Fall Harvest Party

Our church has a yearly harvest party.  This was our first year to go because last year it fell on the same weekend as our family hayride.  The girls were so excited to get some candy.  It's really cute.  They have games, food, a costume contest, big bouncy houses, and of course trunk or treat.

Amelia just had to be Elsa.  I think she makes a really cute Elsa and Anna Claire just loves Abby Cadabby.  It did take some bribing to get that costume on her though!

The girls with their pumpkins that "they" decorated.  Amelia did help, but Anna Claire had more important things to get into!

The photo booth.  Didn't turn out so cute.  The girls really weren't tall enough.

She was pretty good at throwing the darts.  She didn't "win" a prize but they all do right!  Especially at a church event.

AC didn't know what to think of all the people.  She was happier just observing everything going on.

I don't get a lot of shots of me and the girls.  Drew is doing better at thinking of it though!

We had a lot of fun at our harvest party.  The girls will not even need to get any candy on actual Halloween.  They didn't win the costume contest.  Hard to compete when there are 5 Elsa's.  I think they were the cutest little Elsa and Abbey there though!

Yay for fall!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year!  It has been a crazy month, so I haven't been able to do a lot of outdoor decoration, but I finally got a chance.  It may be a little late, but I had a lot of fun anyway.  Drew is out of town for the day working on his duck blind, so it is a Saturday morning of just me and the girls.  We went to the local nursery and checked out the flowers.  And then went to get a pumpkin.  I decided we would just get them at Kroger this year because paying $10 for a pumpkin just seems crazy to me.  But, Kroger was completely out!  So, I last minute, not actually wanting to drive to wolfchase, remembered the little nursery on the Arlington square usually has pumpkins.  They had a bunch!  All sizes and reasonably priced!  Yay, and I got to take a really cute picture of the girls.  So, score one for me!

Have to wear our orange to pick out pumpkins right!

We got all of our flowers planted and our pumpkins decorated, and then down for our nap before our fall harvest party tonight.  

zoo and pumpkin patch fun!

It was a beautiful Saturday, so we decided to take full advantage!  We headed straight for the zoo.  Since they do zoo boo, there were tons of cute Halloween decorations everywhere!  

Having fun checking out the animals in the farm

There are so many great places for photo ops in the farm area

Not a lot of mommy daughter pics, and this was the best we could get with Anna Claire.  She really didn't want to have to stop and take a picture with mommy.  

We really focused on seeing parts of the zoo we usually don't go to.  It's too much for the girls to see all of the zoo in one day, so we usually make all of the main areas, but I do like to every now and then check out the parts of the zoo we usually miss.

After the zoo, we headed home for naps, and then up to meet our friends at the pumpkin patch.  We went back to priddy farms this year.  It is really becoming popular.  It was crowded!  But, we still had a really good time.

The girls love all the playground toys they have to climb on.

Such a cute idea for a train.  This was Anna Claire's first year to ride.  I was nervous about her jumping out, but she loved it and did not want to get out!

The girls on the hayride headed to get their pumpkin

Amelia was determined to get the biggest pumpkin, and I think she succeeded

Anna Claire got a really cute little pumpkin, but it took a while for her to decide

It took a lot of work, and she took a few kids out on the way up, but Anna Claire finally made to the top of the slide, and I think it was worth all the hard work to get there.

Tennessee football game photos

So I finally uploaded our pictures for the Tennessee/Florida game.  We had a lot of fun that weekend, and I look forward to taking the girls again some day.  Many years from now!

Riding the bus to the stadium

Me and my girls!  We were in a white section.  I had already bought their outfits before we knew of the checkerboard plan, but I think the white jackets worked good enough!

This was 45 minutes before kick off.  I hate that I don't have a photo of the checkerboard stadium.  It was actually very cool, and I am surprised that they were actually able to pull it off!

In front of my second home for 2 years.  I have hopes for these girls someday following in mommy's footsteps, but I have no expectations.  As of right now, Amelia wants to be a teacher.  I think that's pretty admirable

Love these two girls!

Go Vols!

Several months ago, Drew's brother, Matt, asked us if we would like to make the trip to Knoxville to see the vols play.  My schedule at work is wonderful because it makes weekend trips very easy to plan.  So, this is the weekend we chose to head to Knoxville.  Most people would say we were crazy for taking to little girls, one that is very hyperactive, to a football game at Neyland stadium, and maybe we were.  

We headed up on Thursday and met Drew's old boss and his wife for dinner.  They were kind enough to give us 4 tickets and a parking pass for the game.  We planned on going to Dollywood on Friday, but there were crazy storms headed through, so we went shopping and met a friend for lunch at Calhouns on the river.  Afterwards, we went and fed the ducks on the riverwalk.  The girls had a blast.  We think took a nostalgic drive through Knoxville.  We really have a lot of good memories from that city.  That evening we met friends for dinner.  We were able to meet their twins for the first time, and the girls loved having someone their age to play with.  We went to a park close by after dinner and let them run around.  It allowed us some time to just chat and catch up.

Then today was game day.  The day we had been looking forward to since our vacation.  I had really been building it up to the girls.  I figured the more excited they were about going to the game, then the more likely they would be to behave at the game.  We worked on our cheers, practiced with our pom poms.  The girls thought it was oh so exciting.  They loved riding the bus from the ag campus, the excitement of all the fans, and listening to the band walking around playing for all the tailgaters.  Waiting for the game to start was a bit frustrating and needed a lot of extra effort, but once the band started, and the players ran through the T, the girls were hooked.  It was so much fun cheering with them and teaching them all the chants and songs that are the traditions of the game.  But, for anyone that has ever been to a game at Neyland stadium knows, it is really tight in there.  They really made their seating for anorexic women.  You are packed in like sardines.  We had 4 adults and the 2 girls sitting in our laps in the 4 seats.  Plus, we were in the middle of the row.  So, getting out for a quick let the girls run around, wasn't happening.  Plus, as much excitement as the loud noise creates for us, it was a little too much for little ears.  Plus, with a 12:00 start time, and no lunch, and this is the normal nap time, we decided that the first half of the game was enough for us.  So, even though, there was some stress, and we probably were crazy for taking them to the game, I am really glad we did it.  It was fun sharing that with them.  Showing them the nursing building and taking them around campus.