Monday, November 24, 2014

Halloween 2014

The week before Halloween, Shane and I invited Rowan and Isaiah over for a slumber party. We had so much fun with Ro during her first sleepover and when we had both the kids over the summer so we were excited to have them again. 

After a busy work week with two business trips, I drove to pick the kids up on Saturday morning. I met my brother at Rowan's karate class. I watched her earn her orange belt and recite her Bible verse. She did a great job, and I know she felt really proud! Luckily, she was not as shy as her ballet recital


My brother did a great job making sure she was disciplined and didn't get too goofy before her class. 


He practiced her moves and her Bible verse with her. Years from now when Rowan reads this post, I want her to know how incredibly proud her parents were. David was BEAMING. At one point he grabbed my leg with a HUGE smile and exclaimed how proud he was. It was really sweet! 


We took a group picture before heading back to Acworth. David was so excited to go home and take a nap!

When we got back to the house, Shane made lunch while I got the kids all unpacked. After lunch, we went for a walk in the neighborhood with the dogs. The kids love the dogs! 

After we put on our costumes, we were ready to go to Owl-O-Ween at KSU. 



Rowan LOVED the people on the stilts. 


After a few hours, this cowboy was pretty exhausted.


We had a lot of fun just because we loved watching the kids play and have fun!


^^ Look at her adorable expression! This was probably the last time I could hold her on my shoulders. She is getting so big! 


She thought it was so funny to wear "Mister Uncle Shane's" hat. She kept calling him "Mr. Shane" until I explained she could call him Uncle Shane just like she called me Aunt C, so then she called him Mister Uncle Shane. 


Both kids loved the bouncy slides. They tried about 5 or 6 different ones before going back to their favorite. 


^^ Pure joy!


Rowan loved that we were matching, and so did I!


They also liked riding the big bus. It was the college bus (which is set up different than Isaiah's school bus) so they thought it was cool. 


Being goofy... as always! 


Rowan started off with this mask, but when she saw my headband she decided she wanted one, too!. I painted Isaiah's face, but he peeled it all off as soon as it dried! Haha! 

That night, the kids were worn out. Isaiah fell asleep on the couch while Rowan laid on the floor cuddling with the dogs. They slept until about 7:00 a.m.! 

The next morning, I let Shane sleep in while we cleaned up the house, watched TV, packed up the kids things and played outside. 

Before we drove the kids back home, I had them each write a thank you letter to a deployed soldier. 






^^ Rowan pretended that Rocky was sick, and she was his doctor. 


"I LOVE AUNT C <3 AND UNCLE SHANE

Cuddle time with her favorite doggies!  


Rowan used to make this same expression when she was a toddler. Ugh... I can't believe she is about to be 5 years old :( 

On Halloween, my work had a costume party. Kids and pets were invited! I brought Polly, but elected to leave Rocky at home. 



Polly did not like the elevator or the strange people in masks trying to pet her. Poor thing! 


She preferred to lay under my desk just like this. 

Later that night, Shane and I went to the tennis courts to see the kid's costume parade just like we did Halloween 2013. We went to a neighbor's haunted porch and handed out candy before going to eat chili and drink with some other neighbors. It was a lot of fun! 


Bryson has grown so much since last year! 

We had a great Halloween, and now we are ready for Thanksgiving! We leave EARLY tomorrow morning to head to Kansas to visit my family! Next post will be all about sister time and Makenzie :) 

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Timehop: Our First Christmas Tree

I have an app on my phone called Timehop, and it connects to my social media sites and pulls photos and updates posted on that exact day in history. 

On this day in 2012, I posted this picture of Shane and I at Home Depot buying our first Christmas tree. We had been married for a few months when this picture was snapped... and yes my hair was super short and super brunette. 

Shane and I lived together before we were married, but that year we were far too broke to even afford a Christmas tree. We were straight out of college and saving for a wedding, so I was so thrilled the next year when we were able to decorate for Christmas! 

Friday, November 21, 2014

Twenty Six (continued)

As much as I love not having to work on my birthday, I like when my birthday falls in the middle of the week because then you have a valid reason to celebrate the weekend before AND the weekend after. Let's get real though... I don't really need that excuse. :) 

Last year, I celebrated the Big 2-5  with family, my girlfriends, and went skydiving

This year was a little more low key but equally as amazing!


The weekend before my birthday, Shane took my shopping and we went hiking together

On my actual birthday, Shane and I went out to dinner at a new Italian place nearby. I wasn't feeling all that great. Somehow I always seem to get sick around my birthday, but the food was delicious when I ate it the next day!


When we got home, Shane surprised me with this fun cake and sang to me!


Some of my girlfriends and I went to concert in Athens, and it was a blast! Lauren and I hung out all day while we waiter on Ashley and Candace to get off work... Lauren and I got a little carried away. 

I told my Daddy, I did't answer his phone call because I got pretty deep in a pitcher of margaritas. Haha! 


Lauren was sweet to drive us to Athens. Oh how I love that town. I must admit, I did feel kinda old walking through my old stompin' grounds surrounded by a bunch of college kids. 


After the Sam Hunt concert, we went to Mellow Mushroom and then headed home. 


The girls were sweet enough to stop by Ramsey, which is where Shane and I first met. Ramsey is the gym on campus at UGA. Candace helped me find the exact coordinates of where we met, which is also where Shane proposed. 


I peered in the window of the gym and snapped this picture... this is where we met :)

I was doing an ab workout with a friend named Jen, and Shane was doing pull ups with Yon.




^ This is what 26 looks like. 


And my favorite part of the whole weekend is when Lauren and I stopped at a church playground on the way home from the Mexican restaurant and played! It was so fun! 

Two Year Wedding Anniversary

For our one year wedding anniversary, I arranged for Shane and I to go on a private plane ride above Athens (which is the college town where we met, fell in love and got engaged). I gave him a folded paper airplane to reveal the surprise to him, because paper is the gift for one year.

Cotton is the traditional wedding anniversary gift for two years, and I have wanted to get some updated pictures, so I arranged for us to have professional pictures in a cotton field. I am not sure if Eli Whitney or Mother Nature is to blame, but after driving 2 hours to a cotton field there was hardly any cotton. Haha... life goes on!

We found a patch that had some blooms and took pictures for as long as Shane and the dogs would cooperate.




^^ Grandma Clancy gave us this blanket at our wedding



It was fun to reminisce and look out our wedding album





^^ I brought my wedding bouquet











^^ Those are out toasting glasses from our wedding :)









I love the idea of taking picture of our hands every anniversary so we can compare how our hands change throughout the years. 



^^ 2 years 



^ 1 year 


This year, our anniversary fell on a Monday, so we celebrated some the weekend before and some the day of :)





We went to a great restaurant called Fish Thyme. It was delicious! 



On our anniversary, I left work to bring Shane lunch and Cami Cakes (his favorite cupcakes).