A Beautiful Fall Day at Its Best!

George, Pres, Brooks and Ty

While Steve is away hunting, I am holding down the fort.  As most Saturdays are, we had a very busy day.  We started off in West Homewood watching Preston play flag football.  Sadly Bennett and I had to leave for her volleyball game and missed the two touchdowns he made for his team which led to their FIRST win all season!  Thankfully Mimi and Papa were there for his great game!  To say that Pres was excited about his performance is an understatement.


Meanwhile, over on the other side of Homewood, Bennett played volleyball.  She had a great game too, but it wasn't enough.  The poor lima beans lost another game.  But her spirit and love for the sport haven't waivered.


After lunch, the kids played outside until we headed to a friend's party at her family farm.  It was a beautiful fall day with 70 degree temps....perfection!

The kids each had friends there, so they immediately found them.  Pres started throwing the football, and Bennett did crafts.  Shortly thereafter, we took a hayride to the pumpkin patch.  Of course all of the older kids wanted the huge pumpkins, and Walker just wanted one that he could carry.

Jennifer did a great job planning this party with games like needle in the haystock, bobbing for apples, and lots of tasty snacks. Fun was definitely had by everyone, but I can only chase Walker for so long, so we packed up and drove home.



kids with their pumpkins

Chrissi, Nicole, me, Jennifer and Shannon

SCE Owl Prowl!

Every Fall at Shades Cahaba, the kids participate in a fun run.  The older kids run just under a mile, and the Kindergartners and 1st grades run 1/2 mile. 
Though Preston didn't care if I ran with him or not, I elected to do it just to pace him.  The kid takes off like a bullet, and then peters out.  Sadly this day was no different.  He is so competitive, there was no way he was going to let one of his little friends get an early lead.  So he shot off, and left me in his dust.  I didn't catch him until he made the turn (all of the kids look the same wearing their school shirts), but as soon as I saw him I could tell he was upset.  I asked him if his asthma was bothering him (it wasn't), and he finally admitted that he wanted to win, but knew that there were a couple of kids ahead of him.  So we put it into high gear and booked it all the way back to the school and down the small hill into the finish line.  Sadly he didn't place (they give awards for the top 3 kids in each grade), but he was definitely in the top ten....but that wasn't good enough.  I love Preston's drive, but if he doesn't win - he is not a happy camper.



with Jon David (P crying because he didn't win)

B and her 3rd grade girlfriends

Bennett, on the other hand, would have been as happy as a clam to just cheer on her friends and brother from the sidelines.....but she ran too.  She loved having me run with her to keep her going.

Thankfully it was a perfect day, sunny and not too hot.  In addition, every child walked away with a ribbon, regardless if they placed.

Bennett right before she started

Tate and Bennett did it!!

Our Cute Lil Lima Bean

This fall Bennett decided to try something new....volleyball!  She plays for the YMCA, which is a great motivating environment.  She practices twice a week, and has games on Saturday mornings.  So far, she loves it!  Thanks to Aunt Shell, she can now serve the ball over the net.  She, along with the rest of her teammates, are still a little shy when it comes to hitting a serve or volleying the ball though.  Therefore they haven't won yet, but they have a few more games, so maybe they will get the big "W" before the season is up.

We are thrilled that she is having fun and enjoying it though, and hoping that she chooses to continue playing in the spring.  We don't know that much about volleyball, but we are slowly learning alongside of Bennett!

We especially love our lil lima bean, and her darling uniform!

Taylor Swift



I believe everyone can recall their first concert, mine was supposed to be the Beastie Boys, but they cancelled the show last minute.  So when Bennett asked to go see "Fresh Beat Band" a year ago, I stalled.  They were a band on a TV show, and were incredibly goofy.  I was holding out for something better, and the best became available when Taylor Swift started touring.  She is one of the best pop country singers, and has grown up and evolved into a wonderful singer, performer and role model for our little girls.  She writes wonderful music that is from her heart, and she was coming to Nashville this Fall! 

Shannon and I decided that we would take the girls together, a fun memory for them to share.  So we pulled the girls out of school half day, and drove up to Nashville.  We checked into our hotel room, got ready and the girls decorated posters for the concert.  We listened to her "1989" album, which was what this tour was based on, and just hung out.  We had VIP tickets, which got us in early to eat dinner, have cocktails and listen to the opening acts.

So excited for their big night!

Just us girls

When we got to our seats we found bracelets taped to each seat.  We put them on, but didn't realize the significance until the show started.  Taylor kicked off the show at 9:15PM, and the whole arena was aglow with everyone's computer operated bracelets!  They glowed pink, blue and green and it really was cool to look around and see everyone's wrists matching as we danced for the next two hours.  

Steven Tyler

Moving catwalk

Alison Krause

Thrilled about her new T Swift tshirt

Something special about this tour for Taylor has been her special guests.  Every concert, in every city, she has had a guest performer sing a song with her.  Being in her home of Nashville, we were excited to see who she had lined up.  Lucky us, she had three: Kelsea Ballerini, Steven Tyler and Alison Krause!  Of course the girls didn't recognize her guests, but we did!!


The girls did great for the first hour of her show, but started to fade as 10:30 approached.  They were still awake, just not as enthusiastic.  Thankfully she sang "Shake it Off" at just the right time, and the girls popped up and sang along.  She stopped singing around 11:30, and then had a fireworks show in downtown Nashville following the concert, which we watched while heading back to our hotel.


Love my girl!


It was a fun-filled night, and everyone was pooped when we got home, but what fun we had!  I can't wait to see who Preston decides to see, and I hope I get to take him!

Happy 7th Birthday Preston!

1 Day Old

I can't believe how fast all of our children are growing up and changing.  Their hairstyles are changing, their clothes preferences are changing, their interests are changing....they are becoming individuals!  This month Preston turned 7 years old!

As much as I want all of our children to look like me, have my tendencies/habits and share my interests....Preston is his Daddy!  He looks like his Daddy, he is athletic like his Daddy, and he is analytical like his Daddy.  The only thing I have going for me with Preston, is the fact that he likes to snuggle with me and he is good at manipulating his mommy.  The only other reach is our LOVE for Mexican food, primarily cheese dip!  I blame my cravings for Mexican food during my pregnancies for the reason my boys LOVE Mexican food now!




7 Years Old

I think Preston had a pretty good birthday...he opened presents before school, Steve and I surprised him at school as mystery readers, and then had lunch with him and his class.  We even pulled out the "selfie stick" in the cafeteria, which was a big hit amongst the kids.

7 yrs old at SCE

Mystery Reader for Bday Boy!

Goofy 1st Graders!

The other table of Ms Jones' students

Of course after school, Pres wanted his birthday celebration to continue, so after swim team practice, we let him pick where he wanted to eat.  He chose Tecate!  We had a great dinner, and completed the annual birthday questionnaire.  Just when Pres thought we were wrapping things up, they surprised him with a large sombrero and sang Happy Birthday to him!  He was so startled, yet so happy ....it was awesome!

My lil stud

Love each and every one of our children, and their unique personalities!  Happy Birthday Preston, we love you BIG much!!

Don't Turn Around for a Minute!

6 months old - happy baby!

I have always heard from friends that the "babies" in the families are the most adaptable babies, but grow up fast, and ultimately give you the most grief.  So far....Walker is right on the money with those statements! 

Walker was an absolutely wonderful baby!  He slept through the night at 7-8 weeks, was happy and content regardless of not having a rigid nap schedule (which was hard to do with carpools and big kid schedules).  He was a great eater at a young age, bypassing most baby food and going straight to table food.  He never took a pacifier, and easily transferred to sippy cups by age one!  He was a dream, right?!

just under 10 months

Walker was also my earliest walker, at 10 months.  He had no fear and mastered going up and down the stairs in our house by 1.5 years old, and was a professional climber of any and all pieces of furniture!  If he wanted something, he would just push something to a nearby counter and get it.  He also didn't need to whine long for Bennett or Preston to give him what he wanted.  Because of all of this, the writing was on the wall this summer.  I knew that he was going to be more challenging than my other two, so I panicked and enrolled him in an additional mother's day out program so he would go all five mornings of the week.  I felt a little guilty at first, but it didn't last.





In fact, my mental well-being is much healthier now that I have all of my mornings to myself to exercise, clean, run errands and work.  I have found that I can not leave Walker alone for more than a minute before he finds trouble!  His latest was something that occurred in less than 5 minutes.  I left him sitting at the breakfast counter (the big kids had just left for school), so I could go put my hair up and brush my teeth.  I came out to find him drawing circles with a black sharpie on my sofa!!!!!  I went completely crazy, screaming and twirling around in a rage.  During my spinning, I noticed his artwork on 3 other chairs in my living room, in addition to a stool and several areas on the hardwood floors and a glasstop table.  Steve was out of town, but that didn't stop me from calling him in hysterics asking for help.  Minutes later I got several text messages with youtube videos on how to remove the stains from him.  I immediately started cleaning, and wasn't having much luck, so I took pictures and posted them to Facebook, asking for help.  During this whole period (about 45 minutes), Walker didn't move from where I put him during my freak-out episode.  He just stared at me, as if he didn't know me.

Thankfully a dry cleaner was able to successfully remove 90% of the stains (who would've guessed to use a dry cleaner?), but it was that morning that I stopped feeling guilty about putting him in "school" 5 mornings a week.  Walker needs interaction with others all of the time, whether it is playing with friends, running around outside, or being read books.  So I am a complete believer that I made the right decision for this time in his life.  I am hoping he rounds the corner after his 2nd birthday, as I would love the opportunity to spend some time with him one on one, but I need to be able to trust him for longer than a minute.  So until he is interested in TV, or can entertain himself for 20-30 minutes safely.... I guess he will continue his 5 day a week regimen at mother's day out.