Fall Break Road Trip

The kids and I started off Fall Break (Oct 13-14) with a trip to Carrollton, GA to see our best friends the Vetranos!! They moved to GA in July and we have missed them terribly.

Abby jumped right in and gave Caroline her (early) birthday presents: a Minnie Mouse purse & sunglasses, plus a super soft stuffed animal. Abby loves Baby Caroline so much!!

 Abby showed Caroline her "blush brush" and Caroline was smitten. She was (pretending to) put blush on herself, her stuffed animals, her car, whatever was in her sight. She is so funny!

 Nate and Chandler have been close friends for years, and have had a *very* hard time being apart these past few months. Luckily, they are able to still chat online and join in on video games from afar. Thank goodness for technology!!

 After lots of playing at the house and a pizza dinner, we loaded up the wagon and headed over to their high school tailgate. They only live one street away! And yes, their HIGH SCHOOL has a tailgate and it is a major event every Friday night! This place even sells season tickets to the football games. It is a whole different world there....

 The tailgate was fun! We got to meet some of Chan's new friends plus run around, play football, play in the sandbox, and have cake with Mrs. Katie's new friends. We walked home tired and ready for bed.

Saturday morning, we went to cheer on Chan at his football game. He is playing tackle football for the first time, and the guys on his team are huge!! It was chillier than we expected, so I took the kids to the nearby playground at halftime to move around and warm up. They loved this spinny-thing!

 Caroline is not one to remain in her stroller all game long, so we took turns entertaining her. Her favorite game was running in the "tunnels" underneath the bleachers.

 It was a *super* intense game, but Chan's team ended up winning! We were his biggest fans :)

 Caroline headed home with Mr. Nick for nap, while the rest of us hit up Chick-fil-A for lunch and then some "big kid" activities in Kennesaw, GA...about an hour away.

Auburn vs. Bama....typical!

 Our first stop was Laser Tag!! I was excited because Katie got a Groupon for all 6 of us to play!!! We played two rounds: first was boys vs. girls. (The boys won.) And the second round was a free for all (though we still ganged up on the boys). I got dead last both times (Ha!) and Nate got first both times. He was the silent assassin and super accurate with all of his shots! I think I ran around laughing and taking pictures most of the time. (At least, that's what I'm blaming my poor performance on.) It was SO fun!

#toughmamas

A glimpse of the future....

 Next we headed to a rock-climbing place. This place was so amazing!!! We especially loved the "Kid Zone" area. Nate got to the top of every single one he tried, and Abby made it up about 90% of hers. 

On the bottom right rock wall that is red & green, Nate closed his eyes while he was climbing!! He wanted to be challenged :) And....he made it to the top!!

Such a fun but quick trip to see our buds in GA! We made it home Saturday night around 9 pm. Long day but it was oh so worth it!!

Moundville Field Trip

Back on Friday the 6th, both 4th grade classes travelled to Moundville, AL for the annual Native American Festival. This was something I had never attended, so I was happy to tag along!

First up, we climbed 75+ stairs to one of the huts!

The view was well worth the climb!

My favorite boy :)

 After we all climbed one of the mounds, the teachers informed us that we were on our own until lunchtime at 12! This was a new one for me.....I have never been on a parent-led field trip! I must say, it was not my favorite. I like the idea of being a chaperone and tagging along on a field trip. I felt very ill-prepared to be a tour guide instead. My car/group - one other adult and 4 kids - decided to follow around 2 other groups (where the parents looked like they had been there before!)

First up, we/they found some nature trails...

 Then we happened upon a few Native American demonstrations. Of course the boys were super interested in all the talk about weapons...

Of course, we found a few vendors on site that were selling homemade weapons. Imagine that! Nate brought money from home, and used some of it to purchase this bow and arrow set. It was a popular item among his (male) classmates that day.

There were a *ton* of food vendors at this festival as well, so we took a quick break for waters and sno-cones. Then, the boys asked for some "action," so they joined in a game of Stickball.

Nate got a breakaway one time!

Grinding corn, the old-fashioned way

We met up with everyone back at the cars and had a picnic lunch. Then, we had 1.5 more hours to explore the festival before it was time to go. We visited the Native American museum (no pictures allowed), did a little more shopping, and then the highlight of Nate's day - learning to shoot a *real* bow and arrow from a *real* Native American!

He was bummed that the kids were only allowed to take one shot. But, still pretty cool!

 Again, the boys wanted to hit up the shops....I'm telling you, these Native American vendor tents made a killing from our kids that day! Nate used the last of his money to buy a dagger and case.

Super tough with their daggers - Nate & Mason

It was time to head out and I think eveyone was glad. It was a *super* hot day, but we all had fun and learned a lot.

A New (Pink!) Addition

My little sis, Becky, had her third baby on Friday, August 18th. She already had two boys, and decided not to find out the gender of this baby; she was 100% convinced it was a boy. Well, lo and behold, Charlie Kate Staton arrived at 2:45 am and the whole family has been smitten ever since. Look at this little doll!!

Big Brothers Anderson & Gibson were so proud, despite the top left picture.

(Gibson was not cooperating because HE wanted to hold Charlie Kate!)

Bec & her family live 7+ hours away, outside of Charlotte, NC. Despite that, I've been able to be there both times her boys were born. (It helped that they were born in the summer!) Well, this time, I couldn't go visit until 2 WEEKS LATER!! It was seriously killing me.

So, on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, I checked the kids out of school early and we headed to Charlotte to see Charlie Kate for a few days. The loooooong drive on Friday was worth it when I woke up to this cutie on Saturday morning!!

 Abby was the first kid to wake up and could.not.wait to hold her cousin! CK is Abby's first girl cousin and she could not be more thrilled!!!!

5 out of 6 grandkids; just missing Otis!

 We went to this amazing donut place for breakfast, called Duck Donuts. Seriously, how good do these puppies look!?

The kids were in heaven, especially Gibson. That boy loooooves his food :)

Anderson & Nate are too cute together.

They starting holding hands on their own!

 Once we got home, we had to burn off those amazing donuts! We went for a group bike ride/walk in Bec's neighborhood.

Nate hasn't played dress-up in years, but he will do it for his cousin :)

#littlemomma

Afternoon fun

CK is already very advanced - she can hold her own passy! :)

Bec & Mike cooked a yummy feast for dinner, and since it was a nice night we sat outside to eat. Nate took his second helping of corn on the cob to the swingset, ha!

And....time for s'mores!!

Bec didn't eat sweets for most of her pregnancy since it gave her bad heartburn. So she was SUPER excited to have her first s'mores!!

Look at those little hands! It looks like she's praying

Nanny bought matching nightgowns for the girls, and Abby was oh so thrilled to finally have a girl cousin to match with! Little did she know, the nightgown for CK was actually made for a doll :) After bathtime, we tried to get a pic with both cuties, but one was not feeling it.....

#bloopers

Snuggling with Poppy before bedtime

Sunday morning, Abby once again wanted to be the first to hold Charlie Kate. She loooooves her some CK! She has pretty stiff competition from Gibson though. I promise you the picture on the below right was NOT staged. He adores her.

Abby wanted CK to play with her "friends" Butterscotch & Pippy, but CK wasn't feeling it :)

The doll nightgown now has a new owner - Pippy!

Best part of making brownies = licking the bowl

Afternoon fun at the pool!

Dinner silliness

Love that little burrito! :)

One last snuggle with CK before we left Monday morning....

I'm so happy we made it to Charlotte for Labor Day! And I'm even happier we have a new, healthy baby GIRL to add to our family. A big congrats to Bec & Mike! Let the girl adventures begin......