Friday Night Fun

It's been a pretty routine week around here, and we are all thankful for that!  School, play, dinner, a movie night, just the normal stuff.  The boys were excited on the way to swimming lessons, and we sang lots of songs and ate our snack in the car. 

Before Linc's class began, Beau had to give him a hug to swim good!  Lincoln might have squeezed the breath out of him! 

Instead of dining with our normal Friday night dinner group, we met the Robison's at Nico's.  It was super yummy, and we had fun catching up.  All of the boys were soooooo good!  Lincoln and Beau cleaned their plates, and Jackson loved munching on his dinner too.  We got to witness his first experience with chips, and he loved them.  He kept pointing at the bowl of chips for more with a huge smile.  Sweetest boys ever! 

We are a Band-Aid bunch right now!  Lincoln was in a little accident with one of his friends at school and several layers of skin were shredded off his forehead on the concrete.  He got lots of TLC from the nurse, and we've been carefully doctoring it at home.  He loves to look at his wound in the mirror when the Band-Aid comes off before his bath.  Beau basically just has a Band-Aid under his chin because Lincoln has one on his head.  I guess he needed a sympathy one! 

Final T-Ball Game & Trophy

Lincoln had so much fun in the fall T-Ball league.  He learned about so many skills, played so every position on the field, got tons better at batting, and had fun playing with his buddies in the dugout.  It was so special for our family to watch Linc play a real team sport with the big boys!  Wait . . . I think he IS a big boy!  After the final game, the boys were presented with a trophy after snack time.  I'm couldn't tell at the time which was more important - the trophy or the Capri Sun!  He's definitely decided that the trophy is super special and found a place of honor for it on his dresser.  He gave Beau a plastic Piston Cup (from the Cars movie toys) so he wouldn't feel left out.  We already can't wait for spring ball!  There is plenty of time before March to practice throwing, catching and batting, right?  A baseball player doesn't have much of an offseason, does he?

Fayettevile Trip - Tri Delta Centennial 2013

Weekend Road Trip . . . Kevin and I left for Fayetteville on Friday morning to celebrate my sorority's Centennial Anniversary at the University of Arkansas.  We stopped by the Tri Delta House right away to see the historical landmark that was bestowed on the house.  I loved walking through the place I called home with 100 other girls for two years.  So many fun memories, and the house is more beautiful than ever! 

We walked around campus for hours and checked out old classrooms and new buildings.  It was the most beautiful fall day . . . crisp but not cold and the leaves changing colors beautifully!   

The Centennial Celebration continued with a dinner and dance at the Fayetteville Town Center on the square in the evening.  Over 900 alumni and collegians were in attendance, and let me say that it was a seriously rockin' party!  About a third of our 1997 pledge class (not all pictured below) came, and it was so fun to catch up with everyone.   

It wouldn't be a party without dancing, and danced we did!  Alison and Dawn convinced the rest of us to join them on the dance floor, and the two preggos even cut a rug.  Sara Beth and Carrie, y'all were so fun!   

After being away from these girls for so long, it was wonderful to spend time with them.  We are all in similar stages of life - kids to talk about, baby names to discuss, and old memories to replay.  Friday night was priceless!  Kevin and I went to an early lunch at an old favorite, Loafin' Joes!  Sad I don't get to have that every day!  I shopped around the square for a while then we went to get ready to tailgate before the Razorback game on Saturday afternoon.  The view was great, and the weather was pretty chilly!  Again, it was fun to hang with the girls.  Pregnant or not, they know how to do a Razorback game right! 

Someone is completely obsessed with the panoramic feature on his new 5s iPhone . . . he took panoramics all over town!  This one of the stadium was really cool, so thanks Kevin!  We were in the sun for almost an hour, and we were nice and toasty.  The second the sun went behind the stadium we were freezing!   

OK, it's cold and we just blew 4th and 1 to score to end the first half . . . we're outta here!  At least we looked cute and had fun calling the hogs!

We headed to Dickson for dinner and managed to snag a table at Doe's with no wait!  Everyone after us was on an hour wait, so we were super lucky.  The food was amazing, of course!  The craziest thing about the weekend was that Allyson happened to be in Fayetteville too.  We were so excited to meet up with her and her friends after dinner.  It was great to see her for the second weekend in a row, after not seeing her since May.  Love my precious little sis! 

Kevin's Aunt Carolyn has the loveliest home just west of campus that she offered for us to stay in, and we were super spoiled by the closeness and comfort.  It was truly a spectacular weekend - the friends, the family, the weather, the food, the fun, but not the game score so much!  I don't know when we'll get back to Fayetteville for another awesome weekend, but I hope it doesn't take as long as the last time.  Wooooo Pig Soooie!

Halloween Trick or Treating 2013

After spending the entire month of October doing Halloween crafts, visiting the pumpkin patch, carving and decorating pumpkins, making Halloween sweets and treats, reading Halloween books, watching Halloween movies, and even making jack o'lantern pepperoni pizza, it was finally time for the big day!  The boys were having a Halloween fair and trick or treating at school, so they had to go in costume.  They decided to wear backup costumes, so we pulled out their super hero outfits from last year.  Surprisingly, they still fit and were just a smidge snug.  Batman and Robin (an upgrade from last Halloween's title of RobberMan) had lots of fun at school.  They had scooter races, bowled with a pumpkin at ghost toilet paper rolls, painted pumpkins, and trick or treated the offices.  It was so much fun! 

The super heroes were quick to change into little monsters when it was time to trick or treat in the neighborhood.  Mike and Sully have been practicing their scary sounds and even set up their own Scare School to master their craft.  (That means it's been really loud at our house lately!)  These two sweeties couldn't wait to get started trick or treating!

The Robison's came over to trick or treat with us, and Jackson was the cutest Jake (of the Neverland Pirates) ever!  Lincoln was happy to hang with him and talk about the fun they would have, but Beau was having a shy moment off camera.  

Group pic!  What a happy bunch of trick or treaters!   

Apparently we began before several people on our street got home from work because the first few houses were empty.  That didn't slow down these monsters one bit.  They charged up to each house with gusto!  When the door opened, the belted out "Trick or Treat!"  After receiving candy, they were happy to say thank you and had to give a monster ROAR!   

Seriously with the roaring!  It was crazy!  They took their jobs as part of the Scare Staff very seriously on our street tonight, and the people answering their doors were laughing at the cutest scary monsters ever.  We had to trick or treat at Marte and Scooters before the night was done, and they boys were so excited on the way there.  After getting a few sweet treats, we got to see Jason, Shannon, Matt and Courtney too!  What a bonus!  This has definitely been the most fun Halloween season yet, and they have really had a blast with each activity.  Beau's bucket got pretty heavy by the end of the night, and his legs got a little weak.  He fell a few times, but he was not going to miss one second of trick or treating at the door with Linc.  Their spirit is contagious, and it makes holidays so special.  Happy Halloween 2013 - it was a great one!

Hot Chocolate with Lincoln

This is one of my favorite pictures EVER!  Lincoln and I woke up before Daddy and Beau on Saturday and snuck outside to enjoy his first cup of hot chocolate in the cool morning air.  He loved the hot chocolate, of course.  I loved watching him experience a simple joy.  Lincoln really does find the good in everything, and it would do us all good to think like he does.  Not a day goes by that he doesn't tell me how beautiful I am, how much he loves me, how I'm the best Mom in the world, and so many other sweet things.  I really appreciate his loving heart . . .  especially when I'm not actually being the best Mom in the world!  He even includes me in his bedtime prayer, and I know he's teaching me so much.  I hope we get to sneak outside for a million more hot chocolates, and we may even invite Beau to join us one day!  (A warm mug doesn't seem like a good fit for Beau's "bull in a china shop" manners!)  We could bankrupt ourselves on this Keurig machine drinking so many of these sweet treats, but it will be worth every cent.  So glad we shared that sweet moment together!

Finally the Weekend!

Finally, the weekend arrived!  We were so ready for Saturday . . . to sleep in, relax a bit, and have lots of fun!  Lincoln was invited to his best girls' birthday party, and he was so excited.  Lindsey and Erin have been great friends to him for several years, and he couldn't wait to celebrate their 5th birthday at the new Richardson Gymnastics Center.  He told me in the car that Lindsey and Erin would be so excited when they saw that he was there!  They bounced on the trampolines, hopped on the balance beams, tumbled into the foam pit, and climbed through the obstacle course.  When their school teacher arrived, it was like a rock star came to the gym.  Every kid immediately ran to give tons of hugs to Ms. Dorletha!!  She was sweet to participate in the parachute game with them.  When it was time for snacks, Linc and his best girl had to sit together.  We had so much fun at Lindsey and Erin's birthday party!  Thanks for inviting us!

 

 

The best part of Saturday was that Minnie and Allyson were coming to visit!  We were sad that Bubbles had to stay in Arkansas to work, but we'll see him soon.  Minnie read tons of stories to the boys, and they were thrilled to cuddle up. 

The boys wanted to play in their Halloween costumes and show them off.  They were so surprised when Allyson had a costume too!  Little Mike and Sully (from Monsters Inc and Monsters University) loved Ally's Minion costume (from Despicable Me)!  They played forever in their costumes and did lots of monster scaring.  They even decided to go to "share school".  It should have been "scare school", but the sharing part sounded way nicer! 

Of course, they had to try on the Minion costume!  They loved it and looked to cute in the giant costume. 

The final T-Ball game was rained out on Sunday, so Minnie and Allyson didn't get to see Lincoln play.  But we had tons of fun, played lots of games, read so many books, and had too many giggles and hugs.  Beau said this evening, "It sure was a fun weekend."  That it was!

Throwback Thursday . . . to 1992!

Throwback Thursday!  This cute little thing is my first baby love, my sister Allyson.  We are so glad she is coming to visit this weekend.   

Lincoln's Light Bulb Burn

Saddest and funniest picture ever!!  The boys had fun in the tub during bath time, as usual.  Lots of playing with rubber duckies and splashing around.  I managed to get Lincoln clean and dressed then started on Beau.  Linc went to Beau's room to pick the bedtime story that they would enjoy together and turn on the lamp.  As I'm drying Beau off, Linc runs in screaming about his finger hurting.  I examine it and ask lots of questions, and we determine that he touched the light bulb after the lamp had been on for a while.  Ouch!!!  He was so upset and hurting!  We ran his finger under cold water to take away the heat, put Neosporin and a band aid on next, but those things were of no comfort to him.  A cold compress was the only thing that made Lincoln feel like his wound wasn't hurting.  Of course Beau was so interested in the drama, and he made up a fake hurting finger too!  He demanded a cold compress for his fake wound and giggled through the bedtime story while Linc was in pain!  Poor Lincoln learned his lesson about touching light bulbs, and he had to suffer the painful consequences.  He even went to sleep with his finger on the cold bag.  Luckily he woke up all healed, and there was no left over damage to his finger.  It's tough on everyone to learn a lesson like that, but we are all thankful that it was a small burn and healed quickly.  At one point, Linc told me that it would NEVER stop burning . . . I'm so glad that didn't come true.  Hopefully, Beau will remember this little lesson and not allow his curiosity to lead him to touch a hot light bulb.  I'm sure Lincoln will be happy to warn him!

Pumpkin Carving

When we picked out our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, Lincoln gave me strict instructions that they were only to be painted later.  I agreed, even though I would definitely prefer to carve them into jack o'lanterns.  I'm not sure what changed his mind (I didn't say a word!), but he told me on Saturday afternoon that we needed to carve them.  Hooray!  We went outside with our tools and got busy cleaning out the pumpkins.  The boys chose two of the silliest (and most worthless) spoons to help me!  Ready for action . . .

When I cut the top off the first pumpkin, they came in close to check out the guts.  Eeewwww, said Beau!  Most of the cleaning out was left to Mommy, but I had lots of entertainment as I gutted the pumpkins.  For some reason, they brought all of their musical instruments outside to sing and dance while I worked!   

Lincoln was very direct about telling me how his pumpkin face should look.  Happy, not mean!  Beau had lost interest by then, so Linc told me the same for Beau's pumpkin.  Beau was happy with the result, and he happily posed by his friendly pumpkin with a light inside.   

Luckily, Lincoln thought my handiwork was great as well.   What a relief!  It's super important to have a great jack o'lantern look perfect!  We texted our pumpkin pictures to Bubbles for his approval.  He's the best pumpkin carver I know, and he was proud!  

It's pretty hard to make a face on a small pumpkin, so I'm glad they were happy with the results.  They really like to check on the pumpkins and see it the lights inside are working.  One more fun thing about fall that I love to pass on to them is the joy of carving pumpkins.  They are definitely not ready to wield a knife yet, but maybe next year I can get them to help me clean them out.  Either way, I'm just glad to have some fun helpers who are excited about fun fall activities. 

Pumpkin Patch 2013

No fall season is complete without a visit to the local pumpkin patch, and this year was the best one ever!  On Friday morning we drove to the Owens Big Orange Pumpkin Patch, and the boys couldn't wait to see the pumpkins.  They didn't even know about all of the other fun stuff they were about to do!  There were already several school buses of field trip kids there, but we beat most of the crowd by going early.  First stop was to pose in the pumpkins, of course!  The climbed over and around them to find just the right spot for a picture.  Happy boys, for sure!

A sweet scarecrow was too cute not to check out, and we managed not to knock her over.  That was a miracle!! 

We fed the goats, looked at the pigs and rabbits and horses, sang "Nah Nah Nah Boo Boo" to the turkeys, and clucked at the chickens for a while.  Lincoln remembered that they had been to this place for a birthday party in the spring (minus the pumpkins), so he quickly took charge and led the way!  Next up was the hay ride, and we waited with our group full of excitement.  The man leading our ride told us to look for ponies, ducks and geese along the ride.  He also told the kids to look for clues to help find Farmer Terry.  My guys really listed and discussed the instructions.  When I asked if they were ready to find all of the things, they both gave me a thumbs up!

We had a quick picture before the hay ride began - thanks to my cuties!  They acted like they've been going on hay rides for life and weren't scared or anything.  I just watched them take it all in.  They really did shout out each time they saw one of the animals or clues.  At the end, they spied Farmer Terry (the back of a mannequin in overalls) with his head stuffed in a bale of hay!  They couldn't believe he would do that and squealed about it for so long! 

As we walked back over to the pumpkins, the boys spotted two kids from our hay ride group sitting on a little John Deere tractor.  Lincoln and Beau waited until they got off and hopped on for a turn.  Beau scared us all to death when he hit the horn, and Lincoln shifted the gear to reverse and beeps rang out!  A worker came running to turn it off, and we figured out that this wasn't one of the attractions to play on!  Whoops! 

The boys couldn't wait to run through the maze at lightning speed . . . over and over!!  Lincoln was super fast, and Beau kept up so well.  They did it so many times, and I was tired just watching them! 

After the maze, Lincoln climbed up on the hay and announced he was king!  Ok . . . .  

Another fun obstacle to climb on - this place is too fun! 

We made one more stop at the posing place and got a typical brother picture.  Lincoln with a sweet smile but not looking at the camera, and Beau with a crazy scream smile.   

Our last activity was to pick a pumpkin to take home.  I swear they looked at every single pumpkin there!  It was a difficult decision, but Beau was first to make his selection.   

Lincoln picked the biggest one he could carry!  He regretted that when he had to carry it to the car (because Mommy was carrying hers and Beau's)!   

The view of the pumpkin patch was beautiful, and we had cool fall weather on this Friday morning.   

This pumpkin patch visit is not likely to be forgotten!  There were so many fun things to do and see, and the boys were so good about staying together and having fun!  They are super proud of their pumpkins and have instructed me that we are not carving them but painting them instead!  A few fun notes:  (1) As we threw the grain to the goats, one of them sneezed!  The boys thought that was hilarious!!  (2) A football was in the water trough in the pig sty, and they just couldn't figure that one out.  It really created a lot of discussion. (3) All moms at a pumpkin patch wear skinny jeans tucked into boots - seriously!  Including me!  (4) The ice cream sandwich cooler was empty, and that was the most shocking part of the trip!  How could they have an ice cream sandwich cooler if you couldn't buy an ice cream sandwich???? 

It was such a fun morning, and I'm so glad we went.  The boys have looked through the pictures a million times already and discussed every one in great detail.  I think $18 for 3 pumpkins and numerous pictures and memories is a real bargain!