Adventures of The Parch Family

Things i will miss about Newnan Ga...

annnnnd thats about it. lol

I am kidding of course ;)

We know.

His hair is long.

:) We kinda like it that way.

Not to mention he hates having his hair cut.

So we're just gonna go with it for now lol

My sweet Sammy

The Parch Fam.

...our attempt at a family picture, 2 minutes before walking out of the door to head to Amy's for our Thanksgiving celebration.

Its how we roll these days.

Mage, giving Jenny a run for her money... (lol I KID Tay tay, I KID.)

The birds ever doting cousin (s)...making sure Sam didnt destroy the nativity scene...and everything within his reach pretty much. lol

Daisy and her "Cwee"

She could not get enough of her Tio Chris, so sweet.

(Wu-aya ee Cwee? with her little hands out in wonder)

The Drunken Unicorn...

...and our post Turkey Day shenanigans in the A, here and there and everywhere...

Good times

I made enough pumpkin pies to last to the new year, including this lovely and delicious GF/CF version for the Birds, which they loved. The crust was really good!

Chris and Margarita arrived a few days before Thanksgiving via New York City's finest China Town Bus-line. God bless those 2 and man do i feel loved for the trek they made to come spend the holiday with us.

Overnight snow fell, and they must have brought some of that up north, down south.

It was just a light dusting mixed with more ice and icey rain than anything else, but to me it was like waking up to a mini winter wonderland.

I was happy that Georgia gave me this last little bit of "real" winter, before we make our journey back to Florida at the end of December.

In early November, Jason accepted an offer for a job that will be taking us to live in Miami Florida!

We are excited, although it is still a bit surreal. Even if we are only weeks away from the actual move. I dont think it will really sink in until we are driving away.

I am looking forward to living only a few hours away form my mom and siblings in Orlando. (With high hopes of some of them making their way over over the next year or so to live!) i also have family in Miami that i haven't spent much time with in many many years and its really awesome that we are going to be able to connect and reconnect :)

We will miss Jasons family dearly and I am glad things like skype are available now so the birds can still see their grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncle and cousins.

I am really going to miss our house too! I mean this was our first ever home that we owned and although we bit off a little more than we could chew with renovations and such...its still...home. All our babies were born living in this home. Aww. Sniffle*

Honestly though, the only anxiety i really have is pulling Liam from a teacher/school and therapists he loves. I know he will be fine but it pulls at my heart strings just a lil bit. His teacher is really awesome and when we spoke she went out of her way to reassure me and remind me that Liam is the master of surprising us ALL the time, with how well he really adapts/catching on/learns/goes with the flow.

All I can do is let go of any of these silly worries and fears and let God take over and just know that in time everything will fall in to place once again.

I really feel like over the past few months that a path has been slowly carved for our little family...and we are truly heading in the right direction.

Sure things wont always be peaches and cream (duh, we have 3 kids 4 and under, 2 old dogs and 2 crazy cats) but that is life and we are truly so grateful to have this opportunity to spread our roots in some new soil.

I will miss my Atlanta. The city where I became.

This year has been so full of blessings.

I am Thankful for my husband, who is my best friend and my love. I am proud and happy for him, he has worked so hard for us, even before the birds were in our nest. This opportunity in Miami is one he deserves a million times over, and i know he will be incredibly successful in this new adventure. He always is!

For 8pm-? alone time with J. For date nights. For family run time (jason or i yell out- Family run time! And we all make a bolt for our bedroom, jump on the bed in the most creative yet safe way possible so as not to squash a kid and proceed to tickle/snuggle/laugh/play/pounce/get jumped on/kicked in the face/etc...until someone gets hurt or is over it. lol)

I am thankful for our children who force me to be the best person I can be.

For our early morning dance parties.

For dinnertime's when everyone eats everything i put on their plate without protest. (lol)

For wine. Because dinnertime/bathtime/bedtime is always so much more fun with it!

For cool nights and open windows.

For adventures.

For Daisy's beautiful little voice saying mama and dada and bun-nee (She loves her bunny!) and Sa-Ee and Lee and that she thinks all bugs are bees (Eesa BEE!) or fuwhy's (fly's) and that when she really snuggles into me she hums and says "so nuwhy" (so nice) that she loves to give kisses to her daddy all the time and that no matter how rough her brothers can be with her sometimes she will still always bounce right back to them (if shes gotten hurt i'll say are you ok? after lots of kisses and hugs from mama... And she'll give me a smile and say OH-KAY! OH-KAY!and continue to want to play with a laugh and a twinkle in her bright little eyes. For making me fall back in love with all things hello kitty and my little pony and Disney and princess and princesses. For my excitement for the day that i can share some of my favorite things that i loved as a girl like Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, The BAabysitters Club, all things Roald Dahl and Madeline L'Engle, The Chronicles of Narnia.... (I hope all my kids love books as much as i did). For your love of Neigh's (horses) and all things animal (just like her mama) and for sucking your little thumb and using bunnys ear to rub on your nose at the same time (just like mama did when she was a wee girl but with a little blanket instead).

For my sweet little Sammy. For his giggly little laugh, his big koala hugs (he is SUCH a snuggler, he grabs on to your neck with a squeeze like he MEANS it lol). his love for all things trucks and cars (he loves standing at the window and watching cars go by...if we are outside and a truck/school bus/mail truck goes by he RUNS to the fence to watch with complete curiosity). how he gets in between Daisy and Liam when they are not getting along to protect his twin sister. how he goes out of his way everyday to connect and play with his big brother. for his totally rad dancing skills (i am thinking we need to get him in front of some breakdancing videos asap lol). for the moments when he pretend feeds his stuffed dog or plops it in one of his dump trucks or daisy's play stroller and rolls it around the house. for his little attempts to talk ( Dada! Aaaaaaaaa Da! (All done), and Go go go! For his little hand gestures when we sing itsy bitsy spider. for being the peek a boo and hiding go seek master. For his crazy/precious/hilarious facial expressions.

For my Liam Oliver. Little light of my life. For teaching me about what life is really all about. For always surprising me with just how amazing he really is. For our snuggle time. for your big beautiful genuine smile. for your all telling beautiful eyes. for your deep love of all things yo gabba gabba, team umizoomi and wonder pets. for singing old mcdonald had a farm together and when you chime in with ee-ii-ee-ii-oo... call out owl, or meow, or pig, or cow. for singing along to the wonder pets song -whats gonna work, (you say- TEAMMMM) work. for singing the ABC 's with me (he starts at D and goes to I then sits back and listens to the rest, so presh)for all the of hard work you do in therapy and school (you are the hardest working 4 year old i know!). for how far we have come! for tickle time and run time with daddy. for our one on one adventures. for teaching me about strength and pure joy and never giving up. For those beautiful moments that you bond with your brothers and sister. For the way your daddy looks at you, so full of love, so proud of our little man. For making us a Family, one September morning 4 years ago.

For my Clayton, for inspiring me so many years ago to become someone that you would be proud of one day. For becoming such an incredible, talented, sweet and handsome young man. For our moments spent together. Our adventures had and to be had and really great memories already made together. For having you in my life all these years.

For my entire family.

All of our friends.

For life.

I am so proud of our crazy little crew and we are blessed to have a life so filled with love.

Blessings to all :)

Happy holidays!

Love and light,

That one time i accidentally left a chair right next to the counter where the toaster oven is and Sammy got a hold of daddy's tape measure...climbed up said chair...placed said tape measure INSIDE toaster oven and turned it on.

Yeah.

I was in my bedroom putting away clean laundry, when i smelled something mighty funky. Mind you, by this time all the kids including Sam had made their way into my room and we were all hanging out.

It took me a few minutes to find it....

Well, it could have been worse?

You live and learn?

;)

Open windows...open doors....the smell of pumpkin zucchini muffins in my oven...cinnamon broom sticks...cozy sweaters....cool breezy afternoons... sipping on hot cider...watching my babies play in the falling leaves...

Mama got a ladies night out....and got to hang with my long lost, long time friend, Samantha....She moved to Alaska some time back...and on her way down to her new residence in Florida, stopped through Atlanta to hang with family and friends.

She and I met when I was in my early 20's in Atlanta. We both worked at a coffee shop in the heart of Buckhead. I met many of my current friends/acquaintances working there actually! It was one of my most favorite jobs ever. Not a lot of money, but it was my first job in Atlanta and the people I met, memories made and experiences had were priceless.

Much love to all my fellow 'Bou peeps, and two of my fav ladies Dani and Samantha (respectively)...as well as the rest of the fine folks at my fav bar The Local and our old haunt The Clermont Lounge (I think it was my last visit to the good ol Clermont, sad but true and its time lol). We ended the night at The Majestic eating burgers at 4am.

I had a blasty-blast!

Yeah.

That happened. lol

Dont worry, Sammy was fine :)

He landed on top of a huge stuffed Hippo.

I know have a padded mat underneath!

"Telling" me about his day...wind down time after school...

Hangin out.

Oh, yeah, sometime between the pumpkin patch adventure and halloween we buzzed sammy's long shaggy-do!

It was getting wayyyy too long. The new 'do makes him look older dont you think? Precious.

Sam loves his trucks and cars. Oh and playing hide and seek.

He's not talking yet, but he's babbling and repeating sounds. He imitates facial expressions on top of having some of the most expressive crazy facial expressions himself, so cute and funny. He's a peek a poo master. And boy oh boy. He loves music and dancing- Sam is the first on the dance floor. The boy can get down. (Vid below)

He and Liam have been getting along more and more, they wrestle and chase each other around....and I find Sammy and Daisy having their own little baby babble convos more often, especially in the morning if they both wake up happy or after a nap. They play and interact and every so often i catch one giving hugs and/or kisses to the other.

Daisy will yell for him from another room- Sa-Eeeee! Whe ee Sa-Eee? (Where is Sammy) Sa-Eeeee!

Heart melting.

That one time Liam was done with his bath and while getting him dressed in the other room i called out to the twins- Bath time for Sam and Daisy! Thinking they would just make their way in to the bathroom and wait for me or find me in Liams room but the next thing i know i hear a PLOP, SPLASH! and find this little guy still in his diaper, swimming around! lol He was ready!

Fun with Sharpies ;)

Our Pumpkin Patch Adventure

I had no idea jason had such killer pumpkin carving skills! It turned out so cool! :)

The babes were like, so not into the whole costume thing...can you tell? lol

At first glance it looked like Daisy was flicking me off! What the? haha

There's a new sheriff in town....

...His name is Liam, and he was totally diggin that cowboy hat ;)

Since Liam was a babe, we have spent every Halloween trick or treating with his cousins in their beautiful neighborhood (that gives out the bomb candy. Priorities, ya know? lol). This year, Liam went as a Cowboy/Sheriff, Daisy was a bunny/lamb hybrid (dont ask lol), and Sam rocked big brothers Lion costume. The twins didn't really care for the costumes at first, and it didn't help that they were a bit under the weather....by the time we got to Aunt Amy's we realized Sam was burning up with a fever. Off came the costume, in order to cool him down. We decided to leave him at the house, doted on by Grandma and his auntie and uncle, while we took Liam and Daisy out. Prior to leaving the house Liam ran around...happy as can be...got his pre trick or treat jump on their big trampoline out back...

It was also nice to be able to spend a little bit of time with family. It funny, we all live in the same town but dont see each other often...life works that way sometimes i suppose.
I am amazed at how quickly kids grow up. The birds cousins are now little ladies!
Time flies.

This was Daisy's first time really trick or treating and she did great! She rocked it. Jason and I took turns walking her up to peoples doors. We tried to get her to say trick or treat which came out- Twick! And then as we walked away-Byyyyye! Little cutie.
Liam did Awesome. We've gone through many transitions this year and have had lots of ups and downs with behaviors and tantrums attributed to #1 being a kid, duh. lol I mean he just turned 4 a few months ago, and #2 being autistic which of presents some extra challenges with many things, which includes big social activities like trick or treating!

I honestly thought we would be carrying him back to the house mid meltdown for some reason or another but that didn't even come close to happening. As usual , he always surprises me, and i have to remind myself that i need to be giving him wayyyy more credit. He's a smart kid. He was totally receptive to his surroundings, checking out everyone and everything that was going on. He completely enjoyed our little outing, being pushed around in his stroller...and we didn't force trying to get him to go door to door. The few times i did try to get him to come up with us, I could tell it made him anxious and he would give a little squeal of protest. And thats ok! As long as he was having fun and enjoying being out and about with us...thats all that mattered to me. Happy Liam= happy us.

I was bummed Sammy wasn't able to come out with us...poor lil guy. He was better the next day though and got to nibble on some candy :)

All in all it was a Happy Halloween!

Side note...

Daisy's hair is now long enough that i can put it in a pony tail.

The cuteness.

I cant even. :)

Fall is my favorite time of the year!

All i want to do is bake breads and muffins and sip on hot beverages in my big mug.

I love the way the Fall smells...fireplaces burning, there's just this cool, clean crispness to the air that is so refreshing. When we go on our walks downtown its so pretty to see the trees turning bright beautiful colors, the fallen leaves crunching underfoot.

...You linger in bed just a little longer in the mornings...snuggle closer at night.

Everything is just a bit more comfy and cozy.

Excuse me while I go warm up some Cider...

Love and light,