Charlotte

It appears my poor husband can't seem to get excited about football this season! Both teams he watches, Auburn and The Carolina Panthers, are not having the greatest of seasons.....
John started watching NFL football last year. Before that he was never all that into it. He likes watching Cam and hopes for him to do well and so he started watching the Panthers on Sundays when he could. He had mentioned before that he wanted to go to a Panther game sometime, so I thought that might be the perfect anniversary gift! Selfishly, I knew if I planned this trip it would really be a gift for me too-a little weekend getaway!!

I chose Veterans Day weekend since I was off work anyway and we headed to Charlotte on Saturday morning. We dropped the kids off and then stopped for road trip snacks. We both laughed when we got out of the car and walked into the store. There was no unbuckling kids, no making sure we had a diaper bag with 37 things inside :) We just got out of the car, closed the door, and walked into the store. Freedom I tell ya!!

This trip came at just the right time. I think both of us are just worn out. Between two full time jobs and two full time kiddos, it is nice to just take time to come up for air sometimes.
We slept in late, had Starbucks in bed, ate lunch whenever we felt like it, ate dinner when we felt like it (much later than we have ever eaten dinner in the past!) and just enjoyed conversation.
The game was fun! Much different feel than a college football game. For one, the food inside the stadium was amazing. There were so many chain restaurants to choose from. My only complaint is that apparently Pepsi was born in North Carolina and so Diet Coke is hard to come by! And non-existent in the stadium. What is up with that!? The Panthers lost, but played the Denver Broncos, so at least we got to see Peyton Manning play :)

Trick or Treat!

We continued the tradition of trick or treating with our neighbors again this year! This is our 3rd year doing it and it is so fun to see how much Will and Ava have changed.

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2011

Halloween 2012

 

Look at how cute they are! 

 

 Alex's Future Girlfriend

 A little family shot

 Ready to go!

 And we're off!

We started off in our neighborhood. A few houses on our street was just enough for Alex and Ally to enjoy, and to get Will and Ava warmed up :)

Alex was such a big boy and went right up to the door with the big kids!

 I don't know why, but this might be my favorite picture from the night :)

 At this particular house, no one was home and Will and Ava had moved on, but Alex was not taking no for an answer. He just stood there and held strong :)

 Next house....they were home!

"Look Mom! I just went to the door and they gave me candy!?!!"

  I could get used to this!

 Stop taking my picture....this is serious business!

 First and last candy of the evening :)

 Once we finished up on our street, we dropped the little ones off and headed with the big kids to Liberty Park. We started this last year and had so much fun! I think Liberty Park decorates more for Halloween than they do for Christmas. Will and Ava love all the excitement and all the cool inflatables. Next year should be interesting since we will have four little trick-or-treaters, instead of just two :)

Costume Parade at School

For the past three years I have taken a half day at work so I could go to Will's Costume Parade and party at school. This year was super interesting since both boys are there and in different classes with parties at the same time. I dropped them off yesterday morning in their costumes. It is always so adorable to see their little classes all dressed up.
The parade started at 9:30. When Will was in the class Alex is in now, they did not walk in the parade. They just sat on the curb and watched. I was so surprised to see the parade begin at the top of the hill and Alex was in the very front! I could spot him from afar because it is hard to miss him in his red, furry Elmo get up :) It was the most precious thing I have ever seen-he along with his teacher and another friend led the parade!!

 Look closely....see him?!

 This is when he saw me and my mom-he was so excited!

 Will was not far behind him and was loving marching with his friend Isaiah!

 Will loved his party and all the fun treats!

 Alex did not really share Will's sentiments....

 I was trying to bounce back and forth between both of their parties. Alex I thought I must be there to pick him up because I have never been to his class in the middle of the day for anything else before....he did not want to sit at the table, he did not want to eat treats, he wanted no part of it!

 So I just snatched him up and took him to Will's party with me for a bit!

Spider-Man and Elmo throw a Party!

 A few weekends ago, we hosted our church friends for a little costume party for the kiddos. This is the third year we have done this and I LOVE looking back at the picture to see how different our group is from year to year-so many changes....kids are growing and getting bigger and we have added quite a few to the group over the past 3 years! It was a lot of fun and a tradition that I really look forward to each year!

Pinterest helped me plan the menu again this year...how did people ever plan a party without Pinterest?? :)

 Spider-Man and Elmo

 Shooting webs....

 Being adorable...

 Part of the group pic...Alex was not a fan!

 Another group shot...and we were still missing some. Lighting in our den is terrible and it doesn't help that I just know how to turn my camera on auto and click, but you get the idea....

 Superheros AND cousins :)

Carving the Pumpkin...

This is the first year since we have had kids that we actually carved our pumpkin. When we lived in Auburn, without kiddos, we used to get together with our Sunday school class and carve pumpkins together (what fun memories!). Before this year, Will never mentioned it so I guess you can just say we have been lazy. This year Will was pumped about carving his pumpkin. He was excited about everything-the $0.97 kit we bought with the little knife and the scraper, the pumpkin cookies we bought to bake along with our pumpkin carving festivities. We weren't home from school 10 minutes and he was ready to start!

I felt kind of bad after seeing everyone's cool pumpkins on FB and instagram that we didn't really give him the option of a spiderman pumpkin or mickey ears or just something he is into....He decided on a traditional Jack O' Lantern face and we went with it. Y'all he scooped the entire thing out by himself.

I was so proud of him! I figured he would be disgusted and lose patience after a few minutes, but he didn't. He kept working until most was out. I only had to scoop it out a few times.

Alex participated in the pumpkin carving party by doing his part and eating Banana Pumpkin yogurt :) He had a pumpkin cookie too! Maybe next year he will be up for the challenge. Sadly, after one pumpkin was carved, we went back into lazy mode and didn't even carve Alex's pumpkin. I forgot how much work they are!!

Will was pleased with the finished product and that is all that counts! He loved the way it looked all lit up :)