Our cute Turkey

Our cute little Turkey {Caroline} and her master I-pad skills came across this recipe from Rice Krispie Treats. We set out to make these adorable Turkey Pop Treats, and they turned out pretty cute. Looking at them makes me smile. We have a flock in our kitchen right now. They might not be as perfect as Kellogg's, but for a three-year-old C did a great job. She's ready to take them all to school now for her friends, but hopefully the little turkey's will stand up strong for the trip to school tomorrow.  They simply make you smile! Happy Thanksgiving!

Picture Time

It was time for the annual Christmas Card picture and we headed out to the farm for one of Tallahassee's picture perfect afternoon's and sunsets that you find in the fall. One the way we found out our photographer, Kay Meyer, got stuck in traffic so we quickly called up our neighbors, the Wright Family, to see if we could swing in their Christmas Tree farm. You would have thought we dropped the kids off at Walt Disney World with all the laughing, peak-a-booing and running around they were doing. Needless to say, it was a great 10 minutes and fortunately we had our camera and were able to snap a few impromptu photos before heading back next-door to Sunray Road Farm. I cant wait to see the real photographers pictures! The lighting was perfect.

He loves the outdoors

Our little baby is turning into a little boy right in front of our eyes.  Hard to imagine that he's almost 20 months old. He really is the sweetest thing ever. Being a true Caire at heart, he cant get enough of being outside, and fortunately the weather has been perfect. You truly can see how different boys are from girls when you watch him playing compared to Caroline.  Today, I decided the sound of the crisp leaves crunching underfoot might be one of the nicest fall sounds out there.  

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas. It all started with a free non-work day {Veterans Day} , gingersnap cookies and a little creativity at C's godmother's house. We cut, painted and measured, and one giant mess later, have the cutest Candy Cane door hanger. We got so motivated that we went out on Saturday and made 6 more so we can give one to all of C and T's teachers this year for the holidays. Our little arts and crafts guru {C} was in hog heaven painting away. I have no doubt she is going to grow up to be one creative young lady.

A Little Late, but worth the wait

We enjoyed a great weekend with NOTHING planned, well hardly anything. Which is amazing becuase I cant even remember the last time this happened. Needless to say, we had a lot of family time, but I also started uploading and going through pictures. The first major milestone that we got through in pictures was Tucker's 1st Birthday. He's such a sweeties and here are 10 things we love about him. You can see pictures here.

1) Such a sweet boy

2) The perfect cuddler

3) He loves giving kisses

4) Anything outdoors is his favorite

5) How his eyes light up when he looks at you and when you walk in the door

6) His broken tooth smile, which is because he's so full of adventure

7) He loves giving hugs, all the time

8) The way he says mama, dada and thank you is just too cute

9) how he shakes his booty whenever he hears music. It goes up, down, up, down, side to side.

10) How much he changes each week. Wish we could just bottle him up right now.
Now we need a few more do nothing days to get caught up with pictures {and life}. At least we got the Halloween decorations down this weekend and the garage cleaned out!

Thankful Tree

Thanks to Laura, we've found the world of Pintrist, which is basically an online bulletin board. One of the pins was a Thankful tree so we decided to take a gander at making our own version. Cory and I definitely got some great laughs from watching the kids gather sticks and acorns in the backyard to hearing C's things she was thankful for ---- riding Dixie, O Toodles from Mickey Mouse and Papa Michael. In the end, it turned out fabulous and I know we will have to save all the little "thankful leaves" so we can look back at them and remember all the things we were thankful for on 2011. It looks like the Thankful Tree will be a new Thanksgiving Family Tradition.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Even though Halloween is not until tomorrow, we've had the best time wearing costumes. C has literally worn her costume every day and she has her neigh down, her pony dance down and can shake her tail, while she is always careful not to sit on her pink bow on the tail. T is the cutest little cow and does a sweet version of his "moooo." He's not a fan of his cow head, but thats ok. Happy Halloween!

To see pictures from the 4th Annual Halloween Party C hosted, check out the pictures here:http://agraciousgathering.blogspot.com/

Matching PJ's

We love, love having company in town. I couldnt resist the chance to purchase matching pj's for the girls so they could have a little slumber party Friday and Saturday night. And they were too cute when they picked out bows from C's bow ribbon to wear in their hair. I mean doesnt everyone sleep in a hair bow?

Pied Piper and Her Horses

C has been going out with her Papa to ride horses every week. Her personal favorite is Dixie so we jumped at the chance to join her one Sunday for a lazy afternoon at the Plantation. She reminded me of the pied piper with the horses. 

Going to get the horses

 learning about fire ants...and how to move out of the way quickly.

 having a great day.

T loves a pretty flower. He will make a lady happy one day.

Master Tractor Driver

Up,Down,Up,Down. C became the master John Deer Tractor Driver this week. We are gutting the backyard and have gotten more use out of the John Deer for child entertainment than we ever dreamed. The backyard is being gutted and once its finished is going to be an entertaining paradise, well maybe not paradise since we won't be in the Seychelles Islands, but it will be close.

Crisp cool air, clear blue skies and countless pumpkins tell us all that Fall is in the Air. Our little pumpkins are growing up fast, but are ready for the Halloween season. We kicked it off with searching for the great pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.

 T found his perfect pumpkin.

 And C pounced on "her" pumpkin.

Finger lickin' good

The last days of summer are here so we've been grilling out every night. Really, I dont think we can ever get tired of the grill. Especially Cory's good ol' charcoal grill. He sure does know how to make the perfect chicken. Well this time we decided to try something new "Beer Can" chicken, and are proud to report it turned out finger lickin' good. Thankfully Papa Michael was here to help and the Food Network with their recipe...

Tucker is 16 months old

 At 16 months he moves at full speed and is always up for exploring something new.

 Just like his big sister {and mom} he is a huge fan of arts & crafts, especially painting and play dough.

 And of course he is king of the castle.

Flash back to 16 months ago, when he was only hours old and we introduced him to his big sister and wonderful family. He is blessed to be loved by so many people.

----

Sweet little Tucker is 16 months old. It seems like just yesterday that we were holding him as a newborn and introducing him to his big sister Caroline. I never dreamed that having a little boy would be so much fun.

1st Day of School

The First Day of School. Cant believe its already here. C is going 5 days per week and T will be there 2 days. The excitement is in the air and C has a wonderful class of friends and two great teachers. We cant say enough of her school and each year the teachers seems to get even more wonderful, which is hard to imagine.  Here we were heading out to school for the 1st day.

Happy Birthday Granddaddy Caire

We had a fun-filled weekend, packed of outdoor activities, when the kids Granddaddy was in town. Caroline enjoyed signing happy birthday {on repeat} at the top of her lungs, she really can sing. And, of course she loved helping blow out the candles.

Life at the Beach

Thanks to Ms. Kathy, for the second year in a row, we've been able to come down to St. George with family and enjoy her fabulous place literally right on the beach.  You cant beat having the ocean at your backdoor and a pool 20 feet from your front door. It is Caroline's version of perfection.
How do you spend 7 days at St. George Island?
- Beach, beach, beach
- Swimming at the pool
- Daily walks
- Star gazing
- Doing the seashell scoop
- Shopping in Apalachicola
- Cooking -- Shrimp boils, grouper grill outs, red fish tacos
- Reading and coloring
- Enjoying sunset summer wine spritzers
- Ghost crab hunting
- Kayaking and anything water related you can imagine
We spent some time visiting the historic city of Apalachicola.One shouldnt leave the city without a visit to the favorite Grady Market, lunch at Tamaras and final stop at 13 Mile for the freshest seafood around. Caroline picked out this watermelon hat as her "purchase of the trip."

 Tucker is at the age where he prefers getting around on his own -- either crawling or walking.

 By 8 a.m. we've had a visit to the beach {you dont want to know how early these kids wake up each morning, they must be part rooster}. We pretty much have miles of beach to ourselves -- at least until about 9ish each day. 

Lots of playing at the beach. Building sand castles, bridges, dams to keep the tidal pools from flowing out to the ocean.

Our little actor

Caroline participated in the "Princes & Princesses" Young Actors Theatre Camp this week and had her first performance on Friday.  She definitely had a moment where she did her own self-designed monologue {I dont think her teachers knew about this in advance}, where later she explained to us that she was "building a castle" in a voice that conveyed didnt you know that was what I was doing. Due to managing Tucker's wiggling body, the pictures were far from picture frame worthy, but here is one. Amazingly, my dad captured some great videos, but I dont know how to share them. Thank you to the IPhone.

Mommy and T-Time

Cory and Caroline were able to celebrate some daddy and daughter time, while Tucker and I headed to the beach for 3 days for a little rest and relaxation at Seacreast Beach with some of my fabulous girlfriends. As a bonus, we got to there for Mack's first official Beach Trip. The boys were literally rolling in the sand. They were having so much fun. Too cute! Tucker loves, loves, loves Rosemary's grass. If only we could get our lawn to look like this.

 Playing together.

 Tucker and I went for an early morning bike ride to check the status of the Doughnut Man {for any of you that have vacationed with me you know he is my f-a-v-o-r-i-t-e}, and we ended up exploring the trails of Alys Beach. There is something slightly magical that makes it seem slightly surreal back in there. Here is a picture of my bicycle among the olive trees. Really, are in we Florida or Greece?

 We had to fit in lots of pool time. T isnt happy becuase he wasnted me to swim with him. He wasnt in the mood for photographs. Fellow pool goers were like flies hovering around our chairs in the shade. Vacation Pool Lesson #1: Get there early so you can get the best chair. Upon leaving for the day, we ended up giving our prime "real estate" to a super sweet mom with two lovely girls that we had talked with earlier.

 A few pics from our early morning bike ride adventures. Taking a break at the playground at the Fonville Press in Alys Beach.

 Off we go to the next adventure.

A first time for Angie

Sweet Angie and Andrew came over for the weekend to visit and enjoy some time on the water.  I'm a little bit nuts for scallops so the Couch crew was super excited to be part of Angie's first scalloping venture.  Alarm clocks went off at 6:30 a.m. and we were off. Andrew was the scallop master securing about 3 gallons on his own. Scallop and chive omelets are our new favorite.

10 Little Fingers & 10 Little Toes

The first pedicure. Caroline is blessed to have her sweet friend Quncy Jane, and we are blessed to be dear friend's with Qunicy Jane's parents. A fabulous time was had when they packed up their crew and head down to good ol' Tally for a little vacay.

Rain literally put a damper on our scalloping plans, but not to be deterred by gray clouds, Laura and I jumped feet first into Plan B: Getting 1st Pedicures for our little ladies. A spilled bright P-I-N-K bottle of polish, lots of giggles, pink juice and polka dot toes later we left with smiles plastered to our faces and whispers reminding them that this was a "special treat."

Always a good direction follower, C hardly moved a mussle while she was painting.