fall festival

This weekend was my parent's annual church Fall Festival! They always do such a fantastic job and I think this was the best one yet! The weather was perfect. Last year, there was a fire ban, so my dad couldn't do his humongous bonfire! It seems like each year, they add something to the mix and this year, my Dad ordered a barrel ride for the kids. He is too much!! :-)

So, I got up on Saturday and cooked. Yes, like I used the stove AND oven. Shew! I was worn out. ;) There is always a chili cookoff and a dessert contest. I've never won. This year, I made white chili and my Grandmother's Gooey Butter Cake. I won FIRST place for the dessert!!! Yay! And there were a lot of people who told me my chili was awesome. Double yay!

Once we arrived, the kids went into automatic "play hard" action!! I rarely saw Levi at all the whole night. He was way too busy going on hay rides, riding the barrel ride, jumping on the slides, and eating 10,352 marshmallows to check in with boring ol' Mom! Maggie hung with Aunt Jenny a lot. Here they are on the first hay ride of the night.

One of the bouncy thingies...

The slide thingie...

The new barrel ride was a H.U.G.E. hit with the little kids!!! {I just hope my Dad realizes that from here on out, the grandkids will be asking for a ride all.the.time!}

Dad lighting the faar!!!

Uncle Travis tormenting Maggie and forcing her to ride with him. ;)

Maggie May

Aunt Jenny and Maggie

Best buds Levi & Griffin

Eric and Todd (Giving a big shout out to Todd who spent his Friday off work helping Eric and my Dad getting things done for the festival! Thanks, Todd!!)

Maggie, Addison and Isabella

Addison and Natalie

The little fire for the kids

The youth group off playing flag football

Here is where I sat my phone and camera down to eat and I forgot to take more pictures!! Ugh. It was such a fun night and I'm so thankful to everyone who came and help make the party a success! And a special thanks to my parents who go above and beyond just to make sure everyone has a good time. You guys rock!!

girl time

While Levi was off being a world traveler, Maggie and I had a lot of girl time. We cleaned the ceiling fans, did lots of laundry, made a trip to Target, and went to Lowe's with Daddy. (Yawn!) It was kind of pitiful to see Maggie looking around the house for Levi all weekend! She would walk into his room and just start crying. :( Needless to say, she was thrilled when he got home. So was I!!

One of the highlights of my weekend {came a close second to cleaning the ceiling fans!!} was seeing this girl...

Gretchen was in celebrating birthdays with the fam and we snuck in a little diet coke rendezvous! Kids were all in bed and we met up at McDonald's. It was 8:45pm and we were saying how tired we were!!! Oh the joys of being old mommies! ;) <3 U!!!

legos!!

My Mom has started a tradition. When each grandchild turns 5, she takes them on a trip. For the girls, that trip is to the American Girl store in Chicago. Bailey has been and next she will take on Emmy and Casey! ;) For the boys, the trip was to LegoLand in Chicago! My parents decided to take them over Fall Break. On Wednesday night, we dropped the boys off at their house with their bags packed, DS's charged and their excitement overflowing!!! Thursday morning, they were off! They ate Cracker Barrel for breakfast on the road and for lunch, they got to pick what they wanted: Sun Chips, Funyuns and chocolate milk from the gas station. LOL!! Such boys!!

Each boy got to pick out a "big" toy and two small ones. Levi couldn't wait to get back home and let Daddy help build his new treasures {Mommy's job was to be on Maggie patrol}!! He picked out a semi truck...
...a bucket truck...

...and a police helicopter.

Mommy was "allowed" to put this one together...Frankenstein. ;)

My mom posted the following pictures on Facebook.

Levi told me they all slept in bunk beds! Ha! Mom said "uh, I don't think so!"

This was a ride they went on. I love how scared to death Griffin and Levi look!

Me no likey.

Mom and Levi operating a crane. I'm sure this was way more fun than a day of shopping for her! ;)

Yuck.

I think my Dad chose the 3D movie so he could put the glasses on and sleep!

Way cool!

Papa all worn out!

I am so grateful for parents who are so involved with their grandkids! Levi and Griffin had such a great weekend. Oh, and they also got to see Dolphin Tail at the movies. Levi loved it!! Thanks Mom and Dad for making such sweet memories with our babies!

playdate 4 weeks in the making

This sweet girl has been trying to have us over for dinner for 4 weeks!!
We were supposed to get together on a Wednesday for dinner and for 4 weeks straight, I had to cancel due to my sick kids! I started feeling like I needed to get a slip from our pediatrician so she wouldn't think I was just trying to get out of it!! ;) Thanks, James, for being so patient.

Here is her sweet and hilarious hubby, Steve! For those of you who have never met Steve, he is seriously one of the funniest people on this planet!!! He always has me in stitches!!! I was trying to pay attention to him here. He was tell me a story, but I kind of lost what he was saying when I saw the onion rings...

Ok, so I have to share a funny story about Steve! When we first met these guys, we were all kidless and would hang out almost every Friday night after work. One evening, we hit our fave restaurant, Puerto Vallarta. We went back to our house to watch a movie. I don't think Steve was feeling all that great. He and Jami were whispering back and forth and he told her his stomach was upset. So, Jami looks at him with that concerned motherly look, and like he was her 3 year old child, she said, "Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Steve looked dumbfounded. Kind of like "If I needed to go to the bathroom, I can do it without you asking..." So, we will forever ask Steve "Do you need to go poo poo on the potty?" It will never get old! ;) Love you, Steve!!

After dinner, we headed downstairs to play. Maggie was not getting the idea of the sit 'n spin...

Levi

Jami playing with Cameron and Mags

Tried getting a picture of Cooper, but he was in constant motion!

I also wanted a picture of Cameron walking, but it looked like he was drunk in each picture!! Lol Thanks, Jami for a great time!!! Hopefully we won't have to wait 4 weeks to do it again. ;)

spin, crash and two healthy kids!

Friday night, we got a sitter and headed to Harvest Homecoming. I think one of the best things ever is when you get really close to HH and you can smell the grease! Mmmm. You see signs for fried everything and you can start to feel your veins closing up. Good times!! So, this year was a little different. We headed to HH, but not just for the food and booths. We were heading down to see the Spin DJ's open for the Louisville Crashers! Yee haw!! This was a first! Spin Around Sound DJ's were doing an opening show for The Louisville Crashers. It was a blast!!

Front row: Bob, Todd
Back row: Eric (aka Easy E), Jeff, John
I just want to say that the guys did a great job before and during the show!!! And I'm not just saying that because I am biased. ;)

Took this one for G - "Livin' on a prayer"...

And this is for Mom - "Sweet Home Alabama" :-)

This pic doesn't do the crowd justice! There were so.many.people. This is just who was in front of us. It doesn't show everyone sitting behind us in the stadium seating. What a F.U.N. night!!!!!

And a big thanks to our niece Emily who watched the kids!! Love you!

Saturday, we had a big ol' honkin' family day!!! It was wonderful having Eric at home. We watched Levi play soccer and then headed to get some pumpkins.

I really love the age of my kids right now! Levi is such a sweet little boy and he will still hold my hand in public. ;) He has a really fun personality and reminds me a lot of his Daddy. I love that he can spend hours playing on his own and he amazes me with his vivid imagination!

After Maggie's nap, we headed out to the park for a while. Levi loves to help his sister. He is so patient with her and it makes me smile to see how gentle he can be with her.

And Maggie is wild about her brother. She cries when he leaves for school and squeals when he gets home! I love it! She mimics his every move. We crack up when she walks around the house yelling "Weeeviii..." So sweet!

After the park, we headed to CiCi's with Bob, Jill, Reece & Janie. Can't really go wrong with a pizza buffet! Especially with a buffet that has cinnamon rolls. We ended up back at the park (a different one) for a little bit before heading home to bed. Our schedule lately is pretty chaotic, so when we have these family days, I try to soak it up!! I would like to note that both my kids have been healthy for several days and I am SO THANKFUL!!!!!

from great to bad to awesome to utterly miserable to sad to wonderful ending with adorable

This was my weekend.

Great. Stacy London Gretchen was coming to shop with me!!! We had been planning a little getaway for months. I was so excited!! #1 to see my BFF and #2 to do the thing we do best! SHOP!! It started with food from Kansai - awesome!! And then, we shopped for G some new sunglasses. She even wore them outside in the dark. Hi-larious!

Bad. Gretchen woke up sick {BOO!} and had to go back home. Seriously people, she must have been sick to pass up on a day of shopping! I was sooo bummed that she had to leave. :(

Awesome. Luckily my Momma was dying to go shopping with me, so she stepped up!! Like the pros we are, we found some GOOD stuff! I did have a great day gabbing it up with my Mom. We don't get to do that very often...just take off and go! It was really, really nice. :-)

Since I came home earlier than expected, I met Eric and the kids for dinner. We ate at McAlister's - so yummy!!! - and then took the kids to Sweet & Swirly for some frozen yogurt. Levi had a BLAST building his own sundae. Too cute!!

After dessert, we headed over to Heaven on Earth. Bass Pro. {Gag. Yawn. Blah.} Eric and Levi looked at guns and Maggie waddled around talking to the animals. She doesn't realize yet that they are stuffed. {Please excuse my daughter's attire. Her daddy dressed her! ;)}

Utterly miserable. Maggie has been quite the sick little girl. About 5 weeks ago, it started with an ear infection. Then, she got strep. Then, croup. Levi got strep. So, Saturday night, when she woke up screaming around 8:30, I knew something was wrong. I took her to Urgent Care thinking she had gotten strep again, but they told me she had a form of Hand Foot Mouth. Wha??? It is a virus, so only thing I could do for her was Ibuprofen. Long night for Mags and Momma. :(

Sad. Due to Maggie getting this virus, we had to tell Levi he couldn't go to a birthday party on Sunday that he had been so excited about. SAD little boy at our house today. Broke my heart.

Wonderful. Despite all the negatives that have seemed to crowd in around us, we had a fun afternoon planned! My parents will be married for 40 YEARS next Sunday and we surprised them with a lunch cruise on the Belle of Louisville today!!! It was such a nice and relaxing afternoon. When we first talked about doing something special for them, my sister suggested letting my parents watch the grandkids while we all went out somewhere. ;) But, instead, we left the rugrats at home and enjoyed some adult time. Much needed!

My honey bunny and me ;)

My Mom and Dad - such a great example for us!

Travis and Jenny

Tricia and Daniel

Trav and Dad (I'm sure Travis was telling some wonderful story about the Ironman and how he swam a gazillion miles right there...) Ha!

Mom and Jen

I'm really bummed because my grandparents were there too, but my inside pictures didn't turn out. Hoping my sister got a good shot of them...

Adorable ending. While on the boat, we got Levi a little "pick me up" gift (Ha!) since he had to stay home. Binoculars. Oh My Word. He loved them!!! Eric suggested we go to the local airport and watch some planes with his new toy. Success!!!

We got to see several planes take off and land and Levi was on cloud 9. Maggie was just happy to be outside running around. Cuteness. THEN, out comes Mr. Nice Man. The guy that was working at the airport came out and asked Levi if he wanted to see a couple of bigger planes. Oh my stars. Make a boy's day, won't ya?!! He took us in the hangar and we got to see AND CLIMB IN two jets!

And, these were cool jets, because they are the ones used by KODA {which my brother works for}!! I told Levi "these are the jets that Uncle Travis flies out on!" He thought that was the ultimate cool!!!

As we were leaving, this plane flew in right in front of us and Mr. Nice Guy #2 let Levi climb in his plane.

What a cool experience. :-) I'm so thankful that right there in the midst of struggles, God shows us that He cares and sends some nice people our way!! A great ending to a rocky weekend. Here's hoping to some healthier days ahead!!