Not Just Any Pumpkin...

But, our family pumpkin!!!

For some reason carving our pumpkin each year is really important to me. This year we almost didn't have enough time to fit it in with all of the other fall fun festivities. But, I was bound and determined we would make the time. :)

It always has really just been Paul carving the pumpkin and me taking pictures. :) The boys at different points throughout the years have touched the seeds or the inside of the pumpkin. But, this year they actually could help! That was great!

Well, except for the fact that Preston hated it! He thought it was very yucky and the peer pressure from watching Jackson got the best of him and he did try it. But, then he was done.

He was probably okay watching from the sidelines mostly because he had a lollipop to keep him entertained. The boys were getting along wonderfully for the first half of the carving session. Then, as it happens daily Jackson starts aggravating Preston about something, and well Preston retaliates. This time it was with a lollipop. All it did was merely touch Jackson's shirt and as you can see he clutches to his arm like someone broke it! Hilarious. Well, sort of hilarious. At the time I am sure my blood pressure was rising. :) I do get tired of hearing them argue. But, when you look back at it later it is always funny.

But, they always still end up friends. That's what counts, right?

Most importantly, I love my traditions simply for the fact that I can line up the pictures from each year to see how the kids have grown. So, I have a picture of every year they have been born with the family pumpkin. Won't that be a neat post when I am fifty? :)

Happy 5th Birthday to my Big Boy Jackson!

October 29th my sweet Jackson turned five. It is hard to believe! We typically don't have parties at places other than our home, but we decided five was a big number and went all out I guess you could say by letting him do his party at a local inflatable party place. Now, I will spare you all the confusion and misery..but just know the FIRST place where our party was booked closed down and we were scrambling to find another and also that these places have strict policies about outside drink and food being brought in so I had to show myself a little to enforce my point that we were not doing pizza and their 23 carb juice boxes! So, finally the owner got on the phone, and her son is diabetic, too! So, she understood and everything ended up just fine. The original place that closed down though offered private jumping rooms..this one didn't. So, Paul was quite amazed at how chaotic it can be in one of these places with tons of kids of all ages running around and sliding and jumping. It was quite humorous to see it tear his nerves up. :) Us moms are veterans at this kind of stuff. The dads not so much.. :)

I think all and all Jackson had a great day. He did get a little inpatient waiting on our turn in the party room, but that was my fault. I was trying to be super organized so I got there early, and literally he was sick of jumping for an hour and half waiting on the cake and presents. :) Poor guy. Mommy is sorry...I forgot what it's like to be a kid! :)

He had tons of friends there and got lots of great presents!
The theme was Mickey Mouse Pirate party, and he loved the cake I made him. Let's just say I probably won't be making that one again though. :( ONLY for Preston. And, I will be trying to talk him out of it. :)

And, Jackson of course loved it being a family day where Daddy was part of all the festivities.

Daddy got him a Leapster 2, Preston got him a case for it, and I got him a game for it. (And, thanks to our friends who got him two more games!) (Ok..well..let's all be honest here. Dad got the credit from Jackson for the great gift of a Leapster. When you know whose idea it was, and uh, who went to buy it. But, I will give Dad props..he paid for it with all his hard work. :))

Jackson loves the leapster. And, I do, too! If you are wondering about getting your child one, email me! I can tell you how great it is!

And, a huge thanks to my photographer, Erica! She saved the day! It is so hard to do all that as a mom and take care of your child! Thanks to dad for videotaping it, too!

Jackson is SO much like me. I am not sure if I should say it is funny, or sad, or what. :) He slept with his presents the night before because he was so excited! Isn't he a great kid though? He didn't even unwrap them or peek. :) NOT to say Preston is NOT a great kid. Because he is. But, we all know how him sleeping with wrapped presents might have turned out. He is just like his daddy. Which I love.

Oh, how time has flown by. This birthday was extra special to me I guess for several reasons. Because it was the fifth which is special and big. And, because of all the stuff he has been through this year I can honestly say I am blessed to still have him around to celebrate another year. You don't always think of it that way until you are reminded of the brevity of life. And, this year I was. What a blessing to be able to spend this day celebrating a wonderful, smart, adorable, little boy. God has big plans for him. I feel it. And, diabetes will make him stronger and I think will play a part in that plan. I cannot wait to see what He has in store for him.

Happy Birthday, buddy! I love you so much! Even when I want to send you to your room. (Like right now..you are sitting in time out screaming your lungs out... :) Had to include that tidbit for you to read when you read this post years down the road...Ah..motherhood.)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Breeana!

I always wondered what it would be like to have a niece, and thanks to my sister-n-law and brother-n-law now I know! And, it is very fun! I have fun going to her "girlie" birthday parties and seeing her room with all the dolls and dollhouses, and sadly and secretly I must admit I often want to open her Barbies she gets as gifts and check them out. :(

We recently went to her Strawberry Shortcake themed party and helped her celebrate turning three!

The kids had a great time, and I am pretty sure the birthday girl did, too! I cannot believe she turned three already! It made me remember how close Preston is to turning three. Isn't it kind of sad? :(

Happy Birthday, Bree!

Mitchell Academy's Fall Festival!

When I decided to homeschool, I was still in the shock mode that I could not believe my child had diabetes or that he was not going to be able to do all the fun activities preschool can offer throughout the year with his friends including fall festivals. I was bound and determined to keep up their "social life" myself as best I could. And, we had a successful Bike A Thon, and then now a great Fall Festival! I will admit it was a little chaotic probably because it was my first time attempting something like this at my home. Even through the disorganization at times though, I do truly think the kids that came enjoyed themselves. We handed out prizes and played games and ate some snacks. (As you might imagine I try to steer away from food as much as we used to.)

We also painted pumpkins! Aiden and Preston made theirs with a wide array of colors..all mixed up! :)

Some wore their costumes even if it was just for a little while. It was kind of cumbersome to participate in everything all dressed up. And, I didn't want that pumpkin paint all over Buzz.

Blood sugars weren't perfect, so I don't think Jackson felt all that great during the whole event, but we worked around it all and he ended up enjoying himself I think. All the more reason to be glad we were at our home and not at school. I really, really hope it is true what everyone says about how things do EVENTUALLY get easier and settle down. They are easier than July, but still! But..I guess that's another post. Don't get me started. :)

A big thanks to all the Maw Maws in our life for helping save me the bottles for this fun game!

And, of course we needed goodie bags! I am so surprised how excited kids can get about cheap plastic toys from Oriental Trading! :)

My friend, Katy, did a great job with the face painting. Not sure how she got nominated for that, but for the most part she manned the station. :) A few other moms did their own kids, and I have to say so many of my friends are artists! :)

And, a huge thanks to Grandma Gail for loaning us the tables and chairs...

A huge thanks to Yule Forest for a great deal on the pumpkins...

And, an even bigger thanks to Daddy..who paid for it all..and who makes it possible for me to be off work so much to do fun stuff like this!

Happy Fall, Ya'll!

Living It Up On The Farm

Like I said before October is very busy for us. Amazingly even with no children having school activities this year to be committed to this year felt even busier than usual. So, (some of you probably think I am fibbing here..:)) but I really thought I would have to skip some of our October traditions and pick and choose what would fit into our schedule. But, remember Paul's last minute fishing trip? Well, when the cat's away the mouse will play..:)

The boys and I spent a rainy, cold afternoon at Southern Belle Farms! The weather left much to be desired for and honestly if we all had ended up with pneumonia at the end of it then I would not have been surprised. The funny thing was I texted Paul to tell him it was 47 degrees and where we were. I was making a joke referencing the person I mentioned a few posts ago about being called a "supermom." Remember..it wasn't a compliment. :) Paul about made me pee my pants (which I am confident the pee would have remained frozen down my leg) when he said that's not supermom, THAT'S RETARDATION. :)

See why I have to do some things while he is away? He doesn't share my desire for misery I guess. :)

And, as usual with Paul the corn maze at level one took us years to complete, and we ended up coming out the entrance instead of the exit. Sigh. Why are those things so hard for me?? :)

But, as you can see we really had a great time!

Everyone got along and afterwards we had a nice dinner out with Maw Maw and Paw Paw. It was just one of those good days.

And, the kids will hopefully remember it down the road. That's the thing..I always say I will remember these days and those moments. I hope they do. At least a little. Maybe Jackson is old enough to?? Oh, well. If they don't...

We will always have the pictures to remind them.

It's the Most Busiest Time of the Year!

Kinda sounds like a Christmas card, huh? Except you hear "the most wonderful time of the year." Well, October for us is wonderful, but also very busy! We always make it a family tradition (I will add here Paul told me yesterday he thinks we have too many 'family traditions':)) to go to the Georgia National Fair in Perry each year. It is getting more fun each year as the kids get older, and while it was a bit chilly this year, we still had a blast. We typically stay till closing for the laser show and fireworks, but even I this year was too tired for that! It was quite busy as it was the last day of the fair. We always go that day, but this year it was busier than other years. A big thanks to Daddy for putting up with the crowds. Fairs and crowds are not his favorite things by far. But, for us he will do just about anything! Including the fact that we (hopefully this won't tarnish my reputation forever..it's Paul's idea after all!!) always break the rules and get only one armband for me and Paul to switch off with (yes, it takes typically about $5 to get the person placing it on your arm to do it loosely:)) This year it didn't take $5 after all, but...the person didn't do it as loose as they should have. And, Paul was stuck with it...the whole time...and rode every ride that required the accompaniment of an adult. Poor guy. :) But, at least I didn't leave nauseated like I did at the Henry County Fair! And, I had time to take pictures!

I love pictures of the three of them. They are my absolute favorite.

If you look really closely you can see Preston squished in the middle of them. In Henry County, he was too short for rides like this. Not in Perry. Much to his happiness, and also much to Paul's wonderment I am sure. How in the world they all fit in there and survived without vomiting at the end I have no idea.

I love our traditions. Maybe we have too many. I don't know. What determines too many? When you can no longer afford them? When you can not walk at the end of the day? I don't know. That's a tough question. I guess if we couldn't afford them, or the kids quit wanting to go and asked to stay home? I just know that even though sometimes you are rushed heading out the door and asking yourself "do I really want to go" here or there everytime we get there (including Paul..this is actually his analogy I am stealing) and start having fun being a family and then bring the memories home it is really hard to imagine life without that particular tradition.

Stone Mountain at Its Best!

You probably remember reading last year that one of my favorite traditions is taking the boys to the Stone Mountain Pumpkin Festival. Again, this year we had a great time! It was much colder than previous years which limited some of our activities. But, it didn't stop us from trying out some new things... Like the inflatable slide Jackson played on...

And some oldies but goodies, running around the pumpkin patch...

And, again this year they had the bubbles to play in..we did this last year and everyone got wet much to their dismay. But, it wasn't a huge deal since it was warm outside. Thank goodness I was a veteran and knew with the cold temperatures they should enjoy it from afar. But, Preston wasn't tall enough for the inflatable, so the bubbles were his tradeoff. And, well we all know Preston. Enjoying from afar isn't really quite his faux pas.

As is getting paint on his hands. He painted a pumpkin ever so joyfully, but then realized it was getting on him, and things fell apart pretty quickly from there. :) I am sad to admit I am sort of glad he is becoming more OCD. Isn't that horrible? It was hard before when he and I clashed SO much. But, then again I don't want him to be as crazy as me...we'll see how that turns out. :)

And, regarding more new ideas of things to experience, Preston got his hair painted! I feel horrible that it never occurred to me he would want to. I guess I still see him so much of a follower maybe afraid to do things on his own without leadership from big brother. When we passed by the hair painting booth, I asked Jackson is he was interested. And, he was for sure not. As we walked further on though, Preston who had been for the most part quiet, spoke up and said "Mommy, I want MY hair painted." We quickly turned right around and took care of that! He loved it! And, he cried that night in the bathtub when it washed out.

Here he is waiting anxiously for the paint...

These are the days I will remember forever!