girl was pretending she was an airplane and ran onto the field with her arms outstretched flying around.

Gabe has become Allie's little cheerleader. Last night he was clapping and yelling out "A-ie, A-ie, A-ie." When he's not cheering for his sister, Gabe was on the sidelines kicking a soccer ball. Impressed me. Seriously, I'm tempted to throw on his sisters "soccer dress" and scoot him out on the field and let him go after it.

I give Allie all the credit on this one. She is behind me shaking a twig full of dead leaves over my head so Gabe would look our direction. The other 20 I took of him today he was crying.

Probably because he has now broken out in a rash all over his body. It. never. ends!

Thanks for your participation kids.