It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

I love Christmas! Seriously, I am worse than the kids and Thanksgiving really gets me in the mood. So, I had to bust out the x-mas jammies the other night. Wooohoooo! I can't wait!

The Colonial Cup

Going to the Colonial Cup has become somewhat of a family tradition. It is such a nice time and a much more family-friendly event than it's sister race, the Carolina Cup. This year they even added a carousel. As with everything we have done this year, it is so cool to watch the change in Liam over the last year. He has gone from a baby to a little boy, keeping up with his big sister every step of the way. We all enjoyed watching the races and (as a bonus) my old riding friend Jodi won the Colonial Cup race!

Some southern tailgating

Jodi, #2

LEABES!

Yes, Leabes! That is not a typo...Annah (bless-her-little-heart) cannot pronounce the letter "v" for anything in the world. One of her favorite days of the year is the day when Will rakes all of the leaves into a big pile just for jumping into! That day finally arrived! Last year, Liam was not a fan of the leaf-jumping. My how a year changes things! They both had a blast. When the pile would get too spread out, they would just rake it back up and start all over again. Can't wait for next year!

Liam thought it was Annah's turn to rake

I don't know what started it, but Liam is suddenly very anti-picture-with-Annah

A Time to Love

A lot that has been going on lately (which I will not go into here) has made me realize just how lucky I truly am...I have the two best kids I could ever ask for, a wonderful husband, and the best family ever! These are just some pictures that captures my sweet kiddos, well, just being themselves. The ones of Annah were taken after her ballet class last Friday. Liam has recently formed an obsession with getting his belly button ("be bo") extremely clean, so I had to take a few pictures. Hope you all are well and loving your lives as much as I am loving mine right now.

All Treats, No Tricks!

This was the first Halloween that both Liam and Annah knew what was going on. Last year, Liam was just along for the ride (I don't think he even had a candy bucket last year, even though he did go trick or treating). My what a difference a year makes! Liam was WAY into the idea of knocking on doors and getting candy. He was surprised at every single house that it worked! I am still trying to convince him to stop knocking on every door he sees! Annah (true to form) was a bit more reserved. Her only complaint was that she got too much chocolate (I am not complaining however, because while she refuses to eat chocolate, I love the stuff).

This may be the cutest Madeline and doctor in the whole world...of course, that's just my opinion!

It is really rare that we get a picture of all four of us together. Even more rare that we are all looking at the camera...victory!!!!

Life is not [the] FAIR

Thank goodness life is not the fair! I can only handle one day of that much fun once a year. Annah and Liam, on the other hand, could do it every single day! They drove the cars (and the firetruck), rode some more rides, and had a great time. Will and I enjoyed the food (perhaps a little too much).

Annah had ridden these cars before, but last year Liam was too little to ride anything. Will was worried about putting him on a ride without an adult...but not to worry. He had buttons and a steering wheel...good times!
Annah had a pretty good time too!

Annah got to go on her very first roller coaster ride. Will is making a funny face (I think because he was being squished into a kid-sized roller coaster), but Annah was excited...

WWWWWHHHHHHEEEEEE!!!!!!

We took everyone on the (big) ferris wheel. It made me very nervous to have both of my babies up in that thing. The doors just don't seem very secure and it was pretty high, so I held my babies close and Will snapped this sweet picture.



These last three pictures crack me up! They had already ridden the cars once so Liam knew what to expect and he was so excited...

he almost couldn't stand it!

It's starting!

Oh my! Here we go!!

October Fest

Sunday was October-Shuping-Family-Fun-Day! It was very cool, but perfect for picking pumpkins. There is a pumpkin patch near our house, so we loaded up the kiddos and headed on over. Annah bounced from pumpkin to pumpkin asking me to take her picture on every one (see below). Liam was mesmerized by a field full of pumpumps (or balls...he went back and forth). He wanted to pick up every one! We did find a few good ones and got some great pictures too.

"Mama, this one is heavy!"

I love this face! He makes it whenever he is excited..."Oooooohhhhh!"

My goal (aside from getting pumpkins) was to get a picture of Annah and Liam together and one of me with them. The patch had a couple photo booths set up and I am pretty pleased with the results!

Pushing our pumpumps to the car

Later we decorated the pumpkins...Last year Annah freaked out about carving the pumpkins. She didn't want to cut out their eyes, because then they couldn't see! So, we bought the Mrs Potato Head Kit. I had to get another one for Liam this year. I couldn't find a boy one, so we had to settle for a witch. We did leave off the earrings to man it up a little.

After all that, we went to Boo at the Zoo. I had only gone once before. Gardner and Perry came along too and the kids had a blast (and had lots of candy). We got there right when it started so it wasn't dark yet, but we had to get home for dinner and bed. I must say, I think my kids were the cutest ones there!

Dancing!

Paging Dr Patootie...Dr QT Patootie

(it actually says Dr QT Patootie on his lab coat)

"In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines...

The smallest one was Madeline"

"And that's all there is, there isn't any more."