Playing Catch Up

It's cold.  I know I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, but I hate cold weather.  My body just doesn't function well in it.  It's like it literally freezes up and I can't move.  Add to that the time change and the fact that I now have to turn on my lights to drive home from work at five o'clock because it's so dark, and my seasonal affective disorder feels like it's setting in.  When it's cold and dark, I find myself crawling into bed around 8:00 every night and before you know it, I've gone over two weeks without blogging.  Oops!

Mom and I have been super busy lately getting ready for a craft show we're participating in tomorrow.  Every free minute has been spent out in the shop cutting, sanding, and painting things, so that's cut into my blogging time too.  Thank goodness Mom retired last year because we definitely wouldn't be ready for this show if it weren't for her hard work everyday!  It's pretty much become her full time job.  After tomorrow, I know we will both be ready to take a break.

Have you started Christmas shopping yet?  I decided my goal for November was going to be to get all my shopping done and hopefully get my gifts wrapped.  The goal hasn't been met yet, but I did place a LOT of online orders this week.  Tis the season for packages on the doorstep everyday!  My first purchased gift arrived yesterday and I've already got it wrapped.  Maybe if I wrap them as they come in, it won't seem so daunting a task?  And I guess I'll have to do them at night after my "helper" goes to sleep.

Speaking of Christmas, why do so many people have their trees up already??  It seems like they start going up earlier and earlier every year.  I've already seen several lit up in windows in our neighborhood.  Poor Turkey...he just gets overshadowed every year, doesn't he?  We'll put ours up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  How does that work with a one-year-old?  Anyone have any advice on how to get her to leave it alone?

Well, I've mentioned Christmas and Thanksgiving now, but when I last wrote, it was time for Halloween!  We put Katie Wynn's costume on her one last time to attempt to do some trick-or-treating.  We just visited a few friends' houses in our neighborhood...I think we made it to five houses total.  She loved it though!  She loved carrying her pumpkin around (couldn't find her ghost bag!) and bouncing her six-ish pieces of candy around in it.  We let her eat the tip off a Hershey's kiss and about 5 m&m halves so she thought it was the best day ever.  Her mama didn't mind eating her other candy for her. :)

Switching gears back to Thanksgiving, we also did some finger-painting and made the cutest little turkey cards.  I think I'll frame the one that says "gobble gobble" to use as fall decor in the future.  The card in the top right corner is her freestyle one.  I think it's a flock (rafter?) of turkeys running by really fast!

One Sunday night, we took our littlest girl to Beale Street to see our bigger girl's band perform.  They rawked out at the Hard Rock Cafe and did a great job!  We danced and sang along.  Anna alternated between singing and playing the bass guitar.  She's on the right in the pictures below.

The pictures below are some of my new favorites.  We let Katie Wynn go down the slide at my parents' house for the first time ever last weekend.  She had a ball!  

It seems like I should have a lot more pictures to show for the past two plus weeks, but I really don't!  I'll be ready for life to return to normal after tomorrow's craft show is done.  Wish us luck and that we sell everything!  If you're local and want info on it, just let me know!

Color Run

This past Saturday, three of my college buddies and I got up reeeeeally early to participate in a Color Run.  This was a first time experience for all of us, so we had no idea what to expect.  Aside from having to get up early on a Saturday and it being a little chilly, it was AWESOME!  We had such a good time and I really hope we get to do it again next year!

For those of you that don't know, a Color Run is a 5K that has color stations along the way.  Participants are encouraged to wear white and as you reach each color station, you get powdered color (similar to flour, maybe?) thrown all over you.  This is definitely a relaxed 5K...there are no timing chips or even an official clock.  It starts in waves and I'd say 90% of the participants walk the course.  It was perfect for us because we were able to walk and chat...we had lots of catching up to do!

Here we are at the starting line in our bright white t-shirts.  From left to right in the picture on the left below is Darbie, Emily, me and Casey.

The first color we came to was yellow.  Each station had color throwers on each side and for this one, we split up and went down opposite sides.  Casey and Darbie didn't end up getting as much yellow as Emily and I did! 

The next station we came to was orange and let me tell you, those color throwers were aggressive!  I got pelted in the face by a big ball of orange flour.  If you look close enough, you can see that it's even all over my teeth!  Three days later and I'm still cleaning orange out of my right ear.

Oh, I carried my phone in a ziploc bag and used it to take these pictures.  My bag got colorful too, so my pictures got fuzzier and fuzzier along the way. 

Next up was pink! 

The final color station on the course was blue, and I took the picture below so you could see the color cloud we had to walk into. 

At the end of the "race," we joined the huge crowd by the stage where they had a band playing and an MC on the microphone.  Each participant had been given a bag of colored powder before the race and on the MC's cue, we tore open our bags and shook out our colors.  Talk about a gigantic cloud of colorful dust!

Here's the aftermath.

For comparison's sake, here are side-by-side group selfies of us before and after the walk. 

It really was SO much fun!  If you ever get the chance to do one, you definitely should! 

After the race, we met up with more of our college friends for a delicious brunch at Grawemeyer's.  The pecan & apple stuffed pancakes were so good and warmed me right up; I just felt really bad for my friends that had to sit across from me in my very orange, Oompa Loompa state!  Oh, the things we do for fun...

Trunk or Treat

Sunday afternoon was our church's annual trunk or treat event for Halloween.  Like last  year, we participated by decorating our trunk and handing out candy to all the Witches and Mermaids and Supermans and Duck Dynasty people.  (I don't actually watch that show, but I'm assuming that's what all the beards and camouflage is about?? )

Katie Bug was a pink puppy dog again, and we brought her little pink chair for her to sit in.  That girl loves her little chair! 

This year we brought a cornhole board to use at our trunk.  The kids took turns tossing in the beanbags to get a treat.  Thank goodness for Anna (the Starbucks Employee) for helping man the station for us...she was a huge help!!   Katie Wynn, on the other hand, just kept trying to steal the beanbags.

Here is my friend Emily's oldest daughter, Alice, in action at the cornhole board.  I told her she was a very pretty witch but she corrected me and said she was a "bad" witch. 

Speaking of Emily, she definitely won the award for most creative trunk.  Dressed as a zoo keeper, she caged her twin bears behind a gate with a sign that read "Please do not feed the bears." 

I tried so hard to get a picture of Katie Wynn with Davis, the other pink poodle in attendance, but it just wasn't happening!

The last pictures of the evening included Bren the fairy and Jett the zombie killer.

The best thing about Trunk or Treat is that Mimi cooks dinner afterwards, so we all headed to her house to stuff our bellies full of white chili and hot sandwiches.  And Halloween candy, of course. 

Zoo Boo!

Last weekend, we met up with some of our friends and their kiddos for a trip to Zoo Boo!  That's when our local zoo opens up after hours and has lots of spooky night displays and trick-or-treating for the kids.  Mostly, I was just excited about seeing the kids dressed up! 

Katie Wynn was a pink puppy dog (technically a poodle) and this was her first time to don the whole costume.  I'm really glad it fit!  Isn't she the cutest puppy dog you've ever seen?

I really wish I had a picture of all six kids in their costumes, but with the crowds and some being in strollers, it just didn't happen.  As soon as we made it into the zoo, we made a beeline for the Cat House Cafe so we could eat dinner.  You know little kids don't like to be kept waiting when it comes to food!   Addi Clare the lady bug and Katie Wynn the puppy dog dined together.  And they even kept their hoods on!

Here are some snapshots from after dinner.  Sadly, we lost half of our group right after leaving the Cat House Cafe because it was so crowded.  Those of us that were still together just walked around and checked out a few exhibits before it got too dark and too cold for our little ones.  (And yes, Katie Wynn is carrying a treat bag.  No, she did not get any candy.  She just loves carrying around "purses!")

Below is Emily the ballerina (with her mama, Susan) & Everett dressed as Charlie Brown.

I'm really not sure why I even bothered trying to get pictures of the three girls together.  Talk about wiggle worms!   

We ended the night with some pictures as a scarecrow. 

It was a pretty fun night and I'm really glad I got to see all the kids dressed up.  (Missing from this post are Olivia the Lady Bug and Grant the Dragon.)  I think we may have jumped the gun, though, with Zoo Boo.  Most of the activities (actually, ALL of the activities) were geared toward older kids, so I don't think we'll be missing out on anything if we don't go back for a few years.  At least the caramel apple was really good!  :) 

Pumpkins and Swings

Earlier this month, our good friend Everett turned ONE!  He had a birthday party to celebrate and we, of course, showed up for the party.  I was solo-parenting at the party since Matt was out of town, so I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted.  Sadly, I don't have a single picture of the birthday boy!  He was busy being doted on by all his grandparents and eating birthday cake. 

Before I get to the pictures with the pumpkins and swings (as the title of this posts suggests), check out this one of Katie Wynn and one of her BFFs Alice enjoying some story time together.  (Yes, Alice is wearing a giant fuzzy pink hat...her mama said it was not a battle worth fighting.) 

The pictures above remind me of these pictures from last year's Super Bowl Sunday.  Alice has been reading Katie Wynn stories and showing her pictures for quite some time now! 

Now, on to the pumpkins!  Allison (Everett's mom) went with a pumpkin theme for Everett's fall party, so there were pumpkins everywhere.  It was like our own little pumpkin patch to take pictures in.  :)

KW's buddy, Addi Clare, joined her for some pumpkin pictures.   At just five days apart, aren't they the cutest little friends?

Emily and Jenny did some swinging and were even nice enough to let Katie bug swing with them so I could take Alice's picture. 

Besides tons of pumpkins, Allison also has the best set of swings in her backyard!  The frame for the swings was left by the previous owner, and she had her husband, Christopher, install three new seats.  Lucky for us, two of them were bucket seats! 

In case you can't tell, I really love swinging pictures.  Even if you have to take five hundred of them just to get a couple decent shots, I think it's totally worth it.  

You know it was a good party when both babies in your car are sound asleep before you even get down the street. 

Thank you, Allison and Everett, for providing a fun afternoon for us on a beautiful day!