The Oddest Place

Nolan called Saturday... wanting to know if our family and Zach and his family would like to meet up at the Reneissance Festival in Huntersville on Sunday. 

It sounded like fun, so we all went.  And, it was fun in an odd, people watching kind of way.

Group shot

First cousin shot with the 7 of them.

If you have never heard of this Reneissance Festival or have never been then let me explain.  Basically, the people that work there dress up in attire that is fitting for that era.  There is a jousting match, many different shows, games, and food.  The funny part is that not only do employees dress, but many (and more than you would think) also dress up.  Adults in fantasy wear.  From fairies with wings, to elfs complete with the pointy ears, to skeletons... people go ALL out.  There are so freaks in the world for sure.
 Here are some of the things we saw...
Jousting Competition




 

The boys really enjoyed (as you can see below) these singers... they had a good toe tapping beat going on.

They were dancing at some point during this.

As we were leaving

Just one example of non employees dressed up... look at the Christmas elf... too funny

The funniest part was while we were walking down to the jousting match, someone dressed in Reneissance attire (dont know if he worked there or not), was sitting in the dirt.  As I walked by, he said, "you are a tall woman."  He then preceeded to lay down on the dirt with his arms open and said, "comfort me tall woman."  hahaha.  Unfortunately, Nolan was right beside me when this happened and he fell out laughing.  This is just one example of the.... uh, experience.

The food was good and the company was great.  The boys loved getting together with their cousins. 

My complete review of the place was the that it is definitely overpriced... adult tickets were $22 which covered admission and the shows.  Games/ rides/ food were additional  money and it was high.  We let the kids do one thing and they chose the trampoline thing with the bunjie cord harness thing.  $6 a kid but totally worth it to see all the different emotions from each kid. 

Owen = cautious smile

Caelum= big grin

Hunter= absolutely petrified... he was hysterical. so much like his father

Shepherd= contagious laughter and absolute joy

Ashton= cautious smile and then slight shock.


Here are some of the extra pictures from the day

Waiting for the jousting to start

Still waiting (Shep was on my shoulders here)

Waiting some more except this time for the jumping thingy

Baby love

He finished up the evening with meeting up at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. 

Good idea Nolie!

For Esme' - With Love

and NO Squalor.

Probably only my family will understand the title of the post.  My niece, Esme' was named after a short story by JD Salinger called "For Esme'- With Love and Squalor"

Anyway---

When Esme' was born, I told my sister-in-law and brother that I would paint some letters for her room.

I guess I have become the letter queen over the past few years.  From DIY Moss Covered Pottery Barn Initials to glitter names to spray painted craft foam letters, I think I am starting to master this  letter thing.  :)

Esme's room was already painted a rich chocolate brown with white wainscoating.  Zach and Anna decided to add in pink accents.

I picked out a pink that looked pretty on the swatch... let me say again... THANK GOD FOR SAMPLES.  It looked like I had thrown up a bottle of Pepto Bismal!  Disaster. 

Mom found some beautiful bedding at PB Outlet.  Totally white with a line of light pink.  It is so feminine and soft (the exact opposite of my house!).  I was so glad that this gave me an excuse to repaint the letters to  match the soft pink vs the Pepto Bismal pink.

The left is Pepto Pink (Reflecting Rose).  The right is "Oh so Pink"

I settled on "Oh So Pink" by Valspar.  For the record, the Pepto Bismal pink is really called "Reflecting Rose."

I painted the letters and immediately got a bit nervous because it looked white.  I later realized it looked white because the other was sooo intensely pink.  I dont have much pink experience, so cut me a break. ;)

Once painted, it just didnt pop enough.  I thought about dots and of course, stripes... but that wasnt it.  So, I got a bit trendy.  Can you guess?

Chevron.

It is perfect.

I will admit I took the easy way out, though much more expensive.  I am sure I could have figured out how to tape Chevron with masking tape by measuring, cutting, measruing, cutting.  But, I spent $13 and bought Frog Tape Smart Tape in Chevron.  It saved a ton of time.  I got the chevron taped and painted in 30 minutes.

 

I actually used white spray paint for the chevron which made it even faster and cleaner. Touched up some minimal bleeding through the tap and they are done! So pretty.

I decided to do Esme' monogram instead of her name.  That way Zach and Anna can reuse the "A" from their last name in a different part of the house should they decide to change her room up.
And yes, her monogram is EAR.  I didnt even realize it until mom pointed it out.

Miss Esme', I hope this will add a finishing touch to your room.  Love you!

On the Rocks

or should I say "In the Rocks."

Bennett has been officially crawling for a week now.  He still much prefers to cruise around the furniture if given the option... he can happily crawl to get to said furniture.

Such a sweetie pie.

But for the title of this post... Our fireplace has this itty bitty rocks in it... I think they are for looks as I dont  know what their function could be... if someone knows, please let me know because I am about to get rid of them and this video is the reason why.

Bennett has decided it is such fun to crawl over to fireplace and rake the itty bitty rocks into the floor and then try to eat them.

Seriously, what 9 month old would not be absolutely fascinated with these?

Thankfully, in this case, he wanted me or my camera more than the rocks

Making his way to me.

As I suspected, he has become more content to play by himself since he started moving.   What I didnt think about was his sleeping has gotten a bit worse because now he can sit up, stand up, and move around in his crib which has led to mini fussing sessions.  But, as the 4th, momma is no longer fooled by such antics.  :)

After a small fuss, taking a nap before going to the church fall festival.

 Speaking of the fall festival, he also attempted to eat rocks there as well. He also got to go on his first hayride.  I did a poor job of taking pics though.

Not interested in the rocks at the moment but loving the lights strung up through the fence.

Met a girl and not just any girl... an older girl AND a preacher's daughter.  ;)

 So happy that Bennett is on the move.  Some people dread it, but I love when my baby's start to move.

Go Bennett!!!

All Saints Day

Here we are again at Halloween. We all know my true stance on Halloween, however Halloween is not so bad when you dont have to drop a butt load of money on yak. :)

We basically did Halloween costumes for free which is good since we only have one activity to go to this year.

My first string team

The only thing I had to buy was my shirt (which I am going to return, not wearing it out in public, just wanted a picture) and Bennett's onesie.  

The original plan was to have the older 3 dress as football players and have Bennett be the football.  Today, I had the idea to make myself the ref and have Hunter be "Coach Smith" and Molly be the cheerleader.

The mock "game." 

White team and blue team face off.

Fumble and Tackle

Group shot... Ashton was supposed to stop tackling

2nd attempt at group shot

Would have been a cute picture had the son had saturated Ashton's blond head.  :)

 Individual Shots

Coach Smith

Notice his belly here...

hahaha... gave him a belly just like daddy.

White team- Ashton... he wanted to be serious like a football player.  Funny how they notice those things

Blue team- Shepherd... even he put on a serious face which is RARE

The adorable football

The ref. 

I guess I will ask ...  Is it ethical to return a shirt that I only wore outside to take a picture in?  Bought it for $20, not wearing out or ever again, just wanted a group picture.

6!!!

Holy Cow!  You are 6.

Typical Ashton... taking a selfie.

Kiddo, you are growing up into an amazing little man.  Everyone you meet just loves you.  You are smart, athletic, and funny.  You love to play games and thrive off being the center of attention.

My big 6 year old!!

You are still emotional and competitive which leads to melt downs.  You were the highest scorer on your U8 team.  You get compliments all the time on how good you are and i would be a liar if I said that you were humble about it.  Last year people said, "he is good for to be so small or he is good to be so young" but this year people just say, "wow, he is good" or "he is great with the ball."  Needless to say, I am proud of you (until you cop an attitude with your teammates)

You are officially reading.   Your speech is getting so much better and you are becoming aware of the sounds that need correcting.

You love Bennett dearly.  You are Shepherd are the best of friends.  And you and Hunter play soccer or some sports thing everyday (sometimes with Shep in involved in this too).  You love to play football by yourself on the driveway and constantly run inside to tell me the score of the game... sometimes it is Clover playing and sometimes one of your made up teams.. the planes.  I must ALWAYS pick which team I want to win and often defend my answer.

"taking care" of Bennett for me while I clean up the kitchen. This was so precious.

You still love to sing.  And you say the sweetest prayers.

I took a little trip down memory lane and watched a bunch of videos I had taken from when you were younger.  Here is one that makes me melt and actually makes me tear up.  Such a fleeting moment. 

Ashton, you are fiesty and sweet.  I am beyond proud of you!

Love ya Smash
Mom

totally worn out. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This b-day we kept low key and it is just proof that it doesnt take a whole to make a great birthday.
I took him lunch on Thursday and took cookies to his class.

Eating McD's

Ashton passing out the cookies

Mantis and Queenie came up Friday night and did their annual "go out to dinner and the toy store".  Ashton LOVES this.  Though it was nearly freezing Friday night, we met up after dinner for putt putt.  Ashton picked out a toy and got a little something for his brothers too... thanks mom and dad for taking him out on the town.

blowing out his candles

Mantis and Queenie stayed the night and then PapaHub and Grandma and Uncle Nolan met up with us Saturday morning for Hunter and Ashton's double header soccer game.  It was so fitting that Smash got to play 2 games on his birthday.  In his world, that is better than any birthday party I could have thrown for him.  This also complete the season (another post on that later).

his big gift from us... he is way more excited than he looks

In between games, we came back to the house and did presents and a quick cake moment.

Singing Happy Birthday and eating cupcakes after their soccer game today

PapaHub and Grandma took us out to lunch and then we headed over to GrandmaDeans for a quicky visit.

The Ninjago game

Got home around 5 and played played played played with all his new stuff.  I must say, he racked up.
- Wii
- Bike/ helmet
- soccer ball
- Ninjago lego game
- Twister game
- Chutes and Ladders super hero squad
- Clemon Nike dry fit shirt
- Clemson hoodie
- Jeans
- Football long sleeve tshirt
-Lego house kit
- Spiderman toy
- $125

The replacement soccer ball from Riggs... see here

Not bad for a 6 year old bday.  Thanks to the grandparents, great grandparents, and Uncle Nolan for making him feel so special on his day!