Happy Halloween!

I hope that everyone had a Happy Halloween! Matt, his mom and dad, the kids and I enjoyed a yummy neighborhood cookout at our friends Abby and Larry's. They have a little boy Daniel's age named Trey. Trey and Daniel have deemed each other their best friend and they were so cute trick or treating together! Trey is the Spiderman you will see in the pictures below. Abby says that every time they drive by our house on the way to or from theirs, Trey points to our house and says "my best friend lives there; that is my best friend's house!" He is the sweetest! Enjoy the pics, and welcome to November!

Daniel as the all powerful super scary Transformer Bumblebee and sissy as the sweet little bumblebee with sparkly wings (that I wish you could see better in the pictures!)

Caroline's favorite treat from the night was a tiny little "dum dum" sucker. Don't worry, she was supervised at all times to prevent choking!

Some of the boys at the cookout

Ready to put out any fire that comes his way!

Daniel and his "best friend" Trey

Happy Fall Y'all!

Well, we are loving this beautiful fall weather! We go for walks, to Aldridge Gardens, Star Lake, to the park...something outside every day! We just can't resist! Daniel and I both love Halloween and all that comes with it. We are going to have a cookout and then go trick or treating with some friends from the neighborhood on Halloween night. Daniel is going to be the Transformer named Bumblebee and Caroline is going to be an actual little bumblebee. We thought that would be sooo cute! I am attaching some pics of some of our outings below. The last one is of Caroline in her adorable little Halloween pajamas that Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Tom sent to her.

Caroline taking in the sights

Stopping for a picture on the bench at Aldridge Gardens


This is what we have lovingly termed the "Pe Paw" face. Matt's dad (AKA Pe Paw) taught Caroline to make this um, interesting face when we tell her to say cheese!!! Thanks, Pe Paw!


My handsome boy at Aldridge Gardens. He truly looks like a boy (not a little boy) in this one. He is really growing up...

Sissy in her Halloween pjs. Thanks Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Tom!

Caroline is one!!

We had Caroline's first birthday party yesterday, and it was wonderful! Our theme was polka dots, and Gran made Caroline a huge cupcake with big polka dot sprinkles as her "smash" cake. She was definitely more delicate and girly than Daniel was. We had to take him straight to the bathtub, and she barely got any icing on her bib! She loved playing in the little ball pit, and grabbing at the balloons. One of her most favorite presents was a little horse and carriage blocks thing that her Uncle Brian gave her. She is very good at putting the blocks together and taking them back apart again. She gets so proud of herself! She also loves sitting at her big girl picnic table that her Uncle Jason made for her. She and Daniel ate their afternoon snack at it today. They looked too cute sitting there together enjoying the afternoon. We loved having all of our family and many friends here to celebrate with us. We are so fortunate to have so many wonderful people in our lives. The Lord has truly blessed us with a wonderful little daughter who has brought so much love and joy to us as a family. I can't believe how fast the year has flown!




Below are some pics from the weekend!

Daniel and Paw Paw in their orange and blue on gameday!

Daniel and cousin Will--always a lively pair!

The Wilsons and all of the future Tigers!

Matt and Caroline saying "Warrr Eagle, hey!"

Mommy and Caroline just before the guests arrived. That smile is too perfect. She knew it was her special day, and she was sooo excited!

Daniel and Caroline in the ball pit. This was Daniel's first birthday present, and I think he had just as much fun in it yesterday as he did when he first got it!

C taking a break from all of the action!

Shea, AR. and Lauren

Caroline has never seen a treat this big! Happy First Birthday, Sissy!

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Everyone is turning one!

This past Sunday we attended our friend Ann Rogers' first birthday party. We had so much fun! It is crazy to see everyone with little ones, or with little ones on the way. How different things are from just five years ago! Ann Rogers and another friend Bella were born a few days before Caroline, and it seems like yesterday that we were all in the hospital with our beautiful newborn daughters. We have Caroline's first birthday party this coming weekend, and we are very excited for all of our friends and family to share this special day with us. Something else that is really neat: Caroline and her Pe Paw (Matt's dad) share the same birthdate! We are so blessed.

Caroline playing with her learning table before church

I treasure moments like this! :)

The proud daddy and the birthday girl

Sammy and Charlie enjoying the festivities

Whitney and baby Claire

Caroline having a blast at the party!

Wow! It has been a while!!!

I can't believe how long it has been since I have posted. Read on, and you will understand why! Okay, so I decided that I needed to teach again. I just had an empty place inside and being the teacher at heart that I am, I decided to take a job teaching preschool at a local church. After much debate, I decided if I was going to teach, I was going to teach. I called the Homewood Board of Education to see if they had anything that they still needed filled (two weeks before school started!) and she said they were watching the numbers in K at Edgewood. As it turns out, the numbers were there SOOOO I am teaching Kindergarten at Edgewood this year! This was not decided until the week before school started, so needless to say it has been a whirlwind. This was a new unit, so we had nothing "in stock"!! Thank goodness Homewood provides the teachers with what we need at request. Thanks to my wonderful team and administration, my room is set and I am all "Kindergartened up"! I had never taught below second grade, so it has been a change! Daniel has really prepared me for this job! He is actually going to preschool at St. Mark's, where Matt's mom teaches preschool. He LOOOVES going to "Gran's" school. Caroline is staying part time with a friend of mine who is a stay at home mom and part time with her Gran. Matt is also in the midst of a career change, so needless to say we have been a household of MAJOR change over the past month! We will soon celebrate Caroline's first birthday. I just can't believe she is almost a year old. She has SUCH a fun personality. It is a strong one--she will let you know what she likes and does not like, and she will take you on to get what she wants (just ask Daniel!). They say little girls with big brothers are tough, and boy is that accurate with her! She is trying so hard to talk. I think she will be an earlier talker like Daniel. I am attaching some pics from us playing around here at the house below. Hope everyone is well!

This is what Caroline does when you tell her to smile!! Such a hoot!

This little girl LOOVES for her daddy to "make her fly!"

Daniel is his spider man mask. Notice the official spider man thing he is doing with his fingers...

Caroline MUST do whatever her big brother does. Wherever he goes, she must go. She idolizes him!

This is sissy trying to say give me the mask back! She thought wearing it was the funniest thing!