Spooky Spooktacular Monster's Ball

This year for our yearly friend party we decided to bring back the costumes and host a Halloween party. I had plans for a scavenger hunt but freezing outside temperatures made us change our minds. Instead, everyone showed up in costume, we ate, and we played a game that had us all crying with laughter. I love spending quality time with the friends I love! 

Bobby and I were Mr. and Mrs. Bone Jangles. 

 Followed by Fifty Shades of Gray

Angela and Ashley teamed up to be a very large, ahem, in a bikini. 

We had Britney Spears from the 90's paired up with Uncle Si. Not sure how that pairing ever came to be. 

What I am sure of is that this is an image that I unfortunately will never be able to erase from my memory! 

Ashlee had a sick kid but came anyway and she came as.......Ashlee. Carrying french bread. 

And, oh, have mercy. Jeremy showed up later as a Barbie gone horribly wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong.

Looks like the Gilley's and Angela and Ashley were like minds. What are the odds? Two bikinis!

Super Bat heros, Mike and Kelly.

The Hills totally cracked me up with their "old people" costume. The wheelchair just made the entire thing. I have to give Allison props. She wheeled herself around in that thing all night! 

 Pharaoh and Queen of Persia.

 Oh mi gah! You won! You totally won!!! Publisher's Clearing House is alive and well!

The Shakes rolled up in a costume you had to think about: dressed up as KISS and carrying french bread= french kiss! What a clever duo! 

The Tedders rounded out the party as Bonnie and Clyde. Complete with guns in her purse and wads of cash! 

We had a great night of laughter and good company. You can't ask for anything better when you have a mixture of those two. We love partying with our friends! 

Window Drawings

I saw these window crayons in Kroger the other day and thought it would be a great pass time for Elaina. I was right! She loved them! I was really impressed at her first drawing a "yittle ol' man" :) Maybe my lefty will be an artist! 

Luke Bryan!

Bobby and I had a super fun date night crashing Luke Bryan's party! Much to my surprise (as I wasn't a true Luke Bryan fan) he put on a GREAT show. There's nothing I love more than a great concert with my man! 

Fall Break Fun!

This year we packed up with some of our friends and headed to the beach for fall break. I'll be honest..... I had my doubts about trying to relax even one iota with the crew of kids that we were going to have. It actually turned out to be really great though.....kids playing and adults chatting beachside/poolside. 

Elaina chillaxed and checked her email:)

The kids got the nets out and went fishing....

and they came across some really fun things! 

Samantha and I decided we needed to do our mandatory planking picture to send back to our workout class. 

Then Ashlee decided she needed to get in on the plank business. It's a good thing Samantha is one strong cookie and Ashlee isn't any bigger than a minute! 

It was decided that Samantha really needed to be on her hands instead of her elbows so we gave a whirl again the next day. 

Then there were beach handstands...

and an attempt to do some "couples sit-ups" that someone had seen online and it went terribly wrong ending with me flopping around in the surf:/ 

The gals had some good tan time sitting in the water discussing all sorts of topics. 

 We did go out to eat and in our sun induced haze we tried to get a table for all of us to sit together. What? No table for 14 kids and 10 adults? Well, I declare. 

 Beach days pics:

And out for another evening of trying not to lose anyone in the crowd. This part of the trip was definitely NOT relaxing. 

Elaina had so much fun playing with her friends at the beach and to this day she has not stopped asking to go back. (I'm always late in blogging and it's been a few months ago!)

 Bobby and I thought the trip was a breeze since we were down 2 kids. When you go from 4 to 2 you realize, "Hey! Two wasn't as bad as we thought it was!" Cade and Grant made the choice to head to Gatlinburg with Grandma and Granpa for some fall break fun. They went to the Titanic Museum and Ziplining. 

They had a great time spending time with their grandparents making memories. They came back bearing all sorts of souvenirs. Good times! 

We had a super fall break. Now back to the grind! 

Quotable Quotes

Ahh....Rhett. He STILL makes me laugh nearly every.single.day. He's full of confidence and full of himself! I told him last night that I was laying a nice shirt out for school the next day. He sighed and groaned and said, "Why???" and I replied, "Because it's school picture day and I want you to look decent." To which HE replied, "I don't even get school pictures. I mean, every single parent KNOWS what their kid looks like so why do we need picture day anyway? Picture day is so annoying." His rationale made me giggle:) With the way my memory is working, and with my brain being full to capacity with "to do" stuff I probably WILL need pictures to identify which kid is whom soon! 

Movin' on Up!

Elaina's room underwent some major transformation in just one day. I knew I needed to jump on it while she was at school and mom volunteered to help me paint and voi'la! It was complete! 

She was a little shocked when she got home from school but quickly became excited at the change. Just a few days prior she had given up her paci with absolutely no fight whatsoever. It was weird actually. One night I couldn't find it amongst her 82,000 stuffed animals in her crib and I said, "Lanie, I can't find your paci anywhere!"  To which she replied with a shoulder shrug and a "well, I'm tired of it anyway." What? She was addicted to that thing just 12 hours prior! 

I instituted great parenting and said, "Okay. If you sleep ALLLL night long and you don't yell for mommy one time during the night, I'll give you a chocolate sprinkle donut when you wake up." At about 8:30 the next morning she woke up and her first words? "Get my sprinkle donut." 

I thought for sure it was too good to be true and the next night would be torture with paci withdrawal, crying, screaming, the whole nine yards. So I promised her a scooter if she slept alllllll through the night and didn't yell for me. (I'm not above bribing. I like my sleep!).

She agreed but then just 30 minutes after I put her down she was wailing. I went in to ask her what was wrong and through her tears she said, "I don't want a scooooterrrrr!" Me: "Well, baby, what do you want?" 

"I want another chocolate sprinkle doooonuuuuut!" Done. The kid slept all night again and when she woke there was another donut with her name on it. 

 I can't even believe how easy the transition was. Apparently I've never realized the power a chocolate sprinkle donut holds over a person! Now I've traded a kid with a paci problem for a kid with a donut problem. Now, the quest to find something more powerful than donuts........

Releasing Some Butterflies!

Every second grade year the kiddos get to "grow" their own butterflies and then we as parents are lucky enough to get to stand around outside and watch them fly out of their classroom cages. It's.....interesting. This year the second grade all made up songs to sing about butterflies. I videoed Rhett singing. Well, I tried. He got video-taping-fright and pretty much forgot his words. Next time I'll just be there in person and record it in my little memory bank. He looked cute in his homemade butterfly t-shirt though! 

Once we got outside and he got his butterfly trap (a tasty orange slice) and about 3.4 minutes went by with no luck, he was over it. He dropped his slice, ran around until he found a bud and then I was as good as chopped liver. I slowed him down for one second to break school rules to snap a picture (I'm such a rebel!) and then texted it to his bud's mom who had to work that day. 

Butterfly release parties are so much more fun when you have a great bud to share it with!