"Allo-ween Patty"

This why you have kids. Even though this is James's third Halloween, it feels like his first. This year, he gets it. However, he considered it one big party: A "alloween patty".

Here is James and John at a church function:


James went as a monkey. He kept saying, "I'm a MONKEY. OOooo. EEeee." Here is a picture with E as a little girl tiger.



After the dinner, they had all the kids at the church get on the stage for a group picture. Here is the whole group:


And then I guess James didn't feel that he was getting enough love, so he gets down in front of everyone. Who would have thought this would be MY kid.


Don't forget Andy. He was also a monkey, because he 9 month pumpkin outfit was too small.


James with a bunch of Halloween goodies:


James driving the fire truck at the Clemson Trick or Treat thing. This was his favorite part.


He also liked meeting the tiger, who was dressed as superman.


Here is Andy and Gramma:


Finally, trick or treating in the neighborhood:


Enjoying the day's haul. The "pop-pops" were James's favorite.

Still can't believe it...

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Fall Foliage, part II

We did it again! We traveled to the mountains to see the changing leaves. This time we headed to Whitewater Falls. It still wasn't quite at peak, but very pretty and the weather was awesome.

Here is Mark and James:


James taking it all in:


Look! "Gramma too!"


The whole family:


Andy hanging out while we eat our picnic lunch.


More "mountains" for James:


The last vista:

Fall Foliage

After a crazy Saturday, Mark had the great idea to drive up to Caesar's Head State Park to see the changing leaves. As you can tell from the picture, we were a little bit early, but it was a nice view all the same.

James loved seeing the "mountains" and wanted to climb them all. Then probably jump off of them. Good thing there were bars here.



We went on a little hike through "devil's kitchen" which is really just a pathway cut out of a rock.



Afterwards we had a picnic lunch. Does Andy look cold or is he just teething?



And now the whole family



I think we are going to try whitewater falls this weekend. Hopefully there will be more color!

What would yours be?

A good friend of mine recently confessed her motivation for excercising more. If she did not meet the goals she set for herself, she would send $100 to the Nazi party. That made me wonder, what would I hate to do so much that it would that good of a deterrent? For Mark, it would be sending $100 to the Gamecock Booster Club. I think for me it would be sending money to the Creation Museum that was outside of Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas.

So, what would yours be?

Punkin Patch 2008

We had perfect fall weather this weekend, and what better activity to do on a beautiful October morning than go to a Pumpkin Patch. The one we go to is at Denver Downs. Although we had to pay for James this year, it still was a lot of fun.

First, I just thought this was a cute picture of Andy. I keep telling him how much he will enjoy things next year.



James at the pump. We weren't there 10 minutes before he got all wet.



James at the corn box. He really loved this last year, but it requires sitting still for periods of time. James is not interested in that. He is litereally saying in this picture "I eat it?" Um, no.



James still loved the cow train!



Me and Andy. He really should be napping, but there is just too much going on.



They let James drive the tractor! No, really!



Picking out the pumpkin. James was so excited about the pumpkins this year.



We put the two we got (a big one and a little one) on our front steps and everytime we leave the house James says, "bye pumpkins!"

For a real trip, here is the link to the post from last year.

Taking a break

Sorry I have been MIA lately. We were out of town a couple weekends in a row, and now I am completely overwhelmed with the kids, my home, and school work. To make matters worse, we have done some really cool, fun stuff and took NO pictures. I'll be back once things calm down.