Checking off those Fall boxes

We had a lot to check off on our Fall to do list this week. We had soccer practices, our church's trunk or treat, parent observations at dance, soccer games, pumpkin patch visiting, the GA/FL game, (which we enjoyed from the comfort of our home,) and pumpkin carving on our list this week.

Mack at soccer practice. He's learning so much and getting a little better at this sport. He insists on wearing his sunglasses to practice. 

Trunk or Treat at PAUMC 2017

Mack did some fishing

I thought this was a REALLY good trunk decoration

Lining up for candy

Mack and his best friend Luke. I think they may like Batman?

There was a huge crowd at our trunk or treat. It is always so much fun!

Mack did really good with saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" 

This lego trunk decoration was crazy good. 

Batman, Evie and Mal (from the movie Descendents) with buckets full of candy

This was the professional picture I had taken at the dance studio. She actually did 2 that turned out awesome. I had to have a good picture of the girls together in the Nutcracker performance this year. 

Parent observation night was this week for Ellie's class. She is a toy soldier this year and will actually dance 2 dances, which basically means more rehearsal. 

Ellie on the left, with another little girl will start the dance of the toy soldiers. 

They all get shot by the cannon in one scene, and I think it is one of my favorite scenes!  It is so fun for the girls. 

Emma has really picked up this soccer thing. She absolutely LOVES it. She will miss her last game next week because we will be in Athens at the UGA vs. USC game, so I had to get some shots of her in action this weekend. 

Mack had a game as well at the same time as Emma's. I went to the first half of Emma's while Worth went to the first half of Mack's, then we swapped. 

My #2 getting after it. He is by far one of the smallest kids on the team. 

He may not have any idea what he's doing, but he has no problem knocking another kid out of the way to get to the ball. 

After the soccer games we headed to the pumpkin patch to grab a couple of pumpkins for our front porch. 

Ellie once again wheeling Mack in the wagon. Not much has changed since 2015.
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What has changed since our last pumpkin patch visit is the height of my children. 

Ellie is definitely stretching out. 

They are still my sweet stair steps. 

Emma modeling a baby pumpkin.

Mack showing off what he picked out. 

After the pumpkin patch we headed home for lunch and to watch the GA/FL game. I sat down for literally 5 minutes to watch the beginning of the game, and the next thing I know, my kids were all dressed for a goth dance/UGA/Halloween party. Ellie spear headed that....

Today (Sunday) we had church, Ellie had a Nutcracker rehearsal, and finally we got home to carve our pumpkin.  We got so busy last year, and due to Worth's schedule, we never got a chance to carve one. We had pumpkins but no jack-o-lanterns. This year, however, they did a great job and I can't wait to light it up Halloween night! 

Emma was not really interested in helping pull the gunk out of the pumpkin to get the seeds. 

Mack clearly was not going to take part. He was a pouting maniac today about everything. I keep telling him he would be in a much better mood if he would just sleep past 6:00am. 

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Daddy tracing our the design to carve that was picked out by Emma

Ellie loved helping  pull all the seeds out so we could toast them up this cool afternoon. 

The final product. Emma took this picture all by herself with my phone. She was very proud of her photography skills, and so was I. 

Westside Fall Festival 2017 and In Memory of Lauren Pike

I missed putting up a post last night, because I was exhausted from an all day venture of cleaning out/through toys. It is unbelievable the amount of toys my kids can accumulate in a short amount of time. I hate spending an entire Sunday cleaning it all out, but if I don't do it, it makes me crazy. I have a hard time with a big mess. Having children has definitely reigned some of that in on me. I've also had to realize 1. that they are never going to clean up a mess like I prefer it to be cleaned up 2. that the need for everything to be straight is my mental issue, not theirs. I allow them to attempt clean up and praise them for their efforts, then I spend one day a month REALLY cleaning up all the toys, jackets, shoes, Barbies, legos, trucks, books, and any other random item that is shoved somewhere or on the floor for me to trip over. I feel completely cleansed when its over. It's therapy, really.

Prior to the cleaning frenzy, we had our annual Westside Elementary Fall Festival Saturday. I am room mom to both girls classes (not sure how that happened,) and therefore, I was in charge of 2 booths for the festival. My booths were the Pumpkin Pop and Face Painting booths. The day was crazy, because, as expected, Worth was on call.

My parents had to end up helping me set up because I couldn't set up two tents, decorate booths, then be out of there by 8:25am to take Emma and Mack to their soccer games. It was chaotic none the less, but we got to soccer (a little late.) We came back to the festival after soccer, and the kids had a blast with Grandma and Papa while I ran between 2 booths working. Worth even ended up showing up at the end to help us take down.

I have to give credit to Mama for all the pictures, I was not present for any of these activities. I was PTO'in it.

On a sad note, I have to mention that I got some terrible news Saturday morning. My hand therapy mentor and close friend, Marta Brinkley, lost her daughter Friday night due to complications following delivery of her second child. Lauren, Marta's daughter, gave birth to her second child on Wednesday, October 18th at 2:30am. She was discharged home from the hospital on Thursday, and then began to have severe pain and cramping. She was readmitted to the hospital Friday and many things were done to find the source of the pain. After spending time in ICU Friday night, she passed away despite many efforts by physicians and nurses to keep her alive. They ended up finding out that she died from an amniotic fluid embolism. These are extremely rare and typically happen during delivery, not 24+ hours later. The late onset was why the doctors had such a hard time pinpointing what happened. As you can imagine it is a terrible tragedy. Lauren was the only daughter of Marta, and her husband Bill. She was a music teacher at an elementary school in Atlanta. Lauren also leaves behind a young husband, Michael, a 2 year old son, Liam, and her brand new daughter, Emma. Lauren was 31 years old.

I have been deeply disturbed by the whole situation all weekend. My thoughts and prayers are constantly with that family. It's so hard to swallow, and I hurt for my friend Marta. Marta has done so much for me not only in my career but in my spiritual journey as well. I can't imagine what she is going through right now. There is one thing I'm sure of, she will be steadfast in her faith, and God will definitely have her, Bill, Michael, Liam, and Emma wrapped in His peaceful arms. He will see them through this. I have added a link to their care page that lists things Michael needs help with. They had been asking for breast milk, because Lauren had intended to breast feed Emma. That need has been met. There are other small and big opportunities to help this sweet family if you feel led. More than anything, they ask for prayer.

my.lotsahelpinghands.com/community/pikefamily



Here are the fall festival pictures thanks to Serita:

I had all hands on deck helping me decorate EARLY Saturday morning. 

Face Painting booth

Pumpkin Pop booth

There were bouncy houses and slides of course! Mack had a ball. 

Emma with pink hair, was scaling the rock climbing wall. 

She made it to the top!

Mack required some assistance on the wall

Ellie had her turn with black spray painted hair. (There was a hair color spray booth)

The 3 musketeers on the train.

Mack chose Spider Man for his face painting. 

Ellie enjoyed her doughnut on a string.