Baby Nate!

Right before Thanksgiving we headed to see my new nephew, Nathanial Alexander! He was born at home and it was so sweet getting to hold him and visit with family. The kids had a great time visiting with Papa and Bebe' and their cousin Audrey. 

November

This is a typical scene here, Ben loves his Legos & makes sure he has some time to build something every day. I can't believe what he can put together, I think we have a future naval engineer here ;) (Excuse the rug, I was trying it out but it wasn't big enough.)

Sophie & her buddy Hayden had a sleepover & this was after they went to bed, giggled for about an hour, then finally crashed out. Sweet girls :)

Sophie is definitely Rainbow Loom crazy! She's made more than I can ever count & is quick to make practically everyone she knows a special bracelet or necklace out of their favorite colors. She enjoys it and it's definitely great for car trips.

We took the kids to an Avett Brothers concert at Hemingbough near Baton Rouge and it was amazing! My sister kept telling me how awesome these guys were when they performed live and I have to agree. It spurred an interest in both kids to learn how to play guitar, and even if that only lasted for a few months, we had a blast at the concert!

Sophie and her friend Natalie trying on mama's shoes:)

Chickens! Fluffy little chickens! These are my tiny ones, but I have more big girls, and a couple boys, too.

Sophie's said for a long time that she wants to be a vet when she grows up, so that's what she dressed as for career day. She's pretty crazy about all animals and really kind with them, so I think it'll stick.

Ben with his Thanksgiving turkey hat! 

And a CeCe shot, with Rod's shoe as a bonus

Ben loves CeCe so much. We all do, but there's something special between a boy & his dog! She sleeps on his bed every night until we kick her out when we're going to sleep, it's really sweet.

Swimming, Carnivals & Various Other Fall Stuff

Kids' bonfire :) I love how they're all kicked back!

All the 3rd graders at our 3 elementary schools take swimming at the local YMCA for about a month. I came to watch their graduation and the best action pic I was able to snap is below. Those kids were fast!

So we finally donated the kids' little power wheels to Goodwill. I was so sad! And I guess am probably one of the only people to get attached to a kids' ride-on toy. I still remember giving it to Ben on his 4th birthday, he was so in love with it and both kids have had such a blast over the years driving it around. 

There was a little carnival in a nearby town so we went one day after church. The kids were a lot more adventurous than I'd anticipated and went on the Gravitron more times than I could count. Surprisingly they kept their lunch down.

I had to include this shot, both kids will dress up in the craziest stuff & run around the yard. I want to remember them doing this since I know it might not be their favorite pastime when they're say, 15.

Cotton

We took this picture near my parents' house. I guess this is the closest we'll come in the South to having a snow-covered field! It reminds me of my mom and all of her family, since they grew cotton on their farm when she was growing up. It's so pretty.

Tybee Pirate Fest!

It was a lot of fun to have my cousin's family plus my Aunt Marian and cousin Dillon come join us this trip! We've vacationed together before and our kids have a blast together, just like we did when Laura & I were kids ;) It's a tradition for us to go to pirate fest on Tybee which is a parade and full weekend made up entirely of "pirates". The kids came away with lots of good loot and had a great time. In the picture of the kids on the carousel, they were VERY embarrassed that their mom was snapping pics like they were 2 & 3 years old! But hey, they are the ones who asked to go!

Aunt Marian took this first pic below and it's my favorite. I just love all the joy on these kids' faces!

Halloween!!

Annual (though we may have skipped a few years!) pumpkin carving party! This is definitely a dad & kid's thing, I love to snap pics but something about pulling the gunk out of the pumpkin creeps me out. They have a good time being creative together.

 Finally, Halloween is here! The kids were so excited as always and my little flamenco dancer and SWAT team member helped me to get the house and yard prepared for our annual Halloween neighborhood get-together. We have a "healthy" meal of hot dogs before going out to collect lots of sugar ;) Everyone brought a lot of yummy food this year and it was a lot of fun! Love that the adults always get into the spirit also. You can see our Halloween trail in the background of the first few pics, we worked hard on that and add a few things to it each year. I'll try to take a few pics of that before we take it down this year.