September has been an interesting month. It began with us taking our fun family vacation to Surfside Beach, and next came the flood in our house-both of which I have already blogged about. Since returning from our trip we have been staying with John's parents. We considered going to an extended stay hotel because we know it is a lot to have 4 additional people in your house all the time, but the thought of all of us living in a hotel-and somewhere that I wouldn't let the boys sit and play on the floor was overwhelming. We are thankful to have family to stay with, but we hope we have not yet outstayed our welcome!
Anyway, not being at our house, but three days of this month have made our activities a little different. We've done a lot of visiting with Nana and Grandad and Lolly and Pop which both boys have loved. Dawson has spent hours jumping on the trampoline with me, John, Grandad, and Cousin Drew. I was pretty proud of myself for impressing Dawson by showing him how I can still do flips on the trampoline! :) John and I have also introduced him to fun trampoline games like popcorn and crack the egg. Carter loves to be outside and watch Dawson spring all over the trampoline. Watching Dawson be wild makes Carter flail his arms and legs wildly because he gets so excited!
This month we had a fun playdate with Charlie and-for the 1st time-his new baby sister, Olivia! Since Olivia and Carter are only 4 months apart, after they get a little older they can entertain each other while the big boys play and Andrea and I chat! :) I think it's funny to think back to when we first met the Gibsons in Alabama and we would get our dogs (Tess and Bentley) together to play, so we've been having playdates for a long time! :)
In September, we also went to a banana split playdate for National Banana Split Day-who knew there was such a thing?! Dawson's favorite thing was, of course, putting sprinkles on his banana split. Carter and I hung out and resisted the urge to eat ice cream because of the dairy allergy (which he hasn't outgrown yet, by the way). We also had a fun playdate at Tumblebears Gym this month.
We celebrated Grandparent's Day this month by giving Lolly and Pop and Nana and Grandad fingerprint trees. Dawson and Carter used their finger prints to make fall leaves. Dawson also helped me to make cookies for them, and his Great Mamaw too.
The Tennessee Valley Fair was in September. We left Carter with his Nana for the evening, and John, Dawson, and I had a fun time riding several rides in the kids area. I couldn't believe what a big boy he was riding everything and loving it! (I think he gets that from me!) Dawson also loved the petting zoo with goats, chicks, ducks and a Zonkey (that's a zebra donkey mix). Of course, the livestock area and tractor area were also favorites of the night. I think he sat on every tractor and piece of equipment there! It is so funny because I grew up going to this fair with my Dad every year, and I never paid any attention to the tractors or livestock at all! We ran into Dawson's friend, Charlie, and they got to do a few rides together!!
We've continued to do "activities" this month. Some of Dawson's favorite have been making playdough on multiple occasions and making suet for the birds.
Nana and Grandad live within walking distance to the park so we have made several trips to walk, picnic, and play on the playground there!
Also in September John drove to Atlanta for the annual Guys Golf Weekend with our friends, Brad, Ben, Jeremy, and Steven from Alabama. The played a round of golf at a nice course called The Frog (?), and then on Sunday they went to the PGA tournament where Tiger Woods and several other big names were playing. They had a fun weekend, and I know John enjoyed getting to see some of his friends from Alabama. Hopefully next fall when they have their weekend, the wives can also plan a girl (and kids) weekend so we can have some fun too! Unfortunately since it was all guys, no one took any pictures for me to share! :)
On September 27, we celebrated John's 28th birthday! John, his parents, Emily, Eric, my parents, Logan, Dawson, Carter, and I all went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse. After dinner everyone enjoyed the golf themed cake I made. The boys and I gave John some Titalist Pro V1 golf balls and two more golf lessons at Green Meadow Country Club. I think John had a happy birthday!
At the end of the month I took the boys and Pop to the Blue Ribbon Country Fair in Townsend. At this annual event at the Heritage Center they have a greased pig catching contest, a skillet throwing contest, cows, roosters, tractors, and lots of activities for kids. Dawson loved shucking and shelling corn to make corn meal, collecting chicken eggs, leaf printing, and petting the animals to name a few things. We had a fun morning at this festival. The next day...SURPRISE, Dawson's picture was in the newspaper from where he was pretending to scramble the chicken eggs he collected!
Despite the flood in our house, with our wonderful vacation and all these other events, September was a fun month! As of now, October is looking just as busy, and we're hoping we will move back into our house in a couple of weeks!
Enjoy the pictures...
John and Dawson with the fair in the background.
Dawson and Mommy as we were leaving the
fair! Such a fun time!
Carter loves to sit with his Nana
and listen to music...look how relaxed!
Look at that sweet face.
Carter chillin' in his stroller at the park.
Dawson and Daddy during one of our
park picnics.
Carter likes to swing at the park on my lap.
Carter and Mommy on the swings.
(check out his little brother onesie!)
Dawson swinging at the park.
Love this picture!
He looks so big!
Lolly and Pop got out the exersaucer
for Carter to play in at their house!
Loves it!
On a recent visit to Mamaw's.
Some of our late summer/early fall
green beans I grew in our garden.
I had read you could plant another crop
at the end of summer, so I figured
I would try it...and it worked well!
Yum!
Carter started jumping in his Johnny
Jumper that Lolly and Pop got him this month!
He loves it.
He's wild in it!
And most pictures look like
this because he's jumping all
over the place!
John's birthday cake.
Complete with sand trap, water, green, hole,
tee, ball, flag, and grass!
Dawson loved getting attention from his Uncle
Logan at the Texas Roadhouse for John's birthday dinner.
Carter relaxing during dinner!
Dawson and Uncle Logan.
Dawson helped John blow
out all 28 candles!
I've been doing a lot (for me, at least)
of running lately, and John has been
coming with me some. Now that
Carter is sitting up better, we have
started putting them in our
bike trailer which converts to a
jogging stroller so that we can both run
at the same time.
I love running with them, but it adds to
the workout! :)
Dawson checking out the honeybees
behind him at the Blue Ribbon Country Fair.
Pop and Dawson checking out a tractor, of course.
The chickens.
Dawson got to pet some.
Collecting chicken eggs.
Shucking corn.
Shelling corn.
I think this picture is hilarious of my two boys!
Dawson in the old carriage.
Mommy, Dawson, and Carter, at the
Blue Ribbon Country Fair.
Dawson got to get in the pig's pen...
these are the same pigs that later got greased
for people to attempt to catch.
After a minute he was brave and walked
up to them!
I really think Dawson would fit
in perfectly on a farm...
Dawson and his Pop at the
Blue Ribbon Country Fair.
Dawson showing off our gifts for Grandparents
Day before delivering them to the grandparents.
The cookies.
The fingerprint tree.
