The month started out with getting to meet our new nephew, Zachary, who was born at the very end of September! He is absolutely adorable, and we have all enjoyed some newborn baby snuggles from him! I also had fun personalizing a few items for him!
The majority of this month we have had great weather which has been perfect for many trips to the John Sevier Park after I pick Nora Kate up from preschool. She and Clayton love running around at this playground and walking along the paths. Nora Kate says it's where we go to "chat" about her day at school, and I usually pack a picnic lunch for us there too!
The kids had a Thursday and Friday off of school BEFORE our actual week of fall break travel began. We decided to take advantage of the pleasant weather and head to the zoo on Thursday!
The kids had been making many great pictures to decorate Pop's hospital rooms, but unfortunately there really wasn't a way or space to hang it up this whole time until mid-October when he got to move to Select in Ft. Sanders Hospital. I had been taking their art to show Pop since they couldn't visit him, but then I'd bring it back home. The were so excited that I could finally hang it up and decorate his room. Pop said everyone who came in his room asked about it-this made the kids SO happy! Of course, they made BIG art-poster board sized! I had taken pictures of some of their art so they could see it in his room.
Clayton and I have enjoyed our Mommy-Clayton time when NK is at preschool two mornings a week. He's so calm and sweet when it's just the two of us!
But then he's always thrilled when he gets his big sis back too! He loves trying to sit on her lap...notice the pretend rat he's been carrying around this month (gag! Halloween prank John played on me by hiding it in my closet and then the kids kept it and played with it all month until it mysteriously disappeared.).
Clayton has also discovered Color Wonder Markers this month and LOVES THEM!
We have gotten to enjoy lots and lots of outside playtime this month. Clayton has developed a love for the push bubble mower just like his older siblings. He also really enjoys the swing. It's funny because he gets VERY relaxed in the swing!
Clayton has also been Mr. Independent this month when it comes to food. He wants to feed himself! Even when we have difficult food, like this particular night he was determined to spoon himself quinoa and actually did fairly well!
One Friday morning we arrived at the boys' school VERY early (7am!) for a special event they always enjoy-Muffins with Mom! Carter was extra excited since it was his first Muffins with Mom...Dawson was pretty excited about this too.
Friday evening was a big night for the boys! Dawson, Carter, and their friends Carson, and Colt along with John and the other Dads-Casey and Chris, took the boys camping on Carson's grandparents property. They slept in tents, had a fire, played games, made stick forts, played with glow sticks, shot BB guns, made s'mores, and much much more! They all did amazing and had an absolute blast!
Nora Kate was a little disappointed that the boys were getting to do this, so we made the night special for her too! We let her have her first sleepover that night. Her friend, Harper, came over and spent the night. We had such a fun time doing all kinds of girl-y things. We made a cooking show (Nora Kate's new very favorite thing to do) where the girls made Caramel Apples, we played Baby Dolls, made art, painted fingernails, played outside, and went to Claires...the girls asked if they could take their baby dolls to Claire's, and I figured why not!? So I took Clayton and they took their babies in strollers to Claire's. They picked out matching heart lockets and thought this was the absolute most fun thing ever. When we got back home, we watched Angelina Ballerina and the Locket while eating some popcorn! Perfect first sleepover! The girls had a great time (and I did too!). (The pictures from the boys' camping adventure and Nora Kate's first sleepover are all mixed together when I uploaded them, I guess because they were all taken at the same time-anyway, here they are!)
This year Dollywood did something new for Fall...The Great Luminights. Basically they decorated with lots of Halloween decor and pumpkins that lit up after dark and you could walk along a path where there was "spooky" music (according to the kids) and see all the really cool pumpkins they had.
We went to church one Sunday morning, then left after to drive to Dollywood.
We did several rides before dark.
Dawson did the Lumberjack Pull all on his own and he was so strong he made it up two times ON HIS OWN!
We enjoyed all the Fall Decor during the day too.
The kids absolutely LOVE that Mr. Baby is now big enough to ride some rides-it makes it so much fun for them all!
This was probably the favorite of the Luminights-a giant spider made out of pumpkins.
dI want to remember this picture of Nora Kate because we waited ALL day for it to get dark so we could check out the Luminights decor. When it finally got dark, Nora Kate rode through the Luminights area like this on the stroller because they music was "too spooky" for her! HAHA! Honestly, I think she was getting tired, but I always say she's the bravest kid we've got so I was shocked. I think she somewhat enjoyed the attention of everyone thinking she was scared too. She said the music was the only scary part.
dollywood or bust
Dawson absolutely loves scouts, and this scout project was right up his alley! They had to make something new out of something old/trash. Dawson took an amazon box out of the recycling, straws, clothes pins, a ball from a game we had, and scraps of wrapping paper and made this homemade foosball game! He was so thrilled with it and had fun drawing different faces on the players too! He couldn't wait to present it at scouts.
dNora Kate has been working on learning to tie shoes. We aren't quiet there yet, but she loves to practice.
(Note that she's wearing her apron in this picture. She loves to bake, and I'm pretty sure we were practicing this while waiting for cookies to come out of the oven!)
Carter is doing amazing in math at school. (Proud Mommy moment) And his teacher said she's trying to find something he can't do...well, she started him on multiplication and he's loving it! He came home and did this with his hotwheels cars to demonstrate his 3's time tables to me!
Making Halloween cookies! I'm not sure why everyone made funny faces!
One of our favorite Halloween activities is trick or treating in Downtown Maryville. The weather was great this year too!
Clayton wore the cow costume that his 2 big brothers also wore on their 2nd Halloween.
Princess Nora Kate booted Clayton out of the umbrella stroller toward the end because her princess legs got tired!
A hot dog eating a hot dog!
The next night we went to our church's trunk or treat! So fun. The weather didn't cooperate so it got moved inside, but I actually liked it better inside. We had a trunk/table that John worked while I walked the kids around.
On Monday, October 30th, we were beyond thrilled to welcome Pop home from the hospital! He had been in the hospital 69 days at this point. The kids hadn't seen him since August and were SO EXCITED! They decided it would be fun to decorate Pop's driveway so he could see the welcome home message as he and Lolly pulled up the driveway. They did a great job and were proud of their work. We finished with about 5 minutes to spare, and then Lolly and Pop pulled up the driveway. We were SO, SO excited for Pop to be home. We visited with him for a short bit then left so he could rest. I went back after the kids went to bed for about an hour, but unfortunately Pop was starting to go downhill again. Unfortunately that evening after he had only been home 4 or 5 hours he had to be taken back to the hospital by ambulance. I was so glad that the kids and I all got to see him before he had to go back though!
I got to go to Halloween parties with boy big boys' classes at school.
Halloween!
The kindergarten teachers were on the front lawn of the school during trick or treat time handing out candy, so of course we had to go see Carter's teacher!
Then we walked across the street to the fire department and trick or treated there.
This year we had Dawson as a Lego Police Officer (this was a seriously cool costume!). Carter as a hotdog. He always picks the funniest costumes-so fitting for him and I love it! Nora Kate as Princess Elsa-her costume lit up and played music-PERFECT! And little cow Clayton who learned the word "candy" on Halloween.
On the actual night of Halloween after going to the fire dept. and the school we trick or treated in our neighborhood (we had already trick or treated Downtown on Friday, trunk or treat at church on Saturday). The kids had a blast!
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