Pumpkin Patch

Each year I enjoy visiting the pumpkin patch and ringing in the fall season with its oranges, reds, and greens.  The pumpkins, the cornstalks and mums bring just the pop of color that I love to the seasonal changes.  This year we chose to visit a pumpkin patch we had never been to before.  Motleys Farm was a well oiled machine from the parking lot to the pumpkin "valet" situation, we were impressed with our experience!

They have a petting zoo area that the kids enjoyed.  We purchased some food to feed the goats and donkeys and all of the kids let the animals eat out of their hand except Ava Jane.

The corn stalk maze was fun too.

Ava Jane enjoyed seeing all the butterflies that we fluttering around these beautiful flowers.  

They had a fun playground area that Emerson and Ava Jane had a good time on.

They also had "pumpkin pillows" that were kind of like large trampolines that the kids had a blast on!

Oh how I love this girl of mine!

Here's my whole world in one picture.  I love all these people big!

The cow train was a hit for Emerson and Ava Jane!

Here's a walk down memory lane of our past pumpkin patch experiences: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.  Looking at these past years makes my heart want to burst as I looked at how small my little people once were.  Time, please stop rushing us.  We are trying to take in each moment!

14th Anniversary Celebration

Adam and I try to get away with each other once a year.  This year, in the span of a month we have managed to get away twice (thanks to my parents and our wonderful baby sitter Bri).  Twice in thirty days is almost unheard but we did!  We'd bought tickets to the Gavin Degraw and Need To Breath concert in Memphis at Mud Island months ago and looked forward to celebrating and enjoying time just together.   We left early on Saturday morning and enjoyed uninterrupted conversation in the car and shopping for some clothes for Adam that afternoon.  Shopping at our own pace, with my best friend truly was super enjoyable.  We hit up a few antique stores, one of which served us some wine to sip on as we browsed, that was a fun treat!

We took a little longer shopping then we probably should have, since we still needed to check in at the Peabody then get to our reservation.  Unfortunately with traffic and the parade of ducks in the hotel lobby, it took us a little while to get to our room.  We got checked in and I was planning to change and freshen up a bit when I discovered that I'd forgotten to pack the shoes to go with my dress, so, unfortunately I had to stay in the same clothes I'd been in all day and simply re curled my hair and add another layer to my makeup.

We made the five minute walk to Flight, where we had reservations.  It was a really fun venue where the food, drinks, appetizers, etc were served in "flights" of three.  We enjoyed our charcuterie board and champagne (on the house since it was our anniversary).   If you are visiting Memphis, this is a definite place I'd recommend.

Since we ordered fish, we went with the "Nothing To Prove" flight which was crisp and refreshing. And how cute are these miniature entries, soft-shell crab, shrimp and grits and red fish with a mango salsa?  I was all delicious!

After dinner we walked another few minutes to Mud Island (an outdoor amphitheater) where the concert was being held.

We were slightly confused when Gavin Degraw came on.  It didn't totally look like him and we didn't recognize his "band" (a man and woman singing with him).  They had beautiful three part harmony but we didn't know ANY of their songs.  Adam and I began googling if he'd formed a band because we were super confused.  Turns out, the lead singer of Need To Breath apologized later in the show that that was in fact not Gavin Degraw but another band asked to come in last minute because Gavin had had a family emergency....it was so disappointing...but definitely cleared up the questions!

We had wanted to see Gavin Degraw, that's what we had "given" each other for our 14th anniversary (I shared about our anniversary back in August.)  Though we were disappointed in the concert, we enjoyed our time away together.  Our marriage is NOT perfect, we have disagreements, we have arguments, we have lots of pressures on us from all directions (kids, work, school, sicknesses, etc) but when we take advantage of the opportunities to get away, we are reminded of how much fun we have when we are together and how much we truly enjoy being with one another.  I was grateful for our time away.

Ava Jane's 5th Birthday - A Tea Party

I cannot understand how today, September 14th, 2017, we could possibly be celebrating Ava Jane's fifth birthday.  I still vividly remember my water breaking, getting to the hospital and having just under two hours before we welcomed her into our world.  She was a dream come true, an answered prayer, a miracle in the works.  We couldn't have possibly imagined what the next weeks and months would have held for her, but we were thrilled to be holding her in our arms that day in 2012, kissing her soft cheeks and enjoying snuggling her up tight.   Her brothers were thrilled to meet her, to love on her and ultimately bring her home.  We became a family of six that day.

Since then we have gotten through a major heart surgery, blood pressure medicines, slowly learning to crawl, walk and talk. We wondered when she would finally say more than ten words, she was two and a half.   Once she started talking, it seemed to come quickly and we were excited to hear the thoughts running around in her mind.   Since then there's been lots of laughter, wrestling with Daddy, toe nail painting, costume wearing, book reading and singing.  She's an active little girl who is growing a tad bit sassy day by day, but she is sweet as ever and we love her so!

This year she had asked for a tea party for her birthday so I set about planning a little soiree.  I went smaller this year, and invited a few of her closest little friends.  It was more manageable and honestly enjoyable for me.  I think Ava Jane had a great time playing with her sweet friends and if I do say so myself, I think they were pretty cute as they colored, sipped, dressed up and played outside.

I had fun pulling this tea party off!  Ava Jane wasn't thrilled to wear her hat, but she humored me a bit.  And thanks to Donna, I had a hat to wear (and now I'm ready for the Derby if I ever get the chance to go!) 

I served food that was child friendly with cinnamon raisin and cream cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and strawberry jam heart shaped sandwiches, fruit, candy coated pretzel sticks and strawberry wafer cookies drizzled with chocolate.  And instead of tea, these girls had raspberry lemonade.

They each got a hat and a pearl necklace to wear.

As the girls arrived we started with a craft.  There was a coloring page, stickers and a "teacup" to decorate.

Afterwards we had lunch and they had some time together around the dining room table.

I'm gonna put this out right here, if you like to throw parties, you must check out Talking Tables they have the most adorable paper products and they aren't much more then Party City prices but are way more cute!  It's where I found these paper plates and napkins that look like real china but have the ease of paper plates!

These sweet girls had fun helping us celebrate Ava Jane's birthday!  Aren't they so cute?!

We all enjoyed being with Ava Jane on her special day.

Strawberry iced cupcakes were her choice so that's what she got.  Sweet one , we love you so much!  

She loved all the girly gifts that she was given.  How fun it was to get Barbie dolls, a real purse, and other fun items.  She has loved playing with it all!!  Happy Birthday Ava Jane!  We are so thankful God put you in our family and that we get a front row seat to the story He's writing for you!!