the weekend in review

humm, it's already Wednesday morning, I seem to be getting behind this week :)  We enjoyed a great weekend, especially now that everyone appears to be healthy! 

*Friday we met Alicia and her kids for a Catch Air playdate and of course the Pizza Hut buffet.  Love that place, they are so nice to us which amazes me since all the kids eat free; I guarantee they lose money on us :) 

*Ryan and Abby spent Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We enjoyed a nice date night: Mexican food and then shopping.  We got an amazing deal on new lamps for our nightstands.  That's right, we're exciting people. 

*Eleven hours of sleep Friday night.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for having the kids over! 

*Cooking out Saturday night with our new small group.  It was lots of fun hanging out in a purely social setting and it was the first time all the kids have been together too.  We are excited to get to know such a great group of people and we look forward to new friendships!

*Abby had a makeup music class Sunday and the guys went to a playground.

*Happy Birthday Asher!  We celebrated with one of Ryan's bestest buddies at Catch Air Monday evening.

Fall always seems to be full of lots of fun and exciting things to do!  While I feel like we haven't had a down day in months, I do love it and wouldn't trade it.  Well, maybe I'd trade all the sicknesses we seem to get!  Poor Abby has had periorbital cellulitis [an eye infection from the scratches she got on her forehead riding a tricycle into the wooden fence], croup, an ear infection, and hand foot & mouth.  All within five weeks.  But she's such a tough cookie, none of it has really fazed her.  The doctor was amazed she got over the periorbital cellulitis so fast; she said if she hadn't seen her on the first day, she wouldn't have believed it.  And when we were diagnosed with hand foot & mouth, I was warned to expect fevers and Abby to quit eating.  None of that happened.  She just doesn't slow down, doesn't miss a beat!  While she seems to catch everything, she has this amazing tolerance to get over it super quick and to not get the worse symptoms.

for Great-Aunt Barb, Grandpa, & Uncle Brian

Halloween!

  

Happy Halloween!

The kids and I enjoyed a fun-filled Halloween evening yesterday; unfortunately Coleson was sick as a dog and home in bed :( 

We had wanted to go this festival we've gone to in the past, but I decided that would take too much time and get stressful.  So we went to the trick or treating festival at Publix instead and had a really good time.  I wasn't sure what to expect when we got there.  We started at Publix and wandered the store playing five or six bean bag toss type games and collecting candy and cookies.  Then all stores in the strip mall were also giving out candy.  And the best part ... the firemen were there too, perfect for our little fireman and his dalmatian firedog!  We love seeing the firetrucks around town and they are always so nice, letting us look at the trucks, giving out hats, and yesterday we even posed with them for a picture!

Grandma met up with us for trick or treating through the strip mall and then we went to her neighborhood to see Grandpa and trick or treat to a couple of her neighbors' houses.  And a quick stop by our friend Jake's house to say hi too.

We then returned home to trick or treat our neighborhood with Nana.  The kids did great with the trick or treating!  Ryan had done well last year, so he was a seasoned pro.  And Abby really got into it too.  She walked right up to a couple of Grandma's neighbors' house, although when we got home I kept her in the wagon.  But if there was someone on a driveway she'd reach out to them.  And at one house with a really long driveway, Ryan got all the way up there and I heard him asking if he could have a piece of candy for Abby too, what an awesome big brother!! 

Abby loved the lollipops.  She'd never had one before yesterday and then she had three!  She got the first one trick or treating at Publix.  A nice store owner handed it to her and silly me thought, this will entertain her for a minute while she crinkles the wrapper.  Nope, about ten seconds later she was handing me the wrapper and putting the lollipop in her mouth. 

After we came home from trick or treating, we turned on the porch light and took our turn handing out candy.  Ryan enjoyed this just as much as collecting the candy.  He sat in the front playroom, err I mean dining room, watching for trick or treaters and then getting his candy ready to hand them as they rang the doorbell.  Such a great helper!

It was a little rough managing all the fun without Daddy [including a really late dinner and baths to remove facepaint and clean sticky hands & mouths], but we did it.  We really missed having him around to experience all the fun and excitement though!  It wasn't quite the same without him!  

growing dinosaurs

I'm not sure where they originally came from, but we found some dinosaurs in Ryan's drawer a couple of weeks ago and decided it was time to grow them and see what would happen.  They started fairly tiny and we waited patiently, checking them often, for three days to see what would happen.  They got huge!  Ryan loved peeking in to see if they were bigger and was so excited when the time came to take them out of the water.  He even named them Dino and Deno [is that spelled right?].  However, after a day or two of being out of the water, they dried up and shrank back down.  Fortunately Ryan's attention span is not that long, so it was okay :)   

In no particular order

I love summertime.
I love my family.
I love chocolate chip cookies.
I love being barefoot.
I love being a mommy.
I love crazy toenail colors with glitter.
I love scrapbooking.
I love being on the water.
I love my husband.
I love sleeping.
I love pizza.
I love cuddling with Abby while she drinks her morning milk.
I love pumpkin patches and hayrides.
I love laying out in the sun.
I love a good book.
I love traveling.
I love nighttime prayers with Ryan.
I love the fourth of July.
I love datenights with the love of my life.
I love college football.
I love fresh cut grass.
I love country music.
I love playdates.
I love Mexican food.
I love hoodies.
I love my friends.
I love watching my children play together.
I love adventures and making memories.

Abby's words

Abby is becoming quite vocal these days!  All of a sudden she's talking a lot more and copying our words.  She's been saying the basics for awhile:  Mommy, Daddy, uh-oh, no, nose, bye-bye, ball.  But she's been holding out on us!  New words the last week or two include: Abby!, block, mon-key, go.  And she uses go in context which really impresses me.  The first time I heard her say it, she pushed a car along the floor and said "go!"  Then yesterday she was at the top of the playset slide and as she slid down she yelled "go!"  She has a stuffed monkey in her bed that she's becoming pretty attached to: "Mon-Key"  It's so sweet!  With block and monkey in particular, she says both syllables very clearly, almost like two words.  She's got the K sound down and I'm excited she's not dropping that last syllable.  But I am still her favorite word; she'll walk around babbling mommy, mommy, mommy.  And this morning when Ryan walked in her room she shouted "hi!"

She also knows lots of body parts.  She'll point to her nose, ears, mouth, feet, belly; wiggle her hands; stick out her tongue. 

She loves her stuffed animals and dolls, but she also loves lots of Ryan's toys.  She carries around his cars and trains.  And her current favorite is the tool set, esp the screwdriver.  I have seen her several times sitting down, more focused and intent then she ever gets, screwing the screwdriver into holes on the bottom of the big trucks.

crazy spontaneous fun!

What a crazy, busy, fun, spontaneous weekend we just had!  By Sunday night, we were worn out, but it was a good tired! 

Friday the kids and I went to Catch Air for the first time in several months [it's just hard to want to play inside when we had such a beautiful and warm summer].  We had a blast!  We met Christa and her kids and then ran into another friend from our old small group.  Catch Air has made some changes and added new stuff and it was awesome.  I was grateful to have Abby with me as an excuse to try out the cool new village area for myself :)  Afterwards Christa and I went to Pizza Hut where Alicia joined us and we STUFFED ourselves on the buffet, yumm!!  And I have to say, Pizza Hut was the nicest and friendliest they've ever been, especially considering we had three moms and seven kids [and kids eat free].  They treated us so well, even bringing special orders of breadsticks and pizza straight to our table without our asking. 

Saturday morning we drove up to Dawson county to check out the leaves and walk my favorite old trail by the river.  It has a boardwalk which is perfect for the kids.  It was beautiful!  We then celebrated at Madeleine's fourth birthday party [Ryan picked her out a necklace to go with her presents all by himself, so sweet].  And about 1:00 [as we're about to walk out the door for Madeleine's party], Coleson decides we need to figure out a way to go to South Carolina for the night!  I'm glad we went, just wish we had had a little more time to plan :)  [un-committing to serve at church Sunday morning, changing tennis start times, etc].  So we threw together a few things for the night, forgetting only diapers which fortunately you can buy at the store!  So after Madeleine's party, we took in the marching band show and then drove to South Carolina.  Grandddaddy and Jo-Ann met us at Sarah's house that night [we were too late for dinner], and the kids had a wonderful time playing.  They sure love their granddaddy! 

Sunday morning we woke up and joined everyone for breakfast at IHOP.  There were 15 of us there!  Both of Jo-Ann's kids and their families were there, as well as us and Sarah's family.  What an adventure.  It was great to see everyone, just wish it wasn't quite as rushed!  We had to eat and run to get back to my tennis [last match of the season though and I'm taking off next year!].  But we're looking forward to seeing Granddaddy and Jo-Ann and her family again at Thanksgiving when we go on our crazy roadtrip, so we'll be able to visit better then.  My Sunday afternoon tennis, despite the loss, was a great match.  The opponents were super nice and we were competitive.  The weather was perfect and I felt good [and of course I have a great partner :)].

Anyways, like I said, wild and crazy, but lots of fun! 

Adorable Abby's kitty-cat - say-cheese face

my trombone player

If you haven't seen them yet, there are a couple of videos on my picasa page that you really need to check out...

Last week I decided it might be fun to show the kids my old band instruments.  I started with the flute and they were fairly impressed.  I played a couple of songs [keep in mind I it's been years since I've played] for them and let them press the keys and whatnot.  Pretty cool. 

The next day I brought out my old trombone and Ryan LOVED it!  I played for them, showed them the slide and mouthpiece, and then  I let them try to blow into it.  I have no idea when you are supposed to be able to buzz a brass mouthpiece, but I would not have guessed at four years old.  But sure enough, Ryan took right to it and was marching around the upstairs hallway honking like a dying duck.  What an amazing and beautiful sound that only a former marching band member and mother could appreciate it :)  He's been having a blast with it.  In fact the next morning, that was the first thing he asked: can I play trombone again? 

So then this weekend we went with Nana and Pop-Pop to a marching band competition over in Cumming.  We stayed for two bands [despite being a musical prodigy, he is still just four and his sister 18months], but both kids really enjoyed it.  And I was glad that we were able to watch one of the bands march off right by us so Ryan could see them up close and watch for the trombone players. 

 

the weekend

Just a quick continuation of the last post since I ran out of time.  I wanted to say thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for having Ryan and Abby over to spend Friday night and most of Saturday with them.  We haven't left Abby much, certainly not for that long, but it was a much needed break for Mommy and Daddy.  We went out to dinner at Provino's [always my first choice :)] on Friday night.  And Saturday morning I slept!!  For the first time in about 18 months, I slept without thinking about the kids, worrying I needed to wake up, feeling guilty that I wasn't waking up, or hopping out of bed for an appointment of some sort.  It might have been interesting to see just how long I could have slept, but Coleson woke me up with breakfast in bed at 9:15 - after 11 hours of sleep!!  Of course I ate leisurely, read my book, and didn't drag myself out of bed until 10 :)  Wonderful!

We accomplished lots around the house on Saturday.  I think we did more in a few hours than we have in the last few years.  We cleaned closets, purged toys, organized old clothes and put them in tubs in the attic, moved the playroom into the dining room, and all sorts of other productive things that we could have never done with the kids around!  So thank you thank you to Grandma and Grandpa!