Have you missed me?

I'm ba-ack! Long story that I don't have time to blog about now, but I really do have a good reason for being absent from blogland for soooooo long! Here's a little something to tide you over until I can write a better post and catch you up on everything we've been doing since FEBRUARY! I can't believe it's that long, and I totally won't tell you EVERYTHING we've been up to - just the highlights! Until then, here are my cutie pies at Halloween. Aren't they the sweetest Dorothy and Buzz you've ever seen?

Christmas in February

Seriously? I can't believe I'm just now getting around to the Christmas post! I'll spare you all the details, but we really did have a great holiday. Rick's parents didn't make it down, but we had a great visit with both sides of the family. Christmas Eve we went over to Rick's brother's house, then Christmas Day we went to my parents house (which I forgot to take my camera to, so I don't have any pictures). I did take some video there, so I'll have to get that posted. Maybe I'll get around to that by the end of next month!

Aunt Jan, Nana, and Uncle Randy

Aunt Jan played leggos with Caroline for the longest time. So sweet.

Cousins Luke and Aidan played shooter guns the whole time!

Aunt Vicki

Eric in "the slammer"

Christmas morning looking at all the goodies Santa brought

Princess stuff!

Two of his favorite things in one: a spiderman motorcycle!

Not sure what they're looking at, but it must be good!

Love this picture.

More princesses!

A new movie

And the motorcycle obsession continues....

This was by far his favorite toy!

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a great, low key Thanksgiving this year. Just the way I like it. We stayed in town and headed over to my parents' house. Rick's sister and her family joined us as well, as did Grandmommy Crickett.

After we stuffed ourselves, we headed out for a little football. The weather couldn't have been more perfect!

The whole gang

Uncle Tom and cousin Luke "Ocho Cinco" himself!

16, 22, hut, hut!

Eric getting ready to pull off a fake

Flag football is for sissies. It's full contact, tackle football in our family.

Even Caroline got in on the football action.

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure do have lots to be thankful for!

Technical Difficulties

Okay y'all, I can't download my pictures from Thanksgiving! I started the download process, and left the room (since it usually takes a bit), and think Eric may have pushed a button while I stepped away. Serves me right - bad things happen when I leave the room with that kid (see October 25th post). Whenever I try to download my pics it says "cannot download, disk full." That can't mean I'm maxed out on my computer memory can it? I'm pretty sure they go to my hard drive... Any advice for someone who is "technically challenged"? Until I can figure out what's wrong or find someone to help me, you won't be able to see pictures of our football game on Thanksgiving, which is a real shame since Ocho Cinco himself showed up....

Halloween 2009

The weekend before Halloween we went to the carnival at the elementary school both kids will hopefully be going to. It was so cute and we had a ball! We did a lot of walking around and watching. Caroline wanted to jump in the bounce house, but just wouldn't let herself get in there. We played the fishing game (well, technically I played, they watched). Here we are trying to capture the fun.

Eric, Miss Photogenic, and me

We had blue sno cones

Caroline wouldn't pull herself away for a picture



Checking out the petting zoo

This was funny - the pie throwing game. Caroline really wanted to go over and watch, but Eric was so scared of this guy with his poncho on and Cool Whip all over his face. Just add it to his list of things he's scared of: clowns, robots, and guys with Cool Whip face. I managed to get them both strapped in the stroller so we could walk by and I could take a few pictures. Eric turned his head away the whole time and would not even look.

On Halloween night, Caroline had the evening planned for us. Daddy and Buggy would take her and Eric trick-or-treating while Mommy and Mommy Fish would stay home and hand out candy to the kids who came to our house. She seriously came up with this on her own. So we all indulged her and did just as she had planned. Rick said that Caroline didn't say "trick-or-treat" or "thank you" one single time. He kept reminding her that she had to at least say "thank you" after she got candy. She kept saying "I'll say it next time." Finally after about the eighth time of this, he asked her, "Do you mean next year?" She replied "Yes."

Buggy and Eric




Cutie Spiderman

Spiderman and Snow White

Even Ricky Bobby joined us.

In the wagon ready to roll.

They only ended up to going to about 10 houses or so. Eric crashed shortly after they got home, and it was clear that Caroline enjoyed handing out candy at our house much more than trick-or-treating.

Two Years, Five Months

Yes, that's how long it was before my sweet boy broke his ARM!! I still can't even believe it happened! He's a tough little guy, though. It happened this past week when he and Caroline were rough housing. He did SO great at all three doctor's appointments and through all the x-rays. What a champ.

Pumpkin Patch and Peanut Festival

Whew! We had the best trip a few weeks back. Mom and I took the kids to visit some friends on our annual pumpkin patch trip. We had the best time and can't wait to hang out with everyone again soon! We started the fun out with a little dress up.

Even Mommy Fish got in on the dress up action!

Sweet ballerina princess Tyler, and our gracious host, Honey.

Two beautiful girls!





My little diva. Or would that be divo? What's the masculine form of "diva?"
Sorry Eric, but you really do love necklaces and bracelets. The princess purse is a little much, though, even for me. I couldn't resist.




He is a ham. This is his latest "cheese" smile.
At least one kid poses for pictures.

So our plans for the pumpkin patch changed a little while we were there. We planned to go to this place where they had a petting zoo, and hayrides - all the fun pumpkin patch stuff. Once we got there and saw all the cars stuck in the muddy parking lot, we decided to figure out a plan B. I'm so glad we did, because as we were turning around, the tractor pulling one of the hay rides got stuck in some REALLY deep mud. I don't even want to think about all those mom's treading through all that mud carrying their kids back to dry ground....

We found a cute Methodist church and tried to get some pictures and pumpkins. Afterwards, we went to lunch, then Kyla and I took the kids to a bounce house place, which was a huge hit.

Weston and Tyler - they are just so precious! And they do a great job posing for pictures for their mom, too!



My kids.... not so cooperative. This is as good as it got. I'm praying we don't get sick this season, but seeing as how both kids can't keep their hands out of their mouths, it's not looking good.




So many pumpkins!

Caroline and Weston bouncing

Weston

Weston and Caroline

Man, she had fun!

Tyler and Caroline. Sweet friends.


After having a fun visit with our friends, we got up really early on Saturday to go see my niece, Clancey, in the annual Peanut Parade. She competed in the Peanut Pageant, so all the contestants rode on a float. I'll spare you all the labor pains, but we ended up missing the parade. We pulled into our parking spot just as everyone started walking to their cars. Unbelieveable. Lucky for us, the parade sort of made a lap, around the block, so we did get to see her on her float!

The theme for the parade and pageant was "Las Vegas." So fun.

Clancey on her float. Both she and the float looked great!

Eric wouldn't get on the float, so we posed in front of it.

After visiting with some family at the parade, we headed over to the Peanut Festival. This thing is so big it turns their little 1,500 population town into 10,000. This thing was huge!

Here we are fishing with Mommy Fish. We also played the "Lucky Duck" game where you pick a duck and get a prize that matches the number on the bottom of your duck. We could either choose a toy knife or a toy sword. Just what I want my 2 and 4 year olds to play with. Classic.

Watching the merry-go-round with Aunt Janis

Caroline was really in awe of the merry-go-round. She just couldn't muster enough courage to actually ride anything this trip.

Caroline and Eric had the best time playing with Aunt Vicki at Grandmommie and Granddaddy's house! Granddaddy was also really good at hide-and-go-seek. I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of that!

Back at the hotel, I'm pretty sure Eric's ordering room service

My mom was sweet enough to watch the kids at the hotel while Rick (who drove up to meet us that afternoon) and I went to the pageant that night. Thanks again, mom!

Two words: Elvis impersonator. He performed several times throughout the pageant and was pretty funny.


These pictures didn't come out very well because I didn't think to change the setting on my camera!

Clancey in her "street wear."

Clancey playing the piano during the talent portion. Her dress was just gorgeous, and she played beautifully! Definitely the best talent out of all of them. I mean, can a monologue really be considered a talent?

Clancey in her evening wear. She was just so beautiful and poised the entire show. She did such a great job and we were so proud of her and so glad to be there! She didn't win the crown, but she's definitely the best in our book!

Rick and Clancey after the pageant