Visiting Santa

We took the kids to see Santa at Brookwood Mall and decided to go early this year. Best decision ever!! There was no line, which meant happy kids walking up to Santa, and the people working there were willing to take a million pictures of the kids to get a really good one! Caroline did great and was not scared of Santa at all. Rutland was not scared, but was so in shock, he really didn't smile at Ho Ho, but just stared at him the whole time. When Santa asked Caroline what she wanted to Christmas, she replied, "A whistle." Now, not sure where I'm going to find one of those (Academy, Dicks Sporting Goods??) but it's on her list! 

Pumpkin Patch

We tried a new pumpkin patch this year in Hayden, AL. It was about 25-30 min outside of Birmingham, but well worth the drive. Granted, we did go on a Thursday, but it wasn't crowded and they had everything super organized! There were lots of things to do other than just picking pumpkins, so the kids had a blast. They even had a great selection of food/concessions, and most things were very reasonably priced. Rutland  LOVED all the tractors and running wild most of the day. I managed to keep them awake on the ride home and everyone took an extra long nap that day!! HOMERUN for mommy!!

Just Like Daddy

We have always said Rutland is Christopher's "mini-me", but the older he gets, the more true this statement becomes. Not just in looks, but his behavior, sense of humor, wit, mannerisms, EVERYTHING, is just like his daddy. He loves his mamma and always wants to snuggle with me, but when Daddy comes home, it is ON! He squeals and runs to the door, jumping up and down "Da-Dee" "Da-Dee"! I told Christopher he better watch out - those little eyes are always watching him and copying him. This is the latest thing the little 'copy cat' has tried to mimic...

Whatcha reading Da-dee??

First, gotta cross my legs...

Then, hold my magazine up...

Turn the pages every now and then...

Check and make sure I'm doing it right...

Yep, this is so much fun and so interesting!! And I'm so big like Da-dee!!

Even Caroline likes to read magazines on the couch with Da-dee. That equals more time for mommy to cook dinner :)

Pumpkins Everywhere!

We went from having no pumpkins (and me pouting about that) to having way more pumpkins than we know what to do with! We always go to Andy's Nursery to pick out our pumpkins and I get lots of cute photos of the kids in their Halloween/Fall clothes. This year, we just couldn't make it up there for several weeks and Christopher ended up not being able to make it with us, so I was pouting that it was the middle of October and I still didn't have any pumpkins. We'll, we finally went to Andy's got our 4 pumpkins - one for each family member. Then, we ended up going to a pumpkin patch about 30 min. outside of Birmingham and came back with 2 more pumpkins. And, the kids have both come home with pumpkins from school, so we now have 8 pumpkins and counting. Rutland is going to be a monkey for Halloween and of course does not want to wear the hood/hat that goes with it. Caroline goes back and forth between Tinkerbell and Snow White. She is allowed to pick any "costume/dress up" in her closet so more power to her. Here are some of the millions of pictures we have taken over the past few weeks!

At Andy's picking out our pumpkins!

 Rutland thought it was hysterical to first sit on the pumpkins, 

 and then try to roll the pumpkins all over the yard,

 and a few attempts to pick up the entire pumpkin!

 Sweet Bella just loves to be wherever the kids are - even if she gets ordered around.

 We even went to Boo at the Zoo one night...

 Snow white meeting snow white mini-me

 Rutland LOVED trick-or-treating and LOVED being a big boy walking around the zoo even more. 

 One picture with the monkey hat on! Yeah!!

 Sweet brother and sister - these days are slowly becoming a little more frequent. 

And we changed into Tinkerbell - a little Halloween costume identity crisis.