Happy Halloween!

Call me a bad mama, but I had no plans of trick or treating tonight. But...when I picked the kids up from daycare they had read stories about Halloween today. She had been practicing "trick or treat" in her sweetest voice, and she was so "cited" (excited).

I'm not that bad of a mama...

So, we dressed up and headed across the creek to the Trunk or Treat Extravaganza on the square. It was loads of fun!

I guess you can call me a bad mama, because this is the only picture I came away with...

In my defense, there are lots of pictures of the girl all dressed up here. :)

Two Parties and a Baby

Yesterday was a typical busy Saturday.

The one exception to typical...the boy slept until 9AM! He probably would have slept later, but somebody from First State Bank thought it would be a good idea to call on a Saturday morning (the ONE morning in months and months we actually got to sleep in) at 9:01AM to update records.

We headed to our first birthday party of the day around noon...a swim party for Aaliyah at the Wellness Center.

Next, we headed to celebrate sweet Sarah's 2nd birthday..."a church party" Emma exclaimed as we pulled up into the parking lot. She's a hoot I tell ya!

We headed home to take naps and get ready to take Emma to meet baby Blair...but when you have kids plans change (often). Luke woke up with a nasty cough. Obviously we didn't want to expose Blair to whatever Luke may have, so the boy and I stayed home while Daddy and Emma headed to Uncle Brent and Aunt Jana's.

As the sun went down the cough got worse (why does it always happen that way?). I laid him down, and he whined and moaned...broke.my.heart.! After a consultation with Avery Claire's mama, I texted Justin and told him to come home ASAP with baby Vick's. I rubbed it on his feet, put socks on him, and laid him back down. He coughed two or three more times (within maybe 10 minutes), then he slept "like a baby" the rest of the night!

Today we woke up to this...

We decided it would be best to keep him in for the day just to be on the safe side. I had several things going on at church, so Daddy volunteered to stay home. Poppa Dale brought Emma home after church, so he even got to pull double duty for a few minutes! :)

I'm planning on "Vick's-ing" him down again tonight in hopes that we can make it through the week healthy! Say a prayer! :)

Luke: 13 Months

Luke, you are thirteen months old!

Here's what you're up to these days...

• You weigh 24lbs. 9oz. according to our scales.
• You are approximately 31.5 inches long (it's getting harder and harder to measure a moving target:).
• You are wearing mostly 12 month clothes with a some 18 month mixed in and size 5 diapers.
• You are a great night sleeper. I usually lay you down around 6:30PM and I wake you up around 6:30AM to leave for work/daycare.
• You haven't been taking great naps at daycare since you went back after school started. That has finally crossed over to home. On the weekends you might take a 45 minute to 1 hour nap sometime during the day. I try to lay you down between 6:30PM and 7:30PM, depending on what we're doing. You usually sleep until 7-8AM.
• You LOVE milk...and you must have it with your meal.
• You will drink juice sometimes, but you're not super crazy about it.
• You still eat some baby food, but you are mostly on table food now.
• You are not picky...I can't think of any table food you don't like.
• You're two-stepping when you feel like it, but you definitely aren't a walker yet. I know you have it in you, but you are completely satisfied crawl/scooting to your destination. It wouldn't surprise me if you took off tomorrow...or if you waited another month or two.
• You are no longer interested in the pack n' play, but you do love to play with the many toys in the living room. One of your favorite toys is a front loader tractor that you got for your birthday...you push it around and make car noises. I definitely think you're a genious!
• You also love to play with the "toys" in the kitchen cabinets. :)
• You have finally started saying Mama!!! It's not a favorite word yet, but you are definitely saying it. You also say "dada", "daddy", "sissy", "uh-oh", "hey", "hi", "bye", and "uh-uh" (as in no)...and you shake your head no as you say it. Fun days ahead...:)
• You have started giving the wettest, sweetest kisses, and you give high fives like a pro!  
• You have 9 teeth and seem to be teething again.
• You are definitely a Mama's boy, and I don't mind one little bit. "This too shall pass..." One day I'll be longing for these days, so for now I'll just enjoy them...even if I can't do anything without a baby on my hip. :)

Date Night

We headed to see the Aggies play their final regular season home game tonight (which we lost, but in all fairness Handley's players were about as big as Alabama's players). Daddy decided to treat us to a "date night" of sorts...nothing but the best for his girls...

In case you're wondering which high class establishment he took us to, that would be the gas station! He even splurged and bought us both an ice cream for dessert. He's a real gentleman! ;)

Emma showed out at the ballgame (as usual), prancing out there all by herself to victory line. She grinned from ear to ear as the cheerleaders grabbed her up and took her in as one of their own. Then she cheered for the Aggies the entire game. Toward the end of the game she told/asked me "they aren't playing good enough are they?". Ha! The girl is a MESS!

The playoffs start next week. Hopefully they'll win, so we can catch another game before the final season is over. Next Friday, however, I have a different sort of date...with Christmas Village! :)

They Finally Meet Aubrie...

Tonight was the night...we finally took the kids to meet Miss Aubrie Elizabeth. I'm sorry to report, however, that I have no pics of this event. About 4.6 seconds after we arrived "the boys" (Justin and Russ) took off to look at Russ and April's new house. April and I wondered if they finished building it while they were gone. We enjoyed chatting and running around after three wild Indians...and I can't wait for sweet Aubrie to join in the madness! :)

Here is a picture of my sweet girl cooking supper for us to take to them...

BBC Fall Festival

Tonight we had our 5th Annual Fall Festival at church. It was started the year Emma was born, and it has grown and grown and grown! The kids always have so much fun, and this year was no different! Here are some pics of the cutest Aggie cheerleader I know, Big Al, and a few other cute kids...

*Quite possibly the highlight of Emma's night was catching up with Matt! :)

Luke Meets Blair

Cherry's Purse

A few weeks ago we were riding down the road when Emma started telling me she wanted a purse like Cherry's. I had no clue who or what she was talking about. I was racking my brain trying to figure it out when she finally said, "you know, Uncle John's girlfriend...Cherry."

The girl has a memory like no other...

While we were in Texas this summer we had the pleasure of meeting Uncle John's new girlfriend, Cherry Carrie. She was very sweet, and she obviously made a lasting impression on the girl.

This weekend a package came in the mail addressed to Miss Emma McCollum.

Here's what we found inside...

(Yes, my four year old now owns her very own Vera Bradley!)

Thank you Cherry! That was so sweet of you!

P.S. Uncle John...in case you've been waiting for our seal of approval, you have it! We think she's a keeper. :)

Whoo...what a week!

Some weeks are routine...work, home, dance on Tuesday, church on Wednesday...nothing out of the ordinary.

This was not one of those weeks.

On Monday, Blair Isabella Wheeler made her debut into the world at 4:56PM. We headed to RMC to see her sweet little face. We weren't able to hold her because her Mommy was still in recovery, but we did get a good look at her sweet self. Emma loved her instantly, and Luke kept putting his hand to the window trying to "reach in" for her...so sweet! Of course, I didn't have my camera for those sweet moments.

On Tuesday Justin had a sale. MawMaw took Emma to dance, and Ashley was sweet enough to ride with me to the hospital and watch Luke so I could go see Blair (and her Mommy and Daddy).

Sarah and Luke hanging out...

I've been waiting a long time to get my hands on this girl!

On Thursday we had our annual fall festival at school.

Obviously, I had to work, so Daddy stepped up to the

plate and took the girl around to enjoy all the games.

I did get one quick picture before we got started...



In addition to all the other running around we did this week, Emma attended Cheer Camp at LHS Monday through Thursday. The girls got to perform before last night's ballgame (which we won, making us region champs:)! 

Luke was all bundled up, ready to watch Sissy cheer!

Before they got started Aggie came up, and I thought

it would be sweet to get a picture of the two of them

together...Luke DID NOT think Aggie was sweet at all.

(Although he does adore Aggie when he's not in costume:).

Emma and Ensleigh take the field...

All the girls did such a great job,

but I am especially proud of my girl!

 

The Punkin' Patch

After church today we headed to Bennett Farms
with the McCollums. I think it would be safe to say
that all five grandchildren are snoozing away this PM. :)

The kids started off at the scarecrow station...

Waiting in line at the corn crib...

Petting Zoo...

Waiting on the hay ride...

After the hay ride the kids wanted to pick out a pumpkin. In

years past Emma has always picked out the "littlest pumpkin"

and been happy as a lark with it. Not this year... this year she

decided she needed the biggest (and most expensive) pumpkin.

We said no, but MawMaw reversed that decision...

We ended up talking her into one that was a little more manageable.

The boy decided he'd rather have this than a pumpkin...