Monthly Family Recap: October 2022

Allll about our October!

Katie, Rachel, Tiffany and I went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!

For our costumes, we decided to have each of us dress up like a different version of Minnie Mouse – one Minnie Mouse for each of the four theme parks 🙂

We were extremely fortunate with the weather – most years it is SO HOT but this one we didn’t even use our mini-fans and never broke a sweat! It was BEAUTIFUL!

We had to get our must-have treat: candy corn ice cream!

Our mission was to meet Minnie Mouse so we got in line for her meet-and-greet prior to the party starting. She loved our costumes and it was fun meeting Donald and Daisy too!

Love how each of our Minnie Mouses turned out – Minnie “got it” right away!

We wanted to make sure to experience the party-only items like the Boo-To-You Parade as well as getting to see REAL pirates on Pirates of the Caribbean!

I personally feel like the party time just goes by TOO fast! We watched the fireworks, got a good spot for the parade and then were all pumped up to do more but the party ended!

Couldn’t leave the night without a little shopping and I think one of my fav memories from this trip was watching everyone sniff the toys trying to figure out which was which.

Tiffany and Rachel headed back home the next day and Katie and I went to see a movie before Zach and the kids arrived for part 2 of our fall break trip: Aunt Katie Disney Trip!

Last time Katie did the parks with us we did Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom and this year we did Hollywood Studios and Epcot!

The kids LOVED getting to show Aunt Katie all the epic rides and experiences.

Had to try the candy corn milk shake (it was kinda a disappointment).

Zach and Katie were friends before he and I met so she has literally been part of our family from the very beginning and it’s so special the bonds each of our kids share with her!

The magic moment of “snowp” during the Frozen show was a favorite memory from this day for me!

We switched up our plans to have a chill day and did a full day epic Game Face-Off where we played several games all day long to end up with a champion!

Our Epcot day continued to be gorgeous weather! We wanted to do a recreation pic of Katie with the kids from a few years ago when we went to Magic Kingdom and the Epcot pic turned out perfect!

Spear loved riding Soarin’ with Aunt Katie and showing her his favorite parts of the ride! He was in SUCH a great mood all day which made it extra fun!

Poor Tessie was really struggling with an ear infection and teledoc couldn’t do anything over the phone. I offered to take her in but she wanted to push through so we alternated Tylenol and Motrin all day and she was a trooper!

One of the best meet and greets ever! Donald was ADORABLE and the photopass photographer was INCREDIBLE. A top 10 fav pic of all time of Kye!

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Hadddd to get lunch at Via Napoli (the best pizza!)

We headed to Club Cool and then Zach and the boys headed home!

The girls decided they wanted to go to every country in World Showcase…would have been nice if they’d mentioned it earlier in the day but we love a good challenge so we went to each kids spot in every country!

And got Katie’s fav childhood memory Disney treat – shaved ice in Japan!

We had a Guardians of the Galaxy virtual cue we had to wait for so when we finished up we just played games until their group was called. It was a fun-filled day from start to finish!

We loved having Katie with us on the trip and ended the trip with a stop at the minute clinic to get Tess diagnosed and some meds ordered for her for when we got home.

Another highlight of the month was taking the older three to the FSU vs Clemson game! We’ve been wanting to go to to game for awhile and it worked out so great!

I was hoping to have time to walk around campus a bit but Game Day is always crazy so we parked and had fun taking part in the pre-game fesitivities.

Got to meet some of the cheerleaders as well as the girls soccer team. We also ran into the Lady Spirithunters which is an organization I was part of when I attended FSU. They gave the girls some war paint and they were SO excited!

Britt hasn’t been to a game since she was just 4 years old and this was Tess’s first time at a game. She was blown away by how huge the stadium is! Britt has become a HUGE Florida State fan and she was beyond excited to watch Jordan Travis play in real life!

Tess is truly my empath child. She LOVED the pre-game excitement and festivities but when the game started she could feel that tension of two teams both wanting to win as well as the drunk foul mouthed group of guys sitting in front of us and she could feel the discomfort Zach and I had with the guys behavior.

She feels things SO strongly and can’t always understand where those feelings come from. I sat with her a lot during the 1st quarter until she felt more comfortable. By then the guys in front of us had apologized and chilled out and we got her some snacks and she perked up and had a much more fun experience.

Even though we lost it was still such a fun experience to have a night game and get to watch our fav team together. I loved seeing the kids and Zach so into it! Nights like these are a reminder that a lot of fun is ahead in the big kid stage of parenting too – excited when we can all go as a full family! Thankful to Little Mama and Aunt Karen who had a blast with Spear!

All the Halloween festivities this month! We got dressed up for our church Trunk or Treat Event!

And brought Elizabeth along with us!

Went to pick out our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch! Tess’s stem broke and she said “that’s okay it’s still my pumpkin!”

Annual family Halloween party at Casey’s house – this year our theme was Aladdin!

Halloween themed Canasta!

Carving our family pumpkins – Kye took the reigns this year and did a fantastic job!

The end of an era – our last trick or treating around our neighborhood! We’ve loved having it be such a big event every year with so many friends and family with us! We braved the spooky house and said goodbye to our 15 years of neighborhood living!

Last time passing out candy too! We shut it down with a ride around the neighborhood to get any last candy people were looking to get rid of!

Our new home broke ground in September and things really got rolling this month. Zach and I had several day dates (with Jessica, the designer we hired to help with the process) where we made house-related selections!

It was overwhelming and a LOT and I’m so thankful we had Jessica to help guide us and that Zach had such a great attitude through it all!

We really want a Cape Cod vibe for our house and I fell in love with this picture as an inspo for us – I love all the trim around the windows, the small round window, and the thick trim pieces as well as the pieces in the eves. We referenced this photo a billion times in the process!

SO crazy seeing the trees clear out and the house beginning!

Can’t go back now!

Kye invented an epic Nerf gun, he also passed down his beloved Minecraft robe to Tess.

Aunt Karen was Kye’s bus driver for awhile which was such an awesome experience – he loved getting to see her each afternoon!

Kye had a big honor this month of being asked to lead FCA with a lesson and he did an INCREDIBLE job putting it together. I will share the video as it’s so powerful to see him speaking God’s Word to such a huge crowd of his peers. Beyond proud of him!

He went from leading FCA to reading at the Elementry School!

We also had Colt over and I just love the bond they share – they call each other “brother” which is so precious.

Britt is loving volleyball and had lots of fans cheering her on! She really grew in her skills but especially in her ability to be aggressive and confident!

Britt dressed up like a word for school and she chose the word “tardy” and did amazing! I surprised her for lunch one day and got to meet her sweet friend, Suri.

She also won an award for being such a positive role model which makes me so proud!

The dr we saw for Tess’s ear infection recommended ml of water with 1 ml of peroxide in her ear. Let it bubble then have her sit and let it drain. Helps keep ears clean!

She struggled this month not feeling well and I was so thankful when she started acting like herself again! She and I had a little outing just the two of us to the local Honeybee Festival and enjoyed walking around the booths and watching the parade.

Spear’s fav event of the year happened this month – the Expo in Moultrie! Zach was able to meet us and the three of us had such a fun time walking around and looking at all the tractors together. Even in 38 degree weather – Spear was in HEAVEN!

Spear and Tess had a wedding marriage ceremony and Spear decided he needed to wear all black and a “bowtie” so he could be. a”gentleman” for his wedding. He also didn’t call Tess his wife he called her his “marriage”

Every afternoon after school Spear would get off the bus and hug this tree – I wanted to be sure to have a photo of it to remember it by!

Spear’s big news this month was filling his sticker chart for staying dry and clean at night! He saw a monorail toy at Disney that he wanted a full YEAR ago and I bought it and kept it up in my laundry room and told him once he was able to stay dry and clean all night I’d get him the monorail.

He worked on one chart but he just wasn’t ready yet so then it eventually “clicked” and he asked to stop wearing diapers! Monorail day was a happy one!