Driving That Train

Last week, the weather was amazing, so we took the boys to the Train Museum. We watched the model trains, then played with our trains from home outside in the park. Afterwards, we headed to the  local soda fountain to have a little ice cream snack. The boys chose chocolate & vanilla, but Tanner went for the Southern Pecan Pie flavor and it did not disappoint! After snack, the boys played a little longer on the "breakdown train", as they call it, while Hayden Kate slept. It was a great afternoon, and Harrison hasn't stopped talking about it since!

Post Game Pigout

After our Orange Beach soccer game Thursday night, we headed out for dinner at Moe's BBQ. We hadn't been since they finished the back seating area, and the boys were in heaven. They barely wanted to eat because they were so busy playing. It was a great way to end a good night....even if Hampton's team did get crushed. But Hamp scored the only goal for our team, so that was definitely worth celebrating!

First Soccer Game

Last night was our first soccer game. We weren't really sure how our team would fare, seeing as how Coach Bo has never even played soccer & our team is mostly newbies. We were very pleasantly surprised at how they did, especially since they scored several goals.

However, we got a good dose of Hampton's non sporty side. He wasn't feeling it at all, and even managed a meltdown at the end of the game. It's ok if soccer isn't his passion, but as we've told him, he's committed for the season. We'll see how he feels tomorrow night at our next game!

Harrison may be our sporty one, however. He told us that Santa was going to bring him a soccer ball for Christmas, and he spent the majority of the game trash-talking the other team. 

For her part, Hayden Kate was satisfied chewing on her stroller strap. 

Underage Driving

As we were getting ready to head to soccer practice, Harrison jumped in the front seat of Bo's car & demanded to drive. He had the steering wheel motions down, and was certain that he could do it. We had a feeling that he's one of those people who would have road rage, so we passed. That, and he can't reach the pedals or see out the windows. But knowing Harrison, that wouldn't stop him at all! 

Happy Fall Y'all!

It's here...our favorite season of the year! Cooler weather, fewer crowds, and pumpkin everything are just a few of the things we love about autumn. Here's our annual list of some of our fall favorites:

Halloween

Thanksgiving 

Hampton's birthday 

Orange & brown

Football

School parties

fall decorations 

Chilis & soups

The Blessing of the Pets

Cinnamon Cider candles

Leaves turning

Visiting the pumpkin patch

Pecan pie

October...the most perfect month ever 

Cool weather clothing 

Boo at the Zoo

Apple cider

Fall crafts

Family Fun Day

Pumpkin Spice anything 

Trick or Treating

Playing in the leaves 

Pumpkins, Pumpkins & more Pumpkins! 

We hope everyone has a great fall season! 

Yo, Ho! We Love Some Dough(nuts)!

Avast!! Today is "Talk Like A Pirate Day" and it's one we look forward to. Beyond being silly, it means that Grandi will get up early & dress up to score some free Krispy Kreme doughnuts...and then bring them to us! What?! It doesn't get much better than that, mateys!!

Big Bow Daddy

Hayden Kate has a habit of pulling her bow out & throwing it down. After a few times of replacing it, we usually find a place to stick it. However, we think Daddy's head may the best place of all. His name IS Bo, after all!

Birmingham Birthday

This past weekend, we headed to Birmingham to celebrate our nephew Jack's upcoming birthday. It was kinda a celebration for everyone, since Jack's birthday kicks off all 6 cousins' birthdays in just over 2 months of each other.

We played at the nice shaded playground, enjoyed some yummy food, took in the amazing weather, and had a great time together! The boys were all pretty exhausted by the time we headed home, which is always a sign of a good time!

Steak N Shake Silliness

Just The Stats, M'am

Hayden Kate had her 9-Month well baby checkup on Friday, and she's growing like a weed. She's 28.5 inches long & weighs 19 lbs 13 oz. She's healthy, happy, and cute (not our words...the nurse said so)! 

Sick Of It

For the past week, we've been battling some yucky viruses around here! First it was a tummy virus that ran through all three kids. That was awful, since two babies are still in diapers. We literally couldn't change them fast enough! And it dragged on for days & days. Harrison had it first, then HK, then Hampton. 

As we were enjoying that, a respiratory virus has been attacking all of us. Poor Hamp was the only one to have both at the same time, and he was pitiful! Tanner got so sick one afternoon that she had to call in Grandi for help & Bo had to cancel soccer. 

Luckily, we seem to be on the mend now, with the only one really suffering is Hayden Kate. We all still have sniffy noses & coughs that sound like we've been in a mine shaft, but we think we're going to make it! 

It's been a week of Kleenex, pajama days, no school or activities, and lots of movies. We are so thankful that we recorded all the Disney movies that were on over the weekend, because we've now seen Brave & Tangled enough to sing along with the songs!

Soccer Kickoff

Hampton is playing his first year of soccer this year, and somehow Bo got roped into being the coach. Last week was the local sports kickoff, which included peewee football, cheerleading, and soccer. They introduced each team, including us...Team Awesome Fire. The kids named us, and it's doubtful we'll live up to the name once games start. But hey, everyone will see us coming in our neon jerseys!

Of course, Hampton had to fall right before they went on stage, and he wasn't satisfied until he had some big bandages to show off!

Hampton before his first practice....

Soccer fan #1 and #2

Thomas Saves The Day

Yesterday, Harrison decided we needed some excitement around here. Apparently, he thought 3 sick kids wasn't enough fun! 

Anyway, he was playing with his trains in the floor while Tanner was feeding HK. He started crying & screaming saying his ear hurt. He kept on & on, and was saying that he put "Daddy's hanger" in his ear. There was a plastic hanger in the floor where he was playing, so Tanner thought he jammed it in his ear. He kept crying, though, so once HK was done eating, she checked his ear. Well, guess what? There was a safety pin jammed in there! 

So, Tanner isn't so great with a crisis, so there may have been a little freaking out. Tanner tried to pull it out with her fingers, but no luck. We lost our only pair of tweezers in TN, so that was out. After trying to call Grandi multiple times (ahem), she called Bo in NoLa. He suggested trying to use the magnet on the front of Thomas the train. Wierd idea, but it worked! 

Mommy had to pin a screaming Harrison down to stick a wooden train in his ear, but that pin came right out! Thank goodness for Thomas! Here's a photo of the rescued Harrison right after the incident, and a photo of the hero. Is it just us, or does Thomas look pretty proud of himself? 

More Pics

We went on a photo spree when we took those 9-month photos of Hayden Kate, so we wanted to share some of our other favorites with you, too! Enjoy!

 

Happy 9-Month Birthday, Hayden Kate!

Today is Hayden Kate's 9-month birthday! How insane is that? Another month has flown by, and with it has brought some big changes with our little lady. She's now crawling, and is into everything. The day she started crawling, she decided that it was now time to start pulling up. So, now she's attempting to pull up on every toy, basket, person, and piece of furniture she can find. Of course, she's not quite sure what to do once she gets there! She either whines until we help her, or plops back down on her bottom to start the process all over again.

 

She thinks her brothers are hilarious, even though they steal every toy away from her. Harrison will only refer to her as "Miss Priss", and he tends to get very aggravated with her when she plays with his planes. Unfortunately, those seem to be her favorite toys!

 

Her hair has hit a growth spurt, and it's the main thing people comment on. It's so gorgeous, and we sure do hope it stays this color forever....even if Mommy originally prayed for a brunette! She's still working on her sore gums, but no little teeth as of yet. That hasn't stopped her from learning to devour French fries, though. And the fries have become our little third child joke, since we would have never given Hampton fries at this age! Oh, what you'll do to pacify a child at the dinner table!

 

We snapped these photos of her the other day, and we thought we'd share our favorites with you. They really capture her, especially the inquisitive, serious looks. She's a mostly quiet baby, just taking things in and figuring things out. And her serious face is just as precious as her smiling one! If you can't tell, we're trying to soak up every little bit of our last baby moments!

 

While The Cats Are Away...

 

 

.....this little quiet mouse will play! 

First Day of School

Due to the Grandmother's passing, the boys didn't get to start school last week. So, today was their first day in their new 2 year old & Pre-K classes. They were excited to go, even though Harrison was a little unsure once we got into his room. That was due more to the fact that 2 little boys were crying than anything! Tanner circled back around before leaving, and he was happily playing with cars & Ms. Mary. Hampton was more than ready to tell Ms. Debbie all about soccer, and as he headed into her room, she gave us this sweet poem as we left. We know they're in great hands this year!

The Grandmother

You may or may not have noticed that we were absent last week. That's because the thing we'd been dreading finally happened.....Tanner's Grandmother passed away.

 

This had been looming over our family for quite some time. She found out that she had aggressive pancreatic cancer back in the spring. That's why it was so important for us all to celebrate Easter & Grandmother's birthday in TN. Over the past several weeks, she'd really taken a turn for the worst, and pretty much the entire month of August was an awful waiting game. It finally ended peacefully for her last Saturday.

 

We found out that she had passed away on Saturday night at about 10pm, but had to wait until Sunday afternoon for the funeral plans to be confirmed. Once we knew, we kicked it into gear to leave by 5pm that same night. Talk about packing for 5 people fast! We made it to Birmingham that night, and continued the trip the following day. The visitation was held that night, and the funeral was Tuesday at 2pm. By the time that was over, it was too late for us to head home, so we left mid-morning Wednesday and finally arrived back home at around 11pm that night.

 

It was a stressful trip, but honestly, we were mostly just relieved that she was no longer suffering. It felt like we'd grieved for so long before she actually died, that there was a sense of comfort once she was gone, because we know exactly where she is now.

 

We are so going to miss The Grandmother, which is the fitting name our sister-in-law gave her many years ago. She was the true matriarch of our family and the essence of a true Southern lady. We're going to miss her calling and giving us the updates on all our other family members, the family Christmases that couldn't be topped, and her food...especially the macaroni & cheese. (And if she were here to read this, she'd say "I only ever make that when you & Ben are here!" Lucky me!)

 

Here are a few of the last photos of her, taken at Easter. We are so thankful that we had so much time with her, and that all of our children got to meet their GiGi. There's definitely no replacing her!

 

Happy Labor Day!

 

 

We hope everyone has a great day celebrating the unofficial end of summer!