Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Trick Or Treat 2012

We just finished up with the most fun Halloween I've had in a looooooong time (probably since I was little).  Nicholas had an absolute blast and did a great job trick or treating with his friends.  We hosted trick or treating again this year for our friends since our neighborhood is one of the busiest in the area on Halloween.  People come to our neighborhood by the truckloads and it is so much fun!  This year the Millers, Castleberrys, and Stephensons joined us for beef veggie soup, cornbread, grilled turkey and cheese, and trick or treating!  It was a lot of kids, but an amazing time!

Ok, so you've seen the pirate costume Nicholas wore to trick or treat at school and to visit with Nana, but here is his "real" costume complete with a prop...
 He is Lightning McQueen's driver!  (yes, I know Lightning didn't have a driver in the movie, but he did tonight)  I decorated his cozy coupe using scrapbook paper and my Cricut and found a Cars crew member costume at Disney Store and voila...you have our costume!
 Here is most of our circus, I mean crew of friends.  We had a 10 month old, 3 two year olds, a 4 year old, and a 6 year old...and yes it was a TON of fun!
 The car only made it to a couple of houses and then he decided it was just more fun to walk...or run...whatever you want to call it.  :-)  He held his pumpkin all by himself until the very last house.  He was such a big boy saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" at every house.
Here is the entire group of kids after they got back from trick or treating.  It sure was fun trying to get them to all look at the camera at one time! Ha!
 My boys and I.  
 It is times like tonight that I am beyond thankful for the blessings God has given me.  Three years ago today I was given the ultimate gift, a positive pregnancy test after a long wait.  I remember that every Halloween and it makes it even more special to make those memories with my precious boy.  I've been blessed with a husband that is a wonderful father, a Mom that came to our house to hand out candy so we could all trick or treat with the kids, and a group of friends that we love and enjoy being with.

Now, for a fun flashback.  Here is my sweet boy throughout the years...
2010 (3 months old)
2011
and this year
Where has the time gone?!  Has it really been 3 years since the day we found out we were having him?!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Argh Matey! My Little Pirate's Fall Festival!

My little pirate had his school Fall festival tonight and he was super excited!  He had a rough afternoon and came home with a black eye after a nasty fall, so we almost didn't go back, but I'm glad we did because he sure did have fun!  His pirate costume is his pre-Halloween costume.  His actual costume has a prop that can't travel...but you will see that soon enough! :-)
He loved going to all the different booths and playing the games.  He has become such a big boy!!!
  I took both of these with my phone, so excuse the quality, but they are just cute pictures.  He went fishing for gold fish and got a pack of gold fish to take home.
 His favorite booth was the dig for treasure booth.  He dug for loot for about 10 minutes!
When we got home I actually got my picture made with my little man!  I'm usually behind the camera and never in the pictures, so I wanted a couple of us together.  He was in a cuddly mood, so they turned out pretty good.
 We have a very busy weekend ahead.  There will be lots of pictures coming your way this weekend!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Time For A Brain Dump

I haven't blogged much lately because our life is crazy right now, but here are the my thoughts today...

1. It was an exciting mail day!  My new Bridier Baubles Britta Beads arrived!!!  They were on sale Friday, so duh, of course I bought some.  They were out of the colors I really wanted by the time I got online at lunch, so I got purple.  What can I wear them with other than purple, black, orange and grey? Help!

2. Tuesday night I ran out to Old Navy to get a pair of jeans to wear to work on Friday for team spirit day (we only get to wear jeans a couple times a year...it's a big deal! Ha!) and I found the CUTEST peacoat ever!  I was so excited, then I came home and found a huge sharpie mark across the front.  Yes, I may have had a meltdown over the fact that I have no spare time this week and that was the only one in my size.  So, my husband got some major bonus points this week and ran out on his lunch break to the store by his office and exchanged it!  I love him! :-)  Now, I'm ready for cold weather!

3. I'm really enjoying Fall TV this year.  I've gotten into Revenge, Nashville, Scandal, and my old favorites are still there: The Middle and Modern Family.  What are you watching?

4. Another round of praise for a certain 31 awesome teenagers!  My dad's team is ranked 5th out of 9 local teams by an online newspaper this week!  We are just so proud of them it's hard to not brag on them constantly!   They are off this week then a win next week against one of their biggest rivals secures them the #2 spot in their district and a playoff game!  We are getting excited for the playoffs!  I'm also so proud of the fact that when giving interviews with the paper they always give all the glory to God and teamwork.  They get what is really important and I'm proud of that!

5. Nicholas is getting bigger and more grown up acting by the day.  I'm so sad that my baby is already almost two and a half.  How did that happen?!  Last night my parents kept him while I worked the consignment sale drop off and he asked to go potty and actually peed in the big potty!!!  We are so excited!  He goes all day at school in the potty, but has no interest at all at home...until then!  Yay!

6. I'm such a huge dork, but I'm getting so excited for Halloween!  I can't wait for Nicholas to wear his costumes (yes, he has 2. 1 for school and 1 for Halloween night. You'll understand why later!)  He and his friend Tate are going to be so cute trick or treating this year!

7. It's been a ridiculously busy week for us and this weekend isn't going to be any better.  I'm hoping MAYBE we can squeeze a nap in there somewhere.  Missing two naps last weekend was HARD!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Cheesy Chicken Rolls

This week I am going to feature two meals that we love instead of our weekly meal plan.  These are two highly requested recipes that I needed to get new pictures and blog posts dedicated to.   Last night we had my mom's cheesy chicken rolls.  This is a very tasty, comfort food that I love and it is a huge hit with my boys, so I've been making it a lot lately because it is one way I can get N to eat meat (he isn't a fan of meat at all!).
Ingredients:
3 cooked chicken breast, shredded
1 can crescent rolls
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup milk

Cook chicken and shred.  While chicken is cooling, mix cream of chicken, milk, and cheese and melt together over low heat.  Lay out crescent rolls and stuff with shredded chicken 

 Place the 8 rolls in a greased baking dish
 Cover with a cheese mixture of cream of chicken, cheese, and milk.  Cook on 350 for 20-25 minutes or until rolls are brown and sauce is bubbly.
Enjoy!!!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Our Little Skeleton

My friend Meredith is hosting a virtual pajama party tonight and all of the kids are wearing their skeleton pajamas!  So fun!!!  Here is our cute little skeleton playing on the front porch with the pumpkins and the ghost tonight!

 He has to have the pumpkins lined up just right!  This is about the 5th or 6th time he has moved them around!
Talking to the ghost!  ADORABLE!

Go on over Meredith's post and see all of Nicholas' pajama party friends!!!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Disney on Ice...Mickey! Hook! Princesses! Oh My!!!

Today was another one of those days I dreamed about for years and couldn't wait until Nicholas was old enough to enjoy going to Disney on Ice.  I heard it was coming last week and after researching the show it sounded more boyish than some of the others, so we decided to go.  Before the show we went to our favorite local hamburger place, Urban Stack and ate.  I didn't want Nicholas to ruin his Mickey shirt before the show, so he went in a skeleton shirt instead! Ha!

When we got to the arena where Disney was Nicholas was so excited!!!  He couldn't wait to put on his Mickey shirt and go in! Haha!  I spent an unbelievable amount of money for some cotton candy so he could have these ears.  Good thing he loved them! :-)
 Me and my little man before the show!  He was sooooo good and I am so proud of him for behaving so well!
 My heart for all of my life!
We were there about 20 minutes before the show started, but once it did, Nicholas was mesmerized and in a trance!  He got so excited when Mickey came out!
 This show wasn't all about the princesses and that was the only thing I was worried about.  It started with the Incredibles, then a piece of Alice and Wonderland, then a pretty long series of Peter Pan!  Nicholas knows Peter from Jake and The Neverland Pirates and really enjoyed seeing that part.
 Next we saw Lion King, Snow White, Rapunzel, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin.  He loved the end when Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy came back out with all of the princesses and princes.  Mickey was right in front of us!


I understand being hesitant if you have a boy to take them to Disney on Ice, but I highly recommend seeing the Treasure Trove show.  I didn't get a girly feel for it at all and as a matter of fact I would almost say it was geared more towards boys with very few princessy themes to it.  Nicholas loved it and that is all that matters to me! 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Fall Fun With A Fun Toddler

This Fall is quickly becoming the best Fall I've ever had.  I am LOVING age 2 and I absolutely cannot wait until Christmas.  I cannot even imagine how much fun he will be this year because he has been a blast while enjoying some Fall activities!  Last night we took him back to one of my dad's games and he was so good and really enjoyed watching "Pawpaw team".  He loves looking up into the press box and watching Pawpaw work.  He was just the cutest thing I've ever seen in his green and grey jersey and pants.  Melt my heart! 
Last night was their last home game (unless they get lucky enough to play at home in the playoffs) and they also set a school record for most wins in a season with a new record of 8-1!!!  They beat a team that they were really worried about 24-0!!!!  I am SO proud of these guys!  They have been working very hard since June and it shows!
Nicholas had fun watching the game and cuddling with Gigi.
After the game Nicholas and Pawpaw posed for a few pictures!  Pawpaw, we are proud of you and your guys!!!  Keep up the hard work for another few weeks!
This morning we loaded up and went to a really cool farm in Sale Creek, TN, about 45 minutes away with one of our favorite families, the Millers.  We are so glad we found this farm/pumpkin patch because it is an hour closer than where we usually go and there was so much for the boys to do.  They loved every minute of it!  Nicholas has begun to love and I mean LOVE tractors and he squealed and ran over to this red tractor as soon as we got through the gate.  
 His favorite thing, other than the big antique tractors that were there was the 2nd story barn slide!  There were 2 of these on either side of the barn and he went down them several times...alone even!  Someone make him slow down!  I don't like that he is getting so big!!!  Love his expression here! Hahaha!

 He also loved the corn crib.  I think he would have played in it for hours if we had let him! 
 He just kept falling down and sinking in it!
 Nicholas loves farm animals and the petting zoo was adorable.  He kept saying "goat, goat".
 There was a tractor display there today and he absolutely loved sitting on all of the tractors.  He had to sit and "drive" all of them!

 After playing and eating a lunch from the concession stand, we went on a hayride.  Nicholas loved riding the "tracor".  It took us out into a pumpkin patch and we got to pick a pie pumpkin for everyone in our party.
 
 We chose our 3 pumpkins and got back on the ride.  The Millers got a big pumpkin along with their little ones, but since we already had some, I held off.


 When we got home, Nicholas put them all on the porch and kept moving them around until they were just right!  I love how he has to have everything just right...like his Mommy! Haha!
We still have one more fun surprise for him this weekend. He is going to Disney on Ice tomorrow!!!  I am so excited for him to see Mickey in person and well, I'm pretty darn excited myself!  Poor kid is going to have a fun overload by Monday with all of these fun activities in one weekend!