Fall Carnival

Our church held a Fall Carnival this weekend while Mom was in town.  We got home Sunday just in time for me to FRANTICALLY make e's hat for his costume.  Good news is that I got it done, bad news is he didn't want to wear it (or the overalls or the bandana - AT ALL!)  Eric had to put his overalls on at the house and convince e it was an okay thing to be wearing.  (even his Mickey Mouse shoes didn't help me!!) I wish I had a picture of Eric in his overalls, the hat and bandana walking around going 'chop-choo!' - what a great dad!!
After we got to the festival he was so busy watching all the kids and their costumes he didn't notice the bandana or the hat and he looked pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. :)

He played lots of fun games and we ran into this adorable fisherman too!

Surprise - Golf was his favorite - though we hadn't done much 'putting' before

He caught a fish!!

I love that our church has these events.  They are great for the little kids, the HS/MS youth run all the games and the $ goes to their fundraiser.  It just is all around good stuff and fun to do with friends.

Buddies!

Of course, it was really nice that Mom got to see e dressed for Halloween (even though its not Halloween yet) and that I don't have to worry about getting his costume finished in a panic next week.  :)

Anniversary Weekend

We headed back to the mountains this weekend to celebrate our anniversary properly (sans kiddo and other family). Only problem being a trip with just the two of us didn't allow for much more than another  'self-portrait' when we finally remembered on Sunday.

Saturday we spent just shopping (after an amazing breakfast at Tupelo Honey).  We talked about the Biltmore or hiking but decided we have been joking about a 'shopping spree' for awhile (Eric was in desperate need of new clothes) and I wasn't in much shape to go hiking all weekend. I also wasn't in much shape to spend my $ on new clothes so I shopped for baby girl's nursery (so fun!!  can't wait to get it all done and show you) and YARN!!  We found the cutest town and greatest yarn shop I've been to in years in Black Mnt, NC.
I hate to admit that we rented a cabin for the weekend and in our rush didn't check the 'amenities'.  - BAD IDEA!!  Its the Saturday of the Clemson (#3) v. FSU (#5) game and we don't have a TV in our cabin.  Luckily we worked out staying at my uncles cabin not too far away - unluckily it wasn't a good game and really ugly for us Clemson fans.
We comforted ourselves with AMAZING apple cider donuts the next morning and all was right with the world again :)

It was freezing!!  41 degrees so we decided just to head home and get back to our little man!  We had a great time celebrating our anniversary and mommy enjoyed her first weekend away in two years.

Anniversary Apple Picking

This is again playing catch-up, but three weekends ago we travelled to Knoxville to visit my cousin and his family (and see their awesome new house) and they loaded us up with AMAZING hand me down baby stuff.  Eric's truck is literally full to the brim with things such as swings, bouncy seats, highchairs, toys, linens etc etc.  The list goes on and on.  I looked at the registry last night and *somehow* we still need alot of stuff.  Its AMAZING what all a itty bitty thing could require!

Anyway, after filling our truck up with baby goodies we headed to the mountains with Ned, Angie and the kids and shared our annual anniversary apple picking trip with them again this year.  Eric and Hadley made the ultimate apple picking team again this year and vowed to leave no apple 'out of their reach' and that was pretty close to true.

Tripp really got the hang of picking apples this year and was ADORABLE - including riding in his wagon eating his apple.

There was plenty of adult craziness going on...

Anniversary pictures...

and general fun pictures...

 as well as PERFECT family photos...

 We left with a 'normal' amount of apples (ha ha ha!) and great memories once again...

Out of Orange... and Orange Overload

Last Friday I still had to wear Clemson colors to support my team, but it was cooler than normal (thank goodness!) and I am out of orange outfits that fit.  :(  So I decided to try the purple on for size (um, literally b/c this isn't a maternity shirt - just something I had from last Fall that was long enough to cover the bump).  But anyway I gave it a go with some fun orange punches of color to see if it would still work to cheer my team on...

Since we are still undeafeated I will say it was a success.  (I think picture taking with a timer that is below my chin I would call an epic FAIL at this point - but we can remedy that angle next week...)

Moving on...

However, since I didnt have alot of orange to show for myself I thought I'd leave you with these great photos from the weekend that have ALOT more orange.  First my nephew (with his insanely red hair) in a pumpkin patch (with an orange shirt no-less!)...

Can you spot the real pumpkin?

Oh my goodness - isn't he the most precious thing ever?!?! 

And then Eric and I were able to go to the Tennessee/Georgia game while we were in Knoxville this weekend  (thank you Ned and Jim!)  I didn't bring the camera - but we snapped this (pretty darn good!) phone pic.

Tennessee Orange is a slightly different hue than Clemson orange - but still we were amidst a sea of orange.  We fit in quite well although you can see I had a white shirt and just an orange scarf as my 'flair' to make sure they knew who I was routing for!  Still no all out orange to wear :(

There will be a much longer weekend update (and maybe some back tracking b/c I got so excited last week about the wedding that I forgot to finish my Ohio trip photos - and I can't miss an opportunity to show off my nephew!)

Weekend Festivities - Part 3

The Reception! Well, the reception started right around 6pm - as did the HUGE Clemson game against VT.  So the iPad made its debut at the cocktail hour (live streaming the game...)

And luckily was well hid behind the centerpiece at our corner table as well...

And only went out once... at a very critical play in the third quarter...

Our Tigers pulled out a HUGE win though and we didn't miss too much of the reception checking the score and watching a few plays :)

Nick, Fran, Eric, Becky, Wilson, Josh

Allison and Josh

Susan and Schuette - letting their amazing personalities shine through! 
Love them!!

Sara and Jeb

a slightly better pic of Susan and Schuette

Mr. and Mrs Lee Mitchell :)

Eric and I (and baby bump)

Peter, Lee and Schuette

In addition to all these good times, we also didn't miss out on the cake cutting ceremony.  It was a beautiful cake, and they were sweet and nice to each other (much to Josh's diappointment!)

Then things got a tad bit rowdy (or as rowdy as they can get when you are thirty and have pregnant ladies all around).  There was alot of fist pumping going on...

and the infamous 'serious face pose'

and then it was time for the bride and groom to make their exit (in STYLE this time...) including an old Rolls Royce and homebrewed (by the groom) beer for each wedding guest.

Matrimony Mocha Stout

As you can tell we had a GREAT time - and really enjoyed getting to celebrate this fantastic couple and spend time with good friends.  Congratulations to Lee and Cass!!  :)