I've been working on the Railroad!

We went to take pictures on a railroad track this morning...and let me tell you, I sure wish someone could've been taking some pictures as we tromped through the woods pushing the chico stroller up a gravel hill loaded down with a step stool, wipes, and snacks...what a girl does for a few pictures! Oh, and did I mention this is an active railroad track...yeah, just as we're getting situated and as "settled" as you can be with 3 little boys, what did our ears hear? Oh yeah, "choo, choo...toot, toot!" Oh man...so I was snapping furiously trying to get any and all that I could...so here's what I got, thought they turned out pretty good considering the pressure and time constraint!! Just so ya know, and don't think I'm a crazy Mama, we never did see the train, just kept hearing its whistle!







This would be when we heard the train coming!

Babysitting Co-Op

So, I've been in a food co-op and LOVED it (wish I could find a couple of families to trade off with here), it truly was such a great idea! But how about a babysitting co-op? Now that's a blessing for sure!

With the cost of childcare at the going rate of at least $10 an hour and some charge another dollar per child per hour (with my clan it could be as much as $12/hr-yikes!), needless to say it can get pretty pricey to go anywhere for any length of time! (We definately miss the built in sitters of grandparents and in-laws!)

It's such a great idea to trade off with a family or two that you trust and whose kids your kids get along with...thankfully for us, the Lowery's are just the ticket. Our kiddos absolutely LOVE when Will, Hayes, Olivia and Caroline come over! Mine and Rebekah's birthday's were both in October so we traded off date nights, which was such a treat!

Here's a little recap of our time together. With 7 kids ages 6 and under it's helpful to have a few planned activities to pass the time along.
They all played great together then we moved out onto the porch and made a few crafts (everyone colored a wooden turkey that I picked up from Hobby Lobby) then put stickers on construction paper and colored with markers.






After that we made rice crispy treat pumpkins with the oh so yummy stems made of tootsie rolls and leaves made of icing. The kids had a blast helping to roll them into pumpkin shapes, getting their hands slathered in butter to help the rice crispy's keep from sticking, added to the tastey treat!




For dinner, we enjoyed some good ole pizza then gobbled up our cute pumpkins for dessert.



To finish off our evening we piled up pillows and blankets on the floor in the family room and the kids laid mesmerized by Ratatouille which is such a cute movie. It really was a fun night, the kids had a blast and Adam and I enjoyed it too. We'll have to plan another co-op again soon!

Mommy and Me Music Class

I started taking Lawson and Emerson to a music class at church on Wednesday mornings and Lawson's loving it! Today we went to a retirement home and sang some of our songs and got to trick or treat with the residents. It was fun to get together with friends and their little ones who were adorable in their costumes! Lawson was the cutest sheriff ever with his sidekick Emerson who was dressed as a horse, he was technically dressed as a painted horse, but truly had more comments of "what a cute little cow!" Oh well, either way, he was so stinkin' cute!

He's the rootin'est, tootin'est, cowboy in the wild, wild west! Love my little sheriff!


Don't you love our little horsey?


Not the happiest of sheriffs!



Trick or Treating...and lovin' the candy!



All the little one's together...Justine's little boy was a baby tide (how cute is that!), Katherine was the most adorable little lion I've ever laid eyes on, Ryder was a precious little golfer (knickers and all), and then of course was our cowboy! Melt my heart!


Can't forget the little horsey...here's one with Emerson too!


After we sang and trick or treated, we took some halloween cookies up to the hospital and showed off our cute little costumes to most of the staff, then we had lunch with Adam...we had tons of people stop by our table in the cafeteria to oohh and ahhh over our little western duo!

Weekend In Review

Well, I turned the big 3-0 this weekend, so my parents came to celebrate!


The weekend started off with a soccer game for Peyton, and I must say, he did great...he performed well, and everyone enjoyed the crisp cool night, ans especially the hot chocolate that we had afterwards!

From the sidelines...

Our cute little soccer player...

And Lawson...


Saturday we watched the Razorback's play against Ole Miss...at first my Mom and I were cheering for Ole Miss (simply because we like Houston Nutt) but as the first half went on, we were wondering if the Hogs were gonna pull it out...and thankfully, they did in the second half...but it wasn't a blowout that's for sure!

That evening the Lowery's watched our kids so that we could enjoy a nice adult dinner out. We chose a restaurant that we'd never eaten at but that's a huge hit here in Birmingham. Bottega is a really nice restaurant and we enjoyed everything from the appetizers and wine to the meal and desserts...it was all definetly repeatable, all except the crazy table of ladies who'd apparently been there from the cocktail hour and were having a fabulously LOUD time!

Sunday we went to church then had a quick bite of lunch. My Dad and Adam enjoyed a game of golf then that afternoon we tried to get some fall family pictures...it was overcast and later in the afternoon but thought some of these turned out pretty cute!

These are some funny faces, but its still cute!





G-Dad with Emerson

Playing on the wooden train at Ross Bridge...



"Mom, we are plum tuckered out...No more please!"

The Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch

Literally, that was the name of the Pumpkin Patch we went to this weekend, and "grand" it was! If you wanted, you could take a helicopter ride, jump in the gynormous bouncers, visit the petting zoo, ride in a covered wagon out to pick your pumpkins and even eat BBQ and homemade pies...it was a bit over the top, especially when the "entertainment" started singing while we were eating lunch...when they broke out in "I'll Fly Away" we knew we were in the deep South..it was some what comical for sure! We had so much fun going with our dear friends the Lowery's...our kids had a blast, we would definately go there again!






Olivia was giving Peyton some lovin'...how cute is she?!

Me and my three pumpkins!


Jumping onto the hay bales...was so much fun!

Oh my precious boys, I love them so!