All things Fall & Festive

The month of October was filled with all things Fall and festive. I absolutely love Fall and the excitement that everyone seems to share over it. We tried to make the most of our October with lots of fun. 

We visited Stone Mountain for the first time as a family. We went for the pumpkin festival but that ended up just being a small part of all the fun that we had while there. 

Reynolds tried to pick up every pumpkin there, including this giant fake one...

A real train ride! 

We painted pumpkins! They loved it...and surprisingly most of the paint made it on the pumpkins!  

...and then I got crafty during nap time. 

We went to our church's Fall Festival, and it was so much fun! We also decorated our car for their trunk or treat, but I didn't manage to get a picture of the car. It was Frozen themed though...made Teagan really happy. ;)

Reynolds got the hang of trunk-or-treating pretty quickly! He would {sometimes} "say" something for trick or treat and then would sign thank you after he grabbed as many pieces as he could. ;)

Reynolds loved throwing the candy! 

Then we hit up the trunk-or-treat at Teagan's preschool! Olaf and Anna...I melt. 

And then we traveled to Kinsey Family Farm with Hea & Ryan to get a hayride in before it was too late. And I'm so glad we did! We all had a wonderful time. Teagan kept telling me thank you on the way home that she had so much fun. 

I love that you can see how hesitant both Reynolds and I are in this picture. ha

Teagan though....girl loves cows. I mean she did ask for a cow necklace for Christmas last year. ha

We cheese hard. 

pickin up pumpkins again

Hayride! 

I made a rule with Teagan that we could only buy a pumpkin that she could pick up herself. I have a feeling that that rule won't save us too much money with this guy for long though...

I meeaaaannnnnn.....I just can't. 

And then before we knew it, it was Halloween! This is not a holiday I ever loved growing up...but oh my goodness do I love it as a mom. {and I'm still kind of anti anything scary or gory...yuck! In my mind Halloween can just be about cute princesses, superheros, and free candy!} 

We started the day with a family breakfast at our house and the kids all came dressed up! 

And then some of our friends came back over that night for Brunswick Stew and trick-or-treating with the neighbors! 

It was a FUN month...but I'm going to be honest and say for the first time I had to show some major self control to not decorate for Christmas once November 1st hit. Week of Thanksgiving is my normal go-to time to decorate...but this year I just want to get in the Christmas spirit extra early! As for now, no decorations are up. I can't promise anything for next week though. ;)

Clemson Weekend!

In October, we headed to Clemson for a reunion weekend with my college roommates. This is our 4th year going. The other years we've only brought along babes that were too young for a night away from mama, but this year we decided to bring the whole gang. 10 adults & 9 kids in a 5 bedroom house = a little bit a crazy but a whole lot of fun! Other than the poor sleep that most of us got each night, it was the most perfect weekend! And the wake times with everyone made up for any sleep deprivation we were suffering from. 

And here goes google+ again putting together a montage from the weekend. 

The drive there was eventful. Really eventful. And at first it was funny but the closer we got to bedtime and the crankier the kids got, the less funny it became. We got pulled over (for something silly that Patrick swears he didn't actually do--cross a double line), got a nail in the tire while being pulled over only to notice the deflated tire later (on one of the many potty breaks), and ended up stopping by a garage that was already closed for the day but they were sweet and helped us anyways. Thankful that we were able to laugh at most of it together and for sweet people near the city of Clemson <3 that helped us out...and of course ending the night with a house full of our best friends. Totally worth it! 

It was homecoming weekend, so there was so much to take in on campus. The 4 older kids were so sweet holding hands while we walked around. Goooodness, there were many times throughout the days that I almost teared up at seeing them all there together. Clemson holds a huge place in my heart and getting to see our kids experience the fun and happiness there was perfection! 

Getting a drink at Cooper Library

And Groucho's for lunch! 

Someone (I'm not going to name any names) decided that 4:30am sounded like a good time to start partying. Problem was, there wasn't really any place for us to go that early. So we bundled up under lots of blankets on the porch and then made our way into the garage to play some mini golf. Sweet times with my boy.

Back to campus on game day...with a stop at Pot Belly Deli first where we turned part of the restaurant into a small preschool cafeteria. 

...at this point Teagan was done. I wanted a picture with my Clemson girl in front of all the floats, but I'm pretty sure she had just hit me not wanting to take one. So we got this. :) 

...lollipops sure can brighten spirits though :) 

Making cupcakes with Aunt Hea.

Before leaving on Sunday, we drove by the stadium because I wanted to show it to Teagan. Annnnd it was open! We got to touch the rock, run down the hill (20+ times because Teagan just couldn't get enough), and just take in the wonderful-ness that is Death Valley. And then I cried. Because it was all that wonderful and fun and my heart was just full, really full.