Fall Bucket List

You know I have a Fall bucket list! This is the time of year when I want to do ALL.THE.THINGS!  My husband is going to love all of my ideas, I’m sure of it ;)

Check out past Bucket Lists here

Virginia State Fair // We’ve actually crossed this off our list already, but I still need to include it!  Anyone else have to write it, just so they have the joy of crossing it off?! 

Pumpkin Fun // We have to go get some pumpkins for decorating and for outside décor.  It’s a must when you have kids and need a fun activity to do!  We’ve done stickers, paint,  and making them into witches – who knows what we will end up doing this year!  Any ideas?

Apple Festival // I’m not sure this will happen, but I love going apple picking.  We’ve been to Carter Mountain & Graves Mountain in the past, but I personally like Graves much better.  Picking apples, hay mazes, great food, and just walking around make for a great day.

Weekend Getaway // I’ve been struggling for some balance in my life.  As much as I love my kids, Daniel and I need to get away!  I’m sure the weekend will go by quick, but hopefully it recharges us (at least until the next weekend away or date night ;)

Halloween // I’ve already bought the girls’ Halloween costumes, so they are ready to go!  We will have an Anna, Elsa, and Ariel  this year.

Fall Festivals // Our neighborhood has a Fall Festival this coming weekend and the girls’ school also has a Fall Festival at the end of the month.  The girls always enjoy themselves and the activities each festival has.

Fall CookOut // We’ve been getting our deck re-built, so I cannot wait for it to be completed to have a cookout!  Our entire vision for the area will not be finished, but the deck part will be.  More to come on that another day.  I love hosting parties and events, so I’m excited to get things planned!

Christmas Mini Session // I’ve signed us up for another mini session with the great Nikki Santerre again this year and I cannot wait!  She is amazing, so go check her out!

What's on your list to do this Fall?

Random Friday Thoughts

1 – Our house has been hit with the flu L No good!  I’m pretty sure Hadleigh brought it from school since 6 of her classmates are out sick – which is crazy.  Hadleigh hasn't had a fever at all, but has had a little bit of a cough.  Then Harper started with a fever, so we decided to take them all to the doctor.  I was sure Hadleigh was going to have strep, but no – tested positive for the flu.  Harper tested positive as well.  Hayden had just started with a fever when we took her, so her flu test was negative at the time – but the doc said she probably had it as well.  We left with prescriptions of Tamiflu.  $165 later – we were at home.  Yesterday was rough.  Hadleigh was thankfully fine – bored out of her mind.  Hayden, poor thing, spiked a fever of 104.2.  We were going to take her to the ER if a bath and some Motrin didn't bring it down, but thankfully it did.  Harper battled with the wheezing and fevers of 102.5.  There is nothing worse than seeing your babies feel so horrible.  By night time, Hayden seemed to be doing a bit better but Harper was still cranky.  I’m hoping they are on the mend though!

2 – Postpartum hair loss is growing back- and it’s in full force.  These little hairs are sticking straight up out of my head and it is insane.

3- Tomorrow I’m heading to Raleigh, NC to see one of my girlfriends and meet her new baby boy that was born at the end of October.  Eeekkk! Annddd less than 24 hours since writing this post - I have chest congestion and a cough. No traveling for me. I'm hoping I don't get it bad, but didn't want to get my friends sick! wahhhh 

4- Daniel has finished mudding the half bath and drilling down the backer board.  We will be working on tile and the wood wall soon!!   I had a nautical theme all thought up in my head, and then Daniel told me he wasn't a fan. So…back to the drawing board.  We are keeping the same colors though, so that won’t change.

5-  We made reservations for a fun family weekend in February to Massanutten Resort.  Hadleigh had mentioned she wanted to play in the snow, so I looked up places for a weekend getaway.  Not only do they have the option to go tubing, there’s a little indoor water park we can all enjoy as well.   I can’t wait to get away and have some fun!!

and a little extra goodie is a picture of myself and some friends from a 4th grade field trip. Fanny packs & sunglasses were apparently super cool!!

Happy Friday y'all!!
Linking up with September Farm & the good life today :)

30th Birthday Girls Weekend + Favorite Things Party

This post is long overdue!  Back in February, I had a girls weekend away to celebrate all of us turning 30.  I’ve been friends with this group of ladies since elementary school and we've talked about girls weekend for a long time.   Most of us still live in Virginia, but we have one in Pennsylvania and one in North Carolina.  We decided on the mountains and rented a cabin in Wintergreen, VA.  It was perfect.  We didn't turn the TV on once.  The best thing about these girls is that we pick up as if we were still in high school spending every day with each other.  Most of the time was spent upstairs in the common area chatting away. 

Reading so many blogs, I really wanted to do a favorite things party.  We originally had planned on drawing names and buying a birthday gift for the name we chose.  I convinced all the girls to jump on the ‘favorite things’ bandwagon J Many of the girls were a little skeptical, but afterwards said they were looking forward to next year’s favorite things party! Woohoo!  We were going to wait until Saturday evening to have the party, but as we were chatting someone would say, “man, I wish I had some chap-stick” and it would make us excited to give our favorite things out to everyone.  So, we decided to just give all of our gifts to each other around midnight Friday night. Everyone went and explained their gifts to everyone.  There were 9 of us (one of us couldn't make it), so everyone brought a favorite thing for all 9 with a budget of $0-$5 per gift.

Saturday was spent relaxing and chatting all day.  We finally got motivated to shower and get ready in time to head to Devil’s Backbone Brewery for dinner, drinks, and music.  Three of us (myself included) were pregnant, so no drinks for us!  

The night ended on a game of “leaving” two girls from our group at the brewery because they weren't coming when everyone else wanted to leave.  Hilarious. The rest of us packed into the car and pretended to leave them there.  Bitchy, but so funny all at the same time.  It was fun pulling the cars into a convenient store parking lot waiting for them to call and freak out that we had left them.  They never called.  We ended up having to go back in and get them. Womp Womp.

We made a promise to do girls weekend every year, so I cannot wait until next year!