Robert – Page 66

Highlands for Thanksgiving

December 4, 2017

Like the previous two years, we traveled up to Highlands, NC with Robert’s side of the family for Thanksgiving. This year we had Mary Beth, Holland, and Margaret join in addition to Lulu and Granddaddy and it was a great trip! It was also a silent drive up! 🙂

drive

Once we got there, Samantha quickly found some seasonally appropriate toys and made herself at home! ha!

highlands

We took full advantage all weekend of the beautiful weather! The kids are a little older now so we challenged them with some new hikes and they did great! On Thanksgiving morning, we all hiked up Whiteside Mountain. Samantha walked herself the whole way!

mountain

We went up the easier side of the mountain which was the smart decision. We even saw one of my college friends, Amanda, and her family on the mountain! Small world!

mountai

Maxwell kept finding every opportunity to go “off trail”!

mountain

The views were worth the hike once we got to the top!

hike

whiteside

hike

moiuntain

whiteside

I mean…how beautiful! The scenery and my babies! 🙂

whiteside

I think this is what you call a “framer”!!

whiteside

We went down the more difficult trail side of the mountain and it was pretty fun to go down – and would not have been as much fun to go up! We definitely earned our pie and had a great Thanksgiving meal that afternoon! After we ate, we were outside again to throw the ball and work off that pie!

catch

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Check out this awesome catch!

Don’t worry, there was plenty of laying around too!

tgiving

A great start to a fun trip!

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Soccer Soccer

November 14, 2017

Our double soccer season has come and gone! Spencer’s team, the Tornadoes, had a fun season full of hustle! They don’t keep score in Sunday soccer but Spencer played awesome, scored several goals, and they were all champs in our eyes! Maxwell’s team, the Diamondbacks, also had a fun season and improved every game. They do keep score in U8 soccer and, well, we basically never won but that’s ok! Those boys hustled, played their hearts out, and made us all proud!

A few more pics from Spencer’s season…

soccer

Of course, trophies are the best part!

trophies

soccer

He definitely had the best coach around!

soccer ‘

Back row: Christopher, Cooper, Drennen, Sawyer, Spencer
Front row: Jake, Robby, Drew, Everett

And now some pics from Maxwell’s season! Somehow I ended up getting lots more pictures of the spectators than of Maxwell playing! ha! That soccer sibling life!

soccer

You can see a lot more action shots on this post but here’s Maxwell playing goalie…

soccer

and with his trophy!

trophy

It was a great season for all involved! We may not have won much but we hustled and had fun. Go Tornadoes!! Go Diamondbacks!!

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20 years!

November 9, 2017

While Robert and Maxwell were freezing in a tent, I was in Little Rock celebrating my 20th High School reunion! I stayed at my friend Laura’s house which was great because the pre and post parties ended up there both nights! It was fun to see so many familiar faces…

reunion

20 years seems like a long time but I’d say most people hadn’t changed much. We’ve all aged like a fine wine! 🙂

On Saturday they were giving a tour of my old high school – which has changed a LOT since we graduated. Lucky for us, no one else showed up for the tour so Laura, Andee, and I got a personal tour from Betsy!

While my friends might have aged like a fine wine, the halls of my old school are showing their age! Eek! The school has expanded a ton and the newer buildings are awesome and state of the art but the original building where I spent my 18 years is looking pretty old and tired. Sad.

It was a beautiful fall day and I loved being back in Little Rock driving around my old stomping grounds and getting to see some of my friend’s parents.

Before the official reunion party that night, I went for cocktails at the home of one my friend’s parents. They live in my old neighborhood and it was honestly really hard to be back that close to my old house. I took the long way around the circle and didn’t drive by my house – I just couldn’t do it. I like to imagine it’s still standing exactly as we left it with all of our furniture and things inside. 🙁 I’m sure the Connors thought I was crazy when I kept crying all night but I just couldn’t help it – too many memories were flooding in. All good times that I’m very grateful for!

connors

The reunion party was fun and we had a pretty decent showing out of a class of only 89! It was nice to catch up with everyone and talk about the “glory days!”

reunion

Robert and GJ were holding down the fort back at home. Before he took Maxwell camping, Robert got all the kids up and out to breakfast Saturday morning! Super Dad!

breakfast

GJ then attempted a campout at the apartment Saturday night for Spencer and Samantha. Super GJ!

tent

The setup was great, Spencer was all about it, but little Miss just couldn’t ever settle down enough to go to sleep over there! They ended up back at the house around 9pm where everyone got a good night sleep.

I think it was an entertaining weekend for all parties. I’m really glad I ended up going to my reunion – always fun to catch up and remember old times!

reunion

PA all the Way! Go Hey Go Hey Go!

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Scouts Honor!

November 8, 2017

Maxwell is officially a Boy Scout!

scouts

Well, he’s a Tiger Scout. But he’s earning badges and learning the ways of scouting. He’s had a few den meetings and it’s a good group of boys from his school.

scouts

I think he’s having fun…and really enjoying wearing the neckerchief. 😉 Their last meeting on Sunday was right after basketball so he had a little “business on top, party on bottom” situation going!

scouts

The most awesome part of scouts so far? The campout! Yep, Robert and Maxwell slept outside all night in a tent two weeks ago. Unfortunately, it happened to be a frigid night with temps in the 30s!!! But, these troopers stuck it out, warmed themselves by the fire, and made it all night.

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They even got to shoot rockets in the morning!

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My little scout looked like this as soon as they got back in the car…

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I think my big scout was wishing he could do the same! I’m so proud of my campers!

scouts

Scout’s honor!

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Halloween 2017

November 2, 2017

Another Halloween done right! We had awesome costumes, a fun street party, face painting, and lots and LOTS of candy! We decided to skip the parade this year and, considering Samantha didn’t wake up from her nap until 4:00, it was the right decision. Ariel, Jalen Hurts, and Black Panther were ready for a fun night!

halloween

I convinced Samantha to wear the wig just for a few pictures but we switched to a more manageable purple bow before leaving! She sure looked cute with all that hair though!

mermaid

Maxwell looked pretty authentic in his jersey, pads, and helmet!

halloween

helmet

Spencer was the fiercest Black Panther I’ve ever seen!

black panther

We met up with our neighbors to walk to the street party which made it more fun for everyone…

halloween

The party was fun as always – there was a DJ, the train, popcorn, and a big bouncy slide (with too many big kids on it for the littles to be able to enjoy). But the kids saw plenty of friends and had a great time…

halloween

They did have a face painter this year which was new! Maxwell passed – he already had his cool eye black…

halloween

but Spencer and Samantha did it! Spence got a skull face…

face paint

I thought it looked super cool with his costume!

halloween

Samantha got a purple mermaid face! She was killing me squinting her little face while sitting so still in the chair! 🙂

face paint

She was also killing me when she kept rubbing her eyes and getting purple and black all over her hands! ha!

mermaid

After plenty of fun and a little bit of pizza for two of the kids (Maxwell was too busy throwing the football!) we hit the roads to Trick or Treat! Maxwell was really wanting to run off and go with his buddies but we convinced him to stay with us this year. This might be the last year I can get all 3 to go to the houses together. They got way more candy than they needed and loved every bit of it!

On the way home, we stopped by the party one more time to grab another pizza to go and see it all lit up!

trick or treat

Once home, the candy investigation began! Nothing better for a kid! (also, Maxwell never did eat any pizza so you’re looking at his dinner there! oops!)

candy