Halloween Festivities

Happy Fall Y'all!
I'll be the first to admit we overdid it on celebrating for Halloween this year.

It started with Boo at the Zoo...
We met up with Leah and Carson for a fun trick-or-treating playdate at the zoo.
The boys were able to go to different stations around the zoo and even had a trick-or-treating table line for garnering sweet treats.
I had to get a photo of these Nutcracker ballerinas manning the Birmingham Ballet booth.
I know it's silly, but I was almost giddy when Dakota Kate was so happy being held by this sweet dancer. I'm so excited for when she's old enough to take ballet classes, even if it's years down the road!

And then while the boys and Mrs Leah rode the Choo-Choo around the zoo, Dakota Kate and I chilled for a bit with the strollers and gear.
And then we all were able to do the hayride together.

We even ended the evening with a very late night dinner...at Davenport's.

But we had to have our entire family celebrate the Fall, so we made a trip out to the Old Baker Farm.Mason loved the Cotton Jump!
Sorry Scott, I uploaded the pic of him mid-wink.
We were able to go out into the fields to pick out our very own pumpkins. Mason absolutely adores the word PUMPKIN now.
We had a fun ride and it was nice to be able to go with our whole family.
What a beautiful day!
And then we've also been "BOO"ed for the first time. I have a hunch it was our sweet neighbors down the street-what a nice surprise we had!
Then we went to the Hoover Fall Festival and this was the first time for the kids to dress in their costumes.

Dakota Kate was Princess Leia
And Mason was Luke Skywalker...or really a Jedi Knight {since we didn't have a blonde hair piece for him}
And then Halloween weekend we had our Church's Fall Festival!
photo courtesy of Kim Brantley {HERE for the album} and {HERE for her FB page}photo courtesy of Kim Brantley {HERE for the album} and {HERE for her FB page}photo courtesy of Kim Brantley {HERE for the album} and {HERE for her FB page}photo courtesy of Kim Brantley {HERE for the album} and {HERE for her FB page}photo courtesy of Kim Brantley {HERE for the album} and {HERE for her FB page}

Mason was ecstatic to hang with his best bud Carson {seriously, look at the look of excitement in his face! I think Carson was excited about his candy!}

On Halloween Day, Laura & Blair met us at the Mall for a lunch at Chick-fil-A and then a carousel ride...in costume.

Mason was scared to death of the Chick-fil-A cow. Frightening!

But he loved the carousel and Dakota Kate enjoyed trying to pull Mason's hood during the ride, so all was well.

Halloween Night this was just before Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood. Mason had a blast going up to the door and knocking or ringing the doorbells. I think he liked that part more than receiving the candy. I'm still not sure he understood that the candy was an edible treat. I'm not teaching him anything he doesn't have to know!

Phewww! Is that it? I think so. It was a whirlwind of Halloween-ing, but it sure was fun!

School Days

Mason's starting a Mother's Day Out Program and it's bittersweet. I'm so thankful that he's going because it'll give him a steady social outlet in addition to our storytimes and playdates, but going to "school" at the age of 2 years just seems like it's accelerating his childhood a little and there's a tiny part that tugs this mother's heartstrings.

But check out this keepsake photo I caught of Daddy walking hand-in-hand with Mason on Orientation Day!

For weeks prior, I'd pointed out his "School" everytime we drove by so he knew the building was something special.

Here he is first walking in to meet his teacher Mrs K. She was quite the understanding teacher as I explained this was the first scheduled time away from home {no daycare, preschool or steady time away from Mommy prior to MDO} and she was very kind and welcoming to Mason.

And so we got home and the next morning practiced getting his school gear together for the first day of school that week!

We decided it was best for Daddy to take him to his first school day. It was more likely that he'd be brave with him. No tears!

Here he is carrying his new dog lunchbox to match his backpack.

He had a his special hook and nook for his things:

And then of course after the short school day was over {it's only 4.5 hours}, he was all grins when I came to pick him up!

Now, he's like "I'm too cool to stay home with Mommy"

And in the first full week of school, Mrs K awarded him with a "Leader" position because he was the only child who consistently helped clean up without anyone asking!

So he got a monster cookie as a reward...it was the size of his head.

And as for me now? I really look forward to his School Days! Mason has been thriving in this setting and it gives Dakota Kate and me some rare one-on-one time. All is well!

Our First Family Vacation

We took our first family vacation to Gatlinburg, TN. This post is all photos and I may go back and add text, but the pictures are worth a thousand words anyway: