Jack O Lanterns

Harvest Festival & Boo @ the Zoo

Halloween has turned into a huge week long party for my kids this year! We took Andrew to the Harvest Festival at church. Phil got to spend a few minutes with us before brass rehearsal, but I was on my own for the rest of it. Andrew was so well behaved and had a great time with his friends. I think he enjoyed being an only child for the afternoon! Mimi took Evie to the zoo while we were at church. They went to see the animals in the afternoon, ate dinner, and then trick or treated at Boo @ the Zoo. So busy, and we still have preschool parties, pumpkin carving, and trick or treating on Friday.

Lovin' his pumpkin suit

He ate a hot dog like a big boy for the first time

The pumpkin and his friends Abby Cadabby and Cinderella having dinner

Checking out every inch of the firetruck

Fun on the slide

Mimi and Evie dressed as Tinker Bell

Halloween Tryouts

The kids and I headed up to see my grandparents for a few days since preschool was closed for Fall Break. We took our halloween costumes to trick or treat at the neighbors houses while we were there. Evie decided that all our events leading up to the big day on Friday were just "Halloween tryouts". The costumes are definitely getting a lot of wear this year: trick or treat with the grandparents, The Little Gym party, Boo at the Zoo, Harvest Festival at church, and of course the real trick or treating on Friday.

Little pumpkin and tinkerbell

Tink at TLG party. A lot of the girls were dressed up as princesses. You could hear them shouting with excitement as they saw Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tinkerbell, etc. It was too cute!

These two were supposed to be resting, but when I heard giggles I looked in on them. They were snuggled up in bed together talking and laughing.

Lady Owls Soccer Party

The team having dinner at Mr.Gattis's
Evie and her trophy

Sorta Soccer Party

Evie's team soccer party was supposed to have been last night at Gatti's , and I decided to make an allergy friendly cake so she would have something to eat. However, the party got rescheduled because one of the girls' trophies was MIA. We didn't find out until Sunday morning at church that the party had been moved, so I then had a partyless cake on my hands. We loaded the kids up and went to see Nana and Granny Ani, had dinner with them, and ate part of the soccer cake. Andrew started singing Happy Birthday to Evie when I set it on the table, so we told him to sing Happy Soccer to Evie instead. It was really cute! I won't be making this cake again next weekend, so I am going to have to think of something else to take for Evie.

The partyless cake

Happy soccer to Evie

Feeding the fish in the pond behind Granny Ani's apartment

End of Soccer 2008

Evie played her last game of the season this morning. She has loved soccer so much, and played hard in every game.

The official soccer pic

Evie & Mary Stephen running through the tunnel. Andrew enjoyed the Upward celebration today. He finally got to do something other than sit still at the games!

~

Pumpkin Patch

Cute little pumpkins before we left the house
Going on a hayride
They decided it was more fun to explore the pumpkin patch than actually pick out a pumpkin

Wedding Weekend

Phil's good friend Jason got married this weekend in Maryland, so we left the kids with Nana and Papa and headed north. We drove all the way to Annapolis on Thursday. It was an easy drive until we hit D.C. traffic at 5 pm! We stayed in the historic district, so we got to walk around near the water and through the old buildings and shops. After some sightseeing Friday morning we headed across the Bay Bridge to St.Michael's, Maryland. Check out the Bay Bridge website for images. It is an incredible four mile long bridge that spans the Chesapeake Bay!

We got to Galena and checked into the Kitty Knight House on Friday afternoon. The rehearsal dinner was held here, so it was wonderful to finish dinner and walk upstairs to our room. The groomsmen decided to go to the casinos at Dover Downs on Saturday morning. This was our first time gambling at a casino and we walked out $6 richer. We are so conservative that we just played penny slots, but it was a fun experience.

The wedding was held at St.Dennis Church and the reception was at the bride's family farm. Phil and I had envisioned a small farm like here in East TN, but we were informed that it was 400 acres. The Eastern Shore is a lot of flat farmland, which was way more rural than we expected. The ceremony was at 2:30, but the party was still in full swing when we called it quits at 9:00. We had a wonderful weekend filled with great friends, good food, and lots of celebrating!

Chick and Ruth's Delly ~ a great little diner in Annapolis

Sunset in the Annapolis harbor

Phil with the groom's cake

Congratulations Jason and Alyssa!

Birthday Visit

Papaw Rick came for a visit this afternoon to celebrate Andrew and Mommy's birthdays. We picked up McAllister's for a picnic lunch at Victor Ashe Park. The kids were so excited to see Papaw, and even more excited to spend the afternoon at the playground!

A chilly picnic

New books!

Handprints

The kids brought home some really cute handprint artwork from preschool yesterday.

Andrew's tree

Evie's horse