Celebrate!

The beginning of November is really a party time for us. Paul and my birthdays are two days apart. His was on a Friday and mine was on a Sunday. We celebrated his bday with his family at his parent's house. The next night just the two of us went out for a special birthday dinner. We were going to go watch the Duck game at some friends' house afterward...but that turned into a surprise 30th birthday party for me with some of my friends and family! (And I just realized that I don't have any pictures from that!) Then Sunday was a day of eating...my mom was in town for the weekend if that explains it. Growing up, she always let us pick whatever we wanted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on our birthdays. This year was no different even though I don't live at home anymore :) She truly spoiled me. We ate at The Breadbasket in Ashland for breakfast, Gorilla Bites in Ashland for lunch (as we took a stroll through all the cute shops), and Bella Union in Jacksonville for dinner! We celebrated my bday back at our house with my mom, Paul's mom, and our friend Sabrina. It was a wonderful weekend! Here are a few snaps from the celebrating.

OCTOBER!!

Our October was full of fall fun! I can't say for sure that fall is my favorite time of year, because I love Christmas...and summer...and spring...hmmm. But I do love fall! :) We fill our weekends up during this season. I probably should have done a post for each of these activities, but our schedule wouldn't allow for that. So here it is...our October in review.

We started out doing our own individual activities. I hosted a Party Lite candle party, which was right up my alley for fall decorating and hostessing. And Paul went on a big fishing trip with a bunch of his friends. Which of course was right up his alley for many reasons.

We had a rare weekend morning at home before all of the rush started.

We got out for a hike in the Jacksonville Woodlands. One of our favorite places to hike, because it is beautiful and easy for Grant to walk along with us. What better way to enjoy the fall?

Then we found out that we are having a girl!!! See my earlier post for more on that.

We did our yearly pumpkin patch adventure with the Stone family. My parents and sisters were both here for the big baby announcement, so we decided to take advantage of the weekend and go to Pheasant Field Farms. Grant got to ride a pony for the first time

 The best part about this trip to the pumpkin patch was watching Grant pick out his pumpkin. He was filled with purpose! No hesitation...as soon as he saw a pumpkin he liked, he picked it up. He had about three pumpkins loaded into the wheelbarrow before we could even pick out one! Funny thing was that all of the pumpkins he picked out had some green on them. It was interesting because whenever we pick out pumpkins we try to look for the ones without any green and that have a nice shape. He seemed to like the exact opposite. They were funny shaped and green!

 My favorite picture! :)

Later that week we took Grant to our church's Harvest Party. We thought he was going to love it! We were wrong...sort of. They had many games for the kids to play such as fishing, bean bag toss, milk bottle throw, etc. We would get in line for each one, and then when we got to the front, Grant would start backing up and wouldn't play the game. I guess he didn't like being put on the spot...although I can't imagine that! The only things he thoroughly enjoyed were the cookie decorating table and the jump house. I guess there is always next year...

The next adventure was our annual trip to the Allred's cabin in Northern California. We started this tradition when Grant was first born and it has continued each year. It is always a wonderfully relaxing time with great friends! The kids get to do tons of Halloween activities and the adults get to enjoy time together. We were originally going to have Grant be a dragon for Halloween. But then a friend gave us the Buzz Lightyear costume and there was no going back!

We got back from the cabin in time for one more trip to the pumpkin patch before Halloween. We went with Grandma this time. Grant loved feeding the goats, just like last year. He also really got into taking pictures. When we were at the other pumpkin patch it was almost impossible to get him to look at the camera. Once he realized you were going to take a picture he would automatically look away. This time he really got into the "cheeses". I have so many pictures in this one because he was actually cooperating!

And then it was finally Halloween! We got together with cousins Blake and Hailey for some quick pictures. Went trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with friend Lydia. And went to another Harvest Party at Grandma's church. Check out last year's costume here.

Whew! That was a lot of fall fun! Hope you all had a great Halloween and are enjoying your fall as much as we are!