Pumpkin Carving 2012

 Everyone looks forward to our long time pumpkin carving ritual 

each Halloween season!

Nothing fancy around here.  We just let the kids use their imagination 

and then Brady uses his carving expertise.  

 Patiently waiting his carving turn

Funny girl, Em Em!

Abby carefully picked out all of the seeds

Our once a year treat--roasted pumpkin seeds--yum!

UA Dive School and First Dive Meet

John Brady loves to swim and dive and so he was super excited as he showed me a UA Dive School flyer he had received at school.  I contacted UA to sign him up for lessons.  John Brady started diving lessons at the end of September.  

The next few pictures are iphone pics of his first lesson 

and several lessons thereafter.

John Brady's first dive meet was held by the Hoover Dive Club at the Hoover Recreation Center on October 27, 2012.  We were told warm ups were at 8 a.m. and the meet was to start at 9 a.m.  According to the schedule, we thought John Brady would be competing in the first event at 9 a.m.  Well, the schedule got changed the night before and John Brady didn't dive until 1:30!  So as you can imagine and tell by the pic below, we had one frustrated little boy!  

still waiting

ahhhh, here he goes!

Here's our dive boy smiling at the end of the meet with his medal!

It was an unexpected long, long day, but so worth the wait to see this!

UA Homecoming Pep Rally and Bon Fire || Oct 26, 2012

   

pep rally

The kids had front row seats for the bon fire!

We hadn't been to the bonfire in a few years and 

quickly noticed how small it was in comparison to just a few years ago!

The kids still thought it was really cool to see!

Enjoyed seeing the carved pumpkins on campus.

Speaking of my birthday

There's been something missing from my birthdays for about two years now.  Specifically, someone has been missing, and something has been missing for a a couple of years before that.  You see, very, very early on the morning of my birthday my phone would ring.  I would answer and shortly hear my Granny's voice say "Happy Birthday!"  It was sort of a tradition with us.  My Granny ALWAYS called me on the morning of my birthday.  It was like she wanted to be sure I started my day as a birthday girl should!  As expected with her declining health in the last few years of her life, so did the birthday calls.  I don't know why this is on my mind.  Maybe it's because John Brady's birthday was just a couple of days ago on January 20.  Maybe it's because I had a flashback as I handed him my phone when his Nanny called him on his birthday.  Maybe it's because you never lose a special bond even after death.  No matter what it is, oh, how I cherish each and every one of those birthday calls.  And oh, how I wish I could call her on her upcoming February 12th birthday!

Celebrating My Birthday || October 15-16, 2012

Whew!  I'm getting old!!

Two unusual things that happened on my actual birthday (Oct 16).  One was my grocery total coming to $10.16 and the other was finding a random Mickey Mouse Happy Birthday balloon in the middle of Martin Road!

Since my parents (thanks mom and dad) had taken us to The Shrimp Basket the night before to celebrate my birthday, we decided to eat at home.  Brady cooked a wonderful dinner for me!!  Thanks honey!!

The Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton || Oct 13, 2012

The week leading up to our pumpkin patch trip was kind of a blur.  Brady left for Missouri for work early on Sunday, the 7th and wouldn't be back home until Sunday, the 14th.  By the way, Bama's game against Missouri was on Saturday, the 13th.  No doubt it was all part of the master plan.  ;)  Although I didn't enjoy being a single parent for a week, it wasn't all that bad, and it especially helped that mom picked the kids up from school on Monday and Wednesday and Joy got them on Tuesday (we celebrated Joy's bday at Jim 'N Nick's).  It can get tricky around here with school, homework, riding lessons, and diving lessons.  Friday I took the kids to the fall festival at NES (previous post).  On Saturday we went to The Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton with mom and dad.  It was a beautiful fall day!!  We all had a great time!!  

Thanks mom and dad for going with us!!

While it was a beautiful day at the pumpkin patch, it wasn't so at the Bama/Missouri game.  Storms were passing through Columbia.  The lightning was causing the game to be delayed on and off.  Brady had prepared for the rain and was keeping dry in his Frogg Togg rain suit.  The stadium had to be cleared out one time and upon returning Brady and Stuart were able to get much better seats.  Here's a pic he sent me from the new seats.