Tracy’s Birthday

I headed down to Atlanta for a quick visit for my sister’s midweek birthday, definitely a birthday that I couldn’t let pass without squeezing her…definitely an important birthday to celebrate.  The birthday celebrations were left to Instagram for documentation, but I did get out the big camera to capture some images for the Crosson family Christmas card while I was in town.  Tracy had already picked out the card she wanted to use, so we knew going in that we wanted a vertical shot of Ivy, vertical of all 4 kids, etc.  Love these faces!  Sweet Ivy turned one a few days after I left and she was so incredibly sweet during my visit.  She was either in my arms or holding my finger and leading me around the house the whole time I was there.  Wish I could check in on this crew every week. 

Fall Farm Fun

Our big fall activity this year was at a rural farm maze with my good friend Lauren and her kids.  This farm north of Charlotte had quite the set-up for fall—lassoing, apple slingshot, cow train, hay pile, and a corn maze.  The corn maze was actually pretty fun because you could choose a subject (and the choices were varied, they had something for every age—sports, movies, science…we chose Disney Channel) and then you would make your way through the maze by answering trivia questions based on the subject matter.  At signs throughout the maze, you would answer a question and either go right or left based on the answer.  We made our way through the maze fairly fluidly (the Disney Channel knowledge with this bunch is pretty deep…Lauren may or may not have known all of the answers), although we might’ve reaped the benefits of a few self-made cut-through trails.  Fun fall day on the farm!  Love this family (our “family from another family” as Jack has said).  And, even though it was after Halloween, this filled the square for that pumpkin patch we never made it to this year. 

Instagrammin’ in October

October was a fun month with a lot of great outdoor time.

starting on my october 100-mile challenge. #walkruncrawl | 4.5 miles down, 95.5 to go. #october100 | enjoying omb’s new location. | ella’s first tennis tournament. #goella | my girl helping me get some miles in. | our sentinel. | gotta’ love when your kids beg you to have lunch with them. | so lucky to have back-to-back lunches this year. | polo fest! | dreaming of spain. #segovia | she met her goal of a sub-8-minute mile. #750 | logging the miles. #october100 | first year of mile run—fastest in his class. #702 | crimping his girl’s hair. #greatdad | nonni and papa! | great soccer weekend in winston-salem. #andnogoodpicstoshowforit #5goals | done and done. #whole30 #october100 | crazy sock day. #myoldsoccersocks | the purple fairy. #happyhalloween | spooky. | my boys ready for some trick-or-treating.

Halloween

After such a busy, and stressful, year we’ve been trying to focus on more of the big important stuff (q.t. with friends and family, and planning a big family trip at the end of the year—to Spain!—have taken a lot of our time) and that has meant simplifying a little bit this year.  The Halloween decorations never left the attic and we never made it to a pumpkin patch, but we did enjoy family game night—which, I have found, is a great way to create family inside jokes…including such gems as French Darth Vader and butt DNA (don’t ask)—and purposeful learning together (on Spain! Did I mention we’re going to Spain?? I’m just a little excited. :) ).   Last year we got creative with the Halloween costumes, trying to use what we had on hand rather than purchasing new costumes, and we had told the kids that every other year they could perhaps get new costumes.  So, even though there wasn’t much Halloween festivity around the Williams household for most of October, we were busily putting together new costumes that last week.

Ella has arrived at the age when she and her friends make plans together and then get the parents on board.  This year, she and her girlfriends decided to all dress as fairies and trick-or-treat together in another neighborhood.  The girls are all in her Girl Scout troop and I know the moms well, so, although we knew we would miss spending the time with her, we knew she’d be safe and have a great time—and how sweet is it that they were going to be a gang of fairies (seeing the “tween” options, I know it could’ve been much worse, even though she wouldn’t know why at this point.)  Ella decided to be a “purple fairy” so I was given a detailed list of purple (Ella’s favorite color) items for her costume (wings, tights, hair spray).  I did my best and even threw in some purple lashes (that I personally think sent the costume over the top).  I’m fairly inept when it comes to doing hair and makeup—I’m hoping one day Ella will be my live-in stylist—so it was a personal victory that I actually pulled off two french braids and applying fake lashes.  Ella was thrilled with the finished product.  The plan was even for her to borrow a purple tutu from a friend as the finishing touch.  But, I captured a few photos of Ella at our house pre-tutu. 

Jack’s Halloween costume was an entirely different ordeal.  He got an awesome Iron Man costume for his birthday and was committed to wearing it for Halloween, so we thought we were off the hook for buying him a new one.  The day before Halloween, however, he came home all deflated because he said several friends had told him that dressing up as Iron Man was “too baby-ish” and “sooo 1st grade”.  As we had initially told him we’d get him a new costume this year, and coupled with the fact that he’d be trick-or-treating without a buddy (his sister or our next-door neighbors as they would be out of town), I caved and said I’d take him to Target on Halloween (the kids had no school that day for the end of the quarter) to look for the purple morph suit he wanted.  There was no way I was getting anywhere near Party City or a Halloween store on Halloween, so he’d have to settle for Target.  Of course, the hoards of prepubescent boys in the area had already wiped Target clean of any morph suits that might fit Jack so we hunted through the now disorganized Halloween aisles of Target for a good 20 minutes to find him another suitable “non-baby-ish” option.  Luckily, we found a skeleton suit and light-up mace that seemed to fit the bill (there was a little pinning to make sure his hip bones weren’t down by his knees, but maybe that just means it’ll fit him next year, too).  Jack was happy. 

Jack helped Jonathan put together a pirate costume and the two were off for a good hour and a half of trick-or-treating.  Jack was really sensitive about how his dad’s leg was feeling during all of their walking, but I’m pretty sure Jack was tired of trick-or-treating first.  Ella was out trick-or-treating when the hail started at 8pm but, luckily, her group knew several families in the neighborhood and she was able to hang out at someone’s house until it stopped.  The hail and then rain put an end to the night of trick-or-treating for everyone, but our bowl was nearly empty anyways and both kids definitely already had quite a take.  So, even though we were lame and didn’t deck the house with the Halloween lanterns and pumpkins, we had a great Halloween.       

Jack’s Mile Run

All 3rd through 5th graders at the kids’ school run the Mile Run in the fall and spring each year.  One of the things Jack looked forward to coming in to his 3rd year was taking on the Mile Run this year or, more importantly, trying to beat his sister’s time.  Ella and Jack both had a great run at this year—Ella ran it in 7:50, reaching her goal of running a sub-8-minute mile, and Jack was the fastest in his class, coming in at 7:02.  Great job, Ella and Jack!

{jack keeps good company—go gators!}

{ready to run!}

And here are a few pictures from the room mom of Jack’s class.  They obviously had a very sugary fall party.  What a cutie.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Jonathan and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on          September 29th.  13 years!  I don’t say that with excitement because it’s such a feat—it has actually felt quite easy—but more because it’s hard to believe so much time has passed.  I’m sure we’ve changed—I mean, look at those two kids—but we’ve managed to mostly change together and, I must say, probably for the better, too.  This year Jonathan and I celebrated together a few weekends before our anniversary at the Charlotte BeerFest—not quite what we had expected (lots of waiting in lines for small shots of beer), but it was a good time nonetheless.  We also decided to celebrate as a family this year on the Saturday before our anniversary with a trip to uptown.  Ella has seen several friends’ parents separate this past year and she, quite apparently, is concerned about this turn of events—it just made us think about how everyone in the family has a vested interest in our continuing anniversaries.  It was also a good excuse to take the whole family to a Spanish restaurant for some “research” for our upcoming family trip to Spain.  We enjoyed a beautiful night walking around the city, checking out the church where we got married, listening to some street music, and finally making our way to the beautiful Romare Bearden park.  And, we had a fantastic meal at the Spanish restaurant Malabar—I think we nearly tried every tapa on the menu.  Seeing the kids try all of the new foods—including octopus and white anchovies—made me even more excited about our adventures in Spain.  Cheers to us!  I love you, Jonathan, and the beautiful life we’ve built together. 

 

 

 

{at the beerfest}

{family night in uptown}

{romare bearden park where the big camera finally came out.  i love charlotte.}

Instagrammin’ in September

I love fall and as fall nears we spend more time outside.  You can tell from this month’s Instagram feed.  There is definitely a higher proportion of selfies this month—I actually got in a picture with each member of the fam—but that just might be because I took fewer pictures in September with the kids settling back into the school routine. 

still pool and watermelon season. | both kids at practice at the same time at the same park with beautiful trails = a win win win. | great morning of trx with friends. | impromptu date night. | lovely afternoon at the new omb patio. | love that I have many hours ahead of me on the courts with my girl. | poor sick kid, 4 days in. | she’s finally feeling well enough to get out of the house. #gopanthers | a few of jack’s favorite things—the panthers, wings, and his mom, of course. | ella’s bloodwork looks normal again and jack’s well visit shows he gained 9 pounds in the past year! | hat trick kind of day. | beer festival, good friends, blues traveler make for a fun night. | I love charlotte. #smalltowncity | we helped our church pack 107,000 meals with servants with a heart, hairnets and all. | happy 13th wedding anniversary to jonathan and me! | family celebration for our anniversary in uptown with some delicious spanish tapas. | beautiful night in uptown at romare bearden park. | a little piano instruction before bedtime.