Friday Night Football

Whenever I explain to Chloe and Yates that we are going to watch Daddy's football game neither one of our children ever complain.  In fact, usually there are shouts of joy and excitement as if I have just told them we are going to get ice cream.  Football games mean they get to see Daddy, of course, but it also means they get to see their friends and play on the football field after the game.  It's our social outing for the week, that's for sure and we look forward to every game win or lose.

Happy Fall Ya'll

I'm usually one to wish summer would never end... 

but this year I'm ready for the crisp air fall morning and nights bring, good mountain apples baked into an apple pie and snuggles on the couch with my little pumpkins.

Fall is the busiest time of year for our little family- with Daddy's football season lasting from summer to winter, in the past our fall months have been a blur.  This year I have a list of things I want to do, and I hope we as a family can accomplish all of them so the warmer months before winter aren't forgotten.

1 // Apple picking.  Apples are my absolute favorite fruit (and quite possibly maybe my favorite food), I have never loved anything more than a fresh Honeycrisp apple in season.

2 // Picking a pumpkin from a pumpkin patch... of course.  But you'd be surprised how hard it is for us to find a free weekend in October to do this as a family.

3 // Baking a fresh apple pie with Chloe from the apples we pick as a family.  And watching Yates eat it, with a side of ice cream.

4 // Making smores.  Outside, with friends.

5 // Seeing the leaves change around our mountain house.  It's hard for us to get up there while Daddy has a game every Friday night, and works every Sunday but I need to see the leaves change.  The beauty of the mountains during the fall soothes me.

6 // Also baking pumpkin muffins for our neighbors and making butternut squash soup.

7 // Keeping up our garden.  I know it's a bit late to plant kale and carrots but I'd love to enjoy them through the fall months.  We still have handfuls of tomatoes coming in, with bell and banana peppers everyday.  Going outside to pick fresh vegetables to eat for dinner every  night gives me so much joy... and I'd love chickens with fresh eggs next...

8 // Date night with hubby.  Seeing that football season means that I don't see my husband, and when I do he's stressed, anxious or worried - I love when I get a night alone with him... relaxed and all to myself.

9 // Family pictures.  I know, I know, I take pictures all the time.  But never of the four of us... all together.  Sometimes I wish time would stand still, and pictures are a way for me to do that, which is why I take so many.  We have never had pictures professionally taken by someone else since before Yates was born.

10 // A fire in our fireplace, on a crisp fall night, with my husband after the kids are asleep.  This could count as date night.

Weekend Recap

It was a good weekend, a really good weekend.  We missed Dada... a lot since he had to work and only saw us Saturday - but leaving early Friday morning and coming back late Sunday afternoon made the weekend a nice and relaxed one.

A few high notes:

1 // Yates and Chloe ate an entire jar of cookies.  I blame that on Granny and Papa.

2 // Yates kept begging for Raisin Bran- we kept telling him "no" he wouldn't like it but finally gave in and guess what... he ate four bowl fulls - who would of thought that one.

3 // Chloe can play a mean game of Scrabble.  Actually Aunt Em can - team Chloe and Mama came in second, Granny came in third... but I bet she won't admit it if you ask her.

4 // We joined the Peace Parade in Boone with Aunt Em on Friday.  So typical, she's a hippie at heart, and well ... so are we.

5 // We ate candy from the candy store... obviously.  Thank goodness for the Mast General Store.  We should probably start to invest in their company - it would be a smart move and help out our candy habit.

6 // Sunday afternoon the kids and I visited an alpaca farm and saw a few animals including roosters... which Yates calls "doo-doos" because they say "cock-a-doodle-doo" ... oh how I love him - so much.

7 // We picked a few flowers for Papa (he just had shoulder surgery) off the side of the road on the way up to Granny and Papa's mountain house.

8 // We spent Saturday afternoon watching football with Dada, and napping on the couch with the cool mountain breeze blowing in back porch.  I imagine that is about what heaven is like.

You were good to us mountains, thanks for a really, really great weekend.


Until next time...

10 Things

10 Things that make my baby boy happy:

1 // He loves food.  Sweet or salty, if it fills his tummy he's happy.

2 // Mama.  He's a Mama's boy, in every single way.

3 // Football.  Watching it on TV, going to Dada's games or holding a football... he's in love.

4 // Choo-choos.  While Chloe is in dance we sit behind her studio and watch the trains go by.  I look forward to our time together every week, just the two of us... watching trains go by.

5 // Motorcycles.  He loves to say "vroom, vroom" and calls them "Dada" since Dada has one- and besides motorcycle is a hard word to say anyways.

6 // Bedtime.  He loves to go to bed, and sleep in his own crib where it is peaceful and quiet.  Recently though he has asked me to "rock, rock" and won't let Mama go.  So we have been holding hands through the crib until he falls asleep.  I fall for it every night.

7 // Papa.  He gives him cookies, and things like 4-wheelers.  He's cool like that.

8 // Mowing the grass.  Because Dada has a riding lawn mover and that is really, really cool.

9 // To be naked.  He doesn't like clothes, or his diaper- and takes pride in the fact that he can take them off and parade around the house in his birthday suit.

10 // Outside.  Ever since he was born he loved to be outside.  The fresh air calms him and he loves the sounds of the birds, trees, and wind.

10 Things

10 things that make this little girl happy:

1 // Lollipops.  Thank goodness for those silly little dum-dums.

2 // Princesses, or more specifically Princess Sophia, Princess Anna, and Cinderella.

3 // Daddy.  He does no wrong, says no wrong.  He wins over everything.

4 // Cheerleaders.  She thinks she is one, and that makes her a big girl.

5 // The color pink.  Pink ice cream, pink shoes, pink crayons, pink tutus.

6 // Books.  But she must read to you after you read to her.  She's bossy like that.

7 // Singing.  Bless her heart she can't carry a tune, but that's what makes it all the more precious.

8 // Papa.  Because he lets her have that second, third and fourth cookie... before dinner.

9 // Nighttime.  But not bedtime.  This little girl is a night owl and is always happy when the sun goes down and she can snuggle on the couch with Mama and Dada.  It might also have something to do with the fact that her bedtime has always been later than Yates's, so she gets us to herself for a while.  But she doesn't like to go to bed.

10 // Home.  She loves to socialize and to get out of the house but is always so happy to come home, even if we just run a quick errand to the store.  She's a homebody and I take pride in the fact that she thinks of her home as a comfortable, loving place.

Friday Night Football

Our favorite memories as a family are made on Friday nights.  The anticipation that day, knowing we are going to Daddy's football game makes Friday a buzz of excitement around our house.  Watching Daddy from afar on the bleachers, visiting with friends and eating sweets way past bedtime makes it an exciting night in itself.

But once the game is over - and everyone gathers on the field - that is my favorite part, it's what we have been waiting all day for.  Chloe and Yates run into Daddy's arms, their patience in waiting to see Daddy- to kiss Daddy- to hug Daddy all day is gone.  Chloe loves to socialize with her "fellow cheerleaders" and adores the attention she gets from the fans, players, and her friends.  But Yates just wants Daddy, and knows he will get to stay in his arms while Daddy mingles with reporters, the players and their families.  He knows football is important to Daddy, and so football is important to him- and he takes that very seriously.  After the last words are spoken on the field and the players and fans start to make their way home, Daddy takes Yates up to the press box where he does his post-game radio show.  Yates goes with him, and by the look on my little boy's face he knows it is a privilege, and his smile glows with pride. 

A coach's son doesn't know, and doesn't care what the score on the scoreboard means- but he does know that his Daddy is his hero... and if Yates could tell him, I know I know he would say how proud he is of his Daddy and the hardwork he puts into his team each and every day of the week.

The Many Faces of a Toddler

The many faces of a two and a half year old...

 

 

Grumpy: Getting up too early (as in, before 8:00 am) in the morning makes you grumpy.  You like to sleep in... and need at least 10-15 minutes of the snooze button before your feet hit the ground.

 

Happy: Daddy and candy make you happy.  Enough said.

 

Sassy: You are sassy, well... let's be honest, most of the time.  But when you play dress-up in your Cinderella dress and wave your "princess wand" we are all subject to your "orders"... and you can get really, really sassy.

 

Silly: You love games.  You love to play hide-n-seek, ring-around-the-rosy and dancing in the kitchen.  You also are a night owl and love to be extra silly when it's time to go to bed. (That drives me crazy by the way, in case you were wondering.)

Daddy's Girl

 

She wanted to play dress-up, as always.  Instead of  the usual Cinderella dress and slippers I suggested Daddy's old college football jersey.  We had just cleaned out closets and I found his jersey tucked away in Yates's room.  She initially turned her nose up ("football is for boys, Mama"), but when I told her "make-up" was involved she quickly agreed.  The funny part of it all was that she called it a dress, because it was so big... so I foresee many more dress-up days in the future with Daddy's dress.

(p.s. This was one of those in-the-moment pictures that I took with my phone.  They turned out blurry/grainy and I regret not getting my camera out.  I still had to share these though when I realized she looked so darn cute ...)

Spaghetti Night

Granny's spaghetti dinner is a very exciting night in our house.  For everyone involved.  Yates usually eats seconds, thirds and sometimes even fourths.  Coach waits very (im)patiently at the foot of his highchair for at least a bite or two.  And Mama gets to clean up the mess... or disaster that is created.  To say that spaghetti gets everywhere is an understatement- but really that is just a testament as to how good it is and how quickly it gets shoveled into bellies.  I used to be that Mama that would quickly give the kids a bath, scrub down the floors, and get anxiety just thinking about the fact that spaghetti would create hours worth of cleaning- but I am learning to embrace the moment and realize that a kid with a spaghetti stained mouth is pretty darn cute, and a four legged vacuum cleaner does a pretty good job helping me clean up.

A messy spaghetti night is worth it, and especially since it is cooked with Granny's love.