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?

Weekend Re-Cap

I should’ve have titled this “What I ate this weekend” instead!  I really only took pictures of the food. J We had a pretty eventful weekend, which is not this norm, so that’s why you’re hearing about it today!!

Friday// Daniel and I took the girls to Stevie B’s for dinner.  It’s a local pizza place, but they also have arcade games for kids.  I guess kind of like Chuck E Cheese, but not as bad!  The games kept the girls attention for all of 5 minutes, so Daniel was stuck playing the games to get rid of the tokens.  Hadleigh & Hayden stood at the prize desk waiting for Daniel to finish, so they could pick their prize – ha!  They both picked hot pink slime…which they are only allowed to play with in the kitchen!

Saturday// I had brunch with three of my girlfriends at Helen’s.  It was delicious and always so nice to chat with them.  I forget how much I need these ladies and this time with them! All of us cleaned our plates – I had an egg white omelet with feta, tomato, and spinach – topped with avocado.  Sides were toast & breakfast potatoes.  YUM!

While I was gone, Daniel was brave and took all three girls to Burger King for lunch.  They ran off some energy and one of Hayden’s school friends happened to be there, so it was an impromptu play date!  The rest of the afternoon was spent just hanging out with the girls before taking them to my parents’ house for the night.  From there, Daniel and I started date night!

We didn't have any reservations anywhere and originally tried to get some at Max’s on Broad.  It’s a sister restaurant to Tarrant’s, which we love.  Unfortunately, they only had 8:30pm reservations available and I thought that would be too late since we were seeing a movie at 10pm. We ended up going to Southerly.  It was tasty, but nothing amazing.  We started with Cheese fritters and our drinks. The fritters were good, but a bit on the spicy side! 

Daniel had Devils Backbone brew & I had some Pinot Noir.

Our entrées were Rockfish {Daniel} and the zucchini risotto cakes {me}.

After dinner we headed to the movie theater to hang out until our movie started.  We saw American Sniper with friends and IT WAS SO GOOD!  

Recommend you go see it for sure.  It’s so respectful and really makes me think what I do is so minuscule in comparison.  I know we all do our own part in society, but being in the military is so honorable.  Now, I want to read military memoirs! Any good ones out there?

Sunday//  Was spent hanging around the house and cuddling the girls.  Daniel and I both worked on getting the gray coat of paint on the wood planks in the bathroom. 

Another bathroom to-do crossed off!

Happy Monday!!

·        What did you do over the weekend?

·        I’d love to hear what you thought of American Sniper!  If you’re in the military, did you think it was good?

·        Random Question:  When you guys comment on my posts, I always make a point to reply.  Huge pet peeve of mine when bloggers DON’T reply!  Anyways, should I reply by e-mail to make sure y’all see my reply?  Or do y’all get notified that I’ve replied to your comment on my blog post?  Just want to make sure that you see my response!

Friday! Friday!

1// Frozen // oh wait? You don’t get singing performances at your house? I’m sorry.

2// Half Bathroom Update // Wood plank wall is complete!  Whoop Whoop! My dad and Daniel busted it out last Sunday.  I even got to use the nail gun several times to nail some of those bad boys to the wall.  Can’t wait to start on the next step.

3// Husband Time // I’m hoping for a date night this weekend.  I really want to go see American Sniper…or go rock climbing for the first time…or sleep…or do.everything.  Or do NOTHING. Do you have this problem?  Date nights are rare, so when we get one – I want to make the most of it.

4// Brunch with girlfriends // tomorrow I’m having brunch with three of my girlfriends [Sans kids]. Should be a fun time.  We’re trying Helen’s for the first time, so hopefully it’s good!
5// Giveaway // Have you entered the $100 cash giveaway?? If not, you should!

Linking Up with September Farm / The Farmer's Wife / the good life

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!

Outside Shenanigans

This is kind of a weekend recap…sorta.  Last weekend and this past weekend were really nice here in Virginia, so we took advantage and got the girls outside.  It’s a nice change since it has been cold.  Anything to get that energy redirected! Whew!

Last weekend we took them to Wayside Park again (you can see another trip here).  We stopped at Subway before we went to get some lunch so we could have a little picnic.  Daniel and I ended up eating in turns because Hadleigh wanted no parts of sitting still. Imagine that?  Hayden was having fun looking around and picking at the grass around her.

We also got to play just in our own yard.  Hadleigh was very vocal about needing to wash her car, so we got out the sponges and water bucket and let her go at it!  I’m thinking she definitely has her daddy’s cleaning genes. Hayden and I hung out and waited for her to finish and then we went to a nice walk – only to come back and play some more outside.

This past weekend Daniel wasn't feeling well, so I took the girls to another park down the street from us called Three Lakes Park.  It has a small nature center, playground, and…wait for it...3 lakes!  Kristy and her two girls, Lily & Bo, came and met us there.  We all saw the fish, turtles, snakes, and bugs before heading outside to play on the multiple play areas they had.  Lily & Hadleigh love getting to play with each other – I’m sure sometime soon Bo & Hayden will be playing too J We will be going back for sure!

Ashland Christmas Parade

Our first Christmas Parade with Hadleigh and Hayden!!  I was really excited to take them cause I knew they would have a great time.  We met up with Gran & Gramps and then headed over to Kristy & Michael's.  We knew the girls would have even more fun seeing it together.  Hadleigh & Lily were so excited to see eachother and held hands walking down the street to the parade <3

We got our seats and waited for it to start.  Hadleigh was very timid during the parade - lots of people, loud cars, loud noises - so she was glued to Gran's lap, my lap, and Gramps' lap.  Lily and her got excited at the end when Santa showed up!  Hayden & Bo pretty much slept through the parade, but they got some play time in afterwards :)



love.our.moms.

 

The end ofthe parade! Santa!

Back at The Hessler's :)

Short Pump Tree Lighting

This was a last minute plan.  I was looking through www.richmond.com and found that a mall close by was having a tree lighting and Santa.  We needed to start the Santa dialogue with Hadleigh, so she knows who Santa is..etc.  I called up Kristy to see if her family wanted to join - and they did!

It was insane and free, so everyone and their mother was there.  It made it hard to really enjoy because it was so crowded.  We know for next year to get there super early. They had a small parade with different characters and then Santa at the end.  Hadleigh looked at Santa, but was really more interested in being with Lily.

Afterwards, we all went to dinner together.  Hadleigh and Lily were SO CUTE together.  Kristy and I were talking about how much we love that they truly adore each other.  Here's a picture Kristy got of them waiting at the restaurant <3

Introducing Bo Finnley Hessler

Bo Finnley Hessler

Born 9.14.12

7 pounds 8 ounces

Lily's little sister & Hayden's BFF (naturally)

Bo is so cute!!  Hayden is too, but looks so big compared to her! Cannot wait for them to grow up and play together just like their big sisters!

We love the Hessler's!!