Lacy Fall Festival

Lacy really does a big build-up for its annual Fall Festival so Collins (and Addie too) were so excited when the day of the event finally arrived. It was a beautiful Fall night, and this was going to be the year that Collins went into the haunted house- she was not going to get scared! But she did receive some valuable advice from her friend, Ellie (whose Mom was in charge of games)- do not eat before you go into the haunted house because you will throw up. :) 

No worries, the haunted house did not even happen because the line was way too long. But guess what did happen? Climbing to the top of the rock wall (in sweater and booties!!)...

and little miss following suit! I really didn't think Addie could climb the rock wall, but she totally proved me wrong. I was so proud of her!

And then Collins decided she needed to try the bull riding. I love when she is fearless like this. She had no doubts she could do it, and she was right! 

The girls of course loved the bounce house...

and the face painting.

And as usual, this cute baby, was happy to be along for the ride. He smiled and played in the grass and walked around with Dad...

and made some new friends who taught him how to high-five. :)

It was a really fun night! I took Luke home early, and Brian and the girls stayed out a little longer for another ride and a Kona Ice. They came home tired and happy from a successful Fall Festival!

Finally to the Patch

After one failed attempt, we finally made it to Page Farm's pumpkin patch! It was a pretty warm day, and the girls excitedly ran from one activity to the next. We ate some barbecue from a food truck, picked out some great-sized pumpkins, and called it a day!

Tar Heel Tailgating

Brian makes fun of Tar Heel tailgating because it is very different from State tailgating. But what he doesn't realize and appreciate is that when we girls tailgate- every detail is tastefully covered. From the pretty table linens, to the pumpkin-shaped cheese ball, to the seasonal beers, to the delicious brats, to the tasty pumpkin bars- we don't miss a beat. Especially this past week when Virginia came to town. 

Now, the actual football game was another story. It was a mess and has been all season. Why are we so bad after several really good seasons? I'm not sure, but thank goodness it was a gorgeous October afternoon. Otherwise, why sit and watch that for three hours? 

Hopefully next year when we go to our one game of the season the quality on the field will match the quality of the girly tailgate!

Go Missy on the grill!

 

 

I Give Up

The pumpkin patch is probably my favorite place to take pictures of my kids. Apparently my kids know this and like to be difficult because this is the best I could do this year...

1. Luke, the baby who is happy all the time, hated the pumpkins and fussed the entire time.

2. This is Addie's new smile. Can't figure out how to get her to open her eyes.

3. This is Collins's expression when she is over pictures. Sigh... 

It wasn't until we got home that I got a decent photo of those darn kids...

and then I got perhaps one of the cutest one of all time involving them and pumpkins...so I was happy. :) And the way to get a cute, natural photo? Let Luke chuck the pumpkin!

My Big Baby

These pictures are silly, but illustrate an important point- my baby is no longer a baby. When did she get so huge?!? She is tall, thin, strong and wearing emoji pants, and I can't handle it. STOP GROWING COLLINS because soon you will be as big as I am, and I won't be able to pick you up and hug you tight. 

 

But you can keep pretending to be a baby if you want, and I will laugh and remember the special days when you were a baby and the special days now that you are not.

Fort Attack

All the girls want to do these days is build forts around our home. They drag out every pillow, beach towel, sheet and blanket they can find and they make a cozy little fort to play in. I know I should think this is creative and I should remember how much I loved to build forts when I was little, but instead it drives me crazy! It makes a huge mess that I have to convince them to clean up. They do it (begrudgingly), but the next thing I know another fort has popped up in another room. Here are the latest ones to be built...this time in our bedroom.

I have to continually remind myself that our house is supposed to be "well lived in" (aka dirty) and that one day I'll miss their little messes when things are always neat and clean. But for now, me and my Type A personality is a little overwhelmed by the constant fort attack!

Girls Weekend Plus Luke

When Brian headed out of town for a bachelor party, we were excited for Mimi, Baba and Alli to come into town for some girl-time, Fall-time fun!

We started things off with Addie (in her newly delivered Black Cat costume) and Baba deep in conversation on the front porch. I looked out the front door and saw this sweet scene. I love the bond between these two. They were out waiting for Mom and Collins to get home from school, and I heard them talking about car washes among other things. :)

Luke in his newly delivered bat costume....he didn't even try to take the ears off!

Saturday morning, Baba made the girls' day by giving them each $10 to spend on whatever they wanted at Target. Addie zeroed in on a Doc McStuffins doll pretty quickly, and I convinced Collins she really needed a Lite Brite in her life! And Luke pushed the cart for us ladies...

Just as I suspected, Collins loved the Lite Brite and could not stop making neat designs all weekend. I remember Lite Brite from the St. Stephens church nursery- so that tells you how old it is!

I watched not one, not two, but THREE movies over the course of the weekend! This never happens, but it was so relaxing. The weather did not cooperate at all (not Fall-like at all but hot and muggy instead) so it was so fun to stay inside and watch movies and munch on this "monster mix". 

  

And yes, of course, this was one of the movies we watched! We even let the girls watch it this year; Addie didn't love it, but Collins did and has already asked if we can watch it again before Halloween.

Baba turned 84 on October 2nd so we were excited to celebrate her birthday while she was here. Alli cooked country style steak, Collins made her a potholder, and Baba prepared her own birthday pies! We had a great celebration.

Why have one pie when you can have two? We had sweet potato and pumpkin which was a special treat.

 

When Sunday came around, we were excited to head to the pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, this is when things went very awry. As we were headed up Glenwood Avenue, the Suburban started sputtering and jerking, and I knew we were in trouble. We had run out of gas. What an idiot I am. I knew we were low, but I didn't realize we were that low. NOT GOOD. Brian was out of town at a bachelor party, and we were out of luck. Alli hiked it up to the Sheetz up the hill, but they didn't have any gas cans. We called Roadside Assistance and they said they'd head over, but it would be 40 minutes.

The kids were getting hot and restless, when all of a sudden a police officer and a white truck pulled up behind us. The white truck had a front Tar Heel vanity plate. "The Tar Heel angels are here to save us!" I cried. Sure enough, these people had seen us across Glenwood Avenue and asked if we needed help. I had told them that Roadside Assistance was coming, and that we were okay. But they had seen the car seats in the back of the car and turned around to go home and get their gas can anyway. They came back to fill up our tank! I was touched by their kindness. After getting some gas in the tank and checking on the battery, we were good to go. 

I felt terrible for getting us into that situation, and as Baba reminded me- "Brooke, never let that gas tank get below a quarter of a tank!" But I was so impressed by the way my kids handled the situation and was so grateful to that nice couple who saved us.

We never made it to the pumpkin patch, but we did make it to Guasaca where we all enjoyed a delicious lunch (especially Luke).

The girls were disappointed that we didn't make it to the pumpkin patch so I had to make it up to them. I came up with the idea that we should have a pumpkin painting party. So we went up to Highland (who had just put their pumpkins out earlier that day) and all picked out a small pumpkin. 

Then we all got the creative juices flowing and painted a pumpkin...

some of us using more paint than others. :)

They all turned out cute and unique.

Luke did not create pumpkin art, but he did create a mess! Brian got home from his beach weekend and made us some spaghetti and meatballs. 

Loved spending our weekend with the girls (and Luke) and doing all things Fall!