Riley- 11 months

This sweet girl can not be one month away from being ONE! 

What she can do:

-crawls like a big girl. No more army crawling. :(

-entertains the idea of a sippy cup but she's still not a fan

-no new words I can think of just "mama" "dada" "bye" "hi"

-she waves, blows kisses, gives kisses, gives high fives, plays peek-a-boo

-sleep is...well, I don't really know what to say. I wish I knew the key to what makes the good nights good and the bad nights bad. But I don't. I will continue to enjoy my middle of the night snuggles when they happen. :/

-she has discovered how to put things inside something and take them back out. This can keep her entertained for about 5 minutes which is a lifetime in baby time!

-still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. Chase says he's going to call her oreck!

-she wants to be anywhere her brother and sister are at the time. And me too which can make for a hard decision sometimes! Me or her brother and sister!

I guess I should start planning a birthday party!

Wacky Wednesday

It's spirit week at WPA. Guess what yesterday was! On a normal day Emory has issues finding clothes that match or coordinate. However, Tuesday night when she was picking out clothes, everything she picked out matched! Made me laugh! Do you know how hard it was for me, the ultimate type A -- got to match all the time-- personality to pick out clothes that didn't match?! It makes me tick just thinking about it again!! She looked pretty cute though!! :)

Girls trip 2014

Friends are essential to life. Especially friends who tell you the truth, are there for you in the hard times, rejoice with you in the amazing times, and ones that take time away with you! I don't know what my life would be like without these women...and I have no intention of finding out. 

A few months back we planned a girls trip to the mountains. As many of us as there are, it is hard to find a weekend that works for everyone. So we picked a date and marked our calendars. As time got closer, several people had things come up and had to cancel. We went from a group of 6 to a group of three. I'm not going to lie, I was a little bitter. My bitterness was coming from selfishness, I wanted to see my friends and their families needed them more. I wanted to be angry but decided that if I let my bitterness take over, it would steal my joy! I was still getting my weekend away with 2 of my closest friends! A much needed weekend away with friends I hadn't seen since June. When I was use to seeing them on a weekly basis 5 months is a VERY LONG time. 

Thursday night we set out to meet at the bottom of the mountain before making the steep, windy trek to the top. Chase got home at 3:45 from a business trip and I left at 5:30. As much as I needed this trip, it was still very hard to leave my babies behind. But I knew Chase could handle it! Jessica's grandparents have a condo on Beech mountain, NC. Lucky for us it is roughly halfway between Nashville and Goldsboro. We met around 10:15pm and headed up the mountain. One would think after driving for 4 hours and it being late when we arrived, we would just go to bed. Nope. We stayed up until 2 just talking. We had 5 months of separation to make up for in a span of 3 days!! 

We woke up to this Friday morning and decided we would stay indoors and make all our apple goodies! Jessica is my canning buddy and apples are our favorite thing to do. 

First things first though...coffee. And for 3 girls that use a keurig on a daily basis, this type of coffee pot was slightly challenging. We actually had to google how to make coffee in an actual coffee maker! Sad, I know! We ended up making some really good coffee and then started a fire. It was perfect, snow on the ground, fire in the fireplace, hot coffee, and wonderful friends! 

Laura may kill me for posting this picture...she was our cheerleader and food getter while Jess and I made our applesauce and apple butter! 

While the results are very yummy, it was exhausting!! We ended the night with Harry Potter Clue. Such a fun night. It is very hard to play that game and not speak in a British accent! We are nerds, I know! 

Saturday morning was beautiful and we decided it was a perfect day for a hike. After breakfast we set out for Linville Falls. 

It was a great hike...slightly steep in parts but we had perfect weather and the colors this time of year are amazing!! 

This was where the trail led us and we ended up venturing down further to see the falls. 

I was so afraid my camera was going to end up in the water. The man taking the picture was a little unsure of what he was doing! This is the only picture we got of the 3 of us that isn't a selfie!

Jess said "pretend you are catching the water!" Ha! 

On our way back up the steep incline. Not exactly the best angle...

The second trail we took was the overlook to the falls. There were several other trails to take but our stomachs were guiding us towards food and we had Dan'l Boone Inn in our sights!! We figured we had already burned the calories we were about to consume!

Before heading to lunch we took a scenic "detour" down the blue ridge parkway. When I see the colors of Fall and these beautiful mountains I can't help but think "now God is just showing off!" 

After lunch we headed to the original Mast General Store. This place has been open since the 1800s! Crazy! 

This was the sunset we came home too! We ended our night with not so great football, apple pie making, and nerd games (settlers of catan)! 

Unfortunately we had to say goodbye on Sunday morning. We have already started planning our next girls trip! Going to miss these girls. Luckily they are only a phone call away! 

She said Yes!!

My baby sister is getting married!! So excited and I can not wait for May! This is a definite disadvantage of living 8.5 hours from home, knowing I won't be able to make it to everything. However, last Thursday I checked Emory out of school and me and the kids headed down to Birmingham. Since Emory was out of school on Friday we took advantage of our long weekend and headed down to go dress shopping!! Our first stop was Diane's formal affair. It is the same place I found my dress 10 years ago! We had a great experience and Katie said "yes" to the dress!! We were also able to find a bridesmaid dress at a store in Birmingham, Bella's! It was great to get down and see my family. It was a quick trip but we were very productive! And in case you were wondering, the drive ended up not being that bad, both ways! I only stopped once, in Augusta. Now granted it was a 45 minute stop but I think stopping once on an 8.5 hour drive is pretty darn good! I'm not in any hurry to make the drive again by myself, but it was reassuring to know that it wasn't horrible! 

Halloween 2014

IWe live in a fairly large neighborhood so we knew trick or treating would be fun this year. I have to admit I kinda dropped the ball on costumes this year but everything turned out pretty cute! Emory started her day with a Fall Festival at school. We were able to join her and Gavin enjoyed being included with his big sisters festivities! 

He was thrilled about one of the boys costumes. It was a little scary for him. 

Nothing a little cornhole can't cure! That yellow blur is the bag he threw. 

Emory and Payton are inseparable. They both had to have flowers from the face painting station. 

Mummy wrapping! So cute and the kids absolutely LOVED it!! Emory and Payton were, of course, partners! 

Gavin was in heaven being with his sister and Riley is happy just being attached to me! Sweet babies!

Friday night we were invited to a hayride in our neighborhood. Making new friends takes effort and sometimes I don't want to do it. I could have very easily declined the invite but I miss having friends!! We had a great time and really enjoyed meeting new people and their kids! It was a pretty chilly night but everyone had fun and of course we got way too much candy!

Happy Halloween from Anna, Clark Kent, and ladybug Riley! 

Clark Kent complete with the "S" curl! 

My girls! I promise Riley smiles!

Ready to head out! Gavin was having separation anxiety with the candy bag and resorted to wearing it around his neck. It worked. We picked up 4 more girls along our route so we had a full trailer once the adults piled in! 

I'm surprised Gavin had any candy in his bag at the end of the night! He took advantage of Halloween! After a long, fun filled night we all slept in until 10:40 this morning! I love that my kids will sleep!