Kate and her first carved pumpkin

Kate was asleep during the pumpkin carving. However, she did manage to destroy the most fragile part of the design within seconds of putting her next it. Anyone that has spent any time with Kate should not be surprised ... She has quick hands. Almost super human!

Carving pumpkins

It is one of my favorite Halloween traditions. This year, I gave up trying to do it the old fashioned way (hand drawn pattern with kitchen knives ... That was an ER visit waiting to happen!). We bought a kit at Walgreens and one hour later ... Voilà! Mickey Mouse!

kate in the 1800s

kate in the 1800s

John's mom, Karen, gave this antique lace dress to kate. Isn't it beautiful? She looks like she is from the 1800s.





BTW—Paige made the beautiful quilt that she is sitting on.

My sister and I found these vintage hats at the flea market in Montgomery. Kate wasn't a huge fan, but she humored us!

The netting tickled her a bit.

Jack's Third Birthday

I realize that Jack's 3rd birthday passed without even a mention on this blog. I think the week of festivities wore me down and I've just now recovered! First we had Gigi's birthday celebration and a homemade meyer lemon crepe cake straight from Martha Stewart. I've only made this once before because it is fairly time intensive, but it is worth every minute (or hour in this case!). You can tell I am pretty proud of it because I have two pictures of it here!






Jack's birthday was on Saturday and the entire family was here to celebrate. I started a tradition last year that on their actual birthday, we weren't going to have any parties . . . just a day spent together doing fun things and not stressing over cupcakes, etc. So we ate waffles, went to the playground, played with his new toys, and had hamburgers and cake with the whole family. As if you couldn't tell, Mickey Mouse was the theme for the week . . . Jack LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Laine was here to capture the whole day on film. Click here for the slideshow.







It was a great week!

9 Years Ago Today . . .

There are days we live that forever change us . . . We are truly blessed!

Halloween Costumes

For the past month, all Jack has wanted to be for Halloween is a giraffe. He found his giraffe costume from two years ago in the closet and he was dead set on being a giraffe again. So I was on the search for a larger costume (He wanted Kate to be a Hippo or a Pig, by the way!). Last Monday, we took a family trip to the Memphis zoo. He was pumped about seeing the giraffes, but when we got to the exhibit, Jack started holding his nose and complaining that they smelled. I have to admit, it stunk, but Jack (being his dramatic self) was coughing, gasping for air, and would not stand anywhere near the giraffes. See picture below and note Jack in the far left of the shot holding his nose.

Not thinking anything about it, we went to Sam's and saw some Halloween costumes. Lo and behold there was a giraffe costume in Jack's size! I said "Jack! Here is your costume!" He said to me "I want to be a dinosaur." I was amazed that he no longer wanted to be a giraffe and proceeded to buy the dinosaur costume.

Jack hasn't talked about giraffes since the day at the zoo and then it finally hit me . . . He no longer wanted to be a giraffe because he thinks they smell bad! So I guess Kate gets to be a giraffe for Halloween this year . . .

As an added bonus, when I tried Kate's costume on her this morning, she happened to have just had a dirty diaper. Jack sat down next to her and said "She sure is a smelly giraffe!"