Fall Fun

A recap of our September, October & November.....

End of August/September....

Jake's school had their first Glow Run Fun Run Boosterthon. Each grade ran during their PE time, so it was crazy, but fun! Jake's grade was one of the first to go.

Hollon had been with my parents for the week, and they dropped her off towards the end of the day. (I'm Fundraising Chair for our PTO which was sponsoring the run, so I was there ALL.DAY.LONG.) Hollon enjoyed having the whole gym to herself once all the grades were done running.

I love that Hollon's teacher sends lots of pictures!

SO.MUCH.ATTITUDE.

This year, Hollon is not doing ballet/tap and is instead taking gymnastics from Legacy Gymnastics. I was sad for her not to do ballet, but she really wanted to take gymnastics from a gym. And financially (for a 4-year-old!), it was ridiculous for us to pay for her to take ballet from a dance studio and gymnastics from a separate gym. (So maybe when she is 5😉) But she is loving gymnastics, so that makes us happy!

Wearing a dress handed down by cousin Marrell

No. She does not have 3 bangs. She just has my horrible baby hair (that I still have at 40!) that breaks off over her forehead.

Hollon had her 4-year-old check up. She was so excited for shots. (HUH?!?!?) Last year, when she got her flu shot, she LOVED so much that she got a cartoon band-aide, she didn't even care that she got a shot. (Her brother on the other hand, cries at the thought of getting a shot.) So for this check up, Hollon kept talking about how excited she was to get a shot..... 

....but that changed after she had to get 4.

She no longer likes shots.

All recovered!

Hollon spent an evening with Mimi & Granddad and did Mimi's makeup for her

Brave Mimi

Playing dress up with our bestie

And making princess necklaces

Hollon's favorite dress this fall

I love hearing her pretend play

Trying on my old cheerleader outfit

Home Gymnastics

Oh my goodness. This outfit.

Hollon loved the skirt with suspenders. But she was furious that I made her wear a shirt with it.

She said she wanted her back to show😲

Finally forgave me for the horrid of making her wear a shirt with her "dress"

More gymnastics video!

We went to a Pelham little league football game to see friends play (Jake took this fall off from sports)

My awesome friend Tracy took these next few pictures

Hollon's favorite cheerleaders - Ella Grace & Baker
(Hollon's lips were so red from a ring pop)

Moving on to October.....

Picture day at school

Why are these sleeve cuffs so HUGE?? I tried to remove them, but could not.
She looks like an outcast from the Puffy Shirt episode from Seinfeld. 

One Friday night, we went to my old high school. My precious niece was 9th-Grade Homecoming Representative. She was beautiful!!

My oldest niece Maddox & my brother Billy

Maddox's biggest fan club

The cousins hugging Bruno, Marbury's mascot

FINALLY. A weekend at home (Auburn had 4 home games in a row) and Hollon could finally wear her Alabama cheer outfit. Afterwards, dad concluded that it was a way too short, and we needed to pass it on to cousin Mae Stanley.

And..... more gymnastics

Hollon & Jake spent a weekend with Nana & Gran while Rob & I attended the Auburn/Tennessee with friends.  Hollon got to bake with her big cousins.

One thing about Hollon...... she LOVES dresses.

She HATES pants.

This was her thought about having to wear jeans for their field trip

After crying the entire ride, finally ready to enjoy the field trip to the pumpkin farm

Hollon & Christopher

Hollon was so proud of her pumpkin 

My parents got Hollon a princess umbrella that she is obsessed with

Our next-door-neighbor had their 3rd baby girl. We have been so excited waiting on Elin's birthday! It is all Hollon has talked about for months. Once it came time to meet Elin, Hollon was interested for 2 seconds. It was Jake that kept going back to hold her.

Jake seriously could have held her all afternoon. Every time we see her, I barely get to hold her because Jake fights me to her. I have to see her during the day, to get in my Elin snuggles!

We finally got to make it to Pelham High School football game. I SWEAR Jake lives with us. I feel like most of my pictures are of Hollon. Jake is just at the age where he doesn't want his picture taken and is more concerned with running off with friends. Hollon is still at that age where she is stuck with us. So Jake was off with friends and Hollon was hanging out with Rob & I and our friends.

We love our town. But our HS colors are not my favorite.
Hunter Green - Gold - Black - White 😐
But I'm determined to find cute clothes in these colors.
If Rob reads this statement, he will completely roll his eyes.

She was upset to not get to run around with Jake, so Rob got her a snow cone. Guess what color she picked out.....

We left after halftime. As we were leaving, we finally let Hollon run up to Jake & his friends.

I have no idea what any of these boys are doing??
This is why they get no pictures

Getting ready for Halloween. Our friend Baker passed on this skirt to Hollon

Hollon celebrated her Fall Festival at school

And then that evening, we celebrated Trunk-or-Treat at Jake's school

#dadfixedherhair

These were some friends of ours that had this fake spider.....

....that they would make jump with a remote control....

....Hollon was not amused.

Again, I PROMISE Jake was there. He was off trick-or-treating with friends (and his girlfriend😉). I kept trying to snap a picture and he was about to kill me. 

Hollon & I headed over to Atlanta with my parents to celebrate my niece Mae Stanley's 2nd birthday! (Our house went under contract this week, so Robbie & Jake stayed behind to work on projects)

Birthday Girl!!

My sweet girl

Aunt Lindsey had made these floral crowns for the little girls

Lindsey, MS, Lindsey's SIL Savannah & her daughter Harper
Mae Stanley was loving the party at this point

Such a cute Oktoberfest!

Not feeling everyone singing happy birthday or the cupcake

MS, mom & dad

Sweetest Cousins! Hollon & Gaines

Finally getting that smile

Gran & MS

We spent the night in Atlanta and went to church with Lindsey's family on Sunday. Afterwards, we grabbed lunch

Woody, Gaines, Hollon & MS

Outtakes! Their faces!!

These little girls were having a hard time that we would be moving in a month and not living right next door to each other. (We are only a mile down the road, but they can't just walk to each other's house.) So they have been spending all the time together while we are here.

Trying on costume heads with Mimi & Granddad

Almost Halloween time!

And yes, that is lip gloss. I won't let her wear lipstick to school, so we settle on lip gloss.

Hollon's class had a fire truck come visit the class. And they had a dummy firefighter. Hollon's teacher sent me this picture. She was not amused! 

Feeling better further away from him

Feeling better enough to pose

This week was Halloween week at gymnastics, they got to wear a costume. She picked her Wonder Woman costume.

October 31st!

We started off Halloween night at one of Jake's friends house

Sleeping Beauty 

Poor thing... She has her mamma's hair
I rolled it earlier, but it was completely straight by the time we left. 

Kylo Ren

My older brother was only 3 years older than me (Jake is 5 years older than Hollon), but I loved that I always felt that his "girl" friends were my friends. I always felt like I had an older sister around. I hope Hollon feels that same sense of security. They adore her and she adores them.

Hello November!

Jake's basketball season has started

We spent the last night in our old house. The kids slept on their mattresses in the living room.

Over at the house for one last cleaning, before handing over the keys

We got a light frosting! 

I've never had to say good-bye to a house I loved. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. My first house I bought, I only lived in 18 months before I sold it when Rob & I got engaged, so I was not sentimental to it. When I moved into Robbie's house after we were married, it always felt like it was "his" house. I only lived there 3 years before we moved, so I wasn't too attached. But this house.... it was the house that Rob & I picked out together. Jake grew up in. We brought Hollon home to. I loved it. It was hard to say good-bye to. It was definitely emotional. (More to come about the whole house process in a later blog post!!)

One last picture of the doorways to my kids rooms

Good-bye living room

So many suppers cooked here

And lots of fun evenings spent here

And thankful our sofa covered the spots on our patio that we should have had pressure washed

Entryway I took so many pictures of the kids in front of

And creepy woman in reflection

After cleaning the old house since 6 in the morning, I headed to Jake's Thanksgiving lunch at school

And Hollon had her Thanksgiving picnic at her school the previous day

The next day, Hollon had her Fall Musical at school. Hollon LOVES to sing and has been belting the songs for the last 2 months. But she told me before I dropped her off, that she was probably not going to sing and was just going to put her hand in her mouth.

Which she did

Initially she was on the end (where I would have had a perfect view for pictures), but she started crying and her teacher had to console her. They had her switch places so she could stand by her friend. Which of course meant that I had a blocked view of her. But she stopped crying and sang a little, so I counted it as a win.

The four/five year olds are on the top row. This is when we realized that Hollon is so much smaller than her classmates. She doesn't seem small or short when we are with her, but with her classmates, she looked so tiny. You could definitely tell that she is the youngest.

Thank you Mimi & Granddad for coming!

We also closed on our new house this week. So excited to move in!! 

The kids & I took a little break from moving to head down to my parents for a causal laid back Hollon Thanksgiving. Jake's break didn't start until Wednesday, so we headed down Tuesday after school. My sister & crew got there earlier that day. 

My mom got the youngest 3 granddaughters matching unicorn pajamas

Hollon helping MS with her unicorn hat

Partners in Crime
Partners in Blurry Photos

Nana speared oldest granddaughter from having to wear matching pajama

The whole crazy crew

How in the world is this not a magazine cover?!?!

The next day, we attempted to get pictures for my parent's Christmas card

Did someone order a shadow on everyone's face?

Melt.....My......Heart

Loved these outtakes

My sister's crew

Maddox (14)

Marrell (10)

Jake (almost 10)

Woody (6)

Gaines (4)

Hollon (4)

Mae Stanley (2)

The kids & I headed back Wednesday night. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at the Bushes Thursday, where I somehow didn't take a single picture. The kids spent the night there, so they could hang out with cousin Jackson & family.

Hollon got some one-on-one time with Great Grandfather Jake

Saturday, after the Alabama/Auburn game, everyone came over to our house. I secretly snapped these pictures of Robbie & his grandfather.

And of Hollon and Grandfather Jake

It was an amazing fall season. But one of the things most precious, was that my kids get to hang out with their great grandfather. We all adore Granddad. He is who Jake is named after. He is a veteran. He is one of the most healthy and active people I know (and he is in his 90s!). He is an amazing father, brother, grandfather, great grandfather and all around amazing person. As I wrap up this recap of Thanksgiving, Granddad Jake and the memories we make with him, is one of the things I am most thankful for.