Halloween!

To start, I must say that I am just so stressed about keeping up with the blog lately! I feel like I am ALWAYS sitting at my computer for work right now and I just can't stand to sit a second longer to sort through MORE pictures and put together MORE blog postings. I know it should be exciting and a priority for me to document my families journey, but life is just so busy! Ah! And, not to mention the slight, indirect harassment I receive from my well-meaning family members about wanting to see things on the blog. Ok, I get it! I'm trying...I promise :)
Yes, I still have lots of "other" posts to put up from August and September, but for now, I know my parents REALLY want to see some Halloween pictures from tonight, so I'll throw them up real quick!! And I really am going to find (MAKE!) time to do more catch-up posts.

*let me just interject something here....today (day AFTER Halloween) I am having SO much mommy guilt!!! I mean seriously, I didn't put ANY effort into finding a costume for Braxton...I just picked this up at a consignment sale and realized 2 days before Halloween that it didn't really fit. so bummed. Almost so much that I want to go get a costume NOW and try to do some "fake" pictures so I feel better about it.



Reilly and her buddy Cayden (who typically has white blonde hair! it was so funny to see her with a black wig on!)

and her buddy Evan...
Yes, we get this many kids together every year for one big photo....and this isn't even all the kids in our neighborhood!! (Reilly and Braxton are on the front row in the bottom left....Shaun is in the far bottom left corner)

this is perhaps the funnier picture....it's like Paramount Studios!

our friends Caroline and Thomas....


The Dreschers strolled over to our street for a little trick-or-treating....2 Dragons and a Dragon Slayer!

I was pretty pumped that after only 2 streets, Reilly was content with just sitting with me and handing out candy!


her best bud (our next door neighbor) Owen

Shawn caught the attn. of MOST of the adults with the football game being projected on the garage....

August Beach Trip (day 3 of 5)

On Friday, we got to hang out on the beach with family...lots of family! My parents, Uncle Brandon and Aunt Angel, Memama, and Shawn's dad and step-mom even came out for a few hours to hang out. We had a great day out on the beach!!

Memama tried to show Reilly how to make a drip castle!
lovely...chew on that nasty stick buddy...yummy.
this was one little BROWN boy by the end of our trip!

Reilly jumping waves with DeeDee and Memama!
there you go, go ahead and get as much sand as you possibly can on yourself. thank you.
oh, even better....just go ahead and lay down, roll over, whatever!
Grandpa dug this special pool for the kids to play in. It quickly became a favorite for Braxton!
Our newest 4 generation picture:

After the beachday, we were spoiled yet again with Shawn's grilling skills: WINGS! And LOTS of them!! That is one of his favorite things to make and boy is he good at it. Grandpa and Nanny even came back over to have dinner with us. It was a loud crowd, but lots of fun.

the mind of a child...

I just have to document this now before I long forget it! Reilly's mind is ALWAYS going. She is so inquisitive and so thoughtful and so intuitive all at the same time! Today, out of the blue (I say that so there aren't ANY assumptions made by the following story!!!), this is how the conversation in our car went:

Reilly: Mom, if God gives us another baby, what will we name him?

Me: (completely shocked and taken aback by the randomness of this question) I don't know buddy, we don't really know if God will give us another baby.

Reilly: But if He does, we have to give him a name.

Me: yes we do. (wanting to just continue the conversation for curiosity sake) What would you like IF God were going to give us another baby; a boy or a girl?

Reilly: A GIRL! (pause).....But mommy, we will miss Braxton so much!

Me: (confused) (pause) Oh no! Honey, IF God gives us another baby, we get to keep Braxton TOO!

Reilly: Oh, so we will get to have TWO babies?!!!!



On a completely different note (and just to document this conversation that was had about a month ago):

Reilly: (staring out the window while driving down the road) Mommy, how do we get to Heaven?

Me: (again, completely taken aback by the depth of her thoughts!) Well buddy, what do you mean (trying to buy myself some time to compose a 3yr-old-appropriate answer)??

Reilly: Mommy, how did Pop and Mrs. Caroline's mommy get to Heaven?

Me: Well, that's a very good question. (pause and try to come up with something to say!) Buddy, God took Pop and Mrs. Caroline's mommy to Heaven.

Reilly: (pause)....Oh. I thought they just used a tall tall ladder, mommy.


Soooo much love the way her mind works!!!! She keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!

August Beach trip: Day 2 of 5 (catch up post!)

The 2nd day we were at the beach was my actual 30th birthday!!! Such fun :) We started out back on the beach with our friends at Sunset and had another great time. Funny story: so, all the neighborhood girls (7-12yrs. old) are so into cheerleading and gymnastics. Well, I just so happened to have been a cheerleader and a gymnast in my day, so I kinda get all giddy inside when I see their excitement :) At one point they were all standing around trying to get someone to do a round-off and I just flippantly said, "oh, I can do that!". Oops!! Next thing I know....after a little persuasion from my dear friend Kathleen, I find myself doing a round-off backhandspring on the beach....just out of the blue. Haven't done one in about 10 years so why not just do it!??! (thank the LORD I didn't break my entire body!). A little while later, a young girl NOT with our group was doing a row of back-handspings down the beach and my other dear friend, Lisa Cassel, decided to start harrassing me to do 3 in a row for my 3-0 bday. The young girl had left the beach by now, so it wasn't like a "back handspring battle", as my husband likes to think :) I immediately said "NO!". Of course my friends like to harass people and even get the kids involved!! I clearly remember Kathleen saying, "Aw, you're not going to disappoint these little girls, now are you?!" Are you serious?! So, yes, I did in fact cave and successfully completed a series of round-off and 3 backhandsprings down the beach on my 30th birthday. (what an idiot!). :)

After we left the beach, we headed back to Memama's house where my parents had just arrived. We put the kids down for nap and then it happened. Yes, I "made" Shawn (he did it very willingly!) drive me down to Cherry Grove (20 mins. away--the nearest Chick-Fil-A to Ocean Isle!) so that I could get a CFA sweet tea on my birthday :) And man was it good :)

Reilly had been dying to go fishing and we told her that uncle Brandon was the fisherman so she couldn't wait for him to get there!! Daddy even bought her a MickeyMouse Clubhouse fishing rod to use :) She was so pumped to be out on the dock with Uncle B and quickly was saying, "Mommy, I don't need any help. I can DO it!" Amazing the things she feels so confident in after only 2 seconds of introduction :) We spent some time out on the dock while grill master Shawn fixed up Salmon and shrimp for my birthday dinner. Memama MADE the most fabulous birthday cake ever! It was a 4 layer mint-chocolate-chip ICE CREAM cake with mint icing on it. Holy cow. It was good.





Jack Nicholas look-a-like??!!

family adventure to the apple orchard!

(Ok, I can't stand it anymore. I'm trying my hardest to catch up on blogging, but I just can't!! And it's killing me to not post things that are taking place NOW b/c I'm trying to catch up on things that took place months ago!! So, I'm posting today! And I'll keep playing catch-up when I can.) :)

We had such a fun day today! We got up, ate cinnamon rolls on the back porch with the cool almost-fall-like temps, packed a picnic lunch, and headed up to Morganton. We found this super cool apple orchard and decided to take the kids! It was a blast! When we got there, the tractor was getting ready to head out for the first tour of the day, so we quickly bought our tickets and hopped on board! It was so beautiful to see the mountains and the apple trees that seemed to go on for ever! It was also pretty cool to hear how they actually run an orchard. The farmer got up and spoke for a few minutes. On of the coolest things we learned was that in the springtime, he mail orders honeybees and they bring them into the orchard to take care of all the pollination so that the fruit will grow. They bring in one hive (which has about 40,000 bees!) per ACRE!!! My question: "how do you get the bees OUT of the orchard once their "job" is done?!" He said they move them at night after they all go back into the hive....and they have to move them at least 3 miles away or they will get confused and come right back to those trees!! Who knew?! 6th grade science lesson coming full circle. Love it.





After the tractor ride, we loaded up in a wagon and headed out in the orchard. We started with the golden delicious trees and then headed over to get some jonagolds and some galas. Reilly kept saying, "daddy/mommy, isn't this so fun?!" It was a lot of fun :)



When we filled our 1/2 bushel basket, we had a picnic lunch and then of course we had to check out the orchard's store! We decided that the homemade fried apple pies and the homemade apple cider donuts, as well as their Apple Hill Orchard apple cider (YUM!!!!!) were a must. We also brought home some apple butter to try out!



When we got home, we baked an apple cake and then made apple baskets, complete with carmel and sticks, to share with the neighbors!! I may or may not have printed out cute little cards with Psalm 17:8 on them "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings" and they may or may not have been on apple patterned paper :) (ok, I did!!).


Looks like we've just started a new tradition :)

August Beach trip!! (Day 1 of 5)

Man, we really did it right when we went back to the beach for 6 days in August. It was awesome! We got down on Tuesday night and had fun seeing Memama and making plans for the week!! It was so cool because our trip totally lined up with about 7 other families from our neighborhood that go to Sunset beach (5 mins. from OIB) so we got to hang out with great friends while there too!! Wednesday, we got right up, ate breakfast, packed lunch and headed over to Sunset to hang out with the Galloways, the Cassells, both sets of Rowlands, and the Webers. Reilly was SOOOO excited to get to play on the BEACH with her bestest bud Grace! We had a blast over at Sunset and the beach was so cool over there because the tide pools that are created as the tide goes out in the afternoon. The kids just played and played!! I think Reilly and Grace could have played in the water for another 4 hours if they could. They had a ball. And Braxton was a trooper! He just walked around the beach, played in the sand a little, and then just hung out near the water.








We even did the whole "turist" thing and hit up the famous Sugar Shack (Jamaican restaurant) with our friends. We literally took up 2/3 of the whole place with over 40 of us there (including children!)!!!




just the adults.....