Halloween Friday Five

Five Things About Our Halloween:

(I was going to post this Friday night, but I was too tired.)

1. We didn't go to many houses because Gavin is still too young to really trick or treat, and of course, we didn't need the candy. But we did go to our next door neighbor's house, Mom and Dad's house, Jason's dad's house, and to see Jason's mom.
2. Gavin tried to grab tons of candy. We let him do it for picture purposes, but then we gave it all back!
3. When we were driving to meet Jason's mom, we cut through Lyman Mill Village to get to Hwy 290. BIG MISTAKE! I remember a long time ago when my sister and Paul lived in the mill village, they had a ton of kids come by. But nothing like what we saw Friday night! There were lines of cars and people, and it took us about 7-8 minutes, no lie, to get through the stop sign. I have never seen so many people on that street in my life. I guess I need to remember for next year - the mill village is the place to go!
4. We stopped by Duncan First Baptist (where we met Jason's mom) to see the festival they put on. It was really nice. They had inflatables and games, and someone singing on the stage, had door prizes, food, and other stuff. It was a little too old for Gavin to really do anything, but it was a nice family event.
5. I love Halloween because we always go to my parents' house for a bon fire and we roast weenies for hot dogs and roast marshmellows too. A lot of mom's friends come by, and usually Sherriff Chuck Wright stops by too (my brother and Chuck's son were friends in high school and they live right down the road from mom and dad) - but I don't know if he came by before we got there or not. The weather was nice and cool for the bon fire. I was able to enjoy it for a little while, but Gavin was so worn out from all the excitement and busy-ness that we had to call it a night so we could put that little turtle to bed.

Jason carved our pumpkin. I was so proud. Here it is:

Can you tell what it is?

Jason found the template for Blue's Clues on the internet. He followed it to carve our pumpkin. Didn't he do a great job?

Nivens Apple Farm

Jason and I took Gavin to Nivens this afternoon. It was the only time we could go, since Jason has been working so many hours on a project for BMW. The cold wind today cut our trip short, but we still had a good time.

Weekend Recap

We had a busy busy weekend, but it was so great. First, before I continue, we need to celebrate a weekend with no injuries for Gavin! No bumps, no emergency rooms, no blood, no cracked open foreheads, no smashed fingers. Woohoo!

1. On Friday night, Jason and I had plans with some friends of ours to go the Byrnes/Dorman game, but then, as you know, it was postponed till Saturday. Since we both already had babysitters lined up for the night, we decided to go eat out and then come back to the house and play Wii - well, the boys played Wii, while Tina and I watched. It was nice to have a fun adult evening (but I secretly missed having Gavin home).
2. On Saturday afternoon, I went to pick Gavin up from his Mema's house (Jason's mom). He loves to stay at her house because he gets her undivided attention and she let's him do whatever he wants (I guess that's a grandma's right). I had errands to run, so I asked her to go with me and I'd take her to lunch for keeping Gavin for us. We ate at Olive Garden - I love that place. But our lunch only lasted for about 30 minutes before we had to go. Gavin was WILD, and there was nothing I could do to get him to calm down. Usually, he's easy to take out, but something got into that boy and he couldn't get himself together. To keep it short, just know that just about everyone in the restaurant knew we were there, and they were all staring! I apologized to the waitress and told her please bring the bill quickly because I had to get Gavin out of there! He was asleep within 5 minutes of being in the car. (I knew that was the problem - he was just tired. I should have known better.)
3. Our church had a Pumpkin Patch party Saturday night. I was so excited to go to it - last year, Gavin was too little to do anything fun. We played with some other kids and went on a hay ride. Everything else was for older children, not much for Gavin's size. I was a little disappointed, but I have to remember that most carnival things aren't for 1 year olds.
4. Our family always takes the traditional trip to Hendersonville to get apples and enjoy the Fall weather. When I say family, I mean everyone - Me, Jason, and now Gavin, Mom, Dad, Ray, Katie, Kelli, Paul, Jessie, Jacob, Karis, and my grandma, and grandfather. We always stop first at The Dish Barn and A Day in the Country to see the new stuff they have out. Then we trek on up the road to Lyda Farms. We always get a sample apple to eat, and then buy different kinds to split. We used to have a picnic on their field area, but my grandparents don't get around well anymore, so we just eat at Binion's for lunch now. After we leave Lyda Farms, we drive down to Chimney Rock and walk the street and get ice cream. Then we head down Hwy 9 to come home. It's an all day affair, and very tiring (especially since there's so many people), but I look forward to this trip each year. We changed things up a little bit this year. We stopped first in Columbus to see a waterfall before having lunch. Then we went on to the apple orchard, and then to get ice cream; but this time we didn't go to Chimney Rock to get the ice cream. Instead, we went back to Columbus and ate a little ice cream shop before heading home.
   

War Wounds

Well, my child definitely all boy... I told you that over the weekend he fell and busted his forehead on some steps. You can see some of the bruise in the picture, but it does not do justice to how purple and large it was earlier this week. And then today, Kelli called me and told me that Gavin fell forward on the concrete and busted his lip and skinned his nose.

He's already covered from head to toe in bruises, so I won't be surprised when DSS starts calling my house.

Scrapbook Retreat

I went on a scrapbooking retreat this weekend to Springmaid Mountain in North Carolina. We went with the ScrapHappy store in Greer. We left Friday morning (I took a personal day off from school.) and came home this evening around dinner time. I worked on our beach pictures. Because this was Gavin's first year at the beach, I took a MILLION pictures; so instead of putting those pictures in my regular 2008 album, I made a seperate 8x8 album just of our vacation. I got all 23 2-page layouts completed and put in the album! That's a big deal to me, because I'm slow as Christmas when I'm working on a page. Anyway... My sister Kelli and I were in charge of cooking for 50 women. This was the first time I've ever cooked or been in a commercial kitchen. It was pretty fun. I really liked the gas stove. The pots got hot really fast. Our menu for the weekend - Friday night: hamburgers with fixings, homemade potato salad, chips Saturday morning: sausage biscuits, grits, eggs Saturday lunch: homemade pimiento cheese, homemade chicken salad, veggies & dip, chips Saturday dinner: grilled chicken salad with fixings, more potato salad (by request), apple slices with fruit dip Sunday morning: grits, breakfast casserole Sunday lunch: turkey/ham sandwiches with fixings, pasta salad Sunday dinner: layered cheesy spaghetti (with corkscrew noodles instead of regular noodles), apple walnut salad with raspberry vinegarette, cheesy garlic bread Monday morning: grits, mixed fruit, toast with jelly Cooking for 50 women was fun, but hard. Do you know how hard it is to please 50 WOMEN??? I have never met so many picky people in my life! Let me just tell you a couple of things that some women said that just ticked me off:

• We made a grilled chicken salad one night for dinner. We used mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow & red bell peppers, and other yummy toppings. We went ahead and made the plates for them because we learned the night before that some people don't understand how to be considerate and save enough food for others. We also thought that if we made the plates for them that it would move the line through the kitchen faster. Well, there were several women who said things like, "Can you redo my salad and pick out the tomatoes", or cucumbers, or something else. I understand that not everyone loves all those veggies, but couldn't they have just scooched what they didn't like to the side of the plate, instead of complaining?
• The ladies were encouraged to bring snacks and sweets to share with the whole group. One lady made a peach cobbler and an apple crisp. We decided to pull those 2 desserts out and have them after lunch one day. Also, we put out a dish of brownies, and also a dish of homemade cookies. So - we had more than plenty for dessert. After we ate, this one lady came up and was mad because the peach cobbler was gone before she could get any. Poor thing.

This was just 2 things - and even though they don't seem so bad reading about them here on my blog, when they actually happend, and with the sarcastic, hateful tone of voice that was used - it made my blood BOIL! Where are people's manners? I wanted so badly to tell some of the women that if they didn't like what we were cooking, they could drive 5 minutes down the road to Burger King or Bojangles and get something different; and I wanted to tell the people who were so picky about what they ate, that they should have brought their own dag-gum food!

But it was fun.

Here we are doing our thing:

They had a beautiful Fall display.

This was just a really cool layout that a lady did.

On another note...

Jason kept Gavin while I was away this weekend. He is a great dad, but 2 things happened that made me want to come home early.

1. On Friday, Gavin was pushing his toy vacuum cleaner and pushed it faster than his little feet could keep up. He fell forward and busted his lip. Jason said the blood ruined his tshirt.
2. On Saturday, Jason and his mom took Gavin and visited his brother Tim. While there, Gavin fell on the bottom step on its corner and busted his forehead. Jason said it swelled up real bad almost immediately and the swelling took up half of his forehead. They took him to the emergency room just to make sure everything was ok - which it was. I wanted to rush home right away to hold my baby.

Gavin is totally all boy and he's covered with bruises from head to toe. I know this won't be the only time he gets hurt, but this was just a really bad time to get hurt - while I was away. It made me worry.

Well that was my weekend. I hope yours was interesting too.

Happy Birthday, Kelli

Today is my sister's birthday. She's only 6 years older than I am, but everytime we go out, and I have Gavin with me, people think that Gavin and I are her children. We laugh so hard when people make comments. I love my sister. We have such a great relationship - she's one of my dearest friends. I wait for her phone call each time I'm off of work to see what our plans are for the day. I don't know what I'd do without her.

Happy birthday, Kelli. I love you.

Friday Five

Five things I'm looking forward to this month:

1. Next weekend, my sister and I are going on a girls only scrapbooking retreat. I'm even taking a personal day off on Friday, and not coming home until Monday afternoon. I'll be working on our beach pictures. I have a TON of them.
2. My friends from school, Meredith and Amy, have started a new tradition. We go out to eat with each other on the third Wednesday of the month. No husbands, no children. Just us girls.
3. On the 20th, Kelli and I are taking the kids to Reidville Rd Methodist Church for pictures with their Fall display. Kelli said that the display is supposed to be there that whole weekend. So, check it out for a free photo opp.
4. At the end of the month, my whole family will take our traditional trip to Hendersonville for a picnic and to pick apples and pumpkins.
5. I love Halloween. We always make a bon fire and roast weenies and marshmellows while trick-or-treaters come by at Mom and Dad's house. I can't wait to dress Gavin up and take him to our parents' house. We bought him a turtle costume from The Children's Place. He looks hilarious. Jason and I put it on him soemtimes just so we can get a good laugh.

I LOVE OCTOBER.

It's my favorite month of the year.