First Elf Visit

We heard the doorbell ring one morning in December and Craw ran to the door to answer it. He found an elf with a packed suitcase who was ready to move in for the month. Craw just stared at him for quite sometime. Crawford loves the Elf on the Shelf movie and watches "Chippy" the elf go live with a family so at first he thought it was Chippy. We told him that this was his own and elf and he got to name him. We made quite a few suggestions and Craw turned them all down. He then politely told us later that day that his elf's name was Duga Duga (pronounced doooooga dooooga). He thinks it's funny when we help guide him to where Duga Duga is each day. We have found him eating pancakges, turning milk green, and hiding in the washing machine. It has been a fun addition to our December this year!

 

Thanksgiving 2013

Aunt Cat arrived the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We enjoyed an afternoon together shopping at Costco and having dinner at Bonefish. Then we woke up Sunday and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then started preparing for our first Friendsgiving. We had a ball cooking our very first turkey (Cat cooked I supervised) and hashbrown casserole. We arrived at the Rehns around 6 and spent the next 4 hour eating, socializing, chasing kids, and playing Pictionary. It was such a fun evening and I can't wait to make this a yearly tradition. I had to work Monday and Tuesday. We had Church turkey dinner at the Redds church and enjoyed having all the cousins together for a fun dinner. On Wednesday, Crawford got a haircut and we ran a few errands before enjoying a spaghetti dinner (cooked by Aunt Cat) at home. We decorated the Christmas tree and watched Hallmark Christmas movies. Thursday (Thanksgiving) we had the Redds over for breakfast and then we went to town in the kitchen. We made hot fudge pie, pecan pie, hashbrown casserole, and sausage/corn casserole. We spend the whole afternoon at nanas eating and playing and looking through all the fun shopping ads. We hit up walmart at 5:30 and scored some great deals. We were home by 7:30 and enjoyed a night at the Redds watching football and seeing Craw run all over the place. We are sooo grateful for the wonderful family that we have close by. They support us and help us and love our son as much as we do. We are so appreciative of all that his parents do for us. I am so glad my sister got to enjoy the wonderful hospitality. We are looking forward to some fun black Friday deals in the morning! 

 

 

Halloween 2013

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Crawford got to dress up as Mickey this year. My old partner at Walmart has hung onto this Mickey costume for years now and always said I could borrow it and we were so excited that it fit. Craw watches Mickey every day so it was perfectly fitting for the stage he is in right now. We had the costume for almost a month and we would always ask Craw to try it on. He would refuse each time. But if you asked him what he was going to be he would always say "Mickey." Well fast forward to the weekend of boo at the zoo and all the fun dress-up events around town and he wouldn't budge there was no way we were getting him in costume. We tried taking him to pick out a new costume and he wasn't having any of it. He put his costume on the morning of school because they were going trick or treating but quickly pleaded that I take it off. So he went to school without a costume. Luckily the teachers said they were able to get him in it (I have no idea how). We thought Halloween was a bust. There was no way he was going to wear his costume out that night. Thanks to Hope and Carter we were able to convince him that candy and bounce houses were worth wearing you costume for. I am so glad I got a smiling picture of him in this costume.

 

 

 

The cousins together before trunk or treating at Praise church.

 

Hope is soo sweet with Crawford and always wants him by her side.

 

Standing in line to trunk or treat.

 

The kids looking at all the bounce houses they got to go in after trick or treating.

 

They walked around the parking lot collecting candy from the different cars and Crawford would say "thank you" to everyone. Then they were off for the rides and games in the field. They got to ride a train around the parking lot and of course loved it!

 

Then it was bounce houses galore.

 

 

I had to include this last picture because this is how poor Craw felt about dressing up. I hope next year he gets excited about Halloween but he straight up would say "I don't want candy if I have to wear that costume" --

I didn't know how I would feel about trunk or treating but since we don't live in a neighborhood we decided to give it whirl. It took the fun out of running to the houses and saying "trick or treat" but the excited about the bounce houses and train were enough to distract from trick or treating at people's cars.

Denver Downs and Enchanted Tracks

We love the month of October. I think I had events filling our weeknights and our weekends. We have been to the Upper South Caroline State fair. We went on a Monday night and it was dead. Craw got a wristband and ran from ride to ride and could ride whatever he wanted over and over again. Needless to say  he asks to go to the fair every day now...he loved it! Nana and Papa joined us and we all had fun watching Craw have the time of his life.

 

 

 

 

We went to another event I read about called Enchanted Tracks in Greenville. It's centered around Craw's favorite thing---George the Train! You are supposed to wear your costume and ride George the train through some Halloween decorations in the dark. That was clearly the highlight of Craw's night. However, they also had bounce houses, games, a balloon artist, costume contest, hay maze, face painting, and an enchanted train where princesses and gremlins passed out candy in the forest. It was adorable! Craw got a Thomas the Train balloon that he just loved. Hope and Carter, Brian, Nana, and Papa joined us and we had fun watching the kids run around and play.

 



 

Riding George the Train with Nana.

 

He got to go to the pumpkin patch at school and pick out a pumpkin. He asks to go there every day as well.

 

 

Next up was one of our favorite events Denver Downs farm. They have a huuuge corn maze (which we still haven't even attempted), a hayride on a tractor, civil war reenactment, pumpkin patch, mazes of all sizes, petting zoo, slides, train, trampoline, hay and rope swings to climb on...It is a kid's heaven!

 

Above, he was running through the maze.

 

Here he is on the tractor hay ride.

 

Tractor hay ride

 

 

He loved this slide that's made of some sort of farm equipment.

 

running on bails of hay

 

Of course his favorite was the tractor that pulled cow trains.

 

The guy taking us around was funny and kept telling Craw "hands up like a bad guy" and we rode this quite a few times.

 

this is a giant trampoline set right in the ground. It looked like a ton of fun.

 

kiddie area with all sorts of toys

 

horse swing

 

We also visited Greer First Baptist fall festival with bounce houses galore, a firetruck, and trunk or treating. Craw is totally not into trick or treating. He doesn't want to dress up or walk around and get candy. It should be an interesting Halloween this year.

New House Progress - October

October has been an efficient month for our house. We got the house framing completed, windows and exterior doors installed, shingles installed, all mechanical rough-in's completed (plumbing, electrical, HVAC), insulation and fireplace in, back porch stamped concrete and sheetrock completed.  Next up is trim and interior doors.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention, they are about half way done putting up the brick on the exterior.  We have yet to pick out our stone for the front of the house and outdoor fireplace but that decision will be made this week.  We also will be finalizing our plumbing fixtures and lighting fixtures this week.  Flooring is the next big decision to make as it will be going in within the next month.  Below are some pics of the progress.

Apple Picking 2013

Our favorite time of the year is when we head to Sky Top to pick apples and then hit up the Apple Festival in Hendersonville, NC. Crawford, Carter and Hope and all the grandparents loaded up for a fun day in the mountains. The kids loved pushing the wagon this year and picking apples and then throwing them in the baskets.

 

 

they took turns pushing and pulling the wagon

 

These 3 just adore each other.

 

Craw with his bff-Nana



 

And his other bff-Papa

I love how they stop and pose for pictures together!

 

We get so excited to go over Labor Day weekend every year and create new memories there.

 

Craw drinking fresh apple juice

 

After paying for all of our apples and enjoying some apple donuts we headed straight for the apple festival. We love to grab some lunch and then stroll up and down main street and look at all the sweet crafts on display. The kids discovered the ride section this year and let's just say we barely made it up main street because all they wanted to do was ride the rides.

 

It's my favorite tradition and I love watching the kids enjoy it too!