Happy 2nd Birthday Tyndale!

Since May, we have been getting our milk from the Brookhaven Farmer's Market. Jamie Mauthe is a delightful lady who runs a Progress Milk Barn with her husband, family, and six milk cows. We return our bottles to her each week and pick up our new milk. Her milk is pasteurized, antibiotic-free (and organic...although she can't label it that way due to government regs) and SUPER fresh. They love their cows and what they do and it really shows. And our kids looooove the milk!

It was one Friday morning when I was picking up our milk when it hit me...I was planning to have a farm party for Tyndale's birthday party...so why not ask Jamie if we could have it there? Luckily she said yes and then had idea after idea of fun stuff that the kids could do while we were there!

Some of the decorations. The milk bottles are sentimental to me because my grandfather gave them to me several years ago, with many other antique bottles. They are Borden bottles from the New York/New Jersey area, and I thought they would be a perfect decoration.

Moo...a lucky finger got some icing off of the front cupcake..ha!

Tyndale blowing out his candle...2! Can't believe it!

 

Quinn and Hadley feeding the chickens.

Tyndale feeding the chickens.

Quinn gathering fresh eggs from the chicken coop.

...she found the biggest one!

And they all got to hold some baby chicks. We were laughing because Quinn's chick was a platinum blonde too...just like Quinn!

Here are Quinn, Hadley and Christian feeding one of the calves. They named him Brownie.

 

And here is Violet with the other calf. We also all got to watch the big cows get milked, but unfortunately none of my pictures turned out very good. It is really cool to be able to think of "our" cows when we are drinking milk at home!

We watched a beautiful sunset and made special family memories. We had a fantastic day on the farm!!

Pumpkin Patch

We visited the Pumpkin (or "pup-in," as Tyndale would say...) Patch on a beautiful day. It was Family Fun Day, so they had pony rides, face painting, hay rides, pumpkin painting, and so much more. Quinn's riding teacher, Mrs. Linda brought the ponies out and here is Quinn on Peanut.

 

Tyndale has been talking SO much lately! Instead of "sat?" ..now he says..."whassat?" or "what dat is?" Our favorite is when he walks around the house asking, "Where boo boy is?" He also likes to ask and answer his own question...he will ask, "Where Quinn-boo-boo is?" and then say, " She gone. "  (Quinn-boo-boo is his version of our Quinnaroo.)  He melts my heart when he says "I luh-loo Mama!" And he still loves to sing the "Behold" song...but now he knows more of the words. When you ask him "How are you doing?" he will answer "Doin' a-white" or "Doin' fine"...he is hilarious!

Quinn is growing up so fast! We have had a really great first 9 weeks in school. She made a 100 in both reading and math! She adores Mrs. Moak and loves to "teach her class" at home. She reads ALL the time...we love to encourage this and she is really proud of herself. Just like Tyndale, she cracks us up with things that she says. This week was Homecoming at BHS and they had dress up days each day. Yesterday was camoflage day and we (surprise!) didn't have a stitch of camo in the entire house! So I told her that surely Walmart would have something camo for her to wear and she says..."but Mama, you said that clothes from the grocery store were tacky!"  Did I really say that? Maybe...but only the Bratz or Hannah Montana or "Too Spoiled" or too glittery/trashy stuff...I am definitely NOT above Walmart...it just cracked me up that she said that! I immediately made a mental note to be more careful about what I say to/around her! We found a (pretty cute, actually) camo fleece in the boys section and she was ready to go!

The other day she was all excited to tell me that she saw Deuce (OK...she called him "Juice"...) McAllister on a video at school about healthy eating and exercise. She remembered that he was my favorite Saint and it is so cool to me that she can put all of that together. Sometimes it is bittersweet to me that she is not such a little girl anymore, but I love to hear what is on her mind and actually get to know and nurture her personality.

Charleston Trip

Kristy and I traveled to Charleston to meet Maylen and Gage and visit/help out Lindy and Eric and we had such fun!! The babies are beautiful and so sweet! Taking care of twins is definitely a challenge, though, and we were trying out some strategies during the week to help Lindy become more independent with them. We also whisked the babies away to fun locations such as Whole Foods, Walmart, and Folly Beach so that Lindy could SLEEP!

 family photo

 Gage on the left, Maylen on the right. This pic caught Gage making his Mr. Roper face...love it!

Maylen yawning...so sweet! We had a fun sister bonding time and taught Lindy all of our mama tricks. She is doing such a great job!

Matilda Gray Woodring

On the way to Charleston we stopped in to see Mary and Casey and meet their new baby, Matilda. She is a doll! They live in a gorgeous neighborhood in Birmingham, and they gave us the full house tour, including the winter garden! (I am a total garden/soil/compost/vermicompost/vegetable dork)

 But back to the real reason that we came by...to meet this sweet angel! Look at that little mouth - adorable!

Mary and Casey seem to be making an easy transition into parenthood and doing very well. Mary loves to joke that she doesn't know much about babies once they are in the world - she is an OB - but she is a natural! So glad we got to visit with them!

Welcome Fall!

We are really enjoying the cool weather recently...here are a few pictures of us welcoming Fall!

Saints - UG

Brad and I had a wonderful weekend in New Orleans. We got to go to the Justice For All Ball at the Audubon Tea Room with the Parnells. We had such a great time catching up with them! On Sunday we went to the Saints tailgate and game vs. Carolina. Katy, Michael, Brad and I cheered them on to a victory...we even got on TV! Here are some pictures of the tailgate.

Mary Cooper Adams

On our recent trip to New Orleans, we got to meet Mary Cooper! Gray and Shelley are truly enjoying their little darling...and she is precious! Here is the backyard walkway at their house. Gray built a covered deck and it is such a beautiful outdoor area. We ate Domelise's (recently voted best po-boy in New Orleans on Food Wars) po-boys for lunch outside on the deck.

...and here she is! How precious is that hair? Too cute!

So glad we got to catch up with them and meet Mary Cooper...she is a doll!

explorer

As I was watering our plants this morning, I took my eyes off Tyndale for just a moment... I heard glass clinking and ran to see what he was up to.....THIS:

(notice the watering can where I set it down..ha!) ...and out of all the potential destruction he could have caused, what did he find most interesting about the entire bar? The keys to the wine refrigerator.

apparently they work in his car too...who knew?

happy travels!

bedtime stories

Quinn is now reading US bedtime stories! Here she is with a current fave, The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. Love to see all my darlings snuggling together!

birthday celebrations

We got together to celebrate Uncle Nic and Daddy's birthdays last night with dinner and -of course-  some ice cream cake! Mmmm!

We laughed so hard when we realized that Big Daddy was flanked on either side by the two most uproarious of our crew. He took it very well..

Brad finally uncorked his Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and shared with Uncle Nic and Big Daddy...they thoroughly enjoyed it. As a side note, Brad's shirt was one of his birthday presents. Quinn and I had so much fun making it.