Galaxy of Lights 5K

Many months ago Paige and I signed up to run the Galaxy of Lights 5K.  We figured we would be good and ready to run a 5K.  Ha!!  We have not been run training like we should.  But we went ahead and walked most of the course and enjoyed the perfect night out among the lights.  

 It was beautiful getting to run/walk through all the displays.

 We made it through (horrible time but we did it)!  It is always fun when we get to do a race together and maybe we can get back to running soon!

Thanksgiving Week Shenanigans

The entire week of Thanksgiving was great!  The kids had the whole week off of school which was wonderful.  We were all ready for a break from the routine.  Kate and I have been watching Dancing with the Stars every Monday night all fall.  The finale was this week so we watched it on Monday night.  We were excited when our favorite Bindi won!

 Kate and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen baking.  She had been asking to make a pumpkin pie so we did that a couple of days before Thanksgiving.

 It turned out really yummy!!

 I made a huge mess in the kitchen making a pecan pound cake.

 Anything that has 4 sticks of butter and pecans has got to be good right?

 This cutie loves eating cuties!

 Ben and his buddies love playing football!!  We have started letting Ben go in the neighborhood on his bike to visit some of his other friends.  So he spent a lot of time this week exploring and playing with friend.

 Thanksgiving morning Paige and I went over to LeeAnn's neighborhood to do a little 5K before all the food.

 Saturday was the big Iron Bowl game.  It has not been Auburn's year so we weren't expecting much.  Did love this picture of Ben and Evan clashing before the game!

 We stopped by to visit Grandaddy before the game.  Then went to the Cabra's house for the game.  It was closer than we thought it might be and Auburn actually had a chance there for a while.  Hoping next year is a better year for our Tigers.

Hollie and went Black Friday shopping early on Friday morning.  Got quite a few good deals and enjoyed some fun time with my friend.  We then went and did a little more shopping for a mattress.  Ours has gotten so old and we are getting a new one for Christmas!  So excited.  Kate enjoyed trying out all the different options!

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving 2015 was filled with our favorite things - lots of fun and family.  It was a great day!!  We cheated this year and bought an awesome cookie set to take to the Eckley family Thanksgiving.  It was super cute!

Ben was in his happy place eating lots of good food for lunch and getting to watch football!  

 Mema and Kate loved getting to snuggle in the pretty sunshine after lunch.  It was a beautiful day!

 Ben and Kate cleaned up in the cornhole game they played!

 Love these little sweeties!  They are awesome.  I am so thankful that I get to be their mom!

 Aunt Teri of course had photo props and we had to take pictures.  She has been doing this for years (like since I started coming to Thanksgiving 18 years ago).  The pictures turned out really cute this year!

 It was then time to head over the Kelly and Andrew's house for Thanksgiving dinner with my family.  I was so thankful my dad felt up to coming.  We enjoyed a special time with him!

 The kids played and had lots of fun while dinner was cooking!

 We had a yummy meal of course!

 Then it was time for the traditional watching of Charlie Brown's Christmas.

 These guys thought it was ok to take an after dinner nap.

 But we made them wake up for family selfies...

 And the traditional after Thanksgiving pictures in new Christmas pjs.  We had a good laugh about all the pj drama this year due to some long ordered sets that didn't show up in time and last minute Amazon orders.  These were substitute pjs but they looked awesome.  Love these pictures and will treasure them forever.  

So much to be thankful for.  God has been so good to our family and our hearts are full!

Something is Missing!!!

Take a look at this picture and see if you can figure out what is missing...

 No glasses!!!!  Yes, Ben is glasses free!!!  He is now officially a contact wearer.  We are so excited for him.  When he got glasses at 12 months of age,, Dr. Jen told us he could get contacts at 8 or 9.  We thought she was crazy.  We were just trying to wrap our minds around having a baby with glasses.  Fast forward 8 years and she started talked contacts.  He tried them out this summer but wasn't quite ready.  On Friday he went and tried them again and it went great!  He is really getting the hang of them.  It is awesome!!

It is going to be an adjustment for all of us.  We are so used to his trademark glasses.  But we know it is a great thing for him.  He won't have to worry about glasses anymore!!  He says he can see so much better.  Love seeing our little guy growing up and doing grown up things!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

When we looked at the calendar and saw that we had nothing up this past weekend, we had the crazy idea to put up our Christmas decorations.  I have always been against putting them up before Thanksgiving.  This year it just seemed right so we went for it.  We spent part of the day on Saturday and Sunday getting everything out and up.  It was fun.  The kids got in on the action for the tree decorating.  

 I love how festive and cozy the house feels with all the decorations up.  I love to just sit back and enjoy them!!

I am so glad we went ahead and put them up early.  We have a whole week off for Thanksgiving so it is perfect to get to enjoy them all week.  I love my sweet little family and getting to spend the whole weekend with them around the house.  I am so looking forward to the holiday season.  It really is the most wonderful time of the year and I can't wait to celebrate!

3rd Grade Memories

On Monday the third grade classes went on a field trip to Cooks Natural History Museum and Wheeler Wildlife Refuge.  It is a field trip all about animals.  They have been doing this field trip since the dawn of man for third graders.  I went on the exact same field trip many moons ago.  Everything was the same and all the memories came flooding back.  I got to go over for the morning and chaperon a fun group of boys!  We won the scavenger hunt of course!

 The thing I remember most about the field trip was having to pet a snake.  I refused to do it and I still remember everything about it!  Well, Ben is much braver than I am and touched the snake!

It was fun to get to hang with my big guy on a fun field trip even if it did bring up so really bad memories!

Kate's Actual Birthday

We had spent the whole weekend partying so by the time her actual birthday rolled around on Monday it was sort of anticlimactic.  But we managed to still have some fun.  Daddy helped to cook a special breakfast of pancakes and bacon.  

She got to open a few small presents before school including some Beanie Boos that she was super excited about.  At school she got to have ice cream with her class to celebrate and Matt got to join her for lunch.  

 After school she spent time putting together her new Lego sets.  Ben has always put them together for her but since she is now 6 she did it all by herself!!  So proud of her.

 We had a regular Monday schedule with dance but we did go out for some mexican food which of course means a big sombrero and singing in Spanish.  I think her smile shows it all - she had a great birthday weekend!

Family Party

Sunday night the birthday fun continued with a family party.  Kate's favorite food is noodles so I made homemade fettuccine and Matt grilled chicken.  It was super yummy!!  She chose a Baskin Robbins mint chocolate chip cake which was awesome!!   

 She got some really awesome presents she was so excited about!  Ben got her some new Lego sets.

 She got several movies including the Grace movie!

 And a new American Girl puppy and kitty along with some cloths and Shopkins.  She was a happy girl!

 The best part of the party was having all of our family together to celebrate our sweet girl.  So thankful for our family and the love they have for Kate!