32 years {My Birthday Weekend}

Yesterday evening, around 10:00 (I believe), I officially became one year older. This has been a birthday celebrated over several days which has really been a treat!

Friday night Adam and I got to enjoy a date night while the grandparents kept the kiddos, though it did get slightly hijacked by the fact that my wallet wound up missing and we spent the next hour and a half looking for it. We called our credit card company and the bank checking to see if there'd been any transactions, and there hadn't been so, finally after much frustration and STILL no wallet, having already missed our reservation, we decided to forgo the said plan, and going out anyway!


We ended up at Mellow Mushroom around 8:30pm...which in my toddler/preschool world, is SUPER late for dinner. Mama here was about to chew off her arm when the oh so kind waiter welcomed us to the table and announced that it'd be "at least 30-35 minutes on a pizza"...are you kidding me? I haven't eaten that late ever, I don't think! We ordered the spinach artichoke dip and scarfed it down in no time flat! Our Thai pizza arrived and we didn't just love it, but we were so hungry that it didn't matter. I think next time I'll stick with my favorite, which is the Kosmic Karma.


Saturday was filled with fun shower plans, then all of our families got back together to have pizza that night, it was so fun to be with good friends!

Sunday night we celebrated my birthday with my family. My Mom and Dad cooked an oh so tastey meal that we all thoroughly enjoyed! The boys wanted to "cheers" with their chocolate milk"...



Dad, thanks for being such a wonderful Dad to me! I'm so grateful to be able to spend time together and to enjoy life along side one another! You are a blessing in my life, thanks for helping to celebrate another year! We did manage to get a group shot...though we missed Whit and Rob; they weren't able to make it because they are both out of town...can't wait to here more about the time in Cali, and being on the vineyard!



My crazy crew of boys...


My sweet Mama and Me! What would I do without a Mama who loves me so well?! I just appreciate so much all the sacrifices and time you invested, and still invest, into me. Now with my own kids I realize just how hard mothering can be. You did it well, you set before me a great example to follow and I'm just really grateful to be able to have your experience and wisdom now as I walk these roads with my kids. I love you Mom! I am blessed to be your daughter!


Then came Monday, my actual birthday! Adam took off, which was a treat in and of itself! He let me sleep in, which was A-MAZ-ING and made me a big breakfast with omelets. We loaded up the kids (cause Peyton was out of school too) and headed down to the river. We enjoyed the beautiful, crisp morning together.





The view of Pinnacle and the fall colors was breath taking.


I had a great birthday spending time with those I love. Can you tell this picture was taken at the end? At least we got one, right?!


And my day didn't end there...we celebrated with the Head's that evening and y'all, I wish I had stopped to take a picture of the meal, it's a real shame that I did not because it was so thoughtfully prepared. Donna outdid herself for sure, with a 3 course meal that began with crab bisque soup (she knows I love crab meat), followed up with seasonal vegetables, wild rice, pork tenderloin, rolls, and my requested Apple Cake...in a word, it was D-Lish!

Thank you to everyone who sent cards, texts, emails, made phone calls, and just said they loved me! I felt (and still feel) loved. Here's to another great year...I look forward to what this next one may hold!

A Baby Shower: Time with Friends

This weekend I got to enjoy helping to throw a cute shower for a good friend of mine who recently moved away. I was so glad to see her again and to get the opportunity to love on her and the sweet little pumpkin that's on the way!

We went with a pumpkin themed shower since it's finally feeling like fall and it was super easy to do with all the gourdes, pumpkins and mums that are available during this season of beauty! It was a group effort, and really a lot of fun to do!

It was a morning shower so we kept it brunchy...






And Carol put her mark on the food table with these A-MAZ-ING sugar cookies...almost too good to eat...almost!


Lindsay got an adorable (and oh so practical gift), a diaper cake!


And lots of fun goodies!



There were lots of friends to catch up with, it was so fun to see everyone!




Lindsay, thanks for letting us "shower" you with some lovin'! It was great to all be together again! I can't wait to meet this little mister! I am missing you already; but it won't be long til I see you again


Here's Carol's look at the morning.

Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Adam took a day off so that we could do our annual visit to the pumpkin patch (2012, 2011). We usually go to the Schaefer Collins Pumpkin Patch in Mayflower, which we really like and we will most likely go to again next year, but we wanted to try out another one in a totally different direction. Friday morning we headed to Mary's Place in Bryant. The kids were super excited to be picking out their own pumpkin as well as riding the hay ride.

They enjoyed seeing the animals...




Ava Jane took in all the sights and sounds, she was particularly interested in the goats...



The boys loved running through the rows and rows of pumpkins...



My boys are precious...I am truly blessed! They are such good friends, they loved chasing one another through the tunnel...and it makes my heart swell to watch it all.





They had a blast taking their turns riding the bull barrel...




Unfortunately there were several classes that were taking up the hayrides. When we arrived at 9:45 they told us that we wouldn't be able to ride it until after 12 noon...that was quite the bummer, but we did get to ride the train! That pretty much made it all better for the boys! (It was the same train we'd rented for Lawson's birthday party several years ago.)




The train ride takes you through woods...


We enjoyed (most of) our time together...finding our pumpkins, looking at all the different kinds, riding the train and playing together...




Though Emerson and Ava Jane had had enough, I think the trip was a complete success, even without the full group shot to prove it!

The Fun Run

Wednesday morning, Peyton's school did their yearly Boosterthon Fun Run. It's a fundraiser where each child gets pledges per lap that they run or asks people to donate a flat amount. The race track is approximately 1/16th of a mile and the max laps a student can do is 35. Peyton loves to run so this event is right up his ally.

They have the kids divided by grade and they start out by running through the tunnel to introduce each class. They were all thrilled to be doing this event; Peyton was super excited! (His poor eye looks terrible, he got some kind of rash that spread over his body and even onto his eye lids which caused them to swell really bad, after several "scrapings" they did verify that it was NOT scabies, thank you Jesus, but rather, some kind of contact dermatitis, so he's on a steroid. Here's hoping it clears up quickly!)



They sang the national anthem and gave them a little pep talk that included some of their High Five themed chants that the kids had learned throughout the week.



Then they were off and racing...






Daddy even made it to cheer on Peyton. I was trying to take pictures of him and the other kids in his classroom but they were running so fast I had trouble getting the shots, thankfully Adam was there to watch for them as they were coming up on the curve and he'd alert me to what "lane" they were in. Peyton was usually on the outside so that made it a bit easier to spot him; next year we might implement some type of sweat band or something so I can find him more easily in the sea of white t-shirts! Check out that stride!



Peyton did an awesome job and ran every one of his laps with strength and perseverance. Some of the kids started slowing down and/or walking, but he ran everyone of those 35 laps. We were so proud of him! We found out that his class WON the school wide boosterthon, meaning they raised the most money! Way to go Miss Wright's class!!