hello fall!

Well, fall is officially here!! We are welcoming it with open arms around our house! Unfortunately, this week fall came with LOTS of rain! Seriously.. EVERY single day.. it rained!! So.. that required new rain boots! :)

I also attempted to get a few fall decorations out on the front porch. Although, it's not much right now! Still waiting on my hubby to bring home some mums and hay bails (although that will probably be closer to Halloween!)

Fall = College Football!!

So.. HOPEFULLY, the rain will let up this weekend (my kids are itching to get out of the house!!) and we can run some errands. We are planning a low-key, fall cleaning weekend! The garage, the house, everything! Just about every weekend since early August has been filled and this will be our last non-busy weekend again till mid-November. So, we need to take advantage of the break and get some things done around the house!! In all honesty... I am DEFINITELY looking forward to it.. I am just plain worn out these days!

As you can tell... being indoors has started to get to them!! haha! OH BOYS! :)

railcars, continued . . .

There is nothing like seeing your child’s face full of awe! Well, we were lucky enough to witness this sweet face on Sunday when we took Ethan to “Day Out With Thomas”! We got up bright and early Sunday morning and headed to Nashville. We loaded the car with toys, books, Thomas trains, crayons, snacks and E’s MP3 player for the car ride. I was worried how he would do b/c he can NOT sit still for very long, but he surprised both Chris and me and did remarkably well. We got into Nashville around 11:30am and had just enough time to play at all the Thomas exhibits before our train departure at 1pm. They had several tents set up with temporary tattoos, a Thomas video and storytime, Thomas train tables (which E LOVED!), and a few bounce houses.. which I think he almost like more than the train ride itself! ;) He even got to meet Sir Topham Hatt! At 1 pm, we boared our train car, driven by Thomas himself!, and went for a 20min ride!! Aftwards, we got to go down to the engine and meet Thomas!! Ethan was so excited! He was even able to convince Mommy to buy him a train whistle! (still dont know what I was thinking on that one!! ah!) On the way home, we stopped in downtown Nashville for lunch. Ethan loved all the music on Broadway. After lunch, it was back to Memphis and we were all exhausted! I think we were all in bed by 8:30! It was all totally worth it though, b/c our kiddos had a great weekend! (and so did we!) :)

the car was packed with Ethan's toys... luckily, they kept him entertained for the car ride!

Sir Topham Hatt!

getting his Harold tattoo!

Train Tables!! :)

Mommy - "Ethan, who are you going to see??"

Ethan (with arms in hair and super excitment in his voice) - "THOMAS!!!"

his new sunglasses!

On the train being pulled by Thomas!

Daddy, Ethan and Thomas!

What a fun day! I would recommend for anyone to go to this event!! :)

giving Thomas a "high five"!

lunch... these two are just plain trouble!:)

soccer stars & railcars

I don’t know about you, but there are certain weeks and days that are just EXHAUSTING when you’re trying to raise children!! Some days you just have had enough and you’re a little “snappy”, then of course, you feel completely awful about it and start to contemplate whether you’re a good mother! Trust me, I do this often! There are just some days when being a constant chauffeur to two kiddos is just more than I can handle! (and yes, I do still work part time on top of it all!) And like I said, every time I have a “bad moment” in the mothering world.. I immediately get that guilty feeling and try to make it up ASAP! The weekdays get crazy for us.. like really really crazy! By Friday, I.AM.EXHAUSTED. beyond function. So, because our weekdays can get a little out of hand, I’ve tried really hard recently to make the weekends all that much more exciting. I want the kids to be able to let loose and have a good time. B/C let’s face it, when they’re having fun and running wild (somewhere other than inside my house!) it makes our jobs as parents that much easier and more enjoyable. At least for me it does! I feel like I’m “off duty” for a few minutes. Well, this weekend was one of those.. one of those “super exciting, let your hair down and just have a ball” weekends! I’ll have to do several posts to fit it all in, but I will definitely fill you all in!

First up.. Lilly Kate had her VERY first soccer game of the season! And wouldn’t you believe it… my prim and proper princess kicked some major butt! (I am SO proud!) Her team won 12-2 .. I think they just stopped counting toward the end. She has some amazing kiddos on her team! She was very excited and it was cute to watch her smile for the camera each time she would kick the ball down field.. she knew I was snapping away! :) The ENTIRE family came out to watch and she couldn’t have been more thrilled! How lucky is she?! We are looking forward to another WIN this coming up Saturday!!

My little lady playing goalie..

Cheering on Sister!
Googs and E.. LK's biggest fans!

getting a Good Luck hug!there she goes... #4!

of course, Ethan found dirt...

and everyone just watched him in amazement!

what a trooper... Aunt Lyns is the best!

Noni and E watching the game!

giving high fives after the game!

Team huddle!

GO TIGERS!

Stickles Family

Hunt Family

Smith/Kessler Family

My little soccer star!

After the game, we all headed over to the Germantown Festival! We do it every year and it never fails to be a good time!! The kids got their fill of bounce house fun while Mommy scored some major shopping deals!! I got some adorable metal signs for the house for the holidays. I even gave in and bought Chris a "Go Tigers Go" sign for the porch! :) Chris found some Memphis T-shirts. And LK got some a bow of every color for only $2.75 a bow!!! Coming from a Mom who has spent countless amounts of dollars on hairbows only to have them lost on the playground... THAT is a good deal!! :)

Saturday was such a blast... And Sunday had even more in store for us..