Pumpkin Carving

Wednesday afternoon we pulled the cars out of the carport and Spencer and the kids carved two of our pumpkins. It was an absolute downpour all afternoon so Ella-Ann and Rane had fun not only with the pumpkins but splashing around in the driveway with umbrellas. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon as a family. The kids "helped" a little, i.e., Ella-Ann dug out a few seeds with a big spoon but mainly sat and watched Spencer do the dirty work (and me...I majorly cleaned the pumpkins out) and after checking out the rain she would walk over to Spencer and ask, "How's it comin' along Daddy?" Rane, on the other hand, enjoyed pushing around one of the carved pumpkins as if it were a ball, carrying around the spoons, sticking the spoons in the pumpkins and saying, "Uh-oh, UH-OH!" He kept saying the pumpkins were dirty and gross and would follow that up with, "No touch," but would immediately have his hands all over the pumpkins! We had a blast!

Rane's favorite activity? Playing in the water coming out of the drainpipe!

We took this picture this morning. Spencer hasn't been home in the evenings since we carved the pumpkins so we did it while it was still dark outside this morning. The kids love going out in the mornings to look at the moon! I know, I need to get them out more often!

On a side note, this is how sweet Rane sleeps....with tons of blankets and pillows surrounding him. He always sleeps, still, with his blanket covering either his entire body or at least his face, which is why he is sweaty in this picture!

Fall Festivities

Saturday was packed with fun activities for the kids. Spencer and I had a great time too, but we were exhausted and would've liked to have spent Saturday afternoon in the backyard but I had already told Ella-Ann (we are hyphenating her name now, FYI, for various reasons) that we would go to Boo at the Zoo so we had to rally! Saturday morning Spencer got up bright and early, at 7 a.m., and first took the kids outside to check out the huge, bright moon that was absolutely beautiful. After that he took Ella-Ann to Dunkin Donuts for, what else, donuts and coffee! They came back with Halloween-iced confections that were yummy!

Later that morning we went to Ella-Ann's school for a fall festival. Ella-Ann was so excited to see and do everything! They had three bouncy houses for different ages, ring tosses, story hour, a cake walk, book sale, face painting, tattoos and all kinds of other games put on by each class. Ella-Ann's class had a duck pond that she helped make the sign for....very fun for her to see what she worked on in class on display! She got to see her teachers and several of her friends, which was a thrill. Rane was, of course, all over the place and he had fun in one of the bouncy houses, eating a slushie with Spencer, walking around, playing the duck pond game and going to story hour. We came home and quickly fed the kids lunch and while Rane slept Ella-Ann went back to the festival with me because I volunteered (I'm in the PTA and they put on the festival) to collect tickets at one of the bouncy houses. Fortunately, I was assigned to work the one for the younger kids so Ella-Ann hopped in with one of her friends and jumped for a good 45 minutes. She crawled out and asked me if she could get her face painted toward the end of the festival. This was quite a shocker for me because any time there is face painting Ella-Ann will only get the top of her hand painted. She has never wanted anything on her face so when she said she wanted it done I told her where to go and off she went...by herself! I could see her easily and I watched her stand in line, give a volunteer her ticket and sit down for the painting. I was so proud of her independence! When I went to check on her she was getting a big butterfly painted on her face and she loved it! I was happy she finally got something like that done, even though by the end of the day her face was one big pink smear! On the way back home Ella-Ann said, "I'm really surprised I wanted to do this!"

At 2 we came home, I ate a quick lunch and we woke up Rane at 3 to head to the zoo. Ella-Ann got decked out in her fairy costume and she looked fantastic with her face painted to go along with it! We didn't dress up Rane because it was too much of a hassle. We had a wonderful time at the zoo and got to watch several of the animals eat during feeding time. We saw a viper eat a huge rat...thrilling! It was very crowded and I didn't see a single child not dressed up for Halloween but it was a manageable crowd and we didn't have any problems. We saw everything we wanted, rode the train and looked at all the Halloween decorations and left before dinner. We put Ella-Ann to bed at 6:30 p.m. and had to wake her up at 7:45 this morning! She was exhausted, as were the rest of us!

Ella-Ann with one of her good friends, Kathleen.

Rane taking a rest on Spencer's shoulder during story hour.

Ella-Ann picking out a prize she won at the duck pond. Her teacher, Miss Glasby, is in the green shirt.

Rane provided an audience numerous times to the little girls doing karaoke to Alvin and the Chipmunks. I worked at the bouncy house next to it so I enjoyed Alvin for an hour. It was pure torture.

Ella-Ann was overwhelmed with the crazy kids in one of the houses and started crying so she was done after that.

Rane loved jumping and held his own really well!

Ella-Ann had a balloon poodle on a leash made and if it wasn't a balloon I think she would've slept with it last night. She named it Rose. :)

Ready for Boo at the Zoo!

We were getting ready to ride the train and, obviously, the kids were not interested in me taking a cute picture of them!

Picnicing Solo Style

This past weekend Spencer was in Toccoa and our church had it's annual fall picnic after church on Sunday. Normally I would forgo this without Spencer to help me but I was feeling rather confident in my capabilities, ya know being 7 months pregnant too, and decided to attend. Ella Ann loves having picnics and since she still talks about picnics we've been to in the past I knew I also had to do this for her. She was so pumped and couldn't wait to go!

Saturday was a rather rough day with the kids. Since Ella Ann is not used to being home all day with us anymore she is feeling "bored," even though she has tons of toys, art supplies, books, dress up clothes, puzzles, etc. to keep her occupied she feels the need to tell me how oh-so boring it is around here! I simply told her Saturday morning that if she was that bored then she could go across the street, knock on their door and live with them because I'm sure they have lots more "fun" things to do than we do! I didn't hear the word "bored" again after that. She also has trouble getting along with Rane because he wants to be around her, which means annoy her! However, Sunday was a much, much better day all around with both of them. As soon as Ella Ann woke up (in a good mood) she happily played with Rane all morning and even read him books while he ate breakfast! It was a blessed morning, to say the least!


After church we headed down the street to the picnic. I was told to bring 24 iced-down drinks, which meant I had to figure out how to get my kids and the cooler down a big hill to the picnic area all by myself. Obviously that didn't happen so Andria and Ricardo kindly brought my drinks down for me. As soon as we got there Ella Ann found her friends and I really didn't see much of her for the next 2 hours. Rane, too, was all over the place. I chased him all over the park for a solid 2 hours. It was seriously impossible to have any fun. He was all about digging around in the 15 or so coolers...getting out the ice, rubbing it on his face and the ground then putting it back in the cooler. He was after all the dogs that were around, circled the food table a million times, tried to get too close for comfort to the grill, running in front of the swings and running around on the playground with the big kids. I did get to sit and talk to Janelle for a while but that was about it. I was one of the very last people to get in line for food, because of Rane, so by the time I got to the food tables it was slim pickins. Ella Ann and Rane had chips and grapes for lunch. The horror!!!! All of us ate another lunch when we got home that afternoon. I was incredibly worn out from just chasing Rane and the hassle of the picnic itself! I was in bed asleep by 8:50 p.m. last night! My old, pregnant self cannot handle all that work these days! I have to say, though, even with all those complaints I was glad we went because the kids had so much fun and it was great for Ella Ann to spend some time with a few of her friends that she doesn't get to see that often anymore because she's in school all week. Once we got home, though, my business wasn't over. I had to finish up a meal that I was taking to a family that afternoon...whew!

Ella Ann and Anna-Kate.

Ella Ann loved pushing Alexia on the swing while Ricardo and Andria brought down my cooler from the car.

Rane does not like to swing at all, but he doesn't mind just sitting in it!

The Belly & the Backyard

We are back in our favorite spot, the backyard. The weather has been fantastic so Ella Ann has really enjoyed playing with Jordan and Kayla each day all afternoon and into the evening. Rane tries to keep up but they do not allow him to play with them....poor thing. It's a good thing the two cats from across the fence come over to visit the kids because Rane is just fine chasing after them! One of them is super sweet and allows the big kids to carry her around. Rane, of course, tries to do the same and thankfully this cat doesn't scratch him! He tries to be gentle but it just doesn't go over well with the cats so he ends up chasing them from one end of the yard to the other!

The belly shot! Spencer took the horrible picture so I blame him since he wouldn't stand up! I will be 28 weeks (7 months) on Monday. Twelve weeks left to go!

Rane's idea of petting the cat is squeezing it's fur and pushing down on it's back so it won't run away. Poor cat! I have no clue as to why this cat keeps coming back to our yard when the kids are outside!

Chasing one cat and when that one got too far away.....

Rane just turned around and hunted down the other cat!

That's My Boy

Kale chips, that would be what Rane is eating. I found a recipe for them and wanted to see what they would taste like. I mean, kale is really good for you and has tons of vitamin C so I was hoping to discover a delicious snack for me; however, once I pulled the crispy leaves out of the oven and took one bite I was done. They were so gross and for me to say that says a lot! I can choke down anything healthy but this was where I drew the line! Rane started demanding a bite so I handed him a leaf and figured it would end up on the floor but instead he kept asking for more! I eventually pulled his highchair in the kitchen and threw a half a head (the head was as big as 3 heads of lettuce) of cooked kale on his tray and the only thing left after about 8 minutes was a tiny pile of crumbs. He loved it! He is an amazing eater and is always willing to try new things and fortunately for us he likes it 95% of the time. I love it!

It's Pumpkin Time

Ella Ann didn't have school on Friday so it was the perfect extended weekend to leave on Thursday (picked up Ella Ann a little early from school) and head to my parent's house. When I was pregnant with Rane we took Ella Ann to a fantastic pumpkin patch while we were visiting them in October and even though it was 2 years ago, she still talks about how much fun she had. I had to make the trek up to Kentucky during October just to take her there and take Rane for the first time. He loves pumpkins, I guess because they are everywhere now and it's something he is not used to seeing except for in books, so I knew he would go nuts when he saw hundreds of them! Spencer was able to get Friday off so he went with us too! It was great to take him to Kentucky and it not be freezing cold, since he only gets to go there at Christmas!

We arrived around dinner time and ate supper outside on my parent's deck. It was perfect weather all weekend, except for it being crazy hot for October, so we spent most of the three days outside. Spencer took Ella Ann on Friday morning to visit his parents, which is about an hour away from my parent's house. That evening we went to our favorite Italian restaurant. My Dad, Spencer and I ordered the yellowfin tuna, which comes with two huge dollops of wasabi paste. If you are not familiar with wasabi, really it only takes a teeny tiny amount with each bite of your tuna to taste. If you put too much in your mouth, like more than the size of the top of an ink pen, it will shoot up your sinuses and make your head feel like it's going to explode. I was sitting across from my Dad and I caught him quickly putting the ENTIRE ball of wasabi in his mouth with a bite of tuna! In one second I said, "Dad!" It was too late. His eyes got as big as saucers and by then Spencer had caught on to what he had done so he told Dad to spit it out but Dad thought he could wash it down with a big gulp of water but we knew that wouldn't happen so we started telling him to SPIT IT OUT! By then, mind you, I am hysterically laughing as loud as I can get, which can be VERY loud, and that got Ella Ann, Rane, Spencer and Mom laughing so we had the entire restaurant staring at our table! It was such a scene and I loved every second of it! I thought Dad was going to die from the pain....eventually he started laughing too. Ohhh it is a memory I plan to never, ever forget! It was great! If you know my Dad at all you would know that this was so typical of him! He didn't believe me that wasabi was THAT painful!

Saturday morning we headed to the pumpkin patch. The high on Saturday was 87 degrees so we thought going around 10 a.m. when it opened would be a better idea, which it was but it was still pretty toasty for a fall day at a pumpkin patch! We had a great time and it was so fun to watch Rane go crazy over all the pumpkins and Ella Ann enjoy every minute of being there. There was a sweet little kitty running around and a Golden Retriever that both kids went bananas over so that was kind of the icing on the cake for them! We watched the kids do a little maze of hay bails, we fed the baby goats, went on a hayride and got dropped off to go into the field and pick our own pumpkins, roasted hot dogs (Mom did) and marshmallows and enjoyed just walking around the patch. It was such a fun time and I was thrilled that Spencer was there to do it all with us!

Saturday afternoon we busted out the plastic chairs and sat in my parent's driveway for a few hours and played with the kids. After that we had dinner again on the deck and Ella Ann got her usual scoop of ice cream with sprinkles with Grandpa. It was such a wonderful 3 days and we didn't want to come home. The kids were great in the car both ways. Why does this always happen ONLY when Spencer is in the car??? It's not like he lays down the law or anything, they are just angels!

Rane is always full of love and affection!

Dad bought a singing witch and skeleton for the kids and ohhhh did they love those things! They are now sitting in our house but they may have to be switched permanently to the off position...they are loud! Our Aunt Bee, who lives across the street, came over to visit us on Friday so Rane was showing her the decorations.

Spencer took the kids down the street to see the wild turkeys.

I don't know why I love this picture of the kids. It's something about Ella Ann being barefooted and running around outside, which we just don't do on the streets of Atlanta!

A father/son chat on the rocks!

Post-dinner ice cream ritual!

Rane loves playing with kitchen gadgets so he brought Grandpa a bowl so my Dad did the only natural thing he knew how to do, which is put it on his head!

Desperately wanting to take a spin on the rhino!

We were trying to feed the goats but they didn't make the picture!

Yeah, we were hot. Can't you tell by looking at the kids?!

Spencer was trying to get Ella Ann to hurry up and pick a pumpkin! Decisions, decisions!

Rane was on fire. He would lay on top of the pumpkins we picked just to cool off!

Where's Rane? Chasing after the cat who was running from him....maybe because the cat remembered that earlier that was the little boy who stepped on her tail!

Roasting marshmallows with Grandpa.

What's Up

We have had a very fun week and weekend around here. My Mom drove down on Monday and arrived shortly after Rane woke up from his nap. Ella Ann knew she was coming so she was biting at the bullet for her to hurry up and get here! Mimi couldn't even get in the door before both kids jumped in her arms and tackled her. They were thrilled to have her visit us and she stayed until Friday morning! We did our usual shopping excursions and it was nice Tuesday morning because it was just Mom and I since both kids were gone! We got coffee a couple of mornings and pastries, played at the house and ate dinner one night in the Highlands at Fontaine's, one of our favorite spots in Atlanta.

After Mom left Friday morning our next set of visitors arrived early Saturday morning. Gary, Gayla and Craig came down for a quick visit and we were excited for the company! Since they were only going to be here until Sunday morning we stuck around the house and played in the backyard nearly all day. We ordered food in for lunch and went out to eat Thai that evening. Ella Ann kindly brought home a cold from school last week, Rane got it and then it was my turn yesterday to feel horrible. I couldn't taste my food at dinner so soup was on the menu for me. I hate wasting a good meal out when I just order soup and cannot even taste that! We had a great time with both of our families and were spoiled with all the entertainment. Back to reality this week!

Unfortunately these are the only two pictures I took while my Mom was here.

Ella Ann and Rane love playing doctor and to have a new patient was fantastic! I think Mimi received over 50 shots that day!

Gayla brought down Halloween cupcakes that the kids loved. It was Rane's first cupcake!

Ella Ann was thoroughly entertained by her Uncle Craig all day Saturday. They played soccer, Frisbee, ran around the yard and she got thrown up in the air about 100 times!

Papa got a little help from Ella Ann deflating the pool.

If there are shoes laying around anywhere these days Rane's little feet are in them! It is so cute to see him scoot around the house, especially in Spencer's big shoes!

Rane wouldn't cooperate for a photo op with the grandparents before church this morning.