Sweet Caroline

How in the world are we already here at Thanksgiving week?!  I know everyone else feels the same way, Halloween was like 2 days ago and now we are gearing up for the most fattening week of the year.  But, let me be clear, Thanksgiving is also one of my favorite holidays.  I love the "simplicity" of Thanksgiving compared to Christmas- it's a time where we can just BE with our families and loved ones... no craziness of the Christmas season, a time of true fellowship where there is no agenda.  I am so excited because I took off Wednesday-Friday to enjoy some much needed DOWN time with my little fam.  I don't want to cram every second full, just enjoy "being" with my people.  We got our Thanksgiving festivities started Friday night at a little Friendsgiving event, where we took no pictures.   Actually, I took no pictures all weekend, WTF.  Saturday was spent gettin' blonder, taking some family pics, relaxing, and then going to hang out with fri...

Last week was extremely emotional around my part of the world.  My SIL (my brother's wife) lost her dad suddenly and we all loved that man, and he was without a doubt, my SIL and niece and nephew's BIGGEST fan.  And then, on the night of his funeral- I learned that a dear  friend for life lost her husband suddenly.  I was in their wedding 14 years ago and she was pregnant with her second child in our wedding- she's like my older sister and I am simply devastated and heartbroken for her and her babies (who aren't really babies anymore).  Life is hard, friends.  Life is also way too short.  It just got me thinking about the way we treat one another and live our day to day.  I'm making it a personal motto to try and spread more LOVE and KINDNESS everywhere I go.  I ride around and see people get so pissed driving and honking horns...in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? Or being rude to a sales person.... or getting feisty on fac...

I'm all caught up!  We kicked the weekend off on Friday with a trip to Hi Wire- my parents had given the kids a little Halloween money and they chose an experience over a toy, the LOVE the trampoline park.  Mikey and I scooted out Friday night at 8: 15 for a little date night, it had been a while since it was just the two of us- we enjoyed ourselves and needed a time out for just us.  Saturday morning brought about BIG things- Collins attended her very first dance convention and LOVED it.  So many memories came flooding back to me as I spent years of my childhood attending dance conventions and competitions- I love watching and experiencing it as a mama. While the girls headed to Greenville for dance,  Mikey took the boys to my dad's huntin' club (I can't bring myself to say or write hunting club, the g makes it sound too formal- must be the southern in me, ha!) for the very first time.  They had a B-A-L-L and did not want to leave.  It was a big wee...

A huge group of us got tickets to go see Chris Stapleton recently and man oh man, he did not disappoint!  His vocals are seriously impressive, I've always liked him, but hearing him live was pretty fantastic.  We tailgated, as one does, and had a big ole time.  It made for a looooong Friday, but it was worth it! Our boys first rec soccer season ended the other week and we celebrated with a little pizza party and trophy presentation.  Our little team was just that- little.  We only had two five year olds on our team and the rest were four- but they were cute and had fun and that's all that matters!  They literally had no clue who won, and were just excited if they kicked the ball!  It was cute, but I'll say if you have ZERO patience, DO NOT sign up to coach 4/5 year old soccer, lol!  Our coach was a saint... not a job for me!

Hope everyone had a wonderful fall weekend, ours was pretty special, filled with two big firsts for all the kiddos- more to come after I finally catch up with all the other craziness! On Saturday October 27th, we got to celebrate our good buddy Leo's FIFTH birthday.  Leo's mommy and daddy are good friends of ours, and in fact, Leo's mom and I have known each other since we were BABIES.  Leo was born with SMA, Type 1.  The diagnosis was devastating, but his mom and dad are, quite literally, super heroes and have worked their fannies off loving this little boy and going to the ends of the Earth to help cure SMA.  They have started a foundation that helps families obtain much needed equipment to help the care of a child with SMA.  They are also spearheading the effort to build an inclusive playground at one of our local parks- I'm telling you, they are rockstars.  It was such a privilege to be able to help celebrate Leo turning FIVE.  They have a 5...