October Catch-Up

October was super busy...we've been busy juggling two vacant rental properties in addition to trying to fit every bit of fall fun into our days as we can.

Gigi & Poppy surprised us with a last minute visit in mid-November. We were so excited to see them and they brought Parker with them. We played outside, had lunch at the Runway Cafe and hit up Costco & Target so Gigi could spoil them with new jammies & toys.












Jackson has his first ever field trip. His class walked from the church over to the Greer Fire Department and got a tour of the firetrucks, the living quarters and a little lesson on fire safety.












We headed to Conover to spend a few days with Bebe & PopPaw. We got to ride the golf cart, play outside and read lots of books.









We saw Mawmaw who loved holding the boys and still has her spunk.









We hit up Dillard Farms for the for-real last time of the year. They officially closed for the season on October 23 and we were there the day before as one last hurrah. Followed by Waffle House the next morning for breakfast. And then Dunkin Donuts for breakfast before preschool the following week. {Michelle Obama would not be happy for our family's recent eating habits.}






We had a painting playdate with Julie & Slade and the boys had a ball creating giant masterpieces.







And my new favorite indulgence is a slushi from the QT. For those unfamiliar with this new chain of convenience stores, QT features an "slushi bar" with dozens of self-serve flavors to choose from. They also have iced coffee, soft drinks and hot drinks. Weston high-jacked my black cherry slushi and boy, I have never seen him slurp up something so fast!!




We also frequent Trader Joe's & Target...and my helpers prefer to run around than ride in the cart.







And at Petsmart, Jackson saw this advertisement for dog beds and immediately pointed out the "baby man". "He's the same size as me."



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BFF + Farm = Fun

My BFF Alisha and her family were in town last weekend for a Clemson game, so we had been so excited about getting together on Sunday to see each other & let the boys play. After lunch at Outback, we headed to Denver Downs for an afternoon of farm-fun.
{Having grown up on a farm and currently living in Ohio surrounded by acres & acres of farmland, we enjoyed the irony of them coming all the way down to SC to go to a farm}




Its so much fun watching Jackson & Ethan get reacquainted and have so much fun together. There's no doubt -- if Alisha still lived here, these two would be best friends for sure.








The farm was chock full of activities for the kids...
The Cow Train:








And sweet Ethan so willingly let Weston ride with him.




The pony swing:








Jumbo Lincoln Logs (aka playpen for Westie):




Petting Zoo:




Bouncy Bubble:




Hayride (where Jackson insisted on covering himself in hay...and little copy-cat Weston did the same):












And the highlight of the afternoon was playing on the rows and rows of haybales. Ben was the designated supervisor and the boys had the best time running, jumping and falling into the holes between the dozens and dozens of haybales.










We had so much fun with Alisha, Ethan & Alex and we wish we got to see them more often!!



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Boo in the Zoo

On Saturday afternoon, we went to the zoo's annual Halloween event with a group of neighborhood friends.

In typical fashion, the weather was unseasonably warm so the boys' costumes of Captain America and hand-me-down monkey would induce heat stoke. At the last minute, we decided they could both go as football players, wearing second-hand baseball pants and knee socks along with jerseys. Jackson got to sport Jay Brown's old Pather's jersey and poor Weston wore Bella's old NC State jersey.









{Yes, back prior to having children, we had actually purchased our dog a mesh Wolfpack jersey. And yes, the armholes are positioned to fit a dog, but that didn't seem to bother Weston.}

Westie was a good sport about letting me put electric tape under his eyes to enhance the authenticity of his costume, but Jackson has had too many bandaids ripped off that he knows better :)



We are spoiled by going to the zoo mainly on weekday mornings when there is never a crowd. Boo in the Zoo brought out the masses so we were thankful we had pre-bought our tickets and got to zip to the front of the line like VIPs.

The kids had fun collecting candy throughout the zoo. The highlight was the monkeys who were posted up at the front of their cage, yipping & yelling at the costumed kids like I've never seen them before:



We are all looking for to next Wednesday when we get to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. Perhaps it'll be cool enough to wear the real costumes this time :)




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Moving up

After a month of having 1K mornings & Baby afternoons at preschool, Westie is finally ready to be "promoted" to full-time 1K class. He is walking now, crying much less during class and is interacting with the other children. Its been a slow process but I think he was intimidated by the 7 other munchkins that would crowd around him the minute he was brought into the class like he was a show-and-tell exhibit.
He has gotten 3 consecutive "Great Day!" notes home, and today they put him down to nap with his big class and he fell right to sleep on his little nap mat.
My 14-month old is getting to be such a big boy!

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Autumn

Recently, I've been a little obsessed with Autumn, the pregnant giraffe here at the Greenville Zoo. She is due any day now and the zoo has set up a life webcam so everyone can track her progress as she approaches labor and delivery.




At first, I didn't get the phenomenon. However, once you start peeping in on her, its hard to stop. And the handy little app makes it easy to track her on the go and can even stream live to AppleTV. I mean, I'll get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and I literally cannot resist checking in on Autumn. Who wouldn't want to witness the miracle of baby giraffe birth streaming live? And I won't lie, we also went to the zoo this week hoping to see it in real life, but no luck.

And on the zoo's facebook page, its amazing to see the comments from people who have laid out of work, kept their kids home from school or just stayed up all night expectantly watching Autumn. I mean, really?!?




So if anyone has a few extra hours a day to waste, check out Autumn:
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/southcarolina/greenville/?cam=giraffe_ext

It's fairly addictive, so don't say I didn't warn you!!


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Happy Feet Redeemed

After a rough first week of soccer, we took a self-proclaimed "bye" the following Sunday due to overcast weather and a church event that evening. We figured we all needed an extra week to recover from the drama and emotional fatigue of the initial game.


However, Jackson came back this week raring to go. He got out there and represented. He got tackled (by his own team-mate, who by the way, needs a little discipline), shoved and kicked and bounced back each time, with no hesitation or tears.



He was aggressive and fought for the ball. And he scored 2 goals. Yes, two goals. He was over the moon, and so excited that he "won". But more importantly, he had a blast. He ran, jumped, laughed and just had a ball the entire time.






Go Red Rockets!

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