Halloween 2013

Our Halloween festivities kicked off on Monday when we hosted our playgroup at our house for a Halloween party.  We've had several families move away so our playgroup is now a fairly small intimate group; however, we've added a few baby brothers in the past year so we're almost back to our original size.  We had a fun afternoon carving pumpkins, eating junk food, and playing in the backyard.  

our small group especially since S refused to get in the picture

so we added the little brothers

the only picture with the whole group

After the party we had a mini birthday celebration for Grams.  Savannah had been waiting all day to sing Happy Birthday and watch Grams blow out her candles.  Savannah absolutely LOVES birthdays.  In fact, one of her baby dolls has a birthday almost daily with either a cookie or cupcake complete with a candle and song.  I'm hoping this means she'll actually want blow out her own birthday candles this year at her party.

Savannah's preschool had their Halloween parade and party on Wednesday morning.  Grams, Walker, and I were able to stick around after drop off to watch the brief parade.  Savannah looked so cute in her new princess dress.  I had just stumbled across this dress the day before at Home Goods and I just had to buy it.  Savannah didn't take it off for at least two days straight.   Needless to say, the fairy costume that she had planned to wear for Halloween didn't stand a chance next to this new dress. 

our little princess

Halloween was on Thursday which was also Grams' last day with us so we spent most of the day getting things put together for Savannah's 4th birthday party.  It's so much easier to do all that stuff when I have an extra pair of crafty hands around.  After a quick pizza dinner we headed out trick-or-treating.  Savannah is now a pro at this.  In fact, she really didn't even need us around.  She met up with her friend Alyssa, who lives down the street, and off they went.  Walker wasn't too impressed with the whole ordeal.  He managed to sit in the wagon until we made it to the end of our street, which isn't very far, and then he moved into my pouch where he stayed nice and snug for the next hour.  Savannah went to every house in our neighborhood and got way too much candy.  It's a good thing her birthday party is coming up so I can transfer off all this leftover candy to the piñata :)

all ready for trick-or-treating

my sweet little pumpkin

love these three soooo much

Such a fun holiday and a great way to kick off the holiday season.  Now who's ready for Thanksgiving?!

Clemson Weekend

We haven't had a lot of free weekends this fall but we did manage to squeeze in a quick weekend trip to my hometown of Greenville for the weekend of October 12th.  Of course the main reason for the visit was to go to the Clemson / Boston College football game.  

We arrived in Greenville Friday evening and went straight to the Merrit's house for dinner.  Meredith and I don't see each other very often but we always manage to pick up right where we left off from the visit the previous year.  I'm always amazed that we've been able to keep in touch after 26 years.  Yes, I said 26 years.  She was my very first friend when we moved from Texas to South Carolina.  Through the power of social media we were able to reconnect and have stayed in touch somewhat regularly over the past 5 years.  So after a short visit with her sweet family we checked into our hotel and crashed for the night.

Saturday's game was in the afternoon so we had all morning to hang out in Greenville.  That little town has grown so much since I left after college and yet it still feels so familiar.  Fall for Greenville was also taking place downtown that weekend so we did a quick walk through and Savannah had the chance to ride a few carnival rides.  

checking out the Reedy River Falls

S's favorite part of the weekend......checking out the flower gardens

I'm convinced that I must bring bad luck to my Tigers because every game I watch they either lose or lose until I leave.  Such was the case this trip as well.  They played horribly to a no-good BC team but thankfully they managed to pull themselves together after we left and still won the game.  I wasn't able to watch more than 5 minutes of the game since Little Man didn't want to sit still in the stands.  We spent most of the half walking around under the stands.  No matter, we still had fun and I always love being back in Tiger Town.

We left Greenville bright and early Sunday morning since Oscar had to be back home for a group bike ride.  I'm so glad we're able to go back and visit every year.  Those little towns hold a special place in my heart and it's nice to take little walks down memory lane every now and again.

WEA at 10 Months

Well....here we are.....the double digit months.....(sigh).  Where are the days going?!  I blink and another month has passed me by.  I really am trying to savor these last baby days and watching him grow is so bittersweet.  So here he is, my little Walker at 10 months old.

Walker's 10 month milestones/achievements/tidbits:

~he is cruising around while holding onto furniture and he loves to push a chair around while walking

~while standing he is able to bend down to pick up an object without falling over

~he is still a biter so when he gets a firm "NO BITE" after chomping down on me he breaks down in tears.  I can tell he's going to be very sensitive to punishment down the road.  

~his new favorite spots to play are in my cabinets---welcome back messy tupperware zone.  

~he is actually able to play alone for several minutes as long as I am out of sight.  This has allowed me to prepare my morning cup of coffee and fix my breakfast without him attached to my hip.  

~he absolutely hates wearing socks and/or shoes.  This has made my cool morning runs very unproductive.  As soon as I get going, I have to stop to find the missing sock/shoe.  Now I'm on the search for some baby shoes that can't be pulled off.  I can only imagine how he'll be come hat and mitten weather.  

~he loves to drink water out of a sippy cup

~he still isn't very adventurous when it comes to eating and trying new foods.  He will only eat completely pureed and smooth fruits and veggies and his favorite, yogurt.  

~on average he still wakes up once during the night but I have had quite a few uninterrupted nights of sleep lately; unfortunately, that means an earlier wake up time.  I sure am looking forward to daylight savings time---I hate waking up when it's still dark outside.  
~he is quite the talker.  He is constantly babbling and he has even added a few more sounds to his vocabulary.

pushing his favorite chair around the living room

driving big sister's car

squeaky clean

my sweet sleeping trainer

naked baby drum solo

I sure do love this sweet, chunky, little man!  I've said it before and it still rings true today---he really is the happiest, sweetest, smiliest, most cuddly, squeezable, baby boy ever.  I'm so very thankful he's in our family!

Fall in the City

We enjoyed a wonderful fall weekend in NYC the weekend of September 28th.  Oscar needed to be in the city to attend a client event so the kiddos and I tagged along.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and after checking into my favorite hotel, The Pierre, we walked across the street to play at one of our favorite playgrounds in Central Park.  After playtime, we had dinner at Artisanal with our good friend, Tracy.

Walker's first time meeting Tracy....he's not quite sure what to make of her :)

 Saturday morning we all went for a family run around Central Park where Oscar finally got to experience pushing the double jogger up a hill.  He only thought he was in shape prior to this workout :)
Afterwards we played around in FAO Schwarz and waited for cousin Nick to join us.  Then we introduced Oscar to the wonderful experience of Shake Shack.  It's amazing he lived in that city for so long and had never tried a Shake Shack burger.  It really is one of the greatest guilty pleasures.  It even makes the hour wait not seem so bad.  Needless to say, he has been converted and will he never eat another burger without comparing it to Shake Shack.
After lunch we all split up in different directions.  Oscar and Nick went to go watch the martial arts match and the kiddos and I went to the park to meet up with Elina and Dima.  We had so much fun riding the carousel and playing on the playgrounds with those two.  Then we all met back up and had a group dinner at Serephinas.

two of my running buddies

fun times in the toy store on the giant piano

yummy Shake Shack

carousel time

S riding with Elina and Dima

Sunday morning we attempted another run in the park but little man was not in the mood.  After screaming for 2 miles, we had to stop and I had to carry him back to the hotel.  Some days are just not stroller days for him.  Oh well....

After a stroll around mid-town and a quick bistro lunch it was time to head to the airport.  

2 miles looked just like this

bistro brunch

window shopping

We had such a great quick visit.  I love these little weekend trips to the city.  Being able to do these makes living in a quiet, boring, small town not seem so drab.  I'm already counting down the days until our holiday trip.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE New York at the holidays?!?!  Only 53 more days....