Family Pictures 2015

For this year's full family picture, we hired a real photographer!  In years past, I've just set up a tripod, set a timer, and hoped for the best.  It was so nice to have someone else do it this year - and the photo quality is way better than anything I could do!  

When we finished our photo session, I was the maddest I have ever been at Katie Wynn.  She was 100% uncooperative for pictures and I was livid.  In hindsight, I should've expected that, but I really thought after we practiced the day before and really talked about it that morning that she was going to be a big girl and smile for Mrs. Kristen.  Boy was I wrong!  And Thomas followed her lead and got shy and clingy too.  So, knowing that, it is a complete miracle that Kristen managed to get a picture or two of all of us facing the camera!  They may not be smiling, but at least you can see their faces.  That's all I can hope for these days.  :)

I'm not going to show my favorite family picture because it will be going out in the mail next week on our Christmas cards.  But here are some other good ones.

I'll definitely have to frame these of Wyatt and Anna.  I'm glad to have some good updated pics of them!

This is the look you get from Thomas if he thinks you're going to try to take him away from his Daddy.

Glad to have a new picture of me and my honey.

This one is ok, I guess.  

Kristen took pictures of my brothers and their families too, but I don't have them.  I'm sure they got some good ones because their kids behave for the camera better!

What started as a family of five has grown to a family of seventeen!  And we're done now.  I think.

I like this full family shot best.  

But this one is my favorite shot from the whole day!  There were some pretty awesome dance moves going on behind the photographer to get all of these smiles and it was totally worth it.  Look at Thomas sitting by himself like a big boy!  This one will be on my parents' Christmas card so I apologize for ruining the surprise for the four-ish of you that read this blog and receive her card.  :)

The best part of having these pictures taken in October is that I've had my Christmas cards printed and in hand since early November!  Now if only they would address themselves...

October Phone Pics

Shoot, y'all.  I was gonna get this post done the first week of November.  And now it's almost Thanksgiving!  Geez.  Let's get to it --

October was huge for Katie Wynn...so many big girl things happened!  Like, for starters, we said goodbye to her crib!

And then immediately said hello to her new big girl bed!  I'll eventually do a post on some updates to her room.  Her first nap in her new bed required a hood.  :)  We had an easy transition and she sleeps great in the twin size daybed with no rails!  She rolled right off a few times the first week but that's not a problem anymore.  

Also during October, Katie Wynn had her first ever dentist appointment.  Bless her heart, I think she and I feel the same way about the doctor.  There are no action shots because it took so many of us to hold her down for the dentist to look in her mouth!  (Don't let those smiling pictures below fool you - that's when it was over and she was getting to pick out a prize.)  The dentist said we're doing a good job and we are thankful for that!

The same day as her dental appointment, she also got her hair cut off!  Seeing some of these pictures kinda makes me miss her long hair, but she rocks a bob better than anyone I know.  (I am a little jealous of her hair.)

Probably the BIGGEST big girl change is that Katie Wynn now wears panties every day!  We are so proud of her for taking this big step.  She and her brother also got new house shoes...can't just leave him out.  :)

October meant I could officially start dressing my babies in fall clothes, like these pumpkin shirts below.  There is so much about the picture on the left that I love - the hand-holding, the unprompted hand on hip and leg pop, the wind blowing her hair.  Sometimes they are just too, too precious.

Other times they refuse to smile for a picture with me!

October always means the annual guys trip for my family.  My dad and his two brothers started it several years ago and it has grown to include the next generation of boys - my brothers, husband, cousins.  This year was the first time that everyone was able to make it so they had a full group of ten.  They spend the weekend golfing, fishing, cooking, playing cards, and whatever else boys do!  I know they have a blast because they all talk about it the other 11 months of the year.

While Daddy and Poppy were away for the weekend, Mom helped me keep the babies entertained.  Saturday we took them to a fall festival and to buy pumpkins.  After a full morning of riding in the wagon, seeing displays, eating a funnel cake, picking pumpkins, etc, when asked what her favorite part was, Katie Wynn told me "the rocks!" As in, the pea gravel that she and Thomas played in while I shopped.  Why do I bother taking them places when they're perfectly happy with rocks?!

While Katie Wynn sniffed the metal yard art flowers, I snagged this cute rustic cart as a little happy for myself!  It's on our front porch and I'm excited to keep it filled with seasonal plants.  That mum bloomed the prettiest white flowers and has looked so good sitting in it!

Later that same day, we were invited over to Levi's house to play in his dirt pile.  Thomas had been fussing all afternoon but as soon as I plopped him on top of the mound, he was happy as a clam.  We may have to acquire a dirt pile for our own backyard this summer!  Can you tell from the picture on the right which kid may have eaten some dirt?  

Thank goodness for running water and bath tubs!  We were able to scrub all that dirt off so that they cleaned up nicely for church the next morning. 

During the month of October, Thomas had two favorite activities.  1 - Playing in Lolli's kennel.

2 - Cross-dressing.  At least on his feet.  Both of my kids love to wear my shoes around the house!

I took the kids to the playground one afternoon and for the first time ever, they didn't want my help climbing up the steps or going down the slides.  I was simultaneously so proud of them both for being brave and independent and so heartbroken that I wasn't needed.  How are they growing up this fast??

They both even went down the tall twisty slide on their own!  Just a couple months ago, Katie Wynn didn't even want to go down this while sitting in my lap.  

Everyone at our house loves spaghetti night.  I know so many moms have the messy spaghetti pictures of their kids but this is about as messy as I can let them get.  I can't help it - I prefer to just feed them myself to keep from having to clean up a gigantic mess afterwards.  I did let Thomas do a few bites on his own and he loved it.  He and Sister have matching bellies full of s'ketti.  

Matt and I took the kids out to the golf course one Saturday evening to scope out picture locations.  We had full family pictures scheduled there for the next day and we wanted to practice with our kids so they would cooperate.  (Spoiler alert: it didn't work.)  The course was empty since it was later in the day and the kids absolutely loved being able to run around and play on the putting green.  

Daddy and his littlest two.

Too tight, Sis!  Too tight!D

I adore how he's sitting in this picture - those little pointed toes!

I love this one too.  :)

One night when the big kids were over and we were all hanging out in Katie Wynn's room, I pulled out a surprise...matching monogrammed pullovers for everyone!  Ha!  Surprisingly, they were very well received by the big kids.  I think they kinda liked matching their little brother and sister.  :)

Family pile up on the bed!  Thanks, selfie stick.  

Finally, here are the last few randoms from my phone.  A good nap on the couch for my boys and story time on the bed with Daddy.  

On the left - the kids have figured out how to pull their chairs up to the fridge to help themselves to whatever is in the fridge.  Might have to purchase a lock for the doors...

On the right - after a quick ruffle removal, Katie Wynn's old hedgehog pants are now perfect for Thomas!  He looks cute in them.  :)

Guess who got a card in the mail from Granddaddy?!  Katie Wynn received a thank you note for a picture she had colored for him, and she was so excited to have something to open up and read.  I put it in her keepsake box so we'll always have it.  

That's a wrap on October!  Maybe I should go ahead and start on November now...

Halloween Week

It's hard to believe that Halloween 2015 has already come and gone!  What a busy week it was.  Part of me was really dreading trick-or-treating this year since our kids are so clingy and shy, but they both did it like champs.  It ended up being so much fun!

I had every intention of letting Katie Wynn paint a pumpkin this year (didn't think she was quite ready for carving yet) but we never got around to it.  We did, though, decorate a pumpkin with some nail head polka dots.  (Idea from Katie Bower.) She loved every minute of it and was actually really good at hammering the nails.  And I, of course, loved that it didn't make a mess!

The week leading up to Halloween was dress up week at daycare.  Each day was a different theme.  The week started off with hat day on Monday.

Tuesday was crazy mismatched clothes.  It's the hardest day for me because you know I like things that match.

Wednesday was pajama day which is sometimes frustrating to me since I spend every other day of the year saying, "No, you can't wear your pajamas to school!" 

Thursday was Breast Cancer Awareness day and they were supposed to wear pink.  No pictures before school because I was so frustrated that I couldn't find a pink shirt for Thomas to wear.  So he didn't participate.  Maybe next year.

Friday was Halloween party day and costume day.  Katie Wynn helped me make little "Bugs and Kisses" bags for their classmates.  

Can you tell which Crayon was more cooperative for pictures that morning?  Also, how appropriate is that rug they're standing on?

Guess who was not super excited to be included in the dressing up this year...

That's right, this year's Halloween theme was a family affair.  Good thing Matt is always such a good sport.  :)

With rainy weather all morning, we really didn't know if we'd be able to trick or treat or not but I talked it up with Katie Wynn anyway.  We practiced saying "Trick or Treat!" and I told her that she wouldn't get candy if she didn't say it to whoever answered the door.  She looked at me and said, "I will do it!"  I told that story to both my mom and nephew, Jett, and asked if they thought she'd actually do it.  Without hesitation, they both said "NO!" 

Well guess what, she actually did it!  Our first stop was Mimi and Poppy's house and she marched right up like she knew exactly what to do.  T-Man was hot on her heels.

When Mimi and Poppy FINALLY answered the door, she yelled "TRICK OR TREAT!" as loud as she could.  :)  And Thomas was so excited that they both got candy!  (We originally didn't even have him a bucket but quickly realized he'd need his own when he saw her get candy and pushed his way in for some.)

From there we went over to the Schwartz's house for chili and hot dogs and to wait for it to get a little bit darker.  Our neighborhood has LOTS of houses but the lots are big so it's too spread out for the kids to just walk door to door.  We were fortunate to be invited to tag along with some friends who had a trailer to pull between houses.  The kids loved the "hayride" and climbing off and on it.

Glow sticks for safety!

I think this was the best way to do it - KW seemed to have confidence with her buddies with her.  Hopefully we'll get to do it again this way next year!

On our trailer we had a gangster, Tinkerbell, a UPS man, a pink crayon (and a blue one not pictured) and Coach Ditka.  And two adult crayon boxes.  :)

The only catastrophe of the night was that the pink crayon hat went missing for a while, but it was eventually recovered after some retracing of our steps!  

Our kids both crashed HARD when we got home.  I was hopeful that they'd forget about the piles of candy they got, but Katie Wynn's first words that morning were, "I want some candy for bwek-fess."  Maybe next year we'll tell them we ate their candy for Jimmy Kimmel.

Car Wash Party!

Before we start this post - have you left your guess for the Tie Challenge?  If not, please do so!  He's still going strong but it looks like more ties have been worn than are left to go!

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I finally have Katie Wynn's birthday party pictures to share!  After Thomas's Petting Zoo party last June, she spent the whole summer asking A) if it was her birthday yet and B) if all the "amimals" would be at her party.  I had resigned myself to the fact that we were just going to have a repeat of Thomas's petting zoo party since that seemed to be what she wanted.

But, we couldn't really get the timing to work out with the Petting Zoo.  I knew there was a cute vintage ice cream truck that could come to her party so I started really talking that up.  We would have a backyard playground party at Mimi's and Poppy's house like last year but this time the ice cream truck would come and serve treats.  Easy.  Done.  She was excited about the ice cream.

And then I was perusing Pinterest one afternoon and saw the cutest idea for a car wash.  Our kids play in their Cozy Coupe cars nonstop when we're outside.  At first, I thought I'd tuck away the idea for next year but then it hit me that I still had time...the party was still two and a half weeks away!  

Honestly, I was kinda glad to finally get excited about planning the party.  I found super easy plans online, got my Dad and Matt on board (they are the best), and before the weekend was over they had two car washes assembled.  Then it was my turn to decorate them.  The hardest part was finding pool noodles since summer was over.  I ended up spending more than I would've liked by buying them online, but the dollar stores didn't have them anymore.  Special thanks to Lala and Poppa (Matt's parents) who helped me decorate in the heat of our garage!

All the info you need to make one of these on your own is in that link I posted in the last paragraph.  We only modified the plans to make it a little wider.  I used a shower curtain from Target for my flaps and the sponge balls came from Oriental Trading.

I had a helper while setting up for the party.  In addition to the two car washes, we also set out buckets of soapy water and big sponges.  I got them for super cheap at Dollar General!

When Katie Wynn woke up from her nap and got to come outside to see it all set up, she was so excited! 

Now on to the party pictures!  The ones above were taken from my phone.  Credit for the following ones goes to Kasey McAlpin.  Disclaimer: from these pictures, it will look like the birthday girl did not have any fun at all.  I assure you she did!  She is SO incredibly shy around big groups of people - especially when everyone tries to talk to her.  Neither she nor Thomas actually rode through the car wash while our guests were there but she went on and on that night about how fun her party was and when she could have another one.

Matt and I dressed with the understanding that we might have to be active participants and get very wet!

I bought this gas pump off Zulily on a whim and it arrived a week before the party.  Perfect timing!  And it worked great with the theme!

Watching guests start to arrive while building a tower of sponges.

I love that Levi drove his present up to Katie Wynn!

Thank goodness for my nephews!  They wasted no time jumping on their bike/trike and riding through the car wash.  It helped the little kids understand what to do!

Isn't this the cutest picture of them washing their bikes together?  Sing it with me..."workin' at the car wash..."

I'm pretty sure those bikes were squeaky clean when they went home.  :)

Ever the shy one, Katie Wynn opted to supervise her friends instead of really participate in the fun!

Here are a bunch of snapshots of all of our guests at the party.  So fun, right?!

I LOVE these of Davis and Addi Clare filling up their gas tanks.  :)

I love the one below on the right of Thomas...it looks like he's bracing for cold water impact!

Grant doesn't even have to get out of his car to clean it!

Watching from a safe distance.

Bren is serious about detailing her bike.  :)

How fun is this group action shot?  Wax on, wax off, boys and girls!

Awesome shots of Everett driving through the water!

Everyone was busy washing their cars and having fun when all of a sudden, we could hear loud music and this cool vintage ice cream truck pulled up!

Katie Wynn was so pumped about the ice cream truck.  She constantly asked me about it beforehand and I told her she would get to climb on the truck and pass out the ice cream to everyone.  One day at daycare I told her to tell her teacher what we were gonna do for her party and she responded with, "There gonna be uh ice cweam twuck and I gonna pass out!"  I had to finish that sentence for her teacher...that she was going to pass out ice cream, not fall out from excitement! :)

Are we surprised that when it actually showed up she got scared and needed me to hold her?

This is about as good of a family pic as we could get.  

Before we climbed onto the truck, the driver (her name escapes me but she was so nice!) gave Katie Wynn a present.  It was the cutest mini replica of the truck made out of paper that she opened up to reveal a chocolate cupcake!  It was seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Then Katie Wynn and I climbed into position and got to work - there was ice cream to be eaten!

Here we are settling up with the ice cream truck at the end.  If it looks like we're in deep deliberation, it's because we were trying to decide which ice cream treats we wanted to stock our freezer with for later that night!

Our photographer, Kasey, was only able to stay for the first hour or so of the party, so her pictures stop there.  Thank goodness for Lala being there with her camera to pick up where she left off!  Here are more snapshots that she captured.

Do you remember back in June at Thomas's first birthday party when Katie Wynn had face-planted on the driveway and had a scraped up face?  Well, Thomas did the same thing for her party!  His scrapes were a little fresher - he fell right before the event started - so they weren't scabbed up yet at the party.

He didn't let a couple of scrapes keep him from enjoying goodies from the ice cream truck, though.

Note to self: don't hand the birthday girl a bright pink ice cream bar until after we're finished taking pictures next year.

This was the first time we'd really done the whole open-gifts-in-front-of-friends thing and my goodness, they were ALL excited to see what Katie Wynn opened.  :)

Our party came to an end after we finished with the gifts.  Good thing too because after playing in the water on an overcast day and then eating ice cream, there was lots of shivering going on from our little guests.  :)

I love that we have these carwashes now!  They broke down easily for us to store flat in our garage but will be so easy to pop back together next summer when the weather heats back up.  And if anyone else wants to have a carwash party, please borrow our supplies!  

Go Ape!

I couldn't think of a good material gift for my Dad or Matt for Father's Day last June, so I decided to give them an adventure instead.  And they can't go on adventure without me and Mom tagging along, right?!  For their gift, I gave them each a gift certificate to Go Ape! that was enough to cover two tickets - one for each of them and one for their spouse.  :)

Go Ape!, for those of you that are unaware, is a zip-line and treetop adventure.  And, lucky for us, a new course opened up fairly close to us within the last year.  (Visit that link to watch a video of the course highlights!)  I think both Dad and Matt were excited after I showed them the video of what we would be doing!

Due to summer vacations and the extreme heat, we put our adventure off for a few months.  I finally made us reservations in October and we ended up having the perfect weather for it!  It was nice and cool under the trees which was good because I think we all broke a good sweat along the course.  Our adventure took place on a Friday afternoon so that A) it would be less crowded than a weekend and B) our kids would be at daycare.  We had the 2:00 slot in the afternoon and, since the 3:00 group was a no-show, were the last group going through the course.  That meant we had no one behind us to make us feel rushed.  It was so much fun!

Happy Father's Day, boys!

Before we started, wondering if we would survive.

Before you are turned loose on the course (that's right, no guide stays with you!), your appointed instructor goes through all the safety procedures with you and how to clip in and out of all the obstacles.  There is a small, low-to-the-ground course that you do with the instructor to make sure you've got it all down pat.  I won't tell you which one of us got injured on the safety course.  (Ahem, Dad.)

Ready to head off on our own!

This particular Go Ape! course is divided up into six different sessions, the first of which is the training course.  Each course ends with a zipline to the ground so that's how you come down from the trees.  Each course starts with a ladder that you have to climb up.  If I'm being honest, I think that was the hardest part!  The pulley that you're clipped into pulls against you so you really have to pull yourself up each rung of the rope ladder.  (Mom is climbing up said ladder in the photo below.)

They don't encourage carrying much with you on the course, but Matt and I both had zippered pockets so we could carry our phones for pictures and videos.  

There is a three person maximum on each of the platforms between obstacles, so we had to stay a little spread out.  The second obstacle of the first real section is a tarzan swing - they don't waste any time making you face your fears!  We took videos here so I don't have good pictures of it, but can you see me standing on the platform holding on to a rope?  Yep, I was trying to work up the courage to just step off the platform.  After you do, you swing into a rope net that you have to catch and then climb up to the next platform.  Mom was making fun of me until it was her turn to go - she pretty much had to sit down and slide off!

After the tarzan, this next upward climb felt easy!

Well, maybe it wasn't easy for everyone...

(Actually I think that's how my Dad feels about me always taking pictures.)

Matt was the first to zip off at our first zip line!  Each of the five big zip lines take you over water and it was actually really peaceful being out over it by yourself...you know, for about 28 seconds.

Of course, the worst part about finishing the zip line is that then you have to climb up that dang rope ladder again!

Here are pictures from the next section on the course.

Halfway through and still upright!

On the third section, after we made it over to one tree platform, we had to climb up a tree ladder to get to an even higher platform.  Matt and I went up first with no problems.  My mom was behind me (with Dad behind her) and could not get past the first couple of rungs.  She kept saying the pulley was stuck and that it wouldn't let her climb up.  I think my Dad loved being the one to point out to her that instead of clipping herself into the pulley, she had attached herself to the bottom rung of the ladder.  No wonder she couldn't move!  :)

Each course section was a little bit more difficult than the prior one.  The last three sections all split into two different routes - an easier route and a harder one.  Matt and I both opted for the harder route while Mom took the easier one.  The first section of the harder course had rope nets hanging that you had to climb across and transfer back and forth between.  It was not as easy as Matt's making it look in the picture below!

And then, even after watching both of us break a sweat, Dad chose the harder route too.  Y'all, I nearly lost it I was laughing so hard.  I'm not sure how long Dad hung out on the first rope net just swinging back and forth trying to regain his balance, but it was a lot longer than either of us!  I took a video but am having a hard time loading it, so enjoy this gallery of photos of Dad making his way across.  (Click the arrows to change the pictures!)

Mom had no problem laughing at him from her easy route.

The next section of the harder route was dangling rings that we had to use as steps.  We gave Dad some pointers to make it an easier crossing for him.  :)

After that, the two routes came back together so we could finish the section on the same obstacles.  Matt was able to let go of the cables for a picture - something that's harder than you'd think while swinging up in the air!

One thing we decided to do before we even started was to take turns being the leader.  That meant that no one was always bringing up the rear and no one was always having to be the guinea pig for each obstacle.  It was Mom's turn to go first through this net tunnel and she went on her hands and knees.  Dad went next and slid through on his back.  Matt and I followed Dad's lead but, oddly enough, I thought this was kind of a hard one!  The net did not stay taut with your body weight in it.

The fifth section started out with a twisted ladder, which you can see Mom completing in the picture below on the left.  Then we had to do a little tight rope walking.  

This section of the course split into hard and easy routes too.  These were our options:

I was leading and chose the hard route on the right.  It was definitely the hardest part for me!  Matt didn't think it was that hard.  I think my problem was my shoes - the soles were very flexible so they wrapped around those little poles of wood instead of giving me a good base to stand on, if that makes sense.  I really had to use my arms to hold myself up!

The section ended with a swinging log to walk across and a crash landing off the zip line by Dad.

I didn't take many pictures on the last section because we were trying to finish up.  It was nearing 5:00 and we had to get back to pick up our babies!  (It took us over 2 hours to complete the course, but it could be done faster.)

One of the very last obstacles was the big Tarzan swing and it was the most terrifying and most exhilarating part of the whole thing!  I was terrified doing it but now that I've done it once, I can't wait to do it again.  Mom and Dad didn't do it so they watched me and Matt from the safety of their platform.   

See Matt standing up high in the tree?  He just has to step off.  And then there's a good five second free fall before the tension in your cable catches you.  So scary!  So fun!  I think a profanity may have slipped out of my mouth.  You eventually bounce into a big net that you have to climb up.  Oh man, it was so cool.

That's where I stopped taking pictures.  From there we had one more zip line across the lake before we had successfully completed the course.  And surprisingly, we were all able to walk correctly once our feet hit the ground!  None of us were as sore the next day as we anticipated being.  I can't wait for us to do it again - this might just become every Father's Day gift from here on out.  :)  I hope all of you locals give it a try - it would be such a fun day date without kids!  (Children over 10 can participate.) Let me know if you have questions about it - I tried to be pretty thorough!