Snow Date

Warning... kid free post! Rare these days... So last weekend, Brett and I had the best overnight date! It has been ridiculously long since we have been anywhere just the 2 of us. My mom came in town and babysat for us. We went up to Smugglers Notch resort, which is where we have season passes (and Taylor's ski school). We got there in the afternoon and tried out our new snow shoes. I never knew that snow shoes existed, but for my southern friends, it really makes it easy to walk in the snow. We are hoping to get some good exercise with them this winter.

Brett and I are randomly into playing Connect 4 right now. I know it sounds strange, but it was so fun to have a glass of wine and play Connect 4 in the condo before dinner. After, we put on our snow boots and walked to a delicious restaurant at the resort.

The next day, we went skiing! Can you tell it was COLD? We are right at the beginning of the season so all of the lifts weren't open, but we still had a great time. We are looking forward to lots of skiing this winter! :)

Our Thanksgiving Holiday

We had a FULL Thanksgiving holiday! This was our first year without being with family, but we still wanted to do something special. We decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner at our house... we had around 20 adults and 7 kiddos come. Everyone brought a dish, and we had TONS of yummy food. This was my first year to wake up at 6am and put the turkey in. :)

So the day before Thanksgiving, we got our first snow! :) It melted within 2 days, and since then, it's been pretty warm. But it got us excited for what's to come! Well, everyone is excited except for Will. The poor child did not enjoy one minute in the snow. He couldn't walk with all of his snow attire on and it made him miserable. We will have to figure something out for him...


Meanwhile, Taylor loved the snow. She and Brett built a snowman together...

Making cornbread dressing the night before... another first!

The kids had lots of fun together on Thanksgiving...



After Thanksgiving, we decorated for Christmas... Taylor loved decorating our 2 trees (1 being a lovely pink one in her room).


To finish the weekend, Taylor and I went to see The Nutcracker. She was so excited to see the ballerinas and loved it! The only problem was that she kept wanting to stand up and dance in her chair. Luckily, lifesavers did the trick!

It's a ZOO around here...

Taylor was very decisive when it came to her Halloween costume this year. I asked her what she wanted to be, and she came up with the idea herself. There was no talking her out of it... she wanted to be a zookeeper! I think she's been missing the Memphis zoo lately... that's the best rationale I can come up with. Anyways, Will was naturally a monkey, and she took her job very seriously of taking care of him.


We had a great time trick-or-treating in our neighborhood... everyone goes all out here! It was definitely a little chilly compared to our usual Southern Halloweens, but our sweet neighbors had some hot cider and chili waiting for us when we were finished. Happy Halloween!

More Fall Fun...

So this was my view driving home from preschool today! I literally pulled the car over and took the picture sitting in my car... My kids think I'm crazy. :)

So we are enjoying our first fall here. It is gorgeous... the pictures really don't do it justice. I know we are still in the honeymoon phase with Vermont, so excuse the excessive pictures! We just really feel blessed to experience this amazing place God created. Come visit us!

Speaking of visits, we had a recent one from Mimi and Grandaddy last week. We went to the pumpkin patch one day, which made Will very happy. Will is obsessed with pumpkins. For the past month or so, he has been pointing to every single pumpkin whether it's driving along, in grocery stores, etc and says "a daaaa." Needless to say, he was beside himself at the pumpkin patch.




We also went to Shelburne Inn again for their yummy brunch. Here is Taylor enjoying a nice glass of apple cider by the fire. (Behind the picture, Mommy was enjoying her first apple cider mimosa... very tasty).


So this is a little nutty, I know. It was Bailey's 6th birthday a couple weeks ago, and the kids had a ball celebrating. We had a real, organic dog cake (that Taylor sampled), and Bailey was a good sport. He kept his hat on throughout the party.

Last Sunday, I went to let Bailey outside and saw that we had a huge double rainbow outside. Again, the pics don't do it justice, but it was HUGE and so bright. I tried a million different things, but this was the most I could get in a picture.


Brett and I will be married 9 years this March, and we've never carved a pumpkin together. Weird? Anyways, Taylor and Will loved every moment... until the end. We meticulously cleaned out the pumpkin, roasted the seeds, traced the face from a stencil, and carved it. Everyone was perfectly happy. Then, we turned out the lights and lit the candle. Will started screaming. He freaked Taylor out so much that she started screaming too. So much for the grand finale. We quickly blew out the candle and decided it was bedtime.

Vermont Fall Fun

We've had a lot of fun this fall so far. Overall, it's been such a warm season (it was almost 80 degrees here today). The leaves have been slow to turn because it's been so warm, but they are starting change now. We've done a lot of fun things outside like...

Biking...

Fishing...

Apple picking...





Fall Harvest Festival at Shelburne Farms...

The pools filled with corn was a huge hit.

Brunch at Shelburne Inn...


MORE apple picking (Vermont takes their apples very seriously)... We had a field trip with Taylor's preschool class.


So beautiful... the trees are just loaded with apples.




We drove up to Stowe a few days ago... before long, it will be covered in snow! Hopefully, we will ease into winter slowly! :)

Will's First Steps

First Day of Preschool & Ballet

It was finally Taylor's first day of her new preschool here in Vermont. We've had lots of playgroups with her classmates, and her teacher, Mrs. Dawn, even came to our house to meet with Taylor. I am the treasurer for the school (it's a parent c0-op), so we've definitely gotten to know a lot of people. :) There was a special "orientation" night for the kids the night before their first day. We got a babysitter for Will, and Brett and I took Tay to her orientation and then to a special dinner. Here she is before we left!

She loves her preschool... there is so much to do!



After circle time...

Her baby, Lucy, came with us to dinner... Brett ordered a booster for her as well.

Going in to school the next morning...so exciting.

Next to her cubby...

When I dropped Taylor off, there were no tears. She couldn't care less that I was leaving. When I went to pick her up, she literally ran from me and said she didn't want to go home. That's a good thing, right?

The very next day, Taylor had her first day of ballet... here she is getting ready.

So serious after class...

We are glad to finally be on a schedule after a long summer!