Third Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest

Our gang got together this week for the annual Neighbor-Night Pumpkin Carving Contest!  (This is now the third year running, see 2012 and 2013 for proof.)  This year we had several more folks from the Avenue - plus, a pretty cool atmosphere for carving, with the big screen for "scary" movies.

Everyone brought appetizers, and there was beer and wine (too much wine for a school night.)  People were serious about their pumpkins, too, and I saw some snooping and sabotaging right from the start.

And the contest begins...

Getting to work...

Per usual, I drew the face and James did the carving.  He broke yet another knife this year, with the brute strength he employs to complete his jack-o-latern.

James - for the win!

Our little pumpkin stayed at home with his Gia (yea for an adult night!), so I got some cuddles from sweet baby Mac as his parents worked on their pumpkin.  

Look at these masterpiece below!  Despite the fact that ours (second from the left) was pretty darn great, we did not win.  Actually, I don't think anyone won.  Another neighbor was supposed to judge, and when he didn't show up everyone forgot about the contest!  

(One gal got a little risqué in her carving, and, since it's a PG blog, I had to censor.  Her creativity - and realism - should be applauded, though. We're just waiting for the Neighborhood Association to send down a written warning for removal.) 

While all this carving was going on, we watched (twice) one of my favorite movies of all time.  Can you guess it??

Hint: Michael Keaton, Wynona Rider

Hint: Alec Baldwin (really?) and Geena Davis

Hint: Jump in the Line

Tomorrow is HALLOWEEN, and I cannot wait to share pictures of little James Benjamin.  And now we're ready for trick-o-treaters, seeing as we have our carved pumpkin!

JB is Thirteen Months Old!

Note: The original plan was to ditch the monthly updates after Year 1 because, frankly, they were stressful. The sticker, the photoshoot, the photo editing, the super long format I committed to in Month One (and thus couldn't ditch the subsequent months) - I had a mild panic attack when I saw the 29th coming up each month.  Then I told myself, "Jennie, chill out - a short little update using whatever pictures you've got will do!"  So we'll continue with updates for at least the second year.  I'll stop them once it requires math to figure out how old he is.    :)

After rounding out the first year, JB-the-Baby kept trucking along and is now 13 months old!

This little dude is quite the character, and he's changing and learning every day.  Some of his new tricks  this month:

• Blows kisses
• Gives "low fives"
• Cuddles before night time and nap time (still 2 a day)
• Tosses his dirty diapers in the diaper pail
• Brushes his teeth
• "Calls" and "talks" to people on the phone (whatever real or play phone he can get ahold of)
• Says "Enya" (for Enda), "Da" (for Dad), "Gi" (for Gia), and "Ya Ya" (for Nanny Y)
• (Breaks his Mama's heart every day by refusing to say "Mama")

The things that JB thinks make life worth living:

• Music class and music in general
• Dairy (cheese, yogurt, whole milk)
• Touch and Feel books
• Peekaboo and Hide n' Seek
• Bath time and his bath time toys
• "Driving" his car to the park
• Chasing Enda and bringing her toys
• Loving on the kitties

JB could really do without the following:

• Diaper and wardrobe changes
• Vegetables
• Long car rides
• The church nursery

Happy 13 months, JB! 

(Helping Dad fix the sprinklers)

Pumpkin Patch!

Nothing like saving the most exciting October event (well, minus Halloween, I guess) until the last minute.  The Sassers finally made it out to a pumpkin patch!!  We had to postpone our trip the last two weekends because JB's embroidered shirt was stuck in transit (#firstworldproblems), but fortunately it arrived just in time to hit up Kinsey Family Farms up north.

Since JB is still a little young for too many festivities, KFF was perfect - low key, small, friendly, not too crowded.  It allowed me several opportunities to capture some photos, showing off his new shirt (which he is going to wear every day for the next week.)

Who am I kidding - capture some photos? I captured a ton of photos. Once again, I can't choose my favorites so I'm just going to share them all.

His chameleon hair really looks ginger here, and his face is saying, "why did my Mama make me wear this shirt?" Because we're in the South, son - if it moves we shoot it, if it doesn't we monogram it.

True story - they do not make belts for babies.  Have you ever tried to find one?  JB's belt is custom made with a toddler belt, ice pick, and Leatherman.

Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone to take a picture of the three of us, so we had to take turns being the cameraman.

After the photoshoot, it was time to select a pumpkin.  Since we're going for a big W at the 3rd annual neighborhood pumpkin carving contest, selection of the perfect one was critical…

Found it!

Although we did not opt for a tractor ride, the wagon was a big hit with JB.  I foresee a wagon in his future (you know, because he needs yet another riding toy to add to his growing collection…)

After we selected our pumpkin, we headed over to the petting zoo to check out the animals.  Sadly, Bubs is still not a fan of farm animals.  Especially the goose!  (Lord have mercy, I didn't think he was ever going to recover from the goose…)

From the farm we hit up a local BBQ joint, which never fails to impress.  They smoke some damn good meat up here in the GA mountains (and I even got brisket, a rarity in these pro-pig parts!)

Wonderful day, and wonderful way to kick off this last week in October (can you even believe it??)

Friday Fives

It's Friday again, and while I haven't posted much this week it's not because of lack of excitement in our lives!  Listen to all the exciting places I visited this week:  Publix (twice), Richard's Variety Store, Ace Hardware (twice), Amazon.com (too many times) and Target.   AND, at Target, I walked away with a free bag, making my bill way less than it normally is. (My intent was certainly not to steal. I even told the guy "you didn't ring me up correctly!"  He went back, rescanned several items, didn't listen when I said "are you sure it's ringing up?", rudely told me it was correct, glared at JB as he threw a cheerio in the cart, and rushed me out of his line.  Once I got home and realized I still hadn't paid for several things, I concluded that I spend enough money at Target to not feel bad about the situation.)

Since none of these exciting adventures resulted in much blog worthy content (minus the Target heist), I'll just leave you with:  five recent purchases that are changing my life.

1) Sketchers Go Walks 2
When I tried these on, James said "why do you need water shoes!?"  Then said "if you like them, then that's all that matters" (code for "I don't like them".)  After walking in them for a day, I could care less - so comfy!

Source

2) Therapedic Pillow
I've been going to PT after our accident, due to some annoying neck pain that just makes sitting/lying down/normal life uncomfortable.  Not only is it helping, but it's also been highlighting some posture problems that I get lectured on each session.  At their recommendation, I got this pillow.  Good bye stiff neck in the morning!!  (At Bed, Bath and Beyond, there is this $39 Therapedic pillow and then a $99 Tempur-pedic pillow.  Exact same pillow, go for the cheaper one and you can use your 20% off coupon.  Score.)

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3) Seat Cushion
(See above) Another attempt to be more comfortable during the day - and obviously make myself look glamorous doing it.  Honest to goodness, who knew all these pillows could be so life changing!?

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4) Enda's Seat Belt
With the new ride (and nice leather), I no longer trust Enda with free reign of the car.  Plus, after the accident, I had terrible nightmares of what would have happened with Enda in the front seat (can't even...) A little research later, and Enda got this quasi-seat belt that will keep her restrained and safer.  She loves tolerates it, and it's eased my mind.

Safe and Sound

5) Nuby No Spill Sport Sipper
So we've successfully weaned JB off his ba-bas (yes), but onto this thing (hum?)  Am I just kidding myself into thinking we've really shifted ourselves from the bottle?

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This is the 5th type of sippy/straw cup that we've bought, and the only one he will drink more than an ounce of milk from. (He will drink water out of everything, but picky about his milk.)  He will shotgun this baby no problem; however, it's so close to a bottle that I can hardly pat myself on the back.  And I feel we're setting ourselves up for sport sipper weaning down the road.  Oh well, do what you gotta do, right?


Have a wonderful weekend everyone!  Ours will include a pumpkin patch, finally.

Kennesaw Mountain

I don't know if this Saturday's weather could have been any more perfect.  70 degree temps, nearly photoshopped blue skies, pretty white clouds - to be inside would have been a crime!

We took advantage of this beautiful Fall day to head over to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.  We haven't been there in years (since February 2011, to be exact - thank you, blog!), even though it's only 45 minutes away.  We timed it perfectly and left our house right at 10AM, which meant that JB snoozed all the way there (and then some!  We had to circle the park several times because JB - of course when we didn't need him to - slept over an hour in his carseat!)

I think everyone ITP had similar plans, so we fought multiple entrances before finally settling on one away from the mountain.  It meant we didn't get to hike up (the view from the top is beautiful), but could still make some decent tracks.  Plus, this entrance wasn't nearly as crazy, a good thing when you're trying to control a toddler and a vizsla, both extremely enthusiastic about the adventure.

This was our first time using the hiking backpack, and we were a little anxious to take off down the trail without knowing how Homefries would like it.  Despite the fact that he looked totally impressed…

…he had great time looking out, calling for Enda ("enYA!"), patting his Dad on the back (his new thing), and chewing on random pieces of fabric (he's seriously worse than Puppy Enda about chewing - molars??)

My handsome boys - y'all be jealous

The trail we chose was an easy 1.4 miles along a stream.  Very serene, and not too crowded (despite some horses that scared the bejeezus out of Enda.)

Parents of the Year forgot to feed JB after he woke up, so we took advantage of a little meadow mid-way to let him snack.  Getting to drink out of the water bottle and permission to walk around with his pouch was probably the highlight of JB's trip.  It's the little things...

Well, or the grass, he did have a good time with that, too!  He really thought Enda should have a taste of the grass.  When she wasn't interested in the strand he kept trying to give her, he just ate it himself…

So, we drove nearly an hour both ways for hardly a 1.5 hour hike, but…so totally worth it to get to spend such a lovely day together.  

LOVE 

HIM