October has been so abundant that I just needed to capture how fun it has all been! Life has been busy busy, but so good. Emma and David are growing up so quickly and I feel like their childhood days are flying by... It's been wonderful (love fall) and challenging (house hunting) this last month, so here it is!
I had a birthday at the very end of September, and I now have a fun little tradition. Okay, so it is just two years running, but it's awesome, nonetheless. My BFF, Kimberly, took me to Maple Street Biscuit Cafe in San Marco (which I LOVE) and then a few days later, I went AGAIN with my good friend, Aileen. So, doubly spoiled at my favorite breakfast joint. Sadly, I didn't get pictures either days of us all together. I never remember to bring out my camera anymore, but I'm trying to be better!
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| The Five and Dime is to kill for! Over the top? Nah... |
Our church had it's semi-annual General Conference which can be viewed online here. We have fun at home preparing questions we are thinking about and listening to our church leaders for the answers. We pulled a table in front of the couch so the kids could munch and take notes/draw.
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| Listening to the choir. |
1. We don't really drink soda, but under stress, next time I am going to stock up on soda for Joel and chocolate for me.
2. Decide earlier if we will evacuate and get two gas cans to store extra gas. All of the surrounding cities were even out of gas 2 days prior to hurricane landfall, so if we needed to evacuate, then we would need more stored gas.
There are a few other supplies I would purchase beforehand, like a mini generator, gun, coleman camping stove to replace our stolen one, bathtub water bomb (bag), and more candles and batteries.
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| Hurricane Days off school equated in a tent going up in our living room. |
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| Our friend, James Carrington, and his mom stayed with us for the week after the storm. They were supposed to stay with a family in St. Augustine, but they were evacuated. It was fun seeing them go volunteer every day with the cleanup efforts on their vacation! Such a great example to us. |
Emma's school had their annual Fall Festival. I volunteered most of the time at the rock climbing wall while Joel took the kids around. I got to walk around with them at the end. It makes me feel so happy inside to watch both of the kids overcome their fears more quickly than in years past. They have become more brave and independent, and it is really neat to see as a parent.
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| David did freakishly well for a 3 year old! lol |
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| Emma was afraid to go on the wall. |
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| David was quite fearless. |
Emma even wrote about Hamster Ball in her homework assignment with Clifford. I thought it was neat how she depicted the ball all on her own.
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| They loved hamster ball. |
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| After the super slide she was pretty happy. |
Time to hit the food trucks.
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| What did you get? |
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| Mmmm... |
Emma had a teacher workday, so I scheduled her dental appointment. She has lost a total of 4 teeth so far! Crazy! "All she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth..."
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| She chose Birthday Cake Flavor cleaner...which is getting me thinking, why don't they make toothpaste that tastes like birthday cake frosting?! I may be on to something... |
And naturally, after her dental appointment I took her to Sweet Pete's Candy Shop downtown. Buahaha...seems counterproductive, doesn't it?! The kids just loved it though. They decorated pretty special for Halloween. It was pretty spooktacular.
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| A cool architectural firm's office downtown. |
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| Looking at something spooky. Love David's expression here. |
Emma's class had a Character Book Parade. Emma was the Sugarplum Fairy from the Nutcracker book she has.
For the last few years, we've been wanting to go to the Amazing Grace Crop Maze and Farm. We finally made it and the kids had a blast! We did, too, watching them swim in corn cribs, jump, roll, and play till their hearts were content. (I didn't get pictures of the smaller hay bale maze, ball toss, water pumping, or bounce houses, and other things I'm probably missing.) We hated leaving, but we were tired!
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| Yee haw! |
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| Woa. My hair is getting long. Who thinks I should chop it off? |
I'd also like to note that Emma took a large majority of these photos. I love seeing things from her perspective. As I have been pulling out my camera more this month, she's been super interested in photography. I say, "Go for it, Emma!"
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| I just love this picture of her. She's so carefree. |
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| Emma took this one. Not bad AND I get to be in a picture. :) |
Emma wanted to capture the dust on the tram hayride. She took that picture of me from not the most flattering of angles, but I'm embracing it. ;)
I don't know what these two were giggling about, but it makes me smile. Those two!
It doesn't look like it here, but it was so dusty and bumpy on that cow train ride that I thought that one of them or both may come back crying, but they came back happy as clams.
I told David to cover his nose with his shirt if he felt it was too dusty. He's my very particular child. haha
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Bringing up the rear! Phew! That about sums it up! We were tired and hungry! |
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| Have a Happy Halloween! |
Anywho, they picked them out themselves this year. No homemade costumes or anything crazy this year. Just Pink Power Ranger and Captain America.
Oh, and here is a random portrait Emma did of Joel. Pretty fun, huh? She used the computer screen as a lightbox and traced his face.
And a fun family portrait. Dad is the only one in red because he is extra special.
And a fun family portrait. Dad is the only one in red because he is extra special.
