A Great Fall Weekend!

Happy Monday!

Seems like every weekend from October until the end of the year is busy these days. This past weekend was no different.

Violet turned ONE on Friday!  Sweet baby girl! I cannot believe how quickly this last year flew by! We reminisced about our trip to the hospital to deliver, worrying we'd never make it! We had a little doughnut date ~ her first~ and a sweet little cake just for her while we sang happy birthday!  She's going to get a separate post all about her. We are celebrating her with a family party next weekend! Lots of purple. :)

I took the girls to Andrew's football game Friday night for the first time. The downside of having a husband working nights is things like this are often just me.  The weather was perfect that day and didn't look like it would be too cold that night.  I was right. It was perfect! I wore Violet in the carrier and Lily was great about staying with me. She loved watching the marching band and kept shouting, "Bubby!" trying to get Andrew's attention.  She also was super excited about the cheerleaders pink pompoms! I let her go down the few steps in the stands from where we were to stand in front of the cheerleaders and she had a ball! Violet was perfect all night! Not at all fussy, danced everytime she heard the marching band play even throughout the game, and smiled and waved at everyone walking past us.  We left the stands after the half-time performances and watched much of the 3rd quarter walking around. Finally, I decided we'd head to the car and wait for Andrew after the game there and maybe the girls would fall asleep while we waited. They did. After the game, the band performed another show and I watched that one from the parking lot.  Our stadium is set lower in a valley so the parking lots overlook the field. It was a fun night! Happy 1st birthday to Violet!

Saturday, we did some things around the house and took Andrew to get his flu shot. The girls already had theirs done a few weeks ago.  I asked if they could weigh Violet really quickly and unofficially since we don't go for her well-visit until next week.  I love our pediatrician's office!  Andrew also had a band festival their school was participating in, so his evening was booked.  The girls and I invited ourselves over to Stef's house while Andrew was gone in an effort to get Tracy to keep her birthday dinner plans with her husband after her sitter couldn't make it.  Stef and I both offered to keep her kids, so we made it in one place and Stef's house is closer to them.  We left to pick Andrew up at school and promptly came home and crashed.

Sunday, we headed to the pumpkin farm for our annual pumpkin picking trip. This is one of my favorite activities each year and has been ever since Andrew was born!  After we got home from that, my crew was hungry and cranky, so everyone had snacks and I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things to make supper. I found a new, easy recipe for chicken parm that turned out great and our family dinner was really nice.  We're always so on-the-go that when we get to sit down for more than a rushed suppertime, I definitely appreciate it.  We talked with Andrew and Lily about what they're loving about school currently and it always makes me happy to listen to them talk. Sometimes teenage conversation is like pulling teeth.  Since Violet missed her entire afternoon nap, she was ready for bed right after supper. Lily decided she wanted to watch Frosty, so she cozied up in our bed.

George and I had also had somewhat of a date night planned.  I say somewhat because we were going to meet a friend in town from Minnesota.  The funny thing about this friend is G and I both knew him separately and since we both were friends with him on Myspace, THAT is how George and I met! So for the first time in 8 years, we all got to see each other. We had a great time with him and enjoyed our kid-free time as well! Hopefully, it will be sooner than 8 years before we get together again and his wife will able to make it too.

It was a great weekend and now we look forward to my mom's arrival this week!