Little Elk's Halloween Party!

I had bought Addison the CUTEST bumble bee costume at Cracker Barrel this year that even had a little yellow tutu.  When I brought it home to show her, she LOVED it.  A few days later at Addi's school, they were having their fall consignment sale.  While I was there, I found a really cute Dorothy dress along with some glittery red Dorothy shoes.  (Addi has some Dorothy shoes that she got last year for Christmas and ADORES them but they have gotten way too tight.)  The Dorothy dress and red shoes were super cheap so I bought them just for her to have for dress-up since she loves to play dress up.  While at the consignment sale, I also lucked out and found a witch's dress (which is what Katie wanted to be) and a fireman costume for Connor--YIPPEE--SCORE!!

When I got home and showed Addi the Dorothy costume, it was LOVE at first sight...  The bumblebee costume was a complete HAS BEEN.  This girl wanted to be Dorothy for Halloween and so it was!  I braided her hair, found a little basket for Toto and voila--easiest costume EVER!

They had a costume parade at her preschool along with carnival-type games and they also made a witch's brew with Ms. Jamie so here are pics from that:

Pumpkin Carving 2013

Just a few pics of our pumpkin carving fun!!  We trusted Austin with a knife this year so he carved one of the pumpkins and Craig carved the other.  Which one is the best?  :)

Vacation 2013 Fall Break

As always, we had a great vacation in sunny Panama City Beach this year.  The weather has never been more perfect!  We stayed in a completely different condo this year (Emerald Beach Resort) and while it was very nice, it definitely wouldn't be a place where we would stay again...  It was just too big and spread out which meant more people on the beach, more people in the pools, and less convenience when parking/getting to and from your car, etc..  As far as amentities though, it definitely had all of those.  We just prefer the smaller resorts with more convenience and less crowds!!

The kids were so good and enjoyed the beach and pools so much this year.  It gets more and more fun with them each year.

We left on Friday night, October 11th (Austin's 18th birthday) at around 11 PM.  Both kids were asleep in the car by like midnight and slept most of the way.  We only made like two stops before reaching PCB and stopping for our traditional vacation breakfast (Waffle House)!! 

We had a smaller crowd this year as it was just us, my parents, my sister's family, and my in-laws.  We had lots of room in the condos since each one had 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.

As always, I took entirely too many pictures so I will try to just upload the best ones.





















We built sand castles, collected shells, rode the waves, went crab hunting after dark, ate ice cream, played miniature golf, cat-napped on the beach, sat in the hot tub, and swam, swam, swam!  Of course we also ate A LOT too!  One night we met up with a lot of our family who were also there at their condo and the adults (well some of the adults) played poker while the kids swam.  It was really nice to get everyone together--especially in Florida!

We had a great trip and were not ready to head home--especially since the temps in KY were about 40 degrees colder!    

SURPRISE!

Austin's 18th birthday was going to fall on the day that we left for vacation to Panama City for Fall Break.  Since it was such a special birthday, we wanted to do something to celebrate it before we got on the road.  So, on the Sunday before his birthday, we planned a surprise party at our house with family and a few friends.. It went off without a hitch other than the fact that he arrived much later than we had anticipated! 

Craig had grilled a pork tenderloin and I fixed potatoes, mac & cheese, green beans, corn, and rolls for dinner and of course we had cake and ice cream for dessert. 

He was definitely surprised and seemed to enjoy it!!

Happy 18th, Austin.  We love you are VERY proud of you!