Friday Photo

Festival Time

Around here, one of the first signs of Fall is that area festivals start back up. We love going to these things, if for no other reason than to just get out and enjoy the fresh air. We headed to the first one of the season last weekend, the 23rd Annual Jubilee Festival in Daphne. It's definitely one of the smaller of the season, but it was just nice to get out and walk around. Plus, we got to hear a little of one of Bo's favorite local bands, so it was worth the trip!

a small peek at some of the booths

Hampton rides in style....leg propped up, paci in one hand and sippy cup in the other!

It's All Fun and Games Until Somebody....

We headed to the Fairhope park this weekend to feed the ducks with Hampton.
He had a great time climbing on the bridge....

....running around squealing.....

...and chasing the ducks. That is, until...

...he ran straight into one of the ponds and got soaking wet! Ahh...little boys!

Pirates Cove

Friday night, we decided to treat Tanner's parents to dinner since Bob had just totally refurbished a dresser for us that we found on the side of the road. It was so ugly, but with lots of wood glue and some really pretty paint, it now looks like a million bucks and is storing all the Monogrammed Monkey's accessories. Anyway, we decided to head out to Pirate's Cove and enjoy burgers on the water. Hampton loved wandering down the dock and loved the dogs that roam freely all over the place. He did tell one dog to "wake up!", though, since it wasn't in the mood for playing with him!

walking down the pier with Granddaddy

Hampton inspecting the sand in his shoes

Happy Fall, Y'all!

It's finally here....our favorite time of year! The weather is cooler, the crowds are gone, and there are tons of activities to enjoy. Here are just a few of the things we're looking forward to this year...

• cardigans and furry slippers
• seasonal drinks at Starbucks like Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate & Pumpkin Spice Latte
• visiting the pumpkin patch
  
• new fall TV shows (even though we have no time to watch them!)
• chili and homemade soups
• the Shrimp Festival
• Hampton's birthday
• feeding the ducks in Fairhope
• changing leaves
• fall scented candles
  
• football, football, and more football
• cute fall appliques
• Supper Club
• fall decorations
  
• our 1st Thanksgiving at home

We hope everyone has a wonderfully fun Fall, filled with all the sights and smells of the season!

Happy Birthdays!

Today is cousin Jack's 3rd birthday and Saturday is his mom's (ahem) 30th.

We wish them both very happy days!

Hampton's reaction to singing the birthday song to Jack

The little birthday boy and his mommy, with his daddy thrown in for good measure!

Hampton's Favorite Game

Hampton's new fave "game" is making the music play on his activity table, then running around in circles while the music plays. He especially likes to have people join in the fun, even though it tends to make adults quite dizzy running in circles. The funniest part is, if you aren't going fast enough for his liking, he'll push you and say "Go! Go!".

More From Sesame Street

Friday Photo and Week In Review

This has been a whirlwind week! We didn't make it home from Birmingham until almost 11pm on Sunday night, thanks to getting stuck behind an accident on I-65. Luckily, no one had life-threatening injuries, but we did watch the LifeFlight helicopter land & the Homeland Security trucks whiz past us.

Monday, Tanner woke up sick and spent all day trying to get over it. Wednesday, we headed to Mobile for Sesame Street Live, which was really cute. Hampton LOVED it! We'll share more photos of it next week. Hopefully after this week, we'll be back to our regular Wednesday night church schedule.

Monogramming has been crazy this week, with lots of orders, pick-ups, and drop-offs. Not to mention that at some point, we're going to have to find a place for and learn to use our new 6-needle machine that is sitting in our bedroom! We've also done story time at the library, play time at Grandi's house, Tanner had her first fall Junior Womens' Club meeting, and Bo has been super-busy trying to figure out all the new stuff about the new commercial machine his shop purchased. Right now, it's looking like a trip to Atlanta and Virginia are in his future!

We're looking forward to a weekend of great football, nice weather, and getting stuff together for our neighborhood yard sale coming up later in the fall. Oh, and maybe some time to rest, too!

Park Fun

While we were in Birmingham for Hampton's cousin Jack's birthday party, we had to make a park pit stop. We tried going on Saturday night, but there were so many other people already there playing that there were literally no parking spots available. So we tried again Sunday morning with much better luck. Hampton had tons of fun playing on all the equipment and he loved having his Grandi & Grandaddy there with him, too!

Play Tent

What's more fun than a play tent? One flipped on it's side, of course!

Dora, Dora, Dora the Explorer

This kid LOVES him some Dora...and Boots, too (the little monkey on the screen).

Don't you just wish little things like this would make adults this happy?

Friday Photo

Let Him Eat Cake

Well, this past Labor Day was one of the strangest we've had in awhile! First, it POURED down rain due to Tropical Storm Lee (we got almost 10 inches), so we mostly stayed indoors. We did keep checking weather.com to see when our breaks would be, and we'd run out and do some errands during those brief dry spells!

The worst part was that Hampton got sick on Saturday. It started with him just not feeling that great and having a little bit of a fever, which we thought was due to teething. Then, the runny nose and cough showed up, so we decided he must have a little bit of a cold. Yesterday, however, when he woke up with a full-body rash, we KNEW this was more than just a cold! So, off to the Dr. we went. We left with a prescription for Zyrtec for the rash and something for the ear infection he'd developed, but we still don't know what caused that ugly rash. Plus, it kept spreading, so like any good first-time parents, we've been doing our share of freaking out! Of course, we can't get the poor boy to eat or drink anything or take his medicine well, which is definitely not helping. Right now, we're in the bribery stage, which is why yesterday he ate potato chips, pickles, pizza, and cake! We're just happy if he actually eats it!

The Doc said he'll be contagious through today, so no church for us tonight, even though it's the first week back. Luckily, Tanner has a tough co-teacher who is going to brave tons of 1st & 2nd graders on her own! We're just hoping Hampton gets well very soon, since we've got lots of big plans coming up!

One cake-covered boy. We definitely didn't mind, since he actually ate this stuff! If you look closely, you can see some of the rash on his belly & arm. It's very ugly and whelped, and we're hoping it goes away very, very soon!

Friday Photo

We're sorry, but this is just about the cutest little boy ever!

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Some people look at Labor Day weekend as the last big summer event. This family, however, sees it as the beginning of something waaayyy better.....college football! That's right, football starts tonight with our kickoff of pizza & wings watching, well, whoever is on TV. Because it doesn't matter what college team is playing, if it's on, we're watching (or at least Bo is)! Of course, we do have our favorite team, so Go Gators! And Roll Tide.....And War Eagle.....And Yea for anyone else that's not Michigan or Ohio State!