Our 5yr Anniversary and Samuel turns 1....

You know, time really flies when you are having fun...and thats all Tom and I've been doing the last 5 years! On November 8, 2003 I married the man of my dreams and best friend. He is an amazing man that has many talents and such a sweet personality. Over these 5 years we've grown incredibly close and know the ins and outs of each other so well....and thank heavens know how to laugh!! I feel very blessed that the Lord guided us through the storms so we could be together forever!!! I love you honey!! I'm SO looking forward to being away with you for a few days in January, as we set sail on the klove cruise!!!

On top of celebrating our Anniversary the Nov birthday bashs got started with Samuel turning 1 on Saturday. Again, where does the time go!! Amy pulled out all the strings to make her boys day extra special with his family, friends and lots of doggie decorations. He was such a cute birthday boy in his dog overalls and matching shoes, grinning ear to ear every time he heard the "Happy Birthday...." song. We had a blast celebrating his big day with him....and thanks again for the kitty ears, Winnie wants to wear them all the time (silly girl!!)!
The doggie and his 3 kittens... Winnie sporting the kitty ears....too cute!

Happy Halloween...

Happy Halloween everyone! We had a busy day and very special evening... All month we've passed the pumpkinpatch down the street from our home and as today got closer I got more worried we wouldn't make it there for a few shots of Winnie with some pumpkins. We rushed there after work to ensure we could capture the moment...Winnie had fun playing with the pumpkins and loved the gourds!

She loves pointing at things...

When we got home she was excited to have a package and some cards from loved ones. The bear in pumpkin suit was adorable Grandma Jones, she wanted to play with it as soon as she saw it, oh and it had to eat dinner with her (thanks!!). After she ate dinner and I finished making a buffalo chicken dip we walked across the street to our annual neighborhood Halloween bash. Jennifer & Andrew's home was decorated with an inflatable scray character (not sure what else to call "it"), fire pit and canopy covering the food (which does say UNC not PSU!!). We all lined up our trick or treat candy against the fence and spent the rest of the evening catching up with neighbors. All the munchkins looked adorable in their costumes and I forgot how many little ones we had in the Village.

Winnie couldn't get over Princess Eden... Stephanie & I traded places this year, I had the (almost) one year old and she was pregnant!The get-up....all the trick or treaters wanted to come party with us! (Donna - this is the house I was going to send you but they put it up too late!)Little Brooks didn't know what to think of it...what a cute cowboy!!
Hope your evening was filled with lots of goodies and keepsake moments!!

Enjoying the Fall...

Our weekend officially started on Thursday with an annual trip to the NC State Fair with good friends. This year we rushed to the fair after work and spent the evening eating yummy fair food (that corn on the cob was awesome!), introducing Winnie to lots of farm animals and making memories with friends. One night at the fair is usually enough but there was a lot to fit in with such little time before we had to get Miss Winnie home for bed. (Amanda- sorry we didn't get a pic visiting you at the lot!!)

Us girls...me, Kristi and Elizabeth loving our corn!

Ben enjoying his ice cream!

Mom - this is for you....a contest you could enter...cooking contest and there were LOTS of angel food cakes on display!
On Friday night we had visitors come to town...my brother Eben and his girlfriend Julia. We were excited to finally meet Julia and show them around Raleigh. We started Saturday off with pancakes...Winnie's first taste and boy did she LOVE them! The rest of the afternoon we toured around downtown and they went off to see Chapel Hill for themselves. The highlight of the day was watching PSU beat OSU....it was sort of a boring game but one turnover set the pace for an awesome win! Thanks again Stephanie, Matt & Eden for watching Winnie so we could go out to cheer on the Nittany Lions!!

Winnie wore her PSU cheerleading outfit to church today to rub it in that we had beat our Youth Pastor's fav team OSU!! This made for some great photo opps when we got home!

Eben & Julia with Miss Winnie

Our weekend ended with a Fall Festival at Hope church with our good friends the Vallecorse's. We had a blast dressing our munchkins in their Halloween costumes...and they were such good sports! We may not be able to trick-or-treat with the V's but this was much more fun!!

While Amy and I were getting some cotton candy, Brian spotted a little white thing in Winnie's smile... a TOOTH!!! YAH!! We've been waiting months for this day!!!

She was a pro riding the horse...

What sweet babes these two are...who knew a cow and bumblebee could be so darn cute!!!

Luv Ya Lions!

This past weekend we headed to Happy Valley for the big Homecoming game against our rival Michigan! All week I could picture us heading into State College, showing Winnie all over my hometown and favorite spots. We drove up to MD on Thursday night to stay with my mom & Tony to ensure we could get into State College in time for the Homecoming parade. We got to the parade just in time to bundle up and find our spot on the road to see the festivities. The parade was its usual...crazy floats by the fraternity/sorority duos, random college clubs, bands, random cars and oh of course many dance teams. They did limit out the fire trucks from every surrounding town, local business owners sitting on a convertible and kiddios twirling their battons....darn!! It felt good to hear the Blue Band and get us all ready for the game Saturday!
We were a little late setting up our tailgate Saturday...life is a little different with a little one. Again it was freezing out but we had to get pics of the Penn State fans with all our gear on. Winnie was amazed at all the people and couldn't believe how cold it was!As soon as the pics were taken Winnie was getting layers upon layers put on...can't believe she was even able to move after putting jeans over her knit tights, poor thing. While the adults busted into the buffalo chicken dip she had all her toys out on the blanket, making it just like home. After while Georgia, Treyson & Carol found us....and hung-out for awhile till we got ready to head into the game. Georgia & Trey were so sweet to watch Winnie for us! Throughout the whole game they were sending me texts of how she was doing.....she just loves her cousin Trey and giggles everytime he looks at her (can't wait for them to play more at Thanksgiving!).

The Nittany Lions didn't disappoint...the first half was a little rocky but they pulled off an awesome win over Michigan!! After the game Tom and I couldn't resist Damon's...so snuck in a quick date.

Before we headed out of town we stopped by the Pringle's home in Bellefonte. Heather and I were good friends in a high school...it was so fun to get our girls together for a playdate! Oh have times have changed since high school!A little slideshow of the weekend..

Little IBM beatbox...

Too funny...this beatbox is on the products I forecast WW...

Par-Tays...

The birthday season has arrived... These next few weeks there will be LOTS of birthday parties to blog about.

Two weekends ago we had Connor's 2nd birthday party at a park in the area. He loved having an Elmo birthday party with all his friends...The kiddos loved being outdoors, going down the slides and swinging. Its fun watching the kids interact with each other as they around each other more often...

Winnie tried out the swing and was hanging on for dear-life...

Caroline on for a ride too...what a cutie!
Stephanie, Liz, I and Winnie...

Winnie sort of "tried" the slide...she sat on the bottom of it, does that count?

Matt on the other hand went down the slide...cracked rib and all!!

This past weekend was a busy one... Eden's 2nd birthday party was on Saturday morning at another park in the area and then we had a special baby shower for Stephanie and Noah (No No, as Eden calls him). The McKinney's (Stephanie, Matt & Eden) are such sweet friends, neighbors and family...we loved being able to celebrate with them all weekend!

Eden's Grandma Gigi made this Nemo cake for the birthday girl...

Eden "blowing" out her candle...

Stephanie's dad, OG shared his hat with Winnie-Boo...what a fun cowgirl!

After a few hours we sent the kiddos home for naps and stayed at the park for Stephanie's baby shower... Liz made these yummy cookie pies spelling out little Noah's name!

and these adorable table decorations...fun little Noah's Ark theme...

There is the proud momma showing how big Noah is in her belly...

Amy brought Samuel to the shower...he was so proud of himself for climbing the stairs...what a fun little boy.

A BIG Thank You

This BIG Thank You goes to Winnie's Grandma Jones.... THANK YOU so much for the car seat!! We ended up ordering the cow print one online and were surprised that it was already on our door step last evening! Winnie wanted to try it out last night and LOVED it! She was sitting in it in the living room, looked like it was her recliner as she read her book. Looking forward to putting it in the car today. This mom is excited as it will be SO much easier to get her in/out and won't worry that she wasn't protected any more in the other one as she outgrew it. THANK YOU again!!!!!

Winnie is into pointing at everything now! She loves to point at the pictures in her books and people, too cute!