What's Up Wednesday

The end of October is upon us so we all know what that means!  Bring on all the Christmas stuff!!   

Today I’m linking up with Shay, Mel, and Sheaffer for What’s Up Wednesday. 

What We’re Eating This Week 

Nothing new on the menu this week as it’s been a busy month.  Just some dinner staples in our household and some leftovers – BBQ chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and black eyed peas, Mix and Match Mama's Beefy Mac leftovers (that dish made a TON for our little family), and my One Dish Sausage and Roasted Vegetables that I make pretty often.  

What I’m Reminiscing About  

I linked up with Andrea last week to share our old Halloween costumes and that might have been one of my favorite posts so far.  It was so much fun to look back at past Halloween costumes, not only for our kids, but for Brian and myself before we had kids.  We had some good times!  Halloween has always been one of my favorites.

What I’m Loving 

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love these Jessica Simpson Ballet Flats.  They are perfect for the transition from summer to fall weather.  You can dress them up, you can dress them down, and they go with just about anything.  Not to mention they are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever put on my feet.  Seriously.

What We’ve Been Up To 

A whole lot of fall activities.  We went to the pumpkin patch, we carved a pumpkin, we watched Toy Story of Terror, we’ve read It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown about 1,087,654 times, and we’ve been spending loads of time outdoors on the weekends enjoying these cooler temps.  It’s been fall-tastic.  #ImCheesy

What I’m Dreading 

Not much!  What’s to dread this time of year??  Well, maybe colds, flu, and stomach viruses.  They are pretty much inevitable this time of year, but I’m praying that we all avoid it as much as possible this fall and winter. 

What I’m Working On 

We took our family pictures this past Sunday and I’m working on editing them now.  I hope to share them with you tomorrow… that is, if we were able to get any good ones… #ISeriouslyThinkTheresOnlyOneGoodOneOfTheFourOfUsOutOf274Pictures #WishIWasKidding 

And if you’re interested, I shared how we go about planning outfits for fall pics here.  Just a few pointers to make it a little less stressful.

What I’m Excited About 

This will be the first year that Olivia can walk around to trick-or-treat, so I made her Halloween bucket this past weekend.  I bought a plain purple tin bucket from Hobby Lobby and hand painted her name on it with silver acrylic paint.  She and Jacob now have matching buckets as I made one for him when he was younger.  His is black with orange and green.  :o)

What I’m Watching/Reading 

As far as fall shows go, we are watching Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Scandal, Amazing Race, and Shark Tank, and then we’re also still binge-watching Parenthood.  Oh, and let’s not forget college football… we’re watching a crap load of that!  Plus a few Halloween shows for the kids.  :o)

I’ve had zero time to read, but I’m really thinking of getting this book that I’m sure you’ve already seen ten thousand times – The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

What I’m Listening To 

I’m still wearing out Strip it Down by Luke Bryan… I’m shooting to bump Let It Go down from the top played song in my iTunes library.  ;o)   

However, starting November 1, it will be all Christmas music all the time.  And I can’t wait to share with you my favorite Christmas albums next month!

What I’m Wearing 

We’ve started to have chilly mornings, so I’ve officially made the transition away from open-toe shoes, and I’ve finally started incorporating some light scarves.  I’m ready for a cold snap so I can add chunky sweaters, boots, and blanket scarves.  You can see some of my recent fall looks here, here, and here.  I've included several Mommy and Mini snaps like this one below.  I adore twinning with my girl!

What I’m Doing This Weekend 

Trick-or-treating with the kids, of course!  So exciting that Halloween is on a Saturday this year!

 

Via

What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month 

Two words.  Christmas.  Everything.   

Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas decorating, Christmas shopping, Christmas PJs.  Oh yeah, it’s all getting started November first!!   

Yes, I’m one of those.  #ChristmasCrazy

 

Via

What Else Is New 

I’ve been sick for the last ten days and I think it’s finally on its way out.  My voice is starting to somewhat sound like my voice again.  Now I can finally get back to dueting with Luke in the car… oh, how I’ve missed that! 

Enjoy the rest of your week, loves!

Weekend Vibes

It’s a rainy Monday here in Georgia.  I’m still fighting this cold, so between that and the weather, it would have been nice to stay at home, curled up in bed with a good book today. 

Olivia has been congested for a couple of weeks due to a tooth that she has coming in, so Brian and I decided that Friday it would be a good idea to take her to the doc just to make sure her ears hadn’t gotten infected.  Good thing we did, because it turns out that she has croup (a very minor case) and two ear infections.  

I tell ya, this girl is tough.  You can’t even tell she’s sick aside from the runny nose that she’s had.  She’s been sleeping through the night, she’s been eating, her behavior has been normal (aside from a bit of crankiness that we attributed to the teething), and she hasn’t even run a fever.  Thank goodness we decided to be on the safe side and get her checked! 

We kept her out of school Friday to avoid spreading the germs to school, so she got to have a day off with Daddy.  And I got to go home on my lunch break and see them both.  Such a treat!

Friday evening Jacob and I picked up Cracker Barrel and took it home, and then we spent the evening carving our pumpkin and watching Toy Story of Terror!  This is Brian’s and my 13th Halloween together, and this was our first time carving pumpkins together.  We go to the pumpkin patch and buy pumpkins every year, but we’ve never actually carved one until now.  Ours was pretty basic (and it had to have “vanpire” teeth per Jacob’s request), but the kids still loved it!  Next year I suppose we’ll have to step up our game and carve something fancier.

Saturday, Brian and Jacob went to the tennis courts while Olivia and I stayed home and did some laundry.  I also got a bunch of old photos organized, filed, and backed up.  It was nice to get that out of the way since I’ve been needing to do it for a while. 

Jacob and I went to church Saturday evening, while Brian and Olivia stayed home.  Olivia probably wasn’t even contagious at that point, but we didn’t want to risk getting any of the other kids (or adults) sick at church.  And my oh my was it quiet at church without her! 

After church, B and Olivia met Jacob and me as well as my parents at our favorite BBQ restaurant.  They have live music on Saturday nights so the kids always love it.  They had strung lights around the stage and decorated for Halloween so it was especially festive.  Olivia sat in a booster seat in the booth (for the first time) between my Mom and Dad (instead of a high chair), so she thought that she was something else!

Sunday we went to Your Pie for pizza and gelato for lunch, and then we took the kids to one of our larger parks for a walk in the woods.  The weather was a little on the warm side (upper 70’s), but the majority of the park was shaded from an abundance of trees and there was a nice breeze so it was actually pretty comfortable.  We fed the geese and the kids walked around finding acorns, or “corn” as Olivia calls them.  We stopped at a playground for a little bit, and then we ended our walk on the dock at the lake.  The leaves were falling from the trees, and there were leaves crunching under our feet.  It was such a peaceful walk.  Have I mentioned that I love this time of year?

Sunday evening after naps, we headed to my parents’ house for family pictures.  My parents have woods behind their house, and it always makes the perfect backdrop for pictures.  Usually my dad takes them for us every year, but since he was picking up my grandmother for dinner, my brother took them instead.  

As always, things were a little chaotic… Jacob was a little angel, but Olivia… well, let’s just say that she woke up on the wrong side of the crib after her nap.  I bribed them both with marshmallows, so I’m hoping that we were able to get at least a few good shots.  I haven’t had a chance to sort through them yet, but I’m hoping to get share them with you later this week!

I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! 

Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending.