Sometimes I get a free minute....
Here's my babysitter:

 And here's why I need a babysitter.

TOUCHDOWN BAMA!!!!  Roll Tide Roll!!

Happy Halloween from the most darlin' Little Darlin' ever!!

Whoah!
October has been CRAZY!  In fact, October has been crazy for the past several years.  So I'm now accepting that this month will always be crazy.  It's actually at least equal to, if not worse, than December.  I haven't had time to keep up with the blog.  I am not so dumb to think that you readers are following every detail of my life.  No.  However the blog is a reminder for me, a mother, to remember how we spent our time.  And it's quite handy each year when it's time for me to make the yearbook.  The stories are already written with the detail most of them deserve.
Usually, the lagging of blog stories means Mommy is in over her head.  :-)  Yes, I needed a break.  That's an understatement.  The girls are currently at Honey's. (Dan and I went to a football party last night.  Roll Tide!) It was 9:37am and Dan just called up here to ask me when I wanted him to get the girls.  My answer:  "No time soon."  Haha.  I need to get a few more things done!!

One of my favorite things we did this month was go camping.  We went to Wind Creek, my first time there ever.  I arrived on the scene first, with 2 girls in tow.  I was determined to get our tent setup before the men came.  I'm the better tent-setter-upper anyway.  Daniley helped me and we succeeded without too much trouble.

 

Now before arriving, I didn't do any research.  I just showed up.  So I was surprised to find it on the lake, and we had no swimsuits.  Yes I know it's October, but it was a sunny day and the water was warm enough, so I let the girls go for a swim in their birthday suits instead.

It got pretty cold in the nights.  Luckily, my brother and Dad arrived and Dad has a very nice horse trailer set up for camping.  (Think toilet, bed, stove.)  He volunteered to bring all the firewood and help do the cooking.  He builds awesome fires. 

Here we are gathered around singing campfire songs.

We took our bikes and went for several strolls.

. 

Now something else happened here but I have no pictures.  This particular weekend was their Halloween celebration.  So the campground was FULL.  Every camper had trick-or-treating, and some must do this every year because a few had their camp area set up into haunted houses.  We trick-or-treated and had a rocking good time.  Then that night, they had a hayride haunted trail.  I was really impressed with this.  We waited in line over an hour.  I was surprised to see they had a very dramatic setup on the hayride.  It was worth every minute.  Daniley LOVED it!!!!!!!  That kid, I just love her.  She ain't scared of nothing, even zombies coming out of the woods towards her. 

Now the weekend of our camping here was due to another factor:  our family reunion.  It meets in Alex City every October.  And I have grown to really enjoy it.  It is usually on the day of the Alabama/Tennessee game.  Half of my family is for Alabama.  The other half lives in TN and are Vols fans.  So it is a showdown at its finest.  You are for one team or the other.  Don't bother showing up in your Auburn shirt.  This year, we had a band.  Not just any band either.  The Family Band.  Everybody in the family can play and instrument or sing!  There are two songs we ALWAYS do, Bobby McGee and Rockytop.  I love both those songs because of the memories they hold.  Here we are rockin' it to Rocky Top.  It's not that audible, sorry.  

Here are some other photos from the day.  Yes, we sported our Alabama attire.  Represent it!

Cousin love at its finest!

 

We also went to Boo at the Zoo.  I had spoke to a friend about this, and then I decided I couldn't fit it in.  At the last minute something changed and we WERE able to go.  In a moment's notice we ended up meeting a different friend there.  It was so fun.  We stayed from Open to Close.  The kids had a blast.

Turn your speakers up and press play.  Little Darlin will quickly identify herself, right before her breakdancing floor roll.  haha.

And why do I run myself to near death after these kiddos???  This right here makes every second worth it.

The weekend before Halloween was a very special Halloween party.  We attended this last year, the first year it was held.  We had such a good time, Daniley was still talking about the spooky house there this year.  Some friends from Columbiana turn their garage into a haunted house and it's soooo fun.  It's fairly scary, and it scares Daniley a little bit, but she loves it anyway.  She was not too scared to go in, although she did prefer to have an escort.  I didn't get any pictures from inside because I was busy making sure she didn't trip or fall.  I enjoyed myself immensely just sitting on Ali's back porch and watching the kids.  (Dan stayed home to watch Danslen because she had been sick.)  Ali even let them roll her yard, and despite always up for having a good time, I'm not even sure I would have allowed this in my yard.  haha.

The next day we were scheduled to be at the Pumpkin Patch, but upset stomachs kept us away.  I was a little sad about that but you can only do what you can do.

Finally:  Halloween.  The finale of the show.  We dressed up as..... a farm.  :-)

 

There you have a farmer, his cow, chicken, and horse!  What a fun time.  We met with friends and family at LeLe's.  Sarah Katherine, who joins us every year, and Daniley went for a quick trick-or-treat before they had to go.  Danslen and Bentley rode in the wagon but didn't make the door runs this time.  Even Charlotte Anne got in on the action.

 

 After that we went back to Mom's to wait on James and Eli, but they never came.  So eventually we just went trick-or-treating by ourselves and had a rockin' good time.  Afterwards, we went to Honey and GPaw's to trick or treat at their house and let them see their grandbabies in their costumes.  I love Halloween.  It's about family and fun for us.  It is second only to Christmas in terms of how special it is to me.

And if that doesn't sound like a busy October, then let me see YOUR blog.  ;-)

Today we went down to the furniture store for a special Halloween thing they had.  Dan and I had been needing to go down there anyway to look at something, so this worked out perfectly.  Daniley got her face painted really nice.  They told her to sit still and I have NEVER seen her sit so still.  Here is the transformation:

Here we are about to do the Pumpkin Parade. 

Ya'll have a Happy Week!  I will be so busy in the coming weeks my next postings may be after Halloween!

Over the past few years October has proven to be a very busy month.  This year is no exception.  We had 4 engagements this weekend, and these aren't "Have To's," they are "Want To's!!"

Here we are at Daddy's Barn Party.  We grilled hot dogs and had a hay ride and I'm not sure what more you could ask for.  My family was all together and nothing means more!  No place on Earth I'd rather be than right there with my kids getting dirty on the farm.

Last Tuesday was my nephew's birthday and we celebrated with cake and presents today.  Looks like the kids had a pretty good time!  Thank you Honey and GPaw for having us over!!

 

 

Lil' Darlin' is just always having a good time.  Warning:  Signs are:  she is going to be a handful!  So full of personality, will, and determination! 

One of the best things about having a blog is going back and reading your old posts.  There is so much of my life and parenting I would forget without this blog.  I go back and read the stories and it's like reading a story from someone else's life, because I don't remember the details.  I will press on!!

We surprised Daniley with a trip to Six Flags this weekend.  Dan and I haven't been in about 10 years.  It has changed in many ways.  And in many ways it's still the same.  (Much like us.)  :-)
This is Fright Fest.  The weather was nice.  It was a Saturday.  IT WAS CROWDED.  A little more crowded than I expected but it was manageable.  The first ride was about an hour wait.  Daniley did GREAT!  It was a small roller coaster, comparable to the Mine Train.  She wasn't warmed up yet, so you can see in the first picture she was a little unsure.  :-)  That was just the start of things!

We moved along to Kiddie Land where the lines were MUCH better (no more than 5 minutes each).  We did all those rides a few times and it was pretty fun.  Then we did the carousel.  Then things went way wild.  Daniley wanted to get on these fast spinning things that go upside down around and around.  I let Dan take that one.  :-D

 I mentioned it was Fright Fest and Daniley LOVES Halloween so it was not an accident we chose this time of year to go.  You can barely see the Boogie Man behind those gates.  I would say for a 4 year old she was rather cool about it.

She gave this one high five.  LOL.

 Then we met this little guy.  This is the Mind Bender.  Yes that's my FAVORITE SIX FLAGS ride (not including the new ones I haven't tried).  It has 2 loops and it's pretty smooth, no jerking.  Well this little guy was very upset in the line because he was afraid of the Boogie Men wandering around.  His mom had two kids and she could only sit with one.  So Dan was on full roller coaster duty.  He was terrified but kudos to his Mom for making him stick it out, because he ended up liking it I think. Dan is behind us.  I turned around and snapped the picture of the fear because....

this is what was happening next to me!  This kid is CRAZY.  She was so excited about the looping roller coaster.  She said this was her favorite ride of the whole night.  (Great!!  That is MY child!!)

After the late night Daddy drove us safely home.  We can always count on Daddy to get the job done!  :-D