Halloween & Thanksgiving

Catching up on holidays! Here are a few from Halloween. We went to Zoo Boo for the second year in a row. For Halloween night, we got together with our neighbors. It was crazy, and so fun to see them get into trick-or-treating. Preston was Hairy Dog, Georgia's mascot.

Heading into Zoo Boo!

Preston hopped up on the hay barrel and yelled "cheese!" It was so cute. 

My cute little bulldog had so much fun at Zoo Boo. It was the weekend before Halloween... a great pre-cursor for trick-or-treating.

Halloween night in Brierwood...

Our set up on by the front door. Unfortunately, kids were greedy and not only took all the candy (which was expected) but also the blue bowl. Haha!

The Glasses hosted us all. So very sweet of them!

Just playing some hoops with Tyler the monkey. :)

P and his favorite person - Reed!

P and daddy heading out!

"I got this, daddy"

A month flew by, and Thanksgiving was here before we knew it. Our little guy turned 21 months old and he'll be 22 months in a few days. How time flies! He will be turning two so soon.

We headed to the farm for a night and had Thanksgiving lunch with my family. I am so thankful for Brian - he helped my grandfather and blew all the leaves for him. It was much appreciated! After a great meal, we drove three hours back home to eat dinner with Brian's family. Lots of eating and lots of fun with both families!

There isn't tons for him to do at the farm, so books and crayons kept him entertained!

So cute!

Contemplating life on the farm...

Testing out Gramps' tractor. 

My wonderful family!

Back in Memphis, P enjoyed eating next to his cute cousin Campbell.

Oh this was so funny! Preston made everyone (yes, made them - people tried to sit out and he literally dragged them into the circle) sing Ring Around the Rosy. Then he forced everyone to fall down. Brian's dad tried to go down half-way, and Preston said "No, Bobo, fall down!" It was so funny.

Preston was telling Mimzie she had to go all the way down. Haha!

Once he made sure everyone was all the way down, he went all the way down too. 

Our bossy little guy loved being the center of attention.

The day after Thanksgiving, we got together with a few friends from high school and their little ones for a play date at our house. Sweet Avery and Piper had fun playing with Preston. Such cuties!

The best we could get of the six of us!

"Look Piper. This is how you take off your shoes."

Preston took off his shoe and was running around the front yard like this. Meanwhile Piper and Avery were being sweet and picking up a leaf or two. Oh this difference between boys and girls. So many fun memories!

Latest Ramblings

Life has been so busy lately. Halloween was so fun, and P totally got trick-or-treating. Hopefully, I'll upload those pics soon. Brian traveled with my brothers and friends for my brother's bachelor party in New Orleans, and I traveled to Charlotte, NC for work. We are wrapping up a big exterior project on the house, and slowly preparing for the upcoming holidays.

P is officially at my favorite age. The talking is incredible. The words are just flowing and I can't keep up with all the new phrases, sentences and sayings. The boy loves to sing. His personality is like mine in so many ways, and as he grows, I am seeing it more and more.

A few cute things lately....

The other night, our power randomly went out. When we started lighting candles, P starting singing happy birthday. So funny!

While Brian was in New Orleans, P and I had a sleep over with my mom (my dad was with Brian and my  brothers). We had such a fun girls night together, but also enjoyed playing with P. She pulled out our old trike from the attic for him to try. P saw it, yelled "bike!!!" and immediately hopped on.

P's school is getting ready for their own Thanksgiving celebrations and we were asked to bring in a family picture for their leaf project. So sweet. I love the art that comes home with him.

He's super into his blanket. I washed it, took it out of the dryer, and he was so happy. He just smiled and hugged it. :)

We went to a shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law. Preston came and also brought her a little gift. :)

We are blessed with the sweetest child. I really mean it when I say he is SO SWEET. We were worried for a while because he was doing a lot of biting and hitting in school. I am happy to report that his teacher told me that he has become the sweetest child in the class, and all the others are acting out now. While I feel for the other parents, I was so happy to hear this. As a parent, you just want a NICE child. 

Big boy cup!

Kicking back, watching some Caillou. The child LOVES Caillou. I think  he is starting to replace Elmo. 

Tub Time

My camera is off getting fixed. It had a little accident, but will hopefully be back in good health soon. In the meantime, I leave you with the cutest child ever in the bath tub. :)

Carving

We carved a pumpkin tonight on the kitchen floor. Preston was really interested, but wouldn't touch the mushy insides until a few minutes in. Then he threw a big wad of it at me and tried to grab the carving knife from Brian. Typical! :)

One story I want to remember...

We finished carving the pumpkin and put a light inside of him. Then we turned out the lights. After we oooo-ed and awed a minute, Preston goes, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear pumpkin, happy birthday to you." It was hysterical! I guess the candle and the lights out made it seem like it was pumpkin's birthday. So precious.

Preston is already really attached to the pumpkin. Brian put the pumpkin on the front porch and Preston had a major breakdown, screaming "Pumpkin! Pumpkin!" and so we brought him back inside to live.

Brian did a great job carving. Here is a little (long!) video of our night. Preston talks a ton in it! So funny. We live in a world with quick cell phone videos and I want Preston to actually be able to watch himself as a child one day. So, every now and then, I pull out the video camera and document his voice, his movements, laugh at what Brian and I look/sound/act like, etc. :) Tonight was one of those nights!

Then I made some candied pumpkin seeds, and they were pretty tasty.

1 cup washed and dried pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
some salt
1/2 stick melted butter
Mix all together and spread evenly onto a foil lined pan. Bake at 275 for an hour, stirring once or twice. After baking, let them sit on the counter until cooled. Break apart and enjoy!

Screened Porch Update

This is long overdue! Really, we've been enjoying this space for a couple months. I still have bigger dreams for this space, but it's working great for our needs now.

Unfortunately, a lot of our yard is covered in poison ivy. Poor Brian has already gotten it several times. We also have a ridiculous amount of mosquitos. With the big trees and our very shaded and damp lot (we have moss everywhere!), Preston gets bit constantly. The porch serves as a big space for P to run around free of poison ivy and mosquitos. We are finding ourselves out there almost every day playing with his vast amount of toys - lawn mower, leaf blower, cars, trucks, etc. :)

Our screened porch used to be a garage. It is 20 ft x 20 ft, with concrete floors, screens along one side, and windows on the other. It was one of the things that made me fall in love with our house when we looked at it. I immediately envisioned our future children playing in it, celebrating birthday parties, and having friends over. In Memphis, you can actually use a screened porch for most of the year. Sold! Here is what it looked like with the old owners stuff:

The only thing is that it was really ugly. Like the rest of our house, it was in need of some TLC to make it really great. Thank goodness for Pinterest, and the ability to browse porch designs and find things I like.

Here is our patio before we started work... so sad. Toys everywhere, an old dirty rug, along with furniture randomness. And a really gross broken ceiling fan.

I knew we needed new pillows, the swing needed a new coat of paint, furniture, a new rug, a new fan, and other details to make it a fun place to entertain and a fun place for P to play. For Mother's Day, Brian ordered me an outdoor sectional. I went out of town for work, and came back home and it was assembled and everything! It was a cool surprise from Brian and Preston. :) Here is the new patio!

Those are screen french doors that go out to the backyard. Perfect for entertaining!

P has a little corner of the porch. Usually, he has lots more toys out here. I definitely picked up the porch when I took these pictures!

I love having the space to the right. When we entertain, we can set up card tables and have a drink and food area, and people still have room to walk. We also have a cute kids table we move out here when kids are eating at our house. 

Brian and my dad installed a new Hunter fan and it gives the room a lot more light at night, and love how silent it is.

I painted the swing one afternoon a bright coat of white, and then my mom made the pillows for it.

Best Mother's Day gift ever.

And here is a video tour with Preston using it as his playroom. :)

We love entertaining and spending time out here. One of my favorite things to do after Preston goes to bed, is for Brian and I sit out here, have a couple drinks, listen to music and talk about our day. We just love it out here.

My future plans include adding a bar area, a permanent TV for sports, hang some stuff on the walls, washable curtains, more pillows, a dart board, plants, maybe painting the walls, finding some art or cool old signs to hang out there, but I want to leave the exposed beams. Who knows. We may add some things as Preston gets older too that work for him. We lovingly call this room "the outdoor playroom" because it is for kids and adults - haha! One more big project off the list for now. :)