Election Day at the Aquarium

Yes, I voted.

But I also took advantage of the Election Day holiday to head down to the Georgia Aquarium with the kiddos, Auntie, and Baby Sam Sam.  In my book, Election Day and the Aquarium just seem to be made for each other. 

Harris and Hadley were mesmerized by the fish, Baby Samuel was perfect, and Auntie somehow managed to keep up with herself, Samuel, his carseat, his stroller, his diaper bag, and her purse and still enjoy the day.

Harris was all about running from exhibit to exhibit, and couldn't wait for the rest of us to catch up with him so we could all go check out "more cool stuff."  Babe, on the other hand, really enjoyed the areas where she was able to actually get her hands on animals:  starfish, stingrays, sea urchins, baby sharks...you name it, she wanted to touch it.  She would have been content to keep her hands in the pool all day.

The jellyfish, penguin, and otter exhibits ranked high with the kids.  The big sea turtle was pretty cool, too, as was anything that remotely resembled Nemo.

Cassidy and I favored the areas with wall-to-wall viewing windows.  We were fans of the penguins, also, but crawling through the penguin tunnel left me with a slight claustrophobic feeling and some extremely sweaty armpits.



The kids also really enjoyed the parts of the aquarium where the ceiling doubles as a viewing tank.

Hadley remained quite subdued while taking everything in, but Harry had a bit tougher time keeping his excitement in check.

He was pretty much full throttle from the moment he first spotted the aquarium logo while we were still a block away from the building.  "Look!  A G-Dawg-Fish!  A G-Dawg-Fish!  Do we like the G-Dawg-Fishes?"

Yes, sweet boy.  Yes, we do.

Deepo's appearance helped us end the morning on just the right note,

and meeting up with the Kim and the girls at The Varsity only made the day better, even if Kim had her order taken by a very clean cut, very old, very white gentleman whose opening phrase was, "How can I help you today, ma'am?"  Not quite your typical Varsity experience.

But then again, we're not quite your typical family.



I Love My Husband.

And he loves Modern Family.

The holidays aren't going to know what hit them.

Happy Halloween!

While Harris was super stoked about Halloween and all that it entailed, it took a little bit of creative coaching on our part to convince BeBe to put on her Snow White costume.  It was well worth the effort.

I really don't have any idea why she was so hesitant to wear her "beautiful" dress, other than the simple fact that we asked her to do it.  I think it's safe to say that following directions has not been her stong suit lately.  Once she was dressed, however, she LOVED pretending to be Snow White, and would quickly correct anyone (Daddy!) who teased her about being dressed up as someone else.  The conversation went something like this:

Ben:  "BeBe, you make a beautiful Cinderella."  BeBe:  "Nooooo.  I not Cinderella.  I Snow White."

Ben:  "BeBe, are you Ariel?"  BeBe:  "Nooooo.  I not Ariel.  I Snow White."

Ben:  "Babe, are you Beelzebub?"  Babe:  " I NOT BEELZEBUB!  I SNOW WHITE!"

It was quite comical. 

This has been the first Halloween where Harris has really been able to anticipate trick-or-treating, and his excitement was contagious, especially because he knew all of his friends were headed over to canvass the neighborhood with him.  He woke up from his "little nap" literally bouncing all over the walls, the sofas, and the coffee table, and as soon as Granti and Auntie pulled up, he was ready to "race" off some energy in the front yard.

We were so happy to have Granti, Auntie, Jay Jay, Britton, Kim, Quinn, Payton, Ty, Heather, Cooper, and Kelsey join us for the evening.  I rocked out the taco soup for dinner, but Cassidy was most excited about the spiderweb cupcakes Kim brought over.

The kids were mostly in it for the candy.

They tore up the neighborhood and moved as fast as their little legs would let them.  (Except for Hadley, who suckered Granti into carrying her in between houses.)  It was such fun to watch them run and laugh and yell "trick or treat" and use their manners and get excited over every single piece of candy placed in their bags.

This guy (the sexy Guatemalan) followed us throughout the neighborhood, stopping to give us rides and scope out the scene whenever possible:

He traded vehicles halfway through the trip in order to have blue lights at his disposal, but before the move to the GBI Suburban, the kids totally dug climbing in and out of the back of Cagne, the big red truck.

Harris and Hadley fell asleep easily and quickly last night, and Ben and I followed not too long after...

Halloween pretty much rocks.

Build A G-Dawg.

Harris and his new pal, Sticky, had an awesome time at Brock's birthday party this weekend!  Thanks so much for letting us help you celebrate, big guy!!!

Pre-K Costume Parade.

Featuring Superman.

Man, I love that kid.

The Great Pumpkin.

We carved our pumpkins last night.  Ben and Harris teamed up to create a "boys only" jack-o-lantern, while the Babe and I worked hard on our very own "Punky."

Harris was a little timid of the "guts" at first, but warmed up to digging out pumpkin insides fairly quickly.  Hadley, on the other hand, was all about the pumpkin seeds from the very beginning.

After working hard to carve the perfect pumpkins, we placed the finished products on the front porch.

Personally, I prefer the girls' pumpkin over the boys'.  I'm just sayin'.

After baths and pajamas, we all climbed into bed together to watch the Charlie Brown Halloween special.  While I loved snuggling in the family bed, I've got to admit that I'm not really a fan of the Charlie Brown Halloween show.  I know it's a classic, but it's a little boring for my taste. 

The kids ate it up.

So did Ben. 

I fell asleep smiling.

Happy Birthday, Granti!

In our family, when your birthday falls on a Tuesday, there's no other choice than to celebrate at Chick-fil-A.  With a Bruster's ice cream pie.

And pretend prom pictures with your family members.

I mean, how else would you commemorate 50 years?

I love you, Mom.  Happy Birthday.