Catching Up

Taking a quick photo op at Grandma's birthday party

You know that moment that it hits you that you have forgotten something on your to-do list? Um...yeah, that moment hit me last week when my mind briefly thought about my little blog. I have totally forgotten to update on ANYTHING in 2 months!
Well, I have a good excuse (I always do). Basically, we have been running crazy since Halloween. There was Thanksgiving and a birthday party for Mike's grandma who turned 90!! There was a Christmas shopping weekend, a baking Christmas goodies weekend, a decorating weekend and then the craziness of Christmas and New Year's. Throw in school, work, community group, laundry, dishes, keeping the house clean and my online course and well...you see...I am a little short on time. But not to worry. All 5 of you that read this, I am back!!! For now!:)

The Paul Fessler family with Grandma Fessler at her 90th birthday party

 So, like I said, we spent Thanksgiving with the Fesslers. Mike's Grandma had her 90th birthday the Friday before Thanksgiving. 90!!! Oh my word!! That is so worth celebrating!! So, as a family we all decided to spend Thanksgiving with her and to throw her a party. We all traveled to Sandersville, GA for the holiday. We did all of our cooking there and joined Granmda and extended family for Thanksgiving day. The next day, we did not go shopping. We got up and cooked some more for the big birthday party.
We were over cooking and eating by the time it was all over, but it was so worth it. We always have fun spending time with Mike's cousins and just getting to catch up with them.

After the party, we drove back to the Atlanta area to spend the rest of the weekend with Mimi and Poppy. While we were there, it worked out that some of our best friends from Charleston just happened to be in Atlanta also. So, we were able to meet up with them and go out to dinner and to see the Hunger Games. Its kind of tradition now. This is the 3rd Hunger Games movie that we have seen together on a double date. Already planning how to see it together next year!!

Us with the Daltons

Alrighty, friends...stay with me. More to come. I promise!

Halloween 2014

Halloween has already come and gone. This year was somewhat memorable. This was the Halloween of cold and ear infections and fevers and strep throat. Sounds fun, right??? Ummm...not so much. Halloween day I got to go to school with the boys and be a part of their Halloween parties. Luke had been sick all week long and Halloween was his first day back. He got to trick or treat at school which was a good thing because he didn't want much to do with it later on that night.

That night after our annual sloppy Joe Halloween dinner we headed out to Marmie and Poppy's neighborhood to trick or treat with our friends Cooper and Caroline. They made it about 45 minutes before the the cold and the wind was too much.  Luke was crying because his ear hurt, and yes it was covered up, and Will was crying because he didn't like the wind. Wynn, on the other hand, could have gone another hour. She loved it. She and I went with Cooper and Caroline's little brother Tripp and their mom Kate. After the first house Wynn got the idea and at each of the following houses decided to help herself out of the neighbors' buckets as they leaned down to put candy in her bag. Good thing she was cute, cause that was the only way she was able to get away with that!!

Had it not been so cold, the boys would have had more fun. As it was our little Red Power Ranger, Batman and Ladybug got more than enough candy and we got a Halloween we will never forget!

Fall Fun

Every fall we take a trip to the Georgia Mountains with Mimi and Poppy and the Fessler Family for pumpkins and apples. This year it didn't work out schedule wise to go so we decided to do something fun and fallish around here. I had seen several friends post on Facebook about Old McDonald's Farm in Sale Creek. It looked fun, so we headed up one Sunday after church. It was a blast and well worth the $12 a person. We stayed there about 4 hours & could have stayed longer, but we ran out of stream. This might become a Fessler Family tradition, because we want to go back next year!!

The Fessler Family 2014

Will's 6th birthday

I've mentioned that we do special days for our kids' birthdays. For Will he wanted to go to Rock City. He had decided earlier in the summer that that was what he wanted to do, and he patiently counted down the days. My sister was in town, so her family and my parents joined us. It was a fun day that lasted all day! We started off with a donut breakfast and ended with a large family gathering at Amigo's for dinner after all of our Rock City fun. Will had a great day & I'm so glad we got to celebrate him!

Our baseball birthday party!

Our boys love baseball! We are constantly watching, playing or talking baseball at our house. So when it was time to think about a birthday party for the boys, a baseball party made sense.

We went to the Ooltewah ball fields, which is where we play ball, and invited friends an family to come play wiffle ball and to compete in a home run derby. We also had a base running competition. All the kids had fun & they all left with a medal for winning or competing in one of our games.

We also set up a concession stand, or cession stand as Luke calls it, for everyone to get snacks. I think this was Luke's favorite part, but then again he lived at the cession stand during the season!

All in all we had fun celebrating our boys!

Things to remember

My sweet Luke is four. This child is absolutely adorable and he has my whole heart! Here are a few things I hope I never forget about Luke at this age:

* he loves to eat, if you let him snack all day he would be the happiest kid in the world!
* he always asks for a hug and kiss. If it's not "good" enough he will give you another.
* he loves to play baseball and can't wait to play with his brother on daddy's team this fall
* he is Mr. Independent. He loves to do things by himself and for himself.
* he watches out for his little sister Wynn. He is a protective big brother.
* he still wants mommy and daddy snuggles and we are happy to give them!
* his favorite books are the Pete the Cat books
* he loves to be outside playing in the sandbox or on our fort, riding his scooter, riding his bike or swimming
* he loves to take a bubble bath
* he loves to wear jammies and comfy clothes. He calls them yogurt clothes. I told him once I was wearing yoga pants and he thought I said yogurt!
* he tells me he loves me everyday!

We love you Luke and look forward to watching you grow and change this year!

Luke turns 4

I have said it before, but birthdays are a big deal at our house. To me birthdays are a reason to celebrate and really make our kids feel special. On our kid's birthday we allow them to pick a place to go do something fun and a place to go out to eat. We call it their "special day". All of our kids' birthdays fall within 3 months of each other (May to August). Luke's is July 23rd and fell on a Wednesday.

This year Luke picked going to play putt-putt at Sir Gooney's and dinner at Los Potros. The restaurant has murals of horses on the walls and Luke calls it the horse restaurant. It's one of his favorite places to eat.

We had fun and I'm pretty sure Luke went to bed feeling like the most loved kid in the world. I sure hope so, at least!