Party Animals!

I am so far behind on my posts. I still have to do a post on our weekend trip to Boone and RoyBoy's birthday, but I will go ahead and posts pictures of our Halloween party today. Caroline and Roy Austin had some of their friends over for a little fun. We made candy apples, decorated pumpkins, ate some yummy treats and played:

Little Bo Peep, before the party began-- minus her sheep (he was still napping).

Jack, the dragon, and his silly pumpkin he made.

AnnaPreston was a cute, little bumble bee.


Kathryn was an adorable Wonder Woman....


...and her big brother Caleb was Superman. Here he is with Eli, the 3-eyed-purple-monster. These boys were in character for most of the party and they were serious about it!


Here is Cole, who was Lightning McQueen. I think he rode this bike or in the Cozy Coupe for the entire party! This boy cracks me up!!

This is his little brother, John Robert. Isn't he a sweetheart?!

I didn't get a good picture, but here is another Little Bo Peep: Anna Kate playing the pumpkin toss. Her mommy made this outfit!! Good job, Kristin!! She looked adorable and her little brother, Ben, was her sheep.

Ava, the pretty flower with her pumpkin. I met her mommy, Christy, at church and--small world-- but she was Jenny Brewer's roommate at Liberty! I love meeting Liberty people.

And here is Sara, the dragon, with her 3-week old baby brother, Bobby the monkey. He is SO sweet!

Speaking of baby brothers....looks like the sheep woke up. Caleb told me Roy Austin was missing out on all the fun, so I went to wake him up and he was a little confused when he came into the garage:

The Tarr boys came as race car drivers. They looked very handsome!

Pressley was a cute, little piggy. She and Roy Austin are 4 days apart, so she'll turn two on Friday!

With all of my picture taking, I did not get a picture of Savannah! She was dressed as Snow White and looked so pretty.

So, we have 2 parties down this week. We have another Halloween outing on Friday and then the actual holiday on Saturday... and then I'll be partied out for a while, I think!

WWU

Last Friday, Dolly and her BFF, Teecy, came into town. Teecy has been in Taiwan for a year and has recently arrived back in the states for good. She is like my 5th sister, so it was great to see her and spend some time with her. My sweet niece, Maddie, also came with them, too. Dolly, Teecy, and I had to go to a going away party for our friend, Stacey, that night. So, Roy stayed home with the kids while the three of us went to the party. It was so nice and fun and it was good to send Stacey off to China in style:

Teecy and Hannah:

This is funny. The girl in the middle is a friend of Stacey's from church. Stacey thinks she looks like the 6th Reber sister. It was weird seeing someone across the room who kind of resembled a family member. I think it's the nose and eyes?? Anyway, we had to get a picture with her!

Teecy could not wait to do karaoke. She had to wait her turn but it was like pulling teeth to keep her still. Stacey went first and then Hannah joined Teecy in Independent Woman by Destiny's Child. Funny!

Good luck, Stacey!

Saturday morning, Caroline and I had to be at Nordstrom's at 9:00 for a shoe-tying class. We brought Maddie along with us and she was such a good help. Caroline adores her big cousin! If you have a Nordstrom in your town, sign your child up for this class. It was adorable!

While we were at the mall, Maddie had spending money just burning a hole in her pocket. What did she choose to buy with some of it???:

She visited the candy kiosk. Classic Maddie:)

Later that night, all of us girls and the kids went to Stonecrest for some Qdoba and to listen to a cute band play some music. The kids loved it but we ended up leaving abruptly because RoyBoy did some serious poopooing and it started to leak through his shorts, and being the good, prepared moms Dolly and I are, we didn't have any wipes in our bags:)

This is when I discovered the poopoo mess. I was holding him and my right forearm got wet. Yuck!!

Teecy and Dolly left this morning, but Maddie is spending the rest of the week with us and we are having so much fun. She is being the biggest help! I wish she lived closer to us because I would love to have her as my helper all the time! This should be a fun week!

Family Fun Night

Last night our church had a big shin-dig for the preschool kids and families and we had a great time! I've said it before, but our church does a phenomenal job with the children's departments. Everything was top notch! The night started with a praise and worship time designed for preschoolers. Look who I saw while checking in to get our stuff:

Fancy Nancy, herself! This picture was not posed...she's always this helpful:)

The music was great:

The church also had a baking contest with four separate categories. When I read that the winner of each category would receive a $50 gift card to a grocery store, I was in! I consulted my Hello, Cupcake cookbook Denise gave me recently and came up with this little number to make:

Yes, those are corn on the cob cupcakes and they were very easy to make. Look at the butter tab on top! It's a yellow Starburst and the "salt and pepper" are black and white sugar crystals! I bought the cookout tray, corn trays and corn holders at Michael's on the dollar racks. Presentation is everything, you know. And guess what....

We won!! Caroline was so excited! So was I....we won $50 to Lowe's Foods! YIPPPEEE!

After the service, we went outside for a fun carnival with everything from a ferris wheel to a moon bounce, snow cones, cotton candy, a carousel...there was SO much to do and it was H-O-T.

While we were waiting in line, Caroline and Caleb were sitting on the curb. He kept sitting right next to her and she didn't like it! She would move away and he would follow her. It was hilarious!

When we got home, we were seriously dehydrated, so we drank some water and ate some of our prize winning cupcakes. We still couldn't believe we won the Grand Prize!!

Please excuse my messy house. It's super doubles at Harris Teeter this week, and I have coupons and papers everywhere. The night must have worn us out, because the kids and I didn't wake up until 8:45 this morning!

Things We Did Last Week

1. Grammy came to visit us for a few days (Roy was out of town and so was my dad). We packed a picnic lunch and went to a local park. It was a hot, humid, sticky, sweaty day and we were glad to get in the air conditioned car afterwards!!!

2. Roy Austin fell down our brick garage steps backwards after losing his balance playing peek-a-boo with me. I felt awful! At first I didn't see any damage, but the next day his nose was all scratched up and his forehead was bruised and had a big scab on it. Then he skidded (is that a word?) across some hard dirt at the park and opened up the wounds, causing them to bleed! He screamed that time. Bless his heart! He is definitely all boy. It looks like he got into a fight in an alley somewhere:

3. Thursday, we met our friends Miss Caroline and her boys Liam and Aaron at another local park. We had never been to Squirrel Lake Park, but we will definitely go back! We had a great time and the weather was perfect:

4. Saturday, our neighborhood had a yard sale. No matter how many yard sales we have, many things remain to be true:

-It really upsets me when people try to get me to go down on my prices to where they pay NOTHING for a nice item. Example: I had 2 bedside lamps for $10. I think I paid about $50 for both when I first got them. Because it was late in the sale, I told the interested buyer I'd take $8 for them. "Would you take five?" was her response. HUH? I told her no, and I was paid the $8--still a bargain!

-I LOVE when buyers pick up an item to buy and just bring you the cash for the price listed on the price tag. Thank you!

-I love seeing Liberty people come up to the sale in a LU hat or T-shirt. It's an instant fun and friendly conversation with someone over interesting topics like DeMoss Hall, how much the campus and dress code have changed, etc!

-Charlotte has many Indian, Oriental and Hispanic residents (just like any other large city). I snicker to myself every time one shows up to our sale and they ask Roy how much something is or have a question about a certain item. He instantly starts talking slow and pronounces each word really clearly for the person---whether they have a hard time speaking English or not. (example: "How much?" Roy: "Five Dollar. Very good quality".) Roy speaking broken English = very funny:)

Speaking of, this boy really gets into yard sales. He loves them!

And this time we had a booth for Caroline to run. She sold cookies and drinks for her "Vacation Fund" and racked up $27.50. Who wouldn't buy baked goods from a sweet little girl? (Carmel Baptist People---don't worry....she gave the majority of it to Jesus this morning!! Note: Our church is doing a Yard Sale challenge):

After the big sale, Roy decided to take his favorite toy out for play. He gets the biggest smile on his face when he gets to use this thing and he becomes a different person. Our next door neighbor, Charles, brought some meat over to smoke, too. These two have truly bonded over barbecue over the last year. It's funny:

And once again, Roy smoked up some delicious barbecue and ribs. When it comes to smokin', this guy can do it like the best of them! I'm glad he has a hobby that I can benefit from:)

Yikes, I chose to take a picture of him and his goods at the wrong moment. Apparently, the ribs were ready to come out of the smoker RIGHT THEN and I was taking a picture. No time for smiles, Donna.

Grandfather Mountain, Ikea and Roy Boy Strikes Again (said while pulling my hair out)!!!!

Last Wednesday, the children and I headed up to Boone to visit Nana. Roy was out of town and so was Franklin, so Jane invited us up to visit with her for the night. We had a good time as always, although it rained the majority of the time we were there. I had a fun time doing nothing:) On Thursday, we drove up to Grandfather Mountain for lunch and to see some animals. We were able to see some bears but a big storm came again so we had to leave. We will go back soon for a picnic and to cross the big bridge there and see more animals.

Caroline, Nana and Roy Austin in front of the statue of Mildred, the famous Grandfather Mountain bear.

Roy Austin watching the otters. These guys were fun to watch.

On Friday, we went with Jessica and her children to Charlotte's new Ikea. All of the excitement of it opening has died down, so we thought it would be a good time to go. It's a great store but it's a little overwhelming because it's so big! They have a little cafe and free childcare, which we took advantage of:)

Kathryn and RoyBoy getting ready to eat lunch.

Caleb and Caroline wearing their new bibs. Now, I realize these 4 year olds may look too old to be wearing these bibs but Jessica had a great idea. These bibs are the hard plastic kind that form a little tray at the bottom. She uses them in the car for when the kids have to eat lunch (ie: chicken nuggets) in the car. She puts the food in the tray part of the bib and it acts as the plate so food doesn't get all in the carseats and on the floor. GENIUS idea!

And this little guy. He's eaten a Cascade gel pack, a cigarette butt, fertilizer, sidewalk chalk. He plays in toilets, climbs anything and everything and at the tender young age of 19 months, I can now add climbing out of his crib to his bag of tricks. AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Today Roy, Caroline and I spent the early afternoon playing outside, pulling an occasional weed and enjoying the sunshine while our sweet boy took his nap. Around 4:00 Roy told me to go wake RoyBoy up so we could all go on a walk. I came inside, turned the corner on the stairway and there was Roy Austin coming down the stairs and holding a CD, looking at me as if to say "Hey! What's up?". I just stood there staring at him in disbelief. Do you know how dangerous that could have been?He had been up for a while because things were pulled out of my closet and other places throughout the upstairs. What in the world?! Caroline was in the crib for a little less than 2.5 years and she NEVER ONCE climbed out. Not once! Why God, WHY?! Does anyone need a strong dose of birth control?