Moonpie Designs: November 2012

We had like a million Halloween parties/events this year.

Ok, so maybe it was only 4, but still. I was happy because I LOVE Halloween.

The first was a grown-up party at the Diaz's. Justin and I went as gypsies, but everyone thought we were pirates. Either way, we won the costume contest. :)

I had to work the consignment sale that night before the party so we didn't get to get dressed together. He put this costume together all by himself and when I saw him I fell in love with him all over again. Apparently the ability to put together and good costume and own it is my love language. :)

YoungLife Rockdale celebrated with our annual Llamaween event - a picture scavenger hunt around town in our costumes. We are the BEST. I love these people.

For actual Halloween we went to the Cardozas with the Mays for Chili and trick or treating in their neighborhood. It was awesome but I didn't take many pictures. Evie and I were Momma and Baby Jaguar.

Silas was Spiderman for everything - Trunk or Treat at church, his class party, and Trick or Treating.

There are no pics of Justin on this night because he came straight from work (and hitting a deer on his way) and didn't dress up.

Llamaween.

I have been a huge slacker at preserving our memories on this blog. Life has been happening, ya know?

But I'm going to try to catch up today, but that means there will be lots of pictures in no particular order and that the stories will probably be short and sweet (which might be a relief to some!).

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A few weeks ago we spent a long weekend in Cullowhee, North Carolina with the Mays.

We were able to stay at an absolutely incredible house that belongs to a friend and it was seriously one of the best trips ever. The boys all played incredibly well together and they even all slept in the same room without any issues whatsoever. I'm still in shock. Not that they aren't always great, it's just that THAT much greatness all at one time was nearly unbelievable. :)

We spent a lot of time just hanging out and enjoying the house and the lake and the boat and the firepit.

The first night we had hot dogs and sausage for dinner and then we went down by the water to roast marshmallows in the firepit. The boys had a blast with their flashlights (Uncle Zach taught them how to hold it up to their face and look creepy) and everyone enjoyed the marshmallows. At the end of the night they started throwing whole 'mallows into the fire just to watch them grow and turn into Jabba the Hut.

After the kids were down for the night, the grown-ups got to play.

Zach and Justin were smoking a Butt the next day so they "rubbed" it and got everything ready. There was no shortage of jokes.

{RABBIT TRAIL: When I called to ask Sarah how many/how big of a butt I should get the day before we left, she said, "I think one will be fine for our family." So I said, "So we need two?" and she replied, "No, I meant our big family. I combined us." And that made my heart happy and I wanted to write it down so I remember it. We ARE family and I love it. END RABBIT TRAIL}

We played Settlers of Catan and I WON THE VERY FIRST GAME I EVER PLAYED.

There has not been near enough talk about that fact, and when I reminded the guys of it this week they tried to pretend that the whole night was too fuzzy to remember specifics. Wrong. I REMEMBER.

We stayed up way too late, laughed a ton, and made great memories.

The next day when I got up to feed Evie, Zach was already outside manning the smoker. Sarah and Justin slept in for a bit (not together, just to be clear ;-) ) and then we made plans to go climb Whiteside Mountain.

While the babies were napping, Zach and Justin took the boys out on the pontoon boat and it was a huge hit.

After lunch we headed to the mountain and began our hike. Evie was in the Ergo and napped most of the way. Micah was usually just barely within sight because the rest of us were too slow for him. Connor and Silas took turns moving at a glacial pace and getting distracted by every.single.thing we passed. :)

We finally made it to a place with a view, and even though we were nowhere near the top, we told the kids that we were and they were super excited to have climbed a whole mountain. :)

Back down we went and then we stopped for ice cream before heading to the house.

The Butt was DELICIOUS for dinner, and now the guys are hooked on smoking stuff (meat, that is). They smoked ribs for us this past weekend. This is a hobby that I am happy to support. ;-)

We were pretty exhausted that night (because staying up until 1-2am will do that to old people), so after sharing a huge bowl of homemade caramel corn, we headed to bed.

The last morning we had crepes and bacon for breakfast (mmmmm!) and then we took everyone out on the boat one last time before cleaning up and heading out. Justin stayed with Evie because she was napping (he was happy to do so because it was COLD and drizzly). We all nearly froze to death, but the boys still had a blast.

We said goodbye and went our separate ways for the rest of the day before heading back to Conyers.

The Mays went to the Goats on a Roof, and we headed into Highlands to walk around their adorable downtown and have ice cream at Sweet Treats. It was a great day with our little family. We headed home and had a little adventure on the interstate when our front bumber got destroyed by road debris and we had to duct tape it together to make it home.

Sweet sweet memories.

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Throwing rocks. Hours were spend doing this.