Boo!

Heros & Villains of Preschool

The pre-Halloween day parade.
The post-parade nap. Even bad guys need to take a rest every now and then.

The Great Pumpkin(s)

Last night was our annual pumpkin carving.
This year's victims are definitely the largest yet.Scott is our master carver but Eliza Grace and Will
both sketch what they want their pumpkins to look
like before they go under the knife.

Will specifically wanted his to have
"angry eyebrows" and Scott obliged nicely.I cannot tell you how proud I am of myself for learning how to use the manual setting on my camera to adjust the shutter speed so I could capture the glowing pumpkin. 

Well, I guess I just did!

Eliza Grace opted for a traditional
look and was very specific that
hers only have three teeth.

"One on top that fits between the two on the bottom."

Done.

Eliza Grace is our chief seed separator.
She does a great job removing the slimy goop from
the seeds so they can be washed, brined, seasoned
and baked for a yummy snack later this week.


(If you cannot view this video, go here.)

A Fair Poem

To the fair once more,
we did not travel far.
We ate BBQ and elephant ears,
and paid ten bucks to park the car.

To the fair once more,
my money is gone
and all I have to show for it
is some cheap Pokemon.
To the fair once more,
so many fun things to do
like ride Ferris wheels and roller coastersand hold baby chicks and ducklings, too!
To the fair once more,
my girl so excited to be
spending time with her mother
who happens to be me!
To the fair once more,
hand in hand with mini-me.
Having fun with Eliza Grace,
there is no where else I would rather be!

Four Year Olds Are a Trip

I helped chaperon Will's school field trip to the pumpkin patch.

It was definitely a trip.

It is hard to believe these not-so-little munchkins will be heading to kindergarten next year. Will has been with some of these kids since he was 18 months old!

I am taking every opportunity to enjoy these last months of having a pre-schooler.

Out of the bus and ready to hit the hay slide

The whole gang

Good buddies!
(Will is a big time hugger so when I told him to
get closer to Taylor here, he really got close!)

And with Gabe :)
Getting silly

Ok, Will, give me back the camera.
Although, that is a pretty cool picture!

Ah, picked the perfect one!

40 Seconds

Our church, Crosspointe, held KIDSpace this past Sunday.

It was a Western theme, complete with horse back rides and a mechanical bull.

It turns out that Eliza Grace has some mad mechanical bull riding skills.

She lasted 40 seconds before it threw her off!

(You will want to turn your speakers down because I am very loud with my words of encouragement. Don't say I didn't warn you!)

And We're Walking, And We're Walking...

This past Saturday Scott and I grabbed two great friends, left the kids with a sitter and had ourselves a real, bonifide, middle-of-the-afternoon, grown up play date!

These are our friends, George and Gwen. Also known as Gus and Gusset. Also known as Aunt Gwennie and Uncle Gus to our kids.
Here the four of us are on our play date.
George and Scott grew up in Crawfordsville, Indiana and have known each other since High School. Gwen, also from Indiana, met George on a blind date when she was still in college. The rest, as they say, is history.

Scott was best man in their wedding and George was best man in ours 6 months later.

We moved to NC in 1996, they moved here in 1997.

Our first babies were born 6 weeks apart.

Yeah, good friends with lots of good history makes for a fun and relaxing day.

Anyhoo, back to what we did on our afternoon of freedom.

We headed to downtown Raleigh for a Triangle Food Tour.

Basically, we visited 7 restaurants in 3 hours. We walked to most and took the free R Line bus to a few.
Ooh, doesn't he look mean? You never know who you will encounter waiting for a bus downtown!
So the premise behind these tours (they have them for Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary, too!) is to highlight new and/or out of the way restaurants in the area. At each stop, we received a small sample of one of their menu items, often with a tasting of wine or other beverage.

As you might imagine, we had a fabulous time. Who wouldn't?

It was about 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We got to wander around downtown Raleigh, learn a little history of the area and eat a yummy variety of foods.

We had pulled pork, cole slaw and a hush puppy at Coopers BBQ.
Bow tie pasta with a mushroom cream sauce at La Volta Italiano.
Red Beans and Rice (with Andouille sausage) at The Big Easy.
Shrimp and Grits at The Mint.
Another fabulous pasta & veggies dish at Sunflowers Cafe. I forgot the name of the dish but here it is. I ate all the veggies but set the jalapeno slices aside.
Warm goat cheese salad (sooooo delicious!) and a crisp white wine at Solas.
Then we wrapped up the day with spicy chipotle-marinated shredded chicken and a roasted red pepper margarita at Jibarra.
Highly recommend the food tour to anyone. We plan to do the Durham one in the Spring.

Thank you, Kris for recommending something so fun. Oh, and thanks to Kris's daughter Courtney, who kept the four munchkins in line while we were out!