Fall Festival

On Sunday the 22nd, the kids' school held their annual Fall Festival. I was part of the committee once again, and although we met *quite* a few obstacles in the planning process, I was very pleased with the outcome. 

Abby, Cate, Jonesy

One of the new additions this year was the "Dunk Tank!" I had quite a time finding faculty/staff to participate, but once they found out it wasn't a dunk tank, so much as getting water dumped on their head, I found about 10 volunteers. Even our parish's two priests participated!! (See bottom two pictures). They were all great sports, especially because it was an overcast, chilly day.

You had to pay $1 to get 3 shots on the dunk tank. Both the kids had fun trying, but did not hit the target!

Another new addition was the Cake Walk. I *loved* these things as a kid!! Abby was SO determined to win, and played about 47 times in order to do so. Finally she won, and picked out a dozen cupcakes. She was so proud!

We added props to the Photo Booth this year, and they were a big hit. Especially with Abby and all of her friends! :)

Some of the high school volunteers didn't show up to help - don't get me started - so I had to enlist a few parents to take a shift on the game stations. Greg got stuck with the Creepy Lollipop Tree. He totally changed the rules and was quizzing the kids with math questions before they could pick a lollipop! :) #nerdalert

Although we had 20+ game stations, Nate and his buds spent most of the time running around outside like wild animals :) 

Abby & Mia in a fierce game of tic-tac-toe

More photo booth fun

Some of the gang Nate was running around with. Sno-cone break!

I worked really hard with these ladies for the past 2 months.

It was all worth it; we made over $12,000 for the school! 

Griffin Farms

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago, on Sunday the 15th.

 Abby was finally old/tall enough for the zipline, so she wanted to do it first thing when we arrived. 

 Nate offered to go first to "show her the ropes," and Abby was happy to follow in her big bro's footsteps. And then there's goofy Dad....

 The zipline crew! They all did a great job.

 Next up, the corn crib. I say this every year, and I'll say it again: I don't get it! The kids are obsessed with this thing and always have been. They said it's oddly soothing. 

 Greg jumped in for the first time, and agreed with the kids. He loved it!

 We split up for a bit while the boys did the rock wall, and the girls did the corn maze.

 The very-underwhelming slide :)

 Never too old for inflatables!

 Last up, it was time for the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. Mom's first picture of the day! :)

 Greg is *always* very particular in finding his pumpkin. He has great plans for his carving masterpiece this year! 

As always, we had a great time at the Griffin Farms. (Even though it was 90 degrees!) And I hate to say this, but it may be our last year. We all agreed that the kids are quickly outgrowing it. We usually stay 3 hours, and this year we were there only about 1.5 hours. Besides the zipline and corn crib, there is not much the kids are interested in any more. So sad!!

Regardless, we have had great memories there and I'm happy we got to go this year.

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.