halloween parade.

For the first almost four years of Cayden's life, he went to the same preschool. Last Septemeber, my parents moved back to Alabama, and this past March, my mom offered to watch the boys for a much discounted daycare price. We gladly accepted. And both boys have excelled with all the one-on-one attention they're receiving. I mean Sawyer, just barely over two, can now count to 20. Maybe that's not impressive, but I'm pretty sure Cayden wasn't quite that advanced at 28 months.

But that's so not the point of this post... When fall registration for schools was coming up, we decided to put Cayden back in a program for three days a week. It'll get him semi-prepared for what's coming next year. (As a side note? My oldest starts kinder next fall. Yikes!) We decided to put him in our church's school and have not regretted that decision for a moment. Y'all, they walk to the cafeteria and have lunch at real school tables. How cute is that?

Anyway, the original daycare he went to didn't allow dressing up for Halloween. And that always made me just a little bit sad. So this year when we discovered that Cayden would not only get to dress up, but that there was also a Halloween Parade? We were thrilled. And Cayden's been pumped about it all week. This morning was the parade and it was so fun to see all of the 3-6 year olds dressed up in their Halloween garb. Also? Cayden was Spiderman for Halloween last year too. So we just recycled his costume and he was totally down with it. That right there? That's what I call a win-win.

sometimes i do still sew.

Especially when a co-worker asks me to whip her up some adorable make-up bags for her bridesmaids. I actually finished these a month or so ago, but needed to wait until the bridesmaids received their gifts before posting. The wedding was this past weekend and was absolutely beautiful. It was all outdoors and the weather behaved perfectly – a little cloudy, but no rain; not too hot, but not enough chill in the air to be uncomfortably cold. And the reception overlooked a huge lake. I mean, seriously, the location was just out of control with its beauty.

But back to the bags! I was sent a link to something that she really liked and was totally convinced that I could recreate something similar. The sewing part? A no brainer. But when I got into the embroidery part, I was in semi-new territory. I embroidered something once, and while I thought I did a good job, looking back, I KNOW I could have done better. So I did a little googling on how to get the desired look here and went for it. The first letter I did took me a ridiculously long time. After that first one though, I progressively got faster, and much more confident, with my stitching. I'm still contemplating making one of these cuties for myself!

pumpkin patch 2013.

The third weekend of October seems to be OUR weekend for hitting up the pumpkin patch. And this year was no different. While the outlook for the weather was looking a little less than stellar, the afternoon ended up being absolutely beautiful. And, as opposed to wearing shorts and a tank top like last year, we were actually able to dress a little more fall appropriate.

The boys picked out two rather large pumpkins. And I suppose since they couldn't carry them, that would explain the lack of photos from the actual picking of pumpkins moment. Mama and daddy were too busy huffing and puffing to get the pumpkins back to the tractor.

And what would a patch-outting be without bouncy houses? Cayden specifically asked if he could jump before we even got there. I'm pleased to announce that BOTH boys jumped this year. Sawyer has finally gotten over his fear of bounce houses. It still takes a little persuasion for him to get in one, but once he does? He's good for days. Cayden also braved the tall slides; I think we have his older cousin to thank for that bravery.

When we got back to the house, we had a big 'ol pumpkin carving party. Then grilled hotdogs, watched some really great SEC football and then roasted smores. It was a full day. And I think we all went to bed Saturday night with full hearts.

(Always fun: 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009. More photos over on Facebook.)

a little pumpkin carving.

Going to the pumpkin patch and picking out the perfect pumpkin has become a yearly thing for us. Last year, Cayden picked out a pumpkin that wasn't quite large enough to carve, but this year, the boy's picked two beasts out.

And then the pumpkin carving party began. We had tons of options to choose from thanks to our Pumpkin Masters Kits. Cayden had to flip through all of the books before he decided on a spooky ghost. And while we don't necessarily condone the use of knives for four year olds, Cayden really, really wanted to help cut his shape out. We let him try it for a few seconds, but mostly he just supervised me cutting out his pumpkin. Which was fine by me because again, four year olds and sharp pointy objects...

Sawyer was mostly interested in helping to scoop out the guts. And y'all, to me that is the absolute worst part, so by all means child, jump in and scoop those guts out. I think he thought the insides were funny?

Either way, picking out our template was easy enough. And after tracing it onto the pumpkin, it really was as easy as playing connect the dots. The ghost cut out pretty easily (except for one small part where I ripped his tail off; Cayden assured me it was ok) and the effect with the light on is pretty cool. Cayden confidently let us know that the light was his favorite part. Pumpkin Masters sent strobe lights for inside. I have to admit that I'd never thought about using a strobe in there, but it was downright awesome.

Well, here, you guys see for yourself the fun we had!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

because it's been raining here.

Get out and enjoy some puddles yourself. Swear, if it's raining, this is Sawyer's absolute favorite thing to do. He actually cries when we make him go inside. Saddest and cutest thing ever all at the same time. Also? Check out that height he's getting. Jumping is also his favorite. All. The. Time.

Oh, and also? Filmed with the new iPhone's fancy slow mo filter. So um, unless you want his voice to scare you at the end, it's best to listen to this one on mute. Just... believe me.

cayden's first soccer game.

It was technically the third week of games, but their first game was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts, their second cancelled due to stormy weather. But their third game? Their third game was glorious. The day was beautiful and the game was early before it got too hot (which still didn't stop this silly fair-skinned girl from getting sun burned on one half of her body).

If I told you that Cayden was a natural at soccer, I wouldn't entirely be lying. Truth is, he's awesome when it's just him and his ball. Tell him to kick, dribble, kick, shoot–and he does. But y'all, get this boy in a game and it's just pure entertainment! I don't know if he's afraid to get in the middle of it, but he'll literally swing WIDE around everyone else. He's still running. And he's still kind of generally following the direction of the ball. But get close to kicking it? He does not.

We actually had one of their makeup games last night. And after witnessing the "orbiting" (as Pop calls it), Jeremy walked over, bribed Cayden with a cookie if he'd just please kick the ball and amazingly enough, he got in there, kicked the ball once and proclaimed "Cookie!" And then pretty much back to orbiting. Like I said, so not short on entertainment... but as a parent who might get a little competitive, I really just want him to get in there and really kick the poop outta that ball. Maybe by the final game? Here's hoping.

(Oh, and P.S., near the end of the game, Sawyer got in my face and seriously said, "Take piture mommy." And well, I couldn't resist. Crooked smile and all.)