Family time at bridge street

One thing that I love about Alabama is the awesome blue sky and mild weather.  On nice days like this one we often with go down to Bridge Street to see the fountains and this horse.  

 The kids love people watching and seeing the water and boats too.  A couple of days ago we came down here for the lighting of the tree.  Though the kids were a bit tired, they enjoyed seeing Santa and watching the huge tree get lit up.  I thought it was neat that they had snow machines for Santa to make it snow and lots of holiday music.  We had a great time!

Halloween 2013

October 30th- We held a Family Fall Festival at our church this year, which is how we celebrated Halloween.  Thankfully, the weather was amazing! Which was a good thing because there was no trick-or-treating the following day due to rain.  The kids enjoyed sporting their costumes-Maleah a purple princess and Noah, spiderman.  They did crafts, games and collect loads of goodies.  Goodies, which they diligently saved for the candy fairy.  Noah was very determined that the fairy would bring him a BIG gift if he didn't eat any candy...

 …which, she did!  Both kids were pleasantly surprised to find an awesome Nerf gun in the place of their big buckets of candy.  Way to go Candy Fairy!

Going on a bear hunt

We are going on a bear hunt and we are going to catch a big one.  It's a beautiful day and we're not scared....I love that book and I love these two even more!  I am sure the bears were absolutely terrified of this duo!

Need I say more?

October 2013

Cowboy boots and crazy eyes

 I love how this girl with her ever so colorful personality brightens even the sunniest day!  She is becoming her very own with lots of giggles, smiles and clever sayings.  She is a diva with a twist of tom boy.  She loves pink, shoes and hair bows but they must never get in her way of digging in the dirt for worms or playing cars with big brother. She will pick a salad over anything at meal time and chomp bubble gum in between.  Don't be fooled by her sweet smile and lovely locks, this girl can give you a run for your money when it comes to her strong will.  She is defiant, creative and enchanting.  We feel so blessed to be alongside of her watching her grow everyday.  

Tate Farms

October 12, 2013-This year was an especially exciting harvest season because we got to celebrate as a WHOLE family!  I know I say this all the time, but a family unit is such a special thing.  Making memories is so much more fun with Dave being here.  To carry on tradition we took the kids to Tate Farms to pick our pumpkins.  We rode the hayride out to the field and the kids were released to pick their perfect pumpkin, which will later be turned into mama's perfect pumpkin pie and breads.  I love how both kids picked big pumpkins that were just to their size.  Maleah at one point decided she needed two...

 But in the end, they each found their favorite prize.  The only rule was that they had to be able to carry them.

 Noah managed to carry two for a while, but finally settled on just one BIG pumpkin!  The whole time we were riding back to the farm, he would giggle and say "Mom, this is going to be a lot of pumpkin for you to cook!"  He has no idea.  For now I think we will keep them on the front porch with the bails of hay and worry about cooking them in late november.

The three little bears (sort of)

On a fine warm fall afternoon, we took a stroll through fairytale garden...

While we were there, we ran into mama bear,

 daddy bear,

 brother bear,

 and goldilocks.

We are not quite sure where the other bears were.  Perhaps they were off napping and enjoying the sunshine.  Noah seems to think they ate the last family that came through...

Ice cream date

I love the moments as a mom when you can pick your child up from school and drive straight to the ice cream shop and your kids are so excited!  As you can see they were very much into their ice cream as there wasn't a whole lot of chatting until it was devoured!  I love these two babies!!

What is Maleah up to now?

Just because she is getting so big, I need to post a picture of this cutie.  She is growing too fast!  Here are a few tidbits about her at this very moment:
-She chats up a storm.  Some of her favorite phrases: "It's gorgeous!", "So cute!", "Say what?!"
-Not a picky eater as she will eat anything Noah or Mom is eating.  But she LOVES go-go squeezes, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs and strawberries
-Her favorite treat is M&Ms
-She loves to dance and swim
-Her Netfilx show of choice lately is "All about Monster Trucks"  (Hmm..She obviously loves whatever brother watches!)
-She LOVES necklaces, bracelets, hair bows and shoes.  She can almost completely dress herself, so she is most opinionated when it comes to what she wears.  Dresses are her choice outfit.
-She knows almost all of her colors, but when asked what her favorite color is most often the answer is "pink!" Go figure!
-Today she counted to five for me...
-She sings often and loves the ABC song
-Very independent.  She wants to do everything herself!
-Adores her big brother and will play anything with him including legos, playdough, ninja, cars and trains

The Grinch

Maleah to mommy at 6am, "Wuk mama, it's gampa!"  This just struck a cord for me.  I haven't laughed so hard early in the morning.  So does grandpa look like him or is he the grinch?  The verdict is still out!  (We love you grandpa!)

A recap of July 2013

When daddy is away, mom doesn't have time to play, eh, well, more like blog.  I have been snapping shots all summer long, but my blog has not received any of it.  I know that when my kids someday look at their "year books" they will see how much life has gotten busy!  I do find it a bit challenging to stay organized and disciplined at logging our life events when dave is in Afghanistan.  Putting on a few more hats just kind of does me in.  So, here is a recap of what we did in July.  

 Let's start with our garden.  We had an abundance of zucchini, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, strawberries, radishes and cantaloupe so far.  Noah and Maleah have helped with weeding (and pulling produce) and watering the garden.  I see a good gardening future for both of them!

 I decided to venture in homeschooling this summer.  Just a small test run.  It was a total success.  Though I may not have accomplished it everyday as planned we did get a big chunk done.  We have mastered the seasons, learned calendar dates, abc's, counting, colors, shapes, patterns, handwriting, body parts, senses, and even done a few science experiments.  I would venture to say, that art is still their favorite activity!  I have felt blessed to see all that I was able to teach them this summer.  It warms my heart to hear Noah say "mom, I LOVE having you as my teacher!"  Heck, he even begs for more work sometimes.  I even find Maleah teaching herself with the posters throughout the day.  This is one of many reasons why being a stay at home mom has been a blessing to me.

 I have had the wonderful opportunity to work as an assistant in the children's ministry department at our church.  The kids have been troopers working along side of me this summer.  I feel so blessed that I can be surrounded by such wonderful people who have had such a great influence on my children.  Church has really become our second home.

 Tree climbing is one of our favorite things to do.  Often we will go feed the ducks and after, the kids will climb trees.  I love to see that they are finally playing together.  After the first year of Noah being not too sure what he thought about having a sister, they are now best friends.  I am so thankful to witness those moments of laughter, hugs and giggles that those two produce.

 Perhaps we have spent most of our free time at the botanical gardens.  The kids love to dig in the sand, and run around the huge campus of beautiful landscape.  They have done such an amazing job creating a fund place for kids to play.  Honestly, I think the sand is the biggest attraction for these two.  Oh, and maybe the butterfly house.

 More art.  We have done a lot of art!  This is a picture Noah made.  (Left to right) Mommy, Maleah, Noah and Daddy.  Check out how big Daddy's eyes are!  He must be very surprised.

Oh my gosh, I forgot all about the aliens we saw!  Aren't they cute?!  Well, to go along with this month we had lots of fun with friends and a very mild month for weather.  I would say we had a great July!