We hit fall head on with a trip to Ellijay to B.J. Reece Orchards to pick some apples!
They had other activities as well, like a super cute petting zoo,
cow milking,
pony rides,
and a large underground slide!
Afterwards, we headed down the road to Amicalola Falls State Park & Lodge. It was beautiful!
We had family gatherings with the cousins at my inlaws. :)
And we announced that we are pregnant with baby #3, who is now named Everest Leotto. :)
The girls helped me do some canning with homemade strawberry jelly that we made!
Daddy had to take a week long trip back to Austin, TX for work, so Bug and I headed to school to have lunch with Goose to pass the time. While there, Goose lost her third tooth!
My parents were supposed to make a trip to visit us while Daddy was gone, but things came up, so instead Uncle Chris came down from TN to spend a few days to keep us company. We got to transplanting the plants we got to our container gardens.
We also attended Goose's Fall Festival at school, known as Bobby Patrick Night.
Rosalie busted her chin for the 2nd time, thankfully no stitches needed.
Daddy made it home, and we decided to take an afternoon to the Atlanta Botanical Garden in Gainesville. It was very small, but cute none the less, and Melissa Etheridge had her bus parked in the lot for a concert later that night.
We took another trip to Six Flags over Georgia and Goose decided to try a few of the roller coasters with Daddy!
There were also cute Halloween/Fall crafts in the kid's section for the girls to do, including making masks and painting pumpkins, as well as trick or treating.
The girls helped me decorate the yard for Halloween and had a blast putting little plastic spiders in our webs.
Once again, my family was supposed to come up for Rosalie's birthday, but my dad took a spill and landed head first in his bedroom wall, so we changed plans last minute and headed down to Florida for Goose's fall break, and Rosalie's 4th birthday.
We hit up the cone and the local splash pad, taking in the nice weather.
We had a lot of stress figuring out what to do about Bug's last minute birthday party, but in the end, had a great time at Chain of Lakes.
The girls loved spending time with their baby cousin.
Finally we had to part ways and head back home.
I made a few baby items for baby Everest.
Goose got to pick out a treat from the school "store" for good behavior.
I lost track of time, and completely forgot that we'd planned a trip to send two of our besties out to visit us before they moved to Italy! We picked up Micah and Andrea from the airport, and hit up Wahlburger's for lunch, followed by a lovely afternoon at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta.
The next day, we hopped in the car, and spent hours trying to come up with a baby name on our way to Cleveland, GA to Babyland General Hospital!
From there, we headed to grab lunch in Helen, GA and to visit Anna Ruby Falls.
The next day, we headed out to a semi-local park, Hurricane Shoals Park.
We followed it up with a joint birthday party for Bug, Granddaddy and one of their cousins at Grandmommy & Granddaddy's house.
Finally, on Micah and Andrea's final day, we headed to the Atlanta Zoo because Andrea has never been to a zoo before.
Sadly, we had to drop them off at the airport and say our goodbyes.
We participated in Goose's Field Day at school that was Olympics themed!
Next up was one of the highlights of the year for me! A mommy/daughter date to Goose's first ever concert, HANSON!
We started the date with a trip to Sephora for Goose to get her makeup done.
Then we went back home to get our hair and nails and outfits prepped. :)
We stopped for a quick dinner on the way to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to see Hanson's String Theory concert, which we both won Meet N' Greet tickets for!!!
Taylor took a very special liking to Goose and paid the most attention to her by far. This was a dream come true for both of us, and an incredible mommy moment.
Meanwhile, Rosalie and Daddy had a Daddy/Daughter date, and had dinner at a local italian place, followed by seeing Smallfoot in theaters. :)
The concert was amazing!
Sophia sang and danced, even to the ones she didn't know. I loved seeing the joy on her face!
That night, my friend Andi, who I'd met in Tulsa at H-Day came and stayed with us. The next day, we headed back to Helen, GA and Anna Ruby Falls for her to check out as well.
And I tried my first ever candy apple. OMG, it was soooo good!
Rosalie, once again in all her clumsy glory fell off the couch face first into our coffee table, once again splitting open her chin. This time she needed a butterfly.
After an incredibly busy month, we finally (very last minute) made it to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkin. Unfortunately, we were really unhappy with the selection and cost, so we just took in a few of the activities, including a tiny petting zoo with a bunch of fluffy bunnies.
Since we'd been so busy this month, we didn't end up making it to any festivals, so we decided to check out the one in our historic downtown. Our costumes were a hit! We got stopped by tons of people who asked to take our picture, and the village even posted one of us. :)
We finally picked up our pumpkins and the girls got to carving.
Goose lost yet another tooth, bringing us up to four!
Rosalie had been begging us for a while now to let her go get her hair cut. She desperately wanted a "circle" haircut like her sister had. So after lots of hunting and searching, I finally found a place that I felt comfortable taking her to.
Finally, it was Halloween. We began our trek down one half of our street and ended up meeting up with some of our neighbor friends and did the trek with them until we made it back up to our house, at which point, the girls were just done, and wanted to hand out candy instead.
Bug and I found a delish new (to us) restaurant called Marlow's Tavern with the best shrimp n' grits ever!
My super talented artsy girls. :)
We joined Goose at school for their Thanksgiving Day lunch celebration. Was super tasty but made my blood sugar through the roof.
Daddy finally got a computer set up for the girls to play on in my sewing room. :) They love it.
We took advantage of the beautiful fall weather. Mommy did a whole lot of raking, and the girls had fun playing in the leaves. (Note: Goose jamming out to Hanson!)
We also finally for the Wii set up for them to play. (Thanks Bruce Robert!)
I finally got my hands on my yummy Caramel Brulee Latte! Yay Christmastime!
I got on a kick and made a bunch of things for baby Everest!
Goose's school picture came back and I absolutely love it! It is soooo much better than the photos from her last school.
The girls made the cutest video ever with Daddy after attending a local play that some of my nieces were in. They felt inspired, and acted out Room on the Broom.
Before we knew it, we were back on our way to Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family.
Our first full day there, was my baby shower put on by my beautiful sister and mom. They did an incredible job!
The girls helped make these cute hedgehog donut holes.
The next day, we surprised the girls with a trip to Magic Kingdom! It had an incredibly rough start due to unforeseen circumstances, but they had an amazing time, and I was so grateful to give Rosalie the chance at remembering the trip this time.
Sophia was finally big enough to ride Space Mountain!
David and I celebrated 12 years of marriage, and decided to take a quick stop at the location where we were married. :)
The girls got to have a playdate with our old Florida friends, the Grenvilles!
After a week of cleaning, organizing, and fun, we hopped in the car and headed back to Georgia, but made a pit stop in St. Augustine along the way. We made a stop at Fort Matanzas, and grabbed lunch on St. George Street.
Since we missed getting our tree the day after Thanksgiving, we made sure to get to the tree farm as soon as possible. It was like an ice cube out there, but we found the perfect tree!
We spent the next few days decorating the trees and the house.
The girls also got in one last giant romp in the leaves before it got to be too cold and wet.
We started December with a trip to the Disney Store to pick out some toys to donate to Toys for Tots. The girls did a great job of picking out things for both boys and girls rather than just what they would want themselves.
We also started our Advent Calendars which were Hatchimals this year.
We finished getting the tree decorated, and Bug helped put up the star!
We visited Santa at Bass Pro Shops,
decorated crafts,
sent our Santa letter,
and played games!
The girls got together with Granddaddy to make Daddy his Christmas present, a caulk holder.
The girls made Christmas cards for our close family and friends. :)
We attended the Gwinnett County 200th Birthday Celebration! The face painters were fantastic!
We experienced our first earthquake! Crazy!?
We prepped for Goose's Winter Party at school.
We got in one last trip to Six Flags Over Georgia before our passes expired, so we could check out their Christmas Celebration!
Despite weeks of super stress prepping for Goose's Winter party at school, it turned out to be a real success! Really happy how it turned out, but also glad someone else will now be taking over the Spring party since I'll be out of commission with a baby.
Family finally arrived for Christmas!
We went to parks, baked and decorated all the cookies, ate lots of yummy foods, and spent lots of quality family time together. Mom & Dad almost didn't make it again because Dad ended up in the hospital a few days before, but managed to get released on Christmas Eve and surprised the family Christmas morning! Very grateful!
(the card the girls made to leave with Santa along with cookies, milk, & carrots for the reindeer)
David made me this perfect canvas of Hanson for Christmas, by hand, using a sharpee. Mad skills!
Everyone except my parents and Chris left, so we took a trip up to Amicalola Falls to show my parents. :)
We celebrated a late Christmas at the Pococks and visited with all the siblings and cousins. :)
Later that night, we got to surprise the girls with a dinner in Atlanta with Goose's bestie from Texas on their way to NC! It was so great to see them all! We miss them tons!
Mom & Dad got to join me at the Dr. to see baby Everest at my latest ultrasound.
Then we parted ways as the last of my family headed home.
Finally to close out the year, we decided to take the girls synthetic ice skating before it ends. They both did incredibly well considering they don't ever get the opportunity to do this, and don't even know how to skate on regular skates.
Lastly, we built some xylophones that I picked up after Christmas from Walmart,
and had family puzzle time with Bug's new Christmas puzzle!
And with that, I leave you with a Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday season and can't wait to see what comes in the new year!
