Thanksgiving on the Farm

We headed to Virginia to Clay's parents for Thanksgiving. It was a quick trip- Thursday was full of fun on the farm with family and then Friday Jack woke up with a high fever and what turned out to be a nasty case of strep throat. We came back home that afternoon so he could recuperate but had fun in the short time we were there. 

 Madeline climbing the HUGE magnolia tree

 Virginia Ann wanted in on the action

 Jordan and Jack

 Sweet girl- such a good subject :)

 Clay and Davis (Jordan and Kristy's little girl)

 Will teaching Jack how to shoot a bb gun- AHHHH!

 VAC in the cotton fields

 And tasting under the magnolia tree

 Madeline and Grandpa

 Roasting marshmallows Thursday night

 Old gas pump on the farm

So much fun in such a short time! Loved being with our family! Lots to be thankful for!

ONE YEAR OLD

Our last monthly photo session. 

 giggles at big sister

 So indicative of her personality- chillin

 Sisters

Virginia Ann weighed in at 19.4lbs and is 30 inches. She is the tiniest of my three at one and has just two teeth. She is a good eater when she is in the mood, loves her bottle and is also still nursing. I could not love this little girl more. She has been such a blessing in such a crazy year. She is the easiest child, so happy all the time. I have to wake her up from naps all the time to go places, pick up kids, etc and when I do she will look up at me and start clapping her hands! VAC has a sweet spirit about her and favors her brother in looks and personality. Madeline keeps her entertained and hopefully they will be as close as Shannon and I are. She started walking 5 days before her birthday and is doing well navigating herself around the house. It is very odd to see three little people coming at me upright! We love love love you sweet Virginia Ann and are so glad you chose us as your family!!

Virginia Ann turns ONE!

Our sweet baby girl is ONE! This year has flown by and we have been so blessed to have Virginia Ann in our  lives. She is the happiest of babies and such a wonderful disposition. Nothing seems to faze her and she just loves watching all the craziness in our house. We were so excited to celebrate her milestone! After I threw Jack a big ONE party, I vowed I would never do a party again until he knew it was his birthday. I have stuck to that rule with all the kids. So we had two of our favorite families over for dinner and enjoyed some yummy cupcakes for VAC and pumpkin pie for Clay's 35th! It was a great night.

Singing to VAC

 Loved the cupcake!

Goings on

Been busy with the little ones and all the goings on of our family! Here is some of the madness!

I have a problem- I readily admit it. I LOVE to dress the girls alike. I know I have a short window of time that they will allow it and I am milking it. 

 The hardest part of the day is keeping Madeline entertained. She is a go go go girl. No tv or movies for her. She does not sit still. So while I was painting boards, I let her paint some cardboard. She LOVED it. We do it often now. 

 Crazy girl!

 Sweet VAC started walking Nov 15!!4 days before she turned 1! 

 We haven't put a gate up on our stairs so I push the ottoman in front of it. It has worked until now. Virginia Ann has learned to throw herself over it and get onto the stairs. So smart and determined!

Happy 5th Birthday Jack!

Our sweet Jack turned 5 on November 8! He was so excited about his birthday, waking at 5am! 

We had so much time before school we went to Waffle House for breakfast. Clay usually takes the kids on the weekends so it is a favorite for Jack and Madeline. These days Madeline brings her baby Allie every where we go. 

 The waiters and cook brought Jack's waffle with a candle and sang to him!

 See the breakfast before him- waffle, eggs, toast, hashbrowns? He ate EVERYTHING!

 That weekend Clay's brother Jay and his kids came up from Fayetteville for the day. Jay is deploying to Afghanistan in December so we were excited to have one last visit together. We spent the day at Marbles.

Chandlyr and Virginia Ann

 Madeline with tools- scary!!

 Jack loves building houses with the large legos.

It was a great birthday week for a great kid! Jack is the friendliest child I know. He is such a leader already and does a great job at including other kids, always introducing himself to ones he does not know. He is outgoing like his dad and has the energy to match. He is so sweet to his sisters and has more patience than any kid should! He is excited to learn anything we put before him and loves adventures! We are so so blessed to have Jack in our family! We love you lovebug!

Camp Jack

 We celebrated Jack's fifth birthday with Camp Jack! It was an amazing evening with a wonderful group of boys. Jack is so lucky to have such great friends! We held Camp Jack in the backyard of the Smiths, good friends who have the backyard of a little boy's dream! It is hard to capture what a magical time we had but I will try with these pics.

 Jack was very adamant that I make a Camp Jack sign with "no girls allowed" on it. He allowed Madeline to come for a little bit :)

The food table

 Sticks and Ants on a Log

Gotta have Bug Juice at camp!

Table for activities and dinner- the table and tree stumps were the perfect height for 5 yr olds!

 I made the water bottles for favors.

After riding the zip line (which I failed to photograph) the boys went on a nature hunt.

The put on their bear hats and were ready to go! 

Bryce and Jack

 Connor and Andrew

 The group

 Off to the woods

After the hunt there were rides in the paddle boat on the pond

The colors of the leaves were stunning!

Next up- build airplanes and fly them. I had 4 Boy Scouts from our troop at church come to be "camp counselors." They were awesome with the boys and the little boys thought the Scouts were so cool!

Flying their planes off the deck

Dinner time

 Madeline saddled up next to her crush, Griffin. He super cute- she has good taste!

 Jack and Brayden- soccer buddies

 Griffin kept his camo sunglasses and bear hat on all night!

 As the boys completed an activity, they "earned" a badge. They loved this!

 We set up a large tent in the yard and the boys loved running around in it. 

Next up- trailer rides on the tractor. Safe? Maybe not. Fun? Definitely!

Here is Clay explaining the Candy Cannon- a slingshot that throws candy way  up in the air. I gave the boys camouflage bags and they went to town. It was a great way to get rid of all our Halloween candy!

 It's raining candy!

 The Candy Cannon

 The Dessert Table

 Pumpkin spice cupcakes

 Smore making

 Smores on a stick

The cake- We saw the cake here and Jack was obsessed! I had Harris Teeter do the cake with the river and then we did the rest. The tree is a rice krispie treat I molded and then iced. The boat and some rocks are Mary Janes and the other rocks are tootsie rolls. I found the animals at AC Moore in the toy section. 

Hanging out the in the tent

 Smore time

 Kimball

 Griffin

 Andrew

 Danny

 The birthday boy

 David

 Griffin

Yes, the party was awesome! Yes, it was a lot of work! But when David looked at me three hours later and said "I don't want to go home" and Jack said "Mom, you are the best mom ever!" I knew it was all worth it. Clay and I had so much fun celebrating our oldest at Camp Jack! We love you sweet boy!

The party printables came from  Shindig Parties. Amanda has adorable stuff and amazing customer service! Check out her blog here- lots of cute ideas for the holidays!