Halloween and Birthday Festivities!

This wouldn't be my blog if I didn't recap my favorite time of the year....Halloween and my and my hubby's birthdays! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! And it's Andy's birthday! And then the next day is MY birthday! And the day after that is my Dad's birthday! :-)

Andy always gets to trick or treat on his birthday! I guess one day when the boys are too old for trick or treating we won't do it but for now Andy seems to enjoy sharing his birthday with that holiday tradition. His parents and sister came over to celebrate. My sister Christy, James, and Baby Ella came too! We ate tacos for dinner (Andy's favorite). His mom also baked him pumpkin pie for his birthday. We sang happy birthday and then it was trick or treat time! Of course we had to take a few pictures of the kiddos in their super cute costumes! Hayden was Dave the Minion, Sawyer was a green ninja, and Ella was Super Girl! So cute!

Andy's family left as we went trick or treating. My sister went with us for a bit but they had to leave pretty quickly because it was past Ella's bed time and she was so tired. Luckily some friends met us in our neighborhood and trick or treated the entire time with us. It's always more fun with friends!

We trick or treated around the entire neighborhood. But we always save the best for last. Each year this one house in our neighborhood goes over and beyond with the Halloween decorations. We call them the "haunted house" and this year they did not disappoint! The kids were super excited to walk through it!

After trick or treating our friends came back to the house and played for a bit. It was a great Halloween and a great birthday for Andy!

The next day was MY birthday! I started it out by running a 10K race that morning (I'll recap the race tomorrow). What better way to start my birthday than doing what I love, right? It was super super cold at the race but I still had a blast!

And one of my AWESOME friends made this amazing medal and bib holder for me! Isn't is beautiful? I can't wait to get it hung on the wall and fill it up!

When I got home from the race my men had birthday cards for me! Each one picked out their own special card for me! It was so sweet!!!

They then took me out for lunch. And we had birthday cake complete with the singing of the Happy Birthday song of course! :-)

Later that afternoon we headed over to my friend Paige's house. She was having everyone over for a cook out and to watch the Auburn game. As soon as I walked into the door she made me put on a birthday princess hat and necklace! ;-)

After we ate it was game time! The rule was...every time Auburn scored I had to wear my birthday hat for 3 game minutes! I ended up wearing it for a long time lol! It was fun! And yes I am all wrapped up in a blanket because I had been freezing ALL DAY LONG! I couldn't get warm from that cold and windy race!

Overall, it was an amazing birthday!!! My friends and family made it so special! And supposedly Andy still has a birthday surprise on its way! ;-)

QOTD: How do you like to celebrate your birthday?

Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween everyone!!! This is my favorite holiday! I love all the cute decorations and dressing up! It's so much fun! Today is also my sweet hubby's birthday! I love you Andy!!!

And tomorrow...is my birthday!!! :-)

Every year we carve pumpkins before Halloween. Andy's parents and sister and her husband always come over for the festivities. We design, carve, and then scoop out all the insides and send those home with my mother-in-law so she can bake us pumpkin pie! Last night was our annual pumpkin carving!

After school we headed to the local farmers market to pick out our pumpkins. And it was slim pickings....they hardly had any pumpkins left!

After lots of careful thought....the boys made their decision!

We loaded those huge pumpkins into the van and carried them home! Hayden insisted on holding his pumpkin lol!

The boys decided on their design. They drew them on the pumpkins. Cut the top off. And scooped out all the insides! Sawyer had way too much fun with this part! He had pumpkin up to his elbows before the night was over lol!

Then it was time to carve out the design! We let the adults handle the knives lol!

Here are the finished products! Sawyer and Papa designed his!

Hayden and Daddy designed his!

And then Cullen had to inspect of course!

Tonight we are trick-or-treating of course! And celebrating Daddy's birthday too! Sawyer is dressing up as Batman and Hayden is dressing up as a banana!!!

I hope you have a fun and safe Halloween!!!

QOTD: Do you like Halloween? Any Halloween traditions?

Virtual Coffee Date...October 3rd!

Hey friends! Grab your favorite cup of coffee and let's have a virtual coffee date!!! Have a seat and let's chat!

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you that this is my favorite time of year! I already have my fall and Halloween decorations out. I love it! I love all the scarecrows, pumpkins, friendly ghosts and spiders, and dressing up my boys in costumes! I love the cooler weather (especially for running) and the fun family activities like the corn maze!

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you that I have a new niece! Yes, my oldest sister Christy had a baby girl last Monday! Her name is Ella Kate and she was 7 lbs. 14 oz. when she was born. She is absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately they live in San Francisco (all the way across the country from me) so I'm not sure when I will get to officially meet her. But I've been enjoying seeing pictures of her!

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you that I am so excited about all my favorite TV shows coming back on! I love Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Scandal, Parenthood, and The Vampire Diaries. I also started watching Hostages last week and it was pretty good!

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you that I am so excited about my next half marathon! I'm most excited about spending that weekend with my friend Paige! I seriously need some girl time!

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you that I am really nervous about meeting my fundraising goal for the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon. I committed to raise $500. So far I have raised $340. So I have $160 more to go. I'm nervous because I have to have the money raised by November 15th or the remainder goes on my credit card! So...if you'd like to help me and donate you can do that HERE! ;-) It would be soooo appreciated!!!

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you about a new book series that I started reading. It is called the Delirium Series and is by Lauren Oliver. If you like Divergent you will love this one too! I'm already on the second book!

I hope you enjoyed your coffee! Mine was delicious! Thanks for chatting with me!

QOTD: If we were having coffee today, what would you tell me?

Halloween and Birthday Fun!

Yes I know I normally do Fitness Friday today but I'm skipping it this week (hope you don't mind) and telling you all about my Halloween and birthday fun! Lots and lots and lots of pics so get ready! :-)

Halloween is also my hubby's birthday! He never wants anything so it's always hard to buy him gifts. So I always try to remember when he says he wants something or wants to do something. I remember a while back he said he wanted to go to a University of South Alabama football game. He got his engineering degree from there and back then they didn't have a football team (they only had one the past few years). And we haven't been to a game yet...so for his birthday I got him tickets to this weekend's game and a new South Alabama shirt! I think he was surprised!

After birthday presents it was time for trick or treating with friends!

My little Captain America and Spiderman!

Yes...I totally dressed up as Wonder Woman with my boys! (The hubby wouldn't dress up...boo!)

Me with my birthday man!

Posing!

Hayden doing his Captain America pose! Lol!

We have the best neighborhood for trick or treating. Tons of people that don't live there come to our neighborhood every year for Halloween. My friend Stephanie and her family came and brought 3 other families with them! So we had a ton of kids here! And that made it sooo much fun!

Finally it was time to go! They all bombarded the first house!!!

The boys with their best buds Sydney and Zoë (aka Merida and Rapunzel)!

And Sawyer and Zoë found one of their classmates when we were trick or treating!

Some of the houses in our neighborhood go all out with their decorations!

But the last house we hit every year is amazing with their decorations! They make a walk through in their front yard...with all kinds of decorations! It is awesome! Last year Sawyer was too scared to go through it but this year he did it!!! And yes...these pictures were seriously taken at that one house!

We all had a blast trick or treating! And there is more candy in my house than I like! The boys only got a few healthier choices...one house gave out cheez its and animal crackers. Another house gave out packs of wheat crackers with cheese. And guess what my boys went for first? Yep! The healthier options...yay!

Yesterday was MY birthday! I got a nice wake up that morning with my boys getting into bed with me and hugging me and telling me happy birthday! Awesome way to wake up! Then my friend Stephanie took me out to lunch at the Sugar Kettle Cafe. It's one of my favorite restaurants...they cook southern homecooked meals. And guess what I got? Fried chicken, field peas, and mashed potatoes and gravy! 

Hey I can indulge on my birthday! (And I'm using the excuse that I need to carb up for Saturday's 16 mile run!!! )

After lunch I headed to the hospital to visit my friend Katrina...she had her second baby girl last night! Remember she ran a half marathon about a month ago? She's amazing! Little Miriam (how cute is that name?!) is sooo precious! 

Last night Andy's sister came over to watch the boys so Andy and I could go out to dinner! We went to a steak house and had steak. I haven't had a steak in forever! We ordered a porterhouse for 2...it was a 30 oz. steak that we shared. It was huge!

And no we didn't finish it all! We brought home the leftovers! 

It was a great day! Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes on Facebook, twitter, Instagram, and here on the blog! You all know how to make a girl feel loved!!! :-)

QOTD: Do you decorate for Halloween?