Florida Surprise & Fall Fest

 

Fall Fest was a success and my kids are in bed,  happily sleeping off their sugar high…..

Avery likes sleeping with something special each night.  Usually its a doll or stuffed animal, but nope, not this time.  Her choice? A box of Milk Duds.  I made her put it under her pillow and let me just say, they BETTER all still be in that box in the morning!  

 

  Besides Fall Fest, we had a weekend full of family fun!  Some surprise company showed up clear from Florida!  My brother, Chad and his girlfriend, Lauren decided to come for a short, spur of the moment visit.  Mom and I were the only ones that knew about our special company, and even I wasn’t supposed to be privy to that info. Mom slipped up and told me, but I was glad to help plan for their stay! 🙂

They squeezed into the pantry and jumped out at Dale when I sent him for a bag of chips…..

Apparently, when your name is Dale and you’re super laid back, this is as surprised as you get!

Surprise! The view from the pantry.

 

We had the whole family out for a bonfire, complete with Hillbilly hotdogs and S’mores.  (I’ll try to post the Hillbilly Hotdog recipe tomorrow, they were delish!)  That evening we celebrated Chad and Grandpa’s birthdays, since they are only a day apart.  Dessert choices?  Triple Chocolate Cake, Baked Apples and an amaaaaazing cheesecake by Mark. 

With desserts like that, how can a girl be expected to choose?  I had no choice but to try a bit of each.  I figure the first dessert was for Paxton, the next for me, and the 3rd, for us to share.   🙂  

Chad put together a beautiful picture frame of he and Grandpa’s shared birthday parties over the years, the first being age 2 and 57, the last one taken for the 17th and 72nd birthday’s.  A photo from the party will fill the empty slot representing their 26th and 81st birthdays!  How special! 

 Destiny had no school Thursday, Friday and Monday, for parent-teacher conferences. What a total God thing that Uncle Chad’s trip correlated with her time off!!!!! We had such a great time,  just hanging out with them, and playing games till 2 am.  Lauren and I kicked some butt at Tribond.  Well, actually, the guys won, but only because we let them. 🙂  My only complaint was the weekend went too fast!

Here are some pictures from the weekend…… 

I am off to do laundry and make a menu & grocery list for November. 

Guess, its back to real life again! 

May your day be blessed with happy kids, who NEVER beg for the candy you stashed on top of the fridge, who have cavity free teeth, and who do not whine and fuss all day from an overly busy, super-duper exciting, sugar coma kinda weekend……and may you not be caught as you sneak the chocolate from the kids’ candy stash!

Happy Monday!  🙂 

~T

Bye, Chad and Lauren, come back soon.