Catching Up

 Holy moly, where does the time go, y'all?!  It's been almost a month since I posted, and I had such grand plans to write more and scrapbook less, but here I am, dumping pictures and captions all over the blog.  We've been so beautifully busy for the last few weeks.  Check out these cute kids...

We love Pride Park.  I took the kids there one evening when it wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold and we neede somewhere free to go.  I always underestimate the amount of time we'll spend there.  Anyway, Albert's big enough for the bouncy toys now, so this happened and my heart fell out of my chest....

We spend a lot of time at Target.  They seem to have everything we could ever want in once place and coffee.  When Albert was a tiny newborn, I put the the girls in the double cart and I put his carrier in the basket, but now he's big enough to ride on the double cart roller coaster, so this is what it usually looks like when we go.

I don't know what happened here, but Margot suddenly looks like a super model.  It was a total fluke, I took about ten pictures of her in this new dress because I wanted my Mom to see it (we had just finished a day of fruitless shopping for kid clothes but I found this on my own):

We took the kids to Neltner's Farm for the annual Pumpkin Patch shenanigans.  They have live bluegrass music all day.  They have a petting zoo.  They have wine by the bottle.  Enough said, right?

Classy.

Our general rule is, you can't take home a pumpkin unless you can carry it yourself.  We made an exception and let Albert pick out Daddy's pumpkin.

Mamie bought the girls some flower crowns and they were in heaven!  It made for some pretty cute pictures!

Every year I have that moment that makes weepy.  This is our "family farm."  It's run by my mom's cousins and my grandma lives up the hill from here.  This tiny corner of Melbourne, KY is a complete and beautiful slice of heaven.  When you stand in the pumpkin patch, you can see my grandmother's church and I always take a deep breath and thank God that Grandma Neltner (GG to my kids) is still in our lives.  The pumpkin patch trip means Christmas is right around the corner and every Christmas we spend at GG's house is a blessing.  I love this opportunity to give thanks for what we've been given and look ahead at what's to come.  

I can't take the sweetness.  What a good Daddy!

So....we went camping a couple weeks ago.  It was an adventure.  First up...surveying the picnic table.  It all checked out.  The kids gave Grandpa the green light to set up shop with his awning, table cloth, tackle box full of cooking supplies, and truck bed garbage can.

Next up...pitching tents!  Look at that perfect camping spot.

I took the kids for a walk around the camp grounds.  It was a beautiful place!

 Our campsite was right across from the swing sets!

Let me tell you something about my dad.  If a kid has wheels, he's going to tie a rope to it.  When Sylvia wanted to ride her scooter around the campgrounds, he was ON IT!  He pulled her up the steep hills and he slowed her down on the way back.  That's one dedicated Grandpa, right there!

A peaceful day beside the lake...

Until we had to go to the hospital with this one:

She fell of the swings and had a gash in the back of her head.   She had to get three staples.  Luckily Jess was there because I almost passed out when they cleaned her gash and put the staples in.

When it was all said and done, Margot wanted to go back to the campsite!  The doctors said we didn't have to restrict her activities as long as we washed her hair that night (we had to wash it once and then we couldn't wash it for FIVE days)! 

 I washed her hair in the campsite showers, put her to bed in her tent........then drove her home when Albert woke up screaming and wouldn't stop.  Camping with a baby is a bad idea.  We were really close to home, though, so I took Albert and Margot home for the night around 11:00, and we came back the next morning to eat breakfast and help pack up.  I wasn't upset because I got to sleep in a real bed.

Last weekend I went to a coworker's wedding.  It was probably the most amazing wedding I've ever seen!  Here's the Ft Wright family getting ready to party hard:

 I had to take a picture of Sylvia's teachers (and Nurse Patti) on the dance floor!  I love these ladies!

 Nurse Patti enjoys "The Flabongo," Autumn (the bride's) signature drink!

The next day, Sylvain and I celebrated my birthday!  I turned 34 while we were at Norris Lake in July, so we didn't get to go out on the town.  We put it off until now and this weather was begging for a date night, so Mom took the kids and we hit some wineries...

Here's what we saw when we came back.  Three princesses (my girls and their cousin) searching for berries.

And finally, there's Willoughby the Cat.  My cousin found him on the street and posted his picture on Facebook.  My heart was stolen, but I'm not the cat person.  I told Sylvain that if he wanted another cat, I would CONSIDER this one....

Within 12 hours we had called her and set up a time for the cat to come to our house.  She would have kept him herself except her big dog was not a fan of cats.  This little darling is litter box trained and might as well be a rag doll.  My kids have pulled, poked, and prodded the poor thing within a inch of his life, but he hasn't fought back once.  He is the most docile, gentile and loving little kitty we could have ever hoped for!  We are smitten with this kitten!

P.S.  Sylvia uses periods when she writes now.  Perhaps too many periods, but she's learning.  Here is her first complete sentence - totally umprompted.  "My costume is going to be a witch."  Melt my heart.