Fall Festivities

October was a fun and busy month around here. It started off with a visit from my mom. She came in town the first week of October, and thank goodness because Hurricane Nate came through the Gulf and basically up through Mobile. Needless to say, Wes had to work a ton and even stay out at the refinery, so it was nice to have the company and extra set of hands! We had such big plans for her trip. Baseball games, the boy's first swim meet, and the school carnival. Luckily, it wasn't a complete bust, but we did have a few games rained out and the swim meet was moved to a few weeks later. So that was definitely a bummer. The night before the hurricane made landfall, we had the Spanish Fort Elementary Fall Festival. The weather was so nice and we had a blast. Unfortunately, Wes was at work until about 11 that night, but my mom helped me wrangle the troops.

Confetti eggs (or more technically correct, Cascarones - which of course no one knew what that was here!) stole the show at the festival. The kids had so much fun cracking eggs on each other. GiGi gets these very year for Easter, so the boys knew exactly what to do with them.

Charlie tried his very best to crack it on B, but wasn't having much luck!

They resorted into smooshing them on each other.

Ryan finally returned with his eggs after chasing around a bunch of girls from his grade.

If looks could kill....

I think Ryan had busted one on Charlie, so we had to let Charlie get his revenge...

Well, he still couldn't get it to crack. So he basically opened it and dumped it on his head.

And then dumped the rest on himself!!

They each took turns riding the mechanical bull.

Charlie was very serious, but surprisingly was not afraid.

When his 8 seconds was up, he literally just stepped down and walked right off of it!

B loved it and got really into it.

The football toss was a hit.

....but he missed, so he took matters into his own hands..

Just walked it right in so he could get that piece of candy

B was playing the more intermediate level and just about nailed it!

SCORE!

Time to go fishing.

Charlie's turn!!

gimme that candy!!!

Fast forward an hour or so, after they bounced in all of the bounce houses over and over again, we ate some dinner and took one last pass. They wanted to do the cake walk, and as they were doing it, I just had a feeling B was going to win. It was funny because the music stopped, everyone got on their circle, and lo and behold, who didn't/couldn't find one!?!? B! So, he had to take the last open one and of course, it was a winner! Ryan attempted to play about 15 more times, but with no success.

We headed home late that evening, and started getting prepared for Saturday. Wes was able to come home Friday night to get some sleep and had a few hours before he had to go back Saturday, so we went out for lunch to one of our local favorites, Manci's. We all pigged out on some good burgers knowing we probably wouldn't be able to go do much the rest of the weekend as everything had already announced closures until Monday.

We all survived the weekend, pretty well actually. Mobile which is about 15 miles west of us, was hit pretty bad. We were lucky and never even lost power. So needless to say, by Sunday, the boys were restless. I think we took an hour golf cart ride around the neighborhood to kill time and let Wes get some sleep once he was able to come home. It was business as usual Monday, so my mom and I went down to Fairhope. Wes was able to take off work on Wednesday since he worked the majority of the weekend, so that was really nice. We had beautiful, warm weather so we let all of the boys play hookie and went down to the beach for the day.

We took a boat out and docked on Robinson Island for a bit. We were one of only 2 boats docked, so it was nice and quiet! The amount of jellyfish that had washed ashore after the storm was crazy!!!!

Some close-up shots. These things were as big as a basketball. It was insane!

They were so interesting to look at up close though.

We had some snacks....

built some sandcastles....

....and then headed over to the Florabama for some lunch!

We had such a fun visit with CoCo and can't wait for her to come back!

The boys had a field trip at their preschool the day after my mom left. We went to the fire station to learn fire safety and check out all of the equipment!

Learning about what to do if you see smoke or hear an alarm.

Uh! These sweet little hands! Not to mention, he's sitting next to his little girlfriend, whom he adores!

Buzz giving a high five. They were all practicing how not to be afraid of what a fireman looks like if he comes into your home.

Charlie reaching in for his high five.

Time to put out a pretend fire,

Charlie's class pic

Checking out the truck

Time for B to put out the fire.

Total natural

Bradley's class pic

Fall ball was a lot of fun. B always got in trouble for turning his hat backward while playing in the field. Such a rebel.

I chaperoned Ryan's field trip to Alligator Alley a few weeks ago. He wasn't able to go with us last time I took the boys because he was still in school, so this worked out perfectly. I think I was already exhausted just after the bus ride. So.much.talking and so.many.questions. How much longer? Exactly how many more minutes? The list goes on and on. Don't get me wrong, I was still glad to go!!! Haha.

Ryan and his buddy Ethan.

Checkin out Captain Crunch!

Here's a better close-up of him. Last time we visited, he was too far away, no one could see him.

That weekend was when we visited the pumpkin patch. I just threw in a few pics that I found on my phone.

We rarely have time for baths in our house. Don't worry, our kids are clean, they just shower! Between baseball and swim, most nights, they take a 5 minute shower and that's about it. So, they took a bath one Sunday night while we were cooking dinner. Wes walked in and this is what he found!!

GUILTY! Needless to say, they now know not to let the water get that high with soap before cutting it off.

He was so proud of himself for setting up his candy corn, I had to take a picture.

Another Charlie Magnatile masterpiece

Bradley's preschool class went trick-or-treating at a nearby retirement community one morning.

The ladies were so sweet. It was really neat.

Then kids were very well behaved. They basically went up and down the same hall over and over until each lady ran out of candy. It was cute.

Bradley and his two chicks. He changes from day to day as to which one he plans to marry one day.

So, when I went to drop off B back at school, I saw the firetruck was now at the school! Apparently, it came to visit the younger kids' classes, but everyone was able to participate.

The school posted a pic of the kids in chapel one day. I love getting a little sneak peek into their day!

Charlie said he was going to play baseball one day, and this is what he went upstairs and retrieved. His Cars glove and bat!!

I love this company's shirts. They are from Saturday Morning Pancakes and basically put rap music (appropriate lyrics, of course!) to different holidays.

End of fall ball for Ryan's team. They ended up winning 4 out of their last 5 games, I think. So, they definitely turned the corner and started playing really well together as a team.

Here are a few highlight hits from the season!

The boys had their first USA swim meet the last weekend of October. It was a 2 day meet over in Mobile. So, we had to get up bright and early each morning.

Charlie wanted in for a pic, but then refused to smile.

Warm-up!

Bradley practicing his dive!

Ryan's turn

I wasn't able to post a few of the videos because they were too big. Ryan swam the 50 free and 100 IM on top of the four 25 yd events. Basically, since the boys had never swam in a USA meet before, they didn't have a time. Well, the age group is 8 and under, so B and Ryan actually raced each other in a few events! It was too funny. Here is their freestyle and Ryan's butterfly. Ryan swim 6 events and B swam all 4 strokes in a 25 yard race. They had 10 best times between the two of them. B did get DQ'ed in the butterfly and breaststroke, but he made it all the way across the pool doing each stroke the best he could. I think on butterfly the only reason he was disqualified was because of his dang two hand touch! Such a bummer.

One of the most exciting things to happen this month, was for sure, the ASTROS!!! Once the playoffs started, I don't think we missed a game, unless we were at our own baseball game, of course. Even when my mom was in town, we would watch the midday games. There were some really exciting games and some extremely late nights. I don't think my body could've handled much more as I felt like a zombie most days following a late night game. Even the boys were pumped when they won the World Series!!

Now we don't know what to do with ourselves now that it's over!!

Can't contain their excitement!!