Seward Farms

Luke's 1st grade class went to Seward Farms for a class trip and I was a lucky parent chaperone:)

Luke in the corn maze.

Cow ride through the fields.  I am wondering how Stephen folded himself in that little cow when we went last year, and I think he had Addison in between his legs.  

Hay ride with my little man.

Luke's 1st grade class with Mrs. Streiff and Mr. Russo.  Love!

JUMP!

This was a favorite for the boys, the corn cannon.  They got to shoot corn at targets with a big air gun.

Amelia and Mckenzie had a big day too.  The 4th grade Halloween Dance...an after school event!  Look how excited they are, and cute.  When I picked them up from the dance,  I asked if they danced with any boys.  Appropriate giggling, repulsiveness and shocked "no's" abounded.  Phew.  

It just gets more fun...

As traditions go in our family, some just get more fun each year that the kids get older.  Carving pumpkins was always eagerly anticipated by the kids but they were not capable of doing any of it.  Now they are old enough to be fully involved, from the drawing of design, to the de-gutting, to the actually carving.  It is great to watch them carry on the tradition and giggle with each other.

Amelia showing Addison the pumpkin "brains."

Luke, always concentrating.

Some tasks still fell to Daddy, like cutting Addison's pumpkin.  

Ta-Da!

Girl got skillz

Addison has moved on from soccer to basketball and she has found her sport.  Look at that overhead pass!  Textbook. 

Look at those wrists on the chest pass, perfect!  She cracked everyone up because she is this little bitty three year old but she can dribble the ball to half court and back again.  It was amazing.  

Showing her coach her big muscles.  Maybe this one will follow in mommy's basketball footsteps instead of tennis footsteps.  Addison's sporties for shorties lasts 45 minutes.  That is, the class lasts 45 minutes, Addison lasts approximately 30 minutes and then she walks off the field or court, grabs her water bottle and says "Bye Coach, I'm done now."  And that is that, no whining or crying, she is just finished.  Who can argue with that kind of decisiveness?

Blast from the Past

This is the Bonds family on the day of my college graduation, in May of 1999!  From left to right, Megan, Michael, Taylor and Alli (and Tom and Julie too).  I babysat for the Bonds family while in college and just loved their amazing family.  Thankfully we kept up over the years but as the years passed, I ended up in MS with my crew and they ended up in California with their crew.  Taylor is now a college sophomore (I don't know how that is possible because she is forever five in my mind) and attends college in Nashville, TN.  Hang with me, I'm getting there.  I saw on facebook a picture of her and her boyfriend in New Orleans and messaged her that she was only an hour and a half away from us.  This is how I know God is okay with facebook, she got the message and she and her boyfriend came to visit us the next day!

The last time I saw Taylor was when she came to visit us shortly after we had Amelia and now look at her!

My sweet Taylor girl, all grown up.  

Taylor and Rich are an adorable couple who have such a sweet faith in God.  What a good example for our kiddos.   (I told Rich, I would take their engagement photos for them here in our yard too;) The kids all adored Rich and Taylor and enjoyed climbing on Rich like a jungle gym.

We were able to walk to brunch and Amelia got lots of special time with Taylor.  Both being the oldest in their family, they could relate to each other ;)  Taylor and I had so much fun reminiscing about their childhood.  I learned so much about child rearing from those Bonds kids and awesome Julie and Tom, and their wooden spoon collection :)  

It was such a neat day but it was blowing my mind.  I felt old and young all at once.  Stephen and I are now the age Julie and Tom were when we all first met (in fact, I think Julie and Tom met Stephen before my parents did).  My kids are now the age the Bonds kids were when I was their babysitter and Taylor and Rich are now the age Stephen and I were when we were babysitting.  Ouch, my brain hurts.  

What an awesome day with an awesome couple!

Fall= Caramel Apple Party

October means cooler weather and the Boskovich Caramel Apple Party.  This is the third year for us throwing the party and we have realized our friends have started counting on it.  Last year, the fall got away from us and we did not fit the party in, we had many grumbles and complaints.  So this year we got our act in gear!

We went through 92 apples this year!  The party keeps growing every year, so much so, that I am wondering about the cost effectiveness of growing an apple orchard in my backyard.  

We have learned tricks for easier caramel appling each year.  This is what our set up looks like now.  Having the background be the Gulf of Mexico isn't so bad either :)

Luke waiting for me to pile on his caramel.  We let the kids go nuts and add their own toppings so the bowls tend to get filled with sprinkles and chocolate chips.

Yum.

Yay!  Another successful caramel apple party.  It has been fun to bring this midwest tradition to our friends in the south.  For so many adults and kids here, this is the first caramel apple they have ever had.    That amazes me, we actually have to explain what it is sometimes.  I figure if the south has introduced me to crawfish boils, red beans and rice, crab claws and cakes, then I can at least bring my favorite fall treat to the south.  

Fall Festival

Another Children's House fall festival but this time with Addison Kate.  

Grandpa and Daddy helping out with the pinecone bird feeders.  

Addison and Alex, such cuties.

Nothing says fall like a giant straw hat and a donut.  

Addison's crew.  (Addison and I are both wearing the EXACT same thing we did to last year's fall festival).  

Alex, Carter and Addison...almost 4 years old now.  Say it isn't so :(  

Looks can be deceiving

This is it, this is the sweetness.  This beautiful little face gets away with so much.

Addison was all dolled up for school picture day so we snapped a few pictures at home too.

Such a little doll.  She is either singing my praises, literally-  "Mommy, you are my best friend, I love you so much.  You are so special and so sweet.  I love my mommy"  or she is screaming at the top of her lungs from her timeout chair, "YOU ARE A LIAR, MEANIE MOMMY!!!"  Sigh.  Motherhood, sometimes it kicks my ass.  (Sorry for the language).

Classic Cars and Cooking

Last week Cruising the Coast landed in Mississippi and although it makes getting around downtown a little hairy, we always enjoy looking at all the cool cars.  This year the kids and I walked around with Grandpa and all picked out our favorites before enjoying a dinner while car and people watching.  

The girls always veer to the purple and pink cars.  

This was Mommy's favorite.  Although by the looks of this picture, I need to be spending money on a make over, not a classic car.  

Luke Michael's favorite car.  What a cutie he is although he was a whiny mess that afternoon.  He is lucky he didn't end up in one of those ginormous trunks.  

As we were leaving, Addison decided this was her favorite.  So I said I would take her picture.  This was her pose.  Oh my word...please Lord don't let this be the future for Addison, draped across muscle cars.  Where does this girl come up with these things?

Steve and I had a great couples night at the Patino's house.  Greg's friend, Chris, is a Viking Chef and he often cooks for us.  Well, this time he gave us a cooking class and we had so much fun.  We had two couples per team and we made lobster pot pies.  

Katie and I showing our before...lobster, squash, spinach.  It was so ridiculously good.  Granted we didn't eat until late because we kept gabbing and drinking instead of cooking but we did awesome once we got down to cooking.  

Our finished products after we decorated our puff pastries with fall themes.  It was a great weekend with fabulous friends and food.  I doubt I could ever repeat it but it was sure fun.

We vote Elephant.

Recently we were invited to a winery for a Republican rally to hear Steven Palazzo, a Mississippi congressman, speak.  (Mom, you would love him as he adores Paul Ryan, our Wisconsin boy).  He described Ryan in two words, "Christian Conservative" which in these parts gets lots of applauds.

The kids and I went on a hayride through the winery while Stephen smoozed with the menfolk.

The kids got a taste of muscadines that the winery uses for the wine.  Muscadine's are very yummy, sweeter than grapes.  

Amelia and Luke with Congressman Steven Palazzo.  Amelia really wanted to talk with him because she just started learning about our different branches of government.  Luke, didn't much care either way as you can tell by the giant cheek full of cheese cubes he has in his mouth.  Thankfully, Mr. Palazzo, has three children of his own, including a 7 year old boy, so he totally understands our Luke man.

VOTE REPUBLICAN!

Addison didn't take long to make friends with Mr. Congressman and we were just hoping she would not start smacking him in the booty and asking him to chase her.  

 Miss Amelia, such a little lady.  

Happy 36 years to me!

The kids wishing mommy a Happy Birthday.  This is before church but Addison and Luke apparently could not WAIT to wish me a Happy Birthday because they showed up in my room at 5:30 am to tell me so.  Addison also handed me a present she wrapped herself and before I could open it said, "Here mommy, it is a beautiful necklace I picked out."  

Dad and I share a birthday so after church we went to brunch to celebrate.  Happy Birthday to us!

Addison loves her Grampy :)

Luke looking like a little amish farmer in Grandpa's hat.

The afternoon of my birthday I played in the Pink Ribbon Tournament.  

Our Singing River Hospital Team.  

Hooray!  We finally beat Memorial!!!  

It was a great birthday, filled with all of my favorite people and things.  Church, worship, family, food, friends and tennis.  What more could a girl ask for?  I guess winning the big trophy wasn't too bad either.