Flowers in her hair...

Because of her expertise, Sarah Grace was asked to be the flower girl in another wedding. This time for the sister of the bride in July. The weekend started off cold and wet but ended beautifully. It took place at Chota Falls in Clayton GA, about an hour and half from home, near Dillard. It was THE prettiest wedding destination I've ever seen. Everywhere you looked it was breathtaking and the Fall color was gorgeous!

I checked SG out of school early on Friday (which she loved) and we headed up for the rehearsal. The weather was terrible. It was pouring and really cold. We were all in coats and gloves. They went ahead with the outside rehearsal, under lots of umbrellas, and then we got to warm up inside for dinner. Dinner was nice, BBQ and fried chicken. Sarah Grace ate and ate. But she really couldn't wait for dinner to be over so we could go to our hotel. That was what she was most excited about. Our room was right next door to my parents and she thought it was so much fun to run from room to room playing in her pj's. After we finally got her to sleep and we had a good night's rest it was back to Chota for the wedding day.We got there around 11 AM so she could have her hair done. This turned out to be quite the saga. The original plan was for her to wear a wreath of flowers in her hair. So, after much fidgeting with that we decided it looked and felt like it was going to slide out of her hair, it was enormous. So we went to attempt #2. We took out the wreath and placed tiny roses in and around her curls, which by this time were already starting to fall out... So, after we were happy with the flowers, we had to brush out her hair and totally re-curl it. She had her done 3 times in 2 hours and she was a trooper! She did not enjoy it. But when it was done it looked sweet, and she got to put on her dress and new jewelry.

Then it was time for pictures. There has never been a more perfect place for wedding pictures! There were tree lined dirt lanes, fields, rivers, falls, fountains, a chapel, beautiful trees and a vineyard. Sarah Grace was quite the performer for the pics. She was beautiful; and she loved everyone fussing over her and getting to stay with Suzanne, the bride, all day.When it was time for the wedding she did great. It took place outside, at the base of a waterfall, on a stone bridge and the guests sat in and around ivy covered stone walls and candle light. She did just what she was supposed to do. She started out holding hands with the ring bearer and then let go and started tossing her petals. She did good, much more focused and mature than the previous wedding. Then came the bride in a horse drawn carriage, my personal favorite. The ceremony was sweet and the newlyweds were then whisked away in the carriage.

After a few group pics it was time for the reception. On the way there we saw the horses and SG got to sit on one and wear the driver's top hat, and he invited us for ride later. It was neat. After some hoer d' oeuvres, and the entrance of the bridal party Krista and I took him up on the carriage ride. It was so fun. The driver stopped the carriage a couple of times and let SG make the noise to get the horses to go. And then at the end he ran them really fast back to the reception hall, both of girls had a ball.

The reception was nice, and the food was really good, steak and crab cakes. :) After dinner and the guys watching football in the pub, it was time to dance. Sarah Grace and Payton had already been cutting a rug, but now everyone else joined in. They were the hits of the dance floor. The bigger Sarah Grace could get her dress to spin the happier she was. Then came cake time. They were amazing! The best chocolate mousse cake and a fresh pineapple layer cakes ever!!! So good. The girls played around a little more after dessert and then it was time to go. We changed into our pj's and headed for home.

Go BLUE!

Sarah Grace has started her next venture into extracurricular activities. We're doing football cheer leading. She cheers for the K-4th grade boys flag football teams at the church she went to preschool at (and played soccer for).

We started with several weeks of practice. I was really surprised how many cheers they were expected to learn, 10+. But, by the 2nd week she was really starting to get them. She and her friend Hollie are the youngest on the squad and she's in awe of the older girls, some are twice her age. She watches them cheer, when she's supposed to be, and forgets her part because she's so interested in how they do things (but she's getting better). She fits right in with the big girls, and has seen several of them in school and is excited when older kids speak to her in front of her friends.

I would be lying if I said her games were fun. They are loooooonnnnngggg and slow, and they do the same cheers over and over and over... But she enjoys it. She feels very grown up and loves her pom poms (Charlotte loves pom poms too).

She also loves holding the banner for the boys to run through before the game. I think that's every one's favorite part. They also come to center field at half time and do cheers with the crowd, that's fun to watch. She's cute jumping around and cheering. She cheers for 2 teams, both are navy and white and they alternate weeks. She has up to 2 games a week and it gets chilly. It really feels like fall, chilly nights watching football... Go BLUE!

Happy Birthday Columbus

We celebrate every one's birthday in our house, and Christopher Columbus is no exception. ;0) Because Sarah Grace had Monday off from school for Columbus Day we decided to go somewhere and make it a special day. So, we called the Gadds and planned a day at the Game Ranch. Krista and I packed up the girls and headed to see the animals. It was a beautiful day, warm and breezy.

We got there and were greeted by 5 of the tiniest little deer. They were days to maybe a couple of weeks old. They loved peanuts! They, like all the animals, eat right our of your hand. One of them, the tiniest, had a broken leg but it hopped right up the the gate for his share the peanuts. All four girls took an immediate interest in feeding and petting the animals. Well, Charlotte didn't want to feed any of them but she did pet the deer and bunnies. And she wasn't frightened when a greedy squirrel climbed on her leg looking for a nut.

After the deer was the bunny farm. It was a huge gated area you could go in and play with bunnies. The girls loved it, especially Claire. She thought it was so funny. She'd touch one and then do her bouncy dance and squeal. The big girls liked that the rabbits came up to you (looking for treats). There were rocks for them to hind under (and the girls to climb on) and lots of bunny holes with babies peeking out. Come to think of it, all the animals had babies. You would've thought it was Spring time.

On our way to the petting farm we passed fox, coyotes, bobcat, bison, peacocks, raccoons (running in a giant hamster wheel), cougars, porcupine, and ducks. If you remember, this is the same place we sent Abby and Emmy, our Easter ducks to. We found a group of ducks like them, and they were huge and noisy, which just reaffirmed our decision to send them away. As we walked around we took breaks to feed the deer (which roam free and walk right up to you), chipmunks and squirrels. There was one squirrel that followed along behind the stroller for a while, and when we'd stop he'd run up to one of us and look for who had the nuts. He'd take the nut with one hand and hold onto your finger with the other. Some of the deer were snobbish toward nuts. They were looking for variety. They preferred veggies.

We finally got around to the petting farm. There were pigs, sheep, donkeys, and goats. And they all wanted your attention. The donkeys kicked at the gates making noise to get treats. The goats and sheep would stick their heads through the fence and nip at you until you gave them nuts or grass. But the funniest thing was the donkey that only wanted your attention if you had food. We were out of nuts and I was petting this donkey and after a few seconds he realized I had nothing to give him and he let me have it! I'm pretty sure I was cussed at in donkey. He rared his head back and then stuck his face in mine and started SCREAMING!! It was hilarious and drew quite a crowd. It was so loud and went on for at least a minute and he was looking right at me the whole time. We laughed so hard. And that pretty much ended our day, with one more stop by the baby deer as we left. :)

Pumpkin Time

I can't believe it's that time of year already. It seems like just yesterday we were at the beach... It's Fall!!! My favorite time of the year. I love the cooler weather, the Fair, Halloween, my birthday, and getting out my Winter clothes (not to mention shopping for them). We just went to the pumpkin patch. It's just the start to our many October outings. We went with my family and a few people from our Sunday school class. It was a nice day, really warm, but pretty. We started by picking pumpkins (we didn't actually buy any b/c they were so $$$) but we browsed the fields and took pics. The girls were all more interested in picking the yellow blossoms than they were of looking at the pumpkins. And it was no small feat trying to get all 4 girls to cooperate for pictures! As in years past, we looked at pumpkins, went to the petting farm, rode the hayride, watched the pig races and had a picnic. After lunch and some time on the playground we went to ride the Cow Train. If you don't remember from previous posts it's made of metal drums cut to look like cows that are put on wheels and drug around the farm by a tractor. Cute, but terribly uncomfortable! What we do for our kids... After the Cow Train we went play on the slides and then we discovered the Corn Pit!!! It was the most clever idea ever. And it was by far the girls' favorite thing of the entire day. It was a shed with the floor filled to about 2 feet deep with giant corn kernels. Like a sand box/ball pit, and they had a ball! Sarah Grace buried herself, and Charlotte enjoyed making it rain corn. They played in the pit forever! It was so much fun to watch and I kind of wanted to play in it myself... It was a great day!

Hey Ya'll! Let's go to the Fair!

You know when the Fair is in town it's almost time for Santa to come down the chimney! The Fair seems to mark the the change of seasons, from Summer straight to Christmas because time seems to fly! The Fair is a huge deal in our family... Many moons ago, pre-kids, we'd all go and eat and ride till we were sick or either out of money. These days we don't ride anything we just watch the kids. But we still leave broke! ;0)

Like always, we met for dinner at the meat and 3 tent and ate. Well, at least the adults did. The girls were all too preoccupied watching the rides and planning what to do first.

After we managed to get everyone to eat a few bites we went to the 4-H tent to see and pet the baby animals. There were baby cows, chicks, bunnies, pigs, goats and ducklings. My favorite were the 2, 2 week old calves. They were still wobbly legged and they licked your hand like a kitten. The girls seemed to all really like the little yellow chicks. Charlotte wouldn't leave to look anything else once she saw them. She just watched and giggled. When you leave the tent they give you a carton of chocolate milk and Charlotte saw Sarah Grace drinking hers so she wanted to drink "mik" like "Ga Gay". After unsuccessfully trying to distract her I gave in, and like I was afraid, she spilled it all over. But she made lots of yummy noises in the process. After the milk fiasco Charlotte noticed Claire was dancing and wanted to dance too. They started quite the side-show. Eventually all 4 girls were boogieing to the blaring 80's music. Claire had the most rhythm, she does quite the booty dance!

When the music ended we went to see the cows, ox, goats, and pigs in the judging arena. Charlotte had no fear of touching the animals, even the giant ox. After walking through much cow poo we made our way to the goats. We had heard there were some tiny ones that were just born... We found them and they were as cute and as a small as puppies. Krista and I both said we'd take one as a pet. They were SOOOO sweet! They bounced instead of walked and made the cutest little noises. It made you want to be their mommy. :)

Now came the real fun, the rides! Payton and SG rode the first one and after it started Charlotte realized what they were doing (without her) and wanted to go to. So she rode next and from then on they all rode everything together. She was not going to be left out. Oddly enough the only ride she was scared of was the merry-go-round. She rode it but was very solemn. We watched them ride rides for over an hour and then went to find dessert. After funnel cake, cotton candy, and a caramel-peanut covered apple we went to ride the "Bull". Really. We were walking around eating our desserts and stopped to watch a mechanical bull (they changed the intensity based on the rider). It was really funny and dad (my dad) wanted to do it. After mom convinced him not to he used Charlotte as a ploy to get on. They climbed on, strapped it and off they went. It was cute and she loved it she laughed the whole time and liked when it would dip and spin. After her bull riding debut it was home and in the bed.

DC

Adam and I had a weekend away from the girls recently. We went to Washington DC for his cousin Micheal's (and Cristin's) wedding. We stayed in town, at the Capitol City Hyatt, right down the street from the Capitol building. It was so pretty. It rained on our drive in from the airport and was beautiful after that. We were there with his parents and Tyler and Lauren. We packed in as much as we could in the two and half days we were there. And we had time to spend with family as well. The first day we ate lunch and Union Station, which was beautiful and HUGE, and then went back to freshen up for dinner at his aunt and uncle's house. Dinner was nice and it was great to have time to catch up with family.

The next morning we got up early and were at the museums before they opened, so we decided to go eat breakfast. Turned out we were going to need it for our marathon day... We started with the Air and Space Museum, went to the American Indian Museum (not much to see), went to National Museum of Art (I could have stayed there ALL day), Museum of Natural History, and the National Zoo (and saw almost everything). To put the amazingness of our schedule into perspective, we started our day about 10:00 and did all this and were showered, dressed and at the rehearsal dinner 45 min away by 7:00. We met at a Japanese restaurant, my favorite, and had a great meal. We ate more than should be allowed. It was a fun day/night and we went back to our hotel stuffed and worn out!

Saturday started the same as the day before, breakfast and then we hit the museums. We started at the Holocaust Museum. We had heard great things about it and Adam's aunt and uncle spent 4 hours there the day before. We didn't have 4 hours to spend, but we wanted to see it. It was really interesting. Adam teased me about almost crying a couple of times. If you're ever there you should go see it! It was sad but very well done. You felt like you were really there in the ghettos. After the museum we went shopping and then back to the hotel to get ready for the weeding. The wedding was really sweet and at a beautiful little church. It was a gorgeous day for a wedding.

After the reception, we headed back into the city to see the monuments. It was a beautiful night, warm and breezy. There was a pretty sunset while we were at the Lincoln Memorial and a full, orange, moon at the Jefferson. Standing on the steps of the Jefferson, facing the Capitol with the city lit up and the moon huge and orange was quite a sight. After we saw all of the monuments we went in search of dessert. We went to a French bistro we had been told about, right up from the White House. It was SOOO good!! Pastries are my weakness! We ate outside on cute patio and I ate until I was ill, really! I had the best hot chocolate and choc-banana tart in the world! Then we walked back through the city to the car and headed to our hotel. It was a great weekend!