Saturday, October 12th

Saturday was a truly beautiful day weather-wise, and after a bit of a leisurely morning Jim and I decided we would round up the kiddos and head north to check out some new outlets that had opened in Woodstock over the summer.  We sort of vacillated on going or not, because four kids six-years-old and under is quite the troupe to take on an extended shopping outing... but in the end, we had the best time!  Not only were the outlets themselves great, but the kids were beyond well behaved and fun :-)  In the evening, we headed out to support our friend Steven Fellows as he gears up for his run to be elected as State Congressman to represent the 44th District.

Turn into the blinding sun and smile! haha

Love this!  We only had enough loose change for one of these little rides, so they all loaded up in the ice cream truck one :-)

Lincoln is such a good sharer, but this little boy was being rude so Linc just nonchalantly slid all of the toys away from the other kid and to his side and was giving the boy what we refer to as a "Scarlett look." lol (she can give the best mean glare)

We shopped one whole row and it was nearly lunch time, so we tracked down the food court area which was a big win.  I wasn't too thrilled as all of the eating areas are still under construction (it's that new) aside from two Chinese places - of course this was a big win for the kids who obsess over food-court Chinese food (bleh!).

The food court area was really well set up with an enormous, two-story play area along one wall.  I could have hugged whoever came up with this genius idea!  While Jim did a bit of solo shopping, I got the crew fed and then was able to relax for a few while the three big kids played hard and Waverly took a little snooze in her stroller.

And of course, as evidenced by all of the pictures, there were CUPCAKES!  A little coffee + bakery kiosk was also open in the food court area, so I let the kids each pick one - Victoria chose the Wedding Cake flavor, Lincoln chose Double Chocolate Fudge, and Scarlett got what she always gets, Red Velvet :-)

I'm not sure if Lincoln had a cupcake, or the cupcake had him :-p

So silly :-)

This little munchkin woke up ALL smiles!

Heading home for a quick respite and change of clothes, we loaded back up to head up to Kennesaw to attend a small, casual cookout for our friend Steven Fellows who is running for a seat in the State House.  Lincoln looked quite dapper in his tie :-)

 Steven, giving a short speech.

The kids declared that they LOVED campaign events - I'm sure it had nothing to do with the unlimited lemonade, a few cookies and the huge trampoline ;-)

Friday, September 13th

Friday we headed to the mall mid-morning - myself, Gram and the kids.  We had such a fun outing, shopping for boos, eating lunch, and scoring some surprise awesome clearance deals on clothes.  Returning home, the kids took a rest time before getting dressed and ready to head to their highly-anticipated Karate Dance Pizza Party where they take their karate lessons.  While the big kids were having a great time, Jim, Waverly and I splurged and had dinner out and did a bit of shopping.  A wonderful day!

Waverly is by-and-large the most contented baby in the world... unless you put her down.  Actually, that's not quite accurate, because throughout the day she loves to play on a blanket in the living room or lay on her changing table and "talk."  I think it's more correct to say that unless she is in the mood to do those other things, she wants to be in someone's arms or at least attached in some way - hence the wonderful wrap.  I had Waverly in this sling, and she's almost big enough to do a hip sit unassisted, but not quite (still need an arm loosely supporting her back).  Gram was doubting if she would be able to use one, and there's only one way to find out! :-)  Sure enough, she was a pro and as you can see from the picture, Waverly was soon zoned out and nearly snoozing. 

I had our whole lesson plan mapped out for Friday... but when I woke up I just felt like we needed an Off Day.  The kids had done such an excellent job with school all week + Science Day, and so I listened to my instinct and decided that instead of doing school, we would pack up and head to the mall to shop for one new Boo for each kid.  Even better, Grammie decided to come along for the fun!  We went to the As Seen on TV store where they have quite a good selection of Boos, and the kids once again poured over their decisions and finally reverted to some classic "eenie-meenie-miney-moe" style choosing, lol.

Displaying their new Boos - a purple leopard ("Glamour"), a pug ("Pugsly"), and a ladybug ("Busgy").

Lunchtime!  I sat and fed the baby in a comfy chair while Grammie took the kids and treated them to some Chick Fil A.  I joined up after Waverly was finished eating.

Time to depart to the party!  Looking awesomely stylish - handsome not cute.  He's started being very particular about this verbiage. 

We had gone into Sears at the mall, as a friend had recommended them as a good source of jeans for Lincoln.  He needs 3T length, but has the most itty-bitty waist - none of the adjustable jeans we'd found would work!  Sure enough, they carried a Levi's slim regular that fit great.  And lo and behold, they were having some remarkable clearance close-outs on summer shirts and really deep sale prices on fall items.  I stocked up, Grammie bought several great summer items for next year for the girls, and I let the girls pick out a couple of accessories - namely these two hats and little matching backpacks (all $1.99/each!).  They also picked out these matching shirts to wear.  You could tell they felt like little fashionistas :-)

One sharp crew!