October Stuff

As far as October goes.....

Here is a *sneak peek* of our Family Pictures! More to come on the Christmas card :)

October 5th

*Perfectly captures their personalities!*

For our annual girls' weekend, we took mom to Asheville, NC for a few days of relaxing and fun! Lora, Mom, and I all arrived Thursday late afternoon. Our cabin was perfect and Mom loved all the animals on the nearby owner's land. Wet met Bec at Grove Park Inn Friday morning for a day of pampering. Best spa ever!!

Saturday morning, we explored the property more and went on a long hike. Again, Mom enjoyed the animals! (Hellllllo Mr. Alpaca!!) She collected 12 lbs worth of hay for her seasonal decorations on our hike.

We spent Saturday afternoon exploring downtown Asheville.....street vendors, book stores with a champagne bar, sky bar, fantastic views, and delicious food at dinner. A great day!

October 11-14th

Greg held down the fort while I was gone. He let the kids sleep in the master bedroom, they had lots of treats, and lots of fun.

When I came back from Asheville, the kids had 2 days off school for Fall Break! I took them to a new place in Birmingham called High Point Climbing. Since it was a Tuesday, NO ONE was there! We literally had it all to ourselves. So fun! The kids climbed (and swang on the ropes) for hours, then we left for lunch, and then we came back for 2 more hours. I was impressed with their abilities - they scaled the 55 foot rock wall meant for adults in no time! - and their endurance. (I was exhausted just watching them.)

October 16th

Our church had a Trunk-or-Treat for the first time this year! (Cars line up in the parking lot and have games/candy in their trunks for kids to play/have. There were about 30 cars plus some festival games, and then we had hot dogs/hamburgers in the Parish Hall along with a few rousing games of Bingo!

October 19th

Nate & Greg had another campout this month, Cub Haunted. It is a huge event for Pack 7, and they lucked out with perfect weather! Nate put up his tent like a pro - he's the only Webelos II camper that can do it by themselves! They had a night filled with bonfires, shooting drills, GaGa ball, purchases at the Trading Post, hayrides, and hot chocolate.

October 27-28th

*Lots more October fun to come! Pumpkins, class parties, and trick-or-treating tonight!*

September Stuff

Time for catch up! 

We had a busy September....

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Nate always loves when Evers invites him to an Alabama football game because they get to sit in the President's box!!! (So fancy.) During the 4th quarter, they even got to help serve soda/water/tea to everyone in their box. Did they even watch the game!? Not sure. 

September 8th

 The kids got quite the surprise at the Homecoming Pep Rally.....the teachers surprised everyone with a Flash Mob to "Footloose." It was AMAZING!!! Abby and her buddies could not stop giggling. Then, they got to watch the Homecoming parade with the homecoming court outside. Fun morning!

September 13th

 Cate came home with us from school and these twinsies wore their rompers to the homecoming game that night! :)

Nate continues to be an altar server during campus mass on Thursdays and is doing such a great job! Makes it more fun when he does it with his buddies too :) (Although he says his favorite part is wearing the "warm robe." Ha!)

September 20th

Nate has been training with the middle/high school cross country team since July, and we were finally able to cheer them on at a meet this month! (Most of their meets are out of town, like an hour away.) This was the TCBY Invitational, and had about 20 teams from all over Alabama. Nate competed in the 1 mile "fun run" before the meet began. And 3 of the high school runners had little siblings that competed as well! It was for grades 3-5 (but we think some 6th graders slipped in there without being noticed.) Nate did great and came in 4th place with a time of 5:51!!!

September 22nd

 Later that day, Nate went to the Alabama vs Texas A&M game with his friend Beau Cochran. Beau's dad is the Strength & Conditioning coach for the football team, so the boys were treated to all-access passes on the field! I swear Nate does not know how spoiled he is to have all these "connected" friends! :) Nate was super pumped to meet the ESPN journalist Marty Smith, but I think his favorite part was RIDING THE BUS WITH THE PLAYERS for a few minutes!!! Coach Cochran drove the players from the field to the fieldhouse after the game, and Nate & Beau got to tag along. Nate spoke to a few players and loved riding on their fancy bus! #bestdayever

September 22nd

 Abby and I met a few mommies/daughters for an afternoon play at the Bama Theatre to see "Mary Poppins Jr." It was so good! Three of our next-door neighbors were in the play, and were amazing as usual!

September 29th

 Nate & Greg had a Scout Campout at the end of the month and had a great time as usual. They are becoming quite the campers! And while they did that, Abby and I had a girls night - pizza & rented a movie - and then we went out to breakfast the next morning. Love my sweet girl! :)

September 30th

September was a crazy month and October is just as busy if not more! Stay tuned for another "catch-up" post!

Dancing Queen

Dance classes started back on August 20th, and Abby was excited to try a new style this year - Jazz! (I also convinced her to take 2 days/week of ballet to improve her technique.) Her schedule is as follows:

Monday: Jazz 3:30-4:15 and Ballet 4:15-5:00 pm

Wednesday: Ballet 4:15-5:00 pm

Here she is, ready for her first day of classes!!

 She has a new teacher for jazz, named Ms. Nicole. She is a college student at UA and part of the Bama dance team! Abby loved her immediately. There are 7 girls in her class and on the first day, they all caught on very quickly and did a cute routine! I think Jazz is the perfect class for Abby.....it's a mix of hip-hop and lyrical, with just the right amount of sass :)

 For ballet, she has the same teacher as last year, Ms. Jenn. Now that she's in the 2 day/week class, they are a bit more serious and push her more. That's my hope at least! Abby doesn't *love* ballet, but she has a lot of potential if she decides to work hard. There are 14 girls in her class - more than I would have hoped for - but there are 3 barres for them to use so there is plenty of space. Look at my pretty little ballerina! :)

 September is "Bring a Buddy" month, so Abby asked her friend Ella to join her for a jazz class. Ella had THE best time! These two girls are so silly together.

I'm excited to see what this year holds for our little dancing queen!

Labor Day Weekend

Over Labor Day, we took a trip to Charlotte to see Becky's family for a few days! 

We checked the kids out of school around 12 on Friday, hoping to beat some of the Labor Day traffic....especially in Atlanta. (Sidenote: I did this same trip last year with just myself & the kids and it was miserable. I didn't check the kids out early, and we didn't arrive in Charlotte until 11 pm!)

Well.....the same thing happened :( It was a looooong day of driving but luckily Greg was there to help me shoulder the load this time. Needless to say, we didn't get to see the cousins when we arrived on Friday night because they were sound asleep. 

Abby was soooooooooooo excited to wake up and see Charlie Kate on Saturday morning!!

The feeling was mutual :)

As per usual, we took a family walk that morning. Anderson loves being one of the "big kids!"

Anderson & Poppy were going on a "run," and then Nate decided to join last minute. Gotta stretch first though!! :) #notstaged #promise

Poppy and his two favorite runners!

We saw them while on the walk and Anderson was talking up a storm, while running. Ha!

Speaking of running....Omega was having a great deal on running shoes, so we went to browse! Abby and I ended up both getting a pair. But this is what was mostly going on when we were there....

#shenanigans

Bec packed lunches for everyone and we headed to the pool for a picnic and playtime!! (A good way to wear out the little ones before naptime :)

As a belated birthday gift, Lora and I bought this pink Pottery Barn chair for Charlie Kate.....she loved it but so did one of her big brothers! :)

Teaching the kids to play Rummikub! Gibbs family tradition

I love this pic! Both Bec & I with our daughters! Now we just need to get Lora to have a girl :)

Sunday morning, Uncle Mike went out to get Duck Donuts for everyone. Soooo good! We were killing time because the waterslide people were supposed to arrive around 10 am to set up the slide. The kids were so excited!

And finally, it arrived!!!! We had planned on putting it in the backyard, but Bec ordered the 20 foot slide and it DID NOT FIT back there. Ha! Go big or go home.

So, it went up in the front yard! #whitetrash

Now, this is not something we normally do when we visit Bec. But, she felt bad that we had missed CK's birthday party 2 weeks earlier, and wanted to do something special for the kids. So, why not order a 20 foot water slide!? It took over an hour to set up and fill up with water. The kids could not wait to go down it! And to be honest, I was pretty excited too! :)

We had fun for about an hour and then some neighbors started coming over and wanting to play. Bec said yes - she is way nicer than me - but by that time my kids and I exited the slide because it was getting too crowded. Bec let the neighbors play for a bit and then we went inside for lunch and rest time! 

Abby decided to do her reading / rest time outside on the spider swing :)

After naps...…...Round #2 on the slide!  Greg was home this time (he had been on a long bike ride in the AM), so the kids had fun showing him the ropes. It started thundering an hour in, so we ran inside before the storm. Bummer!!

Cutest.thing.ever.

We had a pizza dinner and then ROUND 3 on the slide! No more pictures at that point. Just lots and lots of fun. I think the kids would have kept sliding all night if we had let them.

As a surprise, Bec got a cookie cake for Abby's birthday. Even though it's not till November, ha! She just said that we always make a big deal out of summer birthdays at the beach, and then mine & Poppy's birthdays over Thanksgiving, so she wanted Abby to have her own little celebration. So sweet! Abby was *very* surprised and very touched :)

We pulled out early Monday morning, hoping to beat the traffic. (And we did; praise the Lord!!) Give minutes after we left, I got a text from Becky saying that the boys were on Round #4 of the waterslide. They sure got their money's worth!!!

Again, it was a super fun weekend with cousins - we missed Otis! - and worth it to drive so far. Why can't Alabama and North Carolina be closer!?

Happy 11th Birthday Nate! [Part 2]

Nate's birthday fell on a Monday, so unfortunately, that meant.....school.

But at least he woke to lots of presents and Daddy's famous French toast!!

Nate said I "didn't need to" come eat lunch with him like in years past, so I just opted to drop by at lunchtime with 4 dozen donuts from Krispy Kreme for his class & the other 5th grade class. I was lucky to get this picture..... when I asked Nate if he wanted a selfie with me, he said "I'm good." My little boy is growing up and getting too cool for me! :(

Usually, he stays after school on Mondays and runs with the cross-country team. But he asked to have a "relaxing" birthday (you know, since his life is so tough!), so he got to play video games all afternoon while Abby and I were at dance. Lucky boy!

Daddy fixed Nelly Telly - an Italian dish with sausage - for dinner and then I surprised Nate with a mini-ice cream cake! Oh how we love this boy so.....