Barnyard Field Trip

Last Wednesday (the 26th), Abby's class took a trip to the Barnyard! I got to be a driver, and had a loud van full of girls. And Barbies :)

Abby is lucky to have such a good group of girls in her class!

Circle time so we can start feeding the animals!

Abby was a little hesitant at first, but then loved feeding the animals.

Especially the goats!

Besties.

Animal bestie.

My 6-going-on-16-year old :(

Jonesy wanted Abby to be very careful with the baby bird!

Bunnies are always a favorite.

A new addition to the Barnyard: a rat.

Who came up with that idea?!?!?!?? SO GROSS.

Blonde buddies

The piglets were SO cute!

Abby's class - great group of kids!

Playground fun

Feeding the ducks

Waiting their turn on the boat

Only girls allowed!

 We had a lunch break at the picnic tables, and Abby opted to not sit with me. Instead, she sat a few tables down, with Jonesy, Boston, and Tanner.....later, I found out that Tanner gave her a bag of chips which is what convinced her. She's a cheap date! :)

After lunch, it was time to leave the petting zoo behind, and take a hayride to the upper farm. Lots of fun activities up there!!

 The main attraction was this new thing, called the Jumping Pillow. It's basically a mix of a trampoline and a bounce house. SO COOL!

 The kids had so much fun jumping, that a few of the moms that were chaperoning (including myself), hopped on for a few minutes. It was SO fun!! I will spare you those pictures :)

Waiting in line to ride the horse, Doc

Abby is a pro now!

She finally let me sneak in a few of the pictures! :)

Erin, Abby, Indya

Sweet 1st grade girls!

(Well, most of the time they are sweet :)

"Milking" a cow

(Water came out instead of milk; the kids thought it was hilarious!)

We were having a potty break, and as we were waiting for everyone to finish,

I look over and see this. The class was "building a fire" together :)

Mrs. Strickland and her great kiddos

Playground fun

Goofballs!

My girl :)

The whole class buried Louie in the corn crib. He loved it!

What a great day and great field trip. Abby was not the best-behaved (we had a few "Come to Jesus" moments), but all in all I enjoyed being with her. I know the moments where she actually wants me around are fleeting, so I will take what I can get :)

Tennessee Trip

Two weeks ago, the kids & Greg extended their Fall Break by 2 days and took a road trip to Johnson City to see Greg's parents! (I was in NC for Lora's baby shower.) Greg said it was a pretty uneventful drive there, unless of course you consider the fact that Abby lost a tooth. Ha!

 Mum Mum had gotten an old go-kart repaired (I think it used to be Uncle Kevin's?), and the kids had a blast with it. Especially Nate! He told me it went SUPER fast, while Greg told me it went no more than 8 mph. Ha!

 A big reason Greg & the kids made this trip to TN was to see their Great Nanny! She is the kids' only living great-grandparent, and the last time Nate saw her, he was just 4 months old!!!! She lives in PA most of the year, but was spending a few weeks in TN before heading to FL for the winter to live with one of her sons. She is a busy lady, even at 92 years old!!

Don't worry, she didn't drive the go-kart; just sat in it for a photo op :)

 Their first night in Johnson City, Granddaddy cooked his famous chili and they all hung out. I forgot to mention that one of Mum Mum's brothers, Gene, was also in town visiting. He and Aunt Lora were on their way back from a trip, headed to their home in VA. The kids have never met Uncle Gene & Aunt Laura, and from what I've heard, it was a very mutual admiration from the beginning.

Friday, they did lots more go-karting, walking the dog, hanging out at the house, and relaxing. Greg took the kids to our favorite place, Pal's, for lunch. The kids had their usual - hamburgers, frenchy fries, and strawberry milkshakes. I was soooooooooooooo jealous to receive this picture!

Then, that night, Great Nanny took everyone out to a new restaurant called Farmer's Daughter, which was a family-style southern place. Greg said it was delicious!

Saturday, Greg went on a long bike ride, so the kids got treated with a trip to Toys R Us! ShopKins & Lego sets make for 2 very happy kiddos :)

Daddy the stud in his biking gear

That afternoon, plans to a pumpkin patch got foiled because the Alabama vs. Tennessee game was on. All I can say is ROLL TIDE!! 

This little girl was pretty smitten with her Uncle Gene, and apparently they spent a lot of time cuddled up like this, doing word searches on Abby's kindle. Email addresses were exchanged too :)

 Besides playing with Uncle Gene a lot, I heard that Abby enjoyed taking Ripley for a walk whenever possible. Yes, I know this girl loves dogs. No, I am still not getting her one! :)

 Sunday morning, Greg & the kids had to say goodbye to everyone. At my request, he made everyone pose for pictures. Gotta document these fun times!! :)

Thank you to Mum Mum & Granddaddy for hosting so many people in their home!

One more picture with Great Nanny

And don't forget Uncle Gene, Aunt Laura, and Ripley :)

Guppie's Baby Shower!

Back on the 14th, I flew to North Carolina for the weekend to help throw a baby shower for these this cute couple!!

My older sister Lora is pregnant!!!! (Though you can barely tell here.)

 Lora & John are having a baby boy in early January, who has been nicknamed Guppie since they both enjoy fishing and the outdoors. And well, the baby resembles a fish early on :) Guppie is already VERY well-loved, and 6 ladies (including myself) asked to host a baby shower in his honor.

John's mom, Robin, has an amazing house & backyard in Durham, NC so she hosted the shower. I got to help, along with my mom, younger sister Becky, John's sister Lauren, and John's sister-in-law Katie. Told you, it was a lot of people! :)

We decided on a vintage fishing/woodland theme, since Lora & John are a very outdoorsy couple. It's the first shower I've ever done with that theme, and it was SO fun to come up with all the decorations, etc. (I am such a nerd.) One of the hostesses, Katie, has the cutest handwriting and made up all the menus & chalkboards. We used my grandpa Gregg Gibbs' old tackle box (talk about vintage!), and I lucked out getting some gorgeous fall flowers at Trader Joe's. Lauren tinted the mason jars and wrapped them with netting, and we had an oar serve as our guest book (which will eventually go into Guppie's nursery).....

 We had sooooooooooo much food, and this was only half of it! We hung baby pictures of John & Lora on this old net with fishing poles. So fun to see what John looked like as a baby! They are going to have one cute kid....

 And please, check out this dessert table. Again, the cute menu board from Katie and then ALL the amazing desserts. S'mores bites, custom cookies, mini cheesecakes, yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing (Lora's favorite) and chocolate chip cookies. Needless to say, I hung out near this table all night :)

I could not get enough of these s'mores bites ! So cute AND yummy.

And check out our cute shower invitation in the frame.

Lora and 4 of her hostesses!

From left: Katie, Lauren, Lora, me, Bec

Lots of family love from both sides!!

 Like mentioned earlier, John's mom has a great house & backyard out in the country. Did I mention they have chickens too!? It made for quite an exciting party, especially for all the kids :)

Lora and I have an awesome friend from high school named Natalie, and she was able to make it to the shower with 2 (of her 4!) kids. I hadn't seen her in years, and it was so much fun to catch up.

Anna & Kate

The Gibbs Girls with Nat!

Some of Guppie's grandparents and great-grandparents

Why yes, those are kegs in a canoe. Isn't that a normal thing to have at a baby shower!?

More of Guppie's fan club

Such a cute, candid moment between John & Lora!

They are going to be amazing parents!!

Working on hard on their Baby MadLibs; such a fun game!

John's mom & stepmom

Another fun game - making all the guys chug beer from a baby bottle.

This was hilarious because it was super hard and took them FOREVER.

(We gave them the Level 1/slow nipples. Ha!)

Go John Go!

Reading some completed MadLibs out loud, and opening a few gifts.

I am not usually great with (other people's) babies, but John's niece Ava was my BUD!

I hung out with her a few times during the night.

The wild "after" party inside :)

Two of their favorite gifts - Intro to Calculus book (seriously!) and a backpack/diaper bag.

Not only did I have fun at the shower, celebrating Lora, John, and Baby Guppie, but it was SO nice to finally meet John's side of the family. They could not be nicer, and I'm beyond thankful that my sister has such remarkable in-laws and such fun & supportive sisters-in-law!! Guppie is one lucky little dude.