It's fall y'all!

It's finally fall, my most favorite time of the year! The weather is amazing, the skies are crystal blue, and tailgating is in full force around the Wilson household.

Football season means that it's time to bring out the fall decor and pumpkins! I usually wait to put up my Halloween decorations until later in October, but start early with fall and keep it out until Thanksgiving. I have a few turkey's that will be switched out with Halloween though!

Decorating the new house was fun and stressful all at the same time! I absolutely love how I have everything decorated, so I didn't want to change much to make room for the fall. I actually kept about half of my stuff in boxes this year, maybe I'll feel differently next season!

All I need now is a family trip to the pumpkin patch and we'll be set!

Welcome to Fall at the Wilson's

Our front door, which will be decorated with a large spider web for Halloween!

Decor in the foyer

Witches and candy corn added to the family room

Fall tablescape, much less than years in the past!

"trick or treat" and pumpkins added to the buffet

more pumpkins on the bar

love this "trick or treat" frame.  it also can be hung

I couldn't leave out the patio decor!

there's signs of fall everywhere!

Happy Fall Y'all!

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Taking some mr. & mrs. time

As much as I love my lil man to pieces, every once and a while I need some time to just love on my big man aka my Mr.  I have such a love/hate relationship with the balancing act of the Momma and the Mrs. inside of me!

The second I start to daydream about getting dressed up for a date night or think about getting that much need pedicure, the momma guilt kicks in.  Don't get me wrong - I take a lot of time out for me and us - but it's so hard to enjoy the same level of satisfaction as I once did.  We've all been there, I hope!

I digress. 

We ended up having a few extra tickets to the LSU game on Saturday, so we had a tough decision on whether or not to invite friends to the game sans kiddos or to go as a family.  We decided to take friends and spend a day as just Mr. & Mrs. We left our parental responsibilities in the hands of Loli & Pop and knew that Jackson would have a better time with them.  Besides, kickoff time was also his nap time and I knew that we I would be chasing around a tired Action Jackson and roaring with Mike the Tiger instead of watching the actual football game.

We couldn't have asked for a better day or friends to spend the day with.  The weather on Saturday was picture perfect {I am praying for a repeat this Saturday since I plan on taking Jackson}. The tigers had an exceptionally early kick off, so as soon as Jackson was safely turned over to my parents, we started our day with mimosas and coffee as we headed to Death Valley.
 

We were able to push through the game day traffic and make it to campus about an hour before kickoff. And within a minute of arriving to our tailgate, I was already showing off recent Jackson pic on my phone:)

However, knowing that Jackson was eating my parents out of house and home, seriously 7 pancakes must be a record, and then napping for a good portion of the game allowed me to relax and enjoy our date day! And by the looks of all the self-portraits in my iphone, we may have enjoyed ourselves a little too much:)

 

Geaux Tigers!

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Grandpa's Farewell

I've been neglecting the blog lately, but with good reason. We've had a lot going on and I'm still trying to catch up! On September 14th, my Grandpa passed away in St. Louis. He was very old and not in good health, so we were praying for him to get his wings.

When the time came, he went in peace, but the finality of his life was harder than I expected.  Maybe because I was so far away from my Dad and sister.  But, we celebrated the end of his pain and focused on the good memories and funny stories we all have.

The services for my Grandpa were in Somerset, Kentucky last Friday. So me and my road warriors hit the highway again! It was 805 miles, which took us about 13 hours getting up there and 12 hours coming home. Jackson did amazing the whole trip, again I have to thank Buzz Lightyear & Woody, and Sarah from the Land Before Time {do you remember that movie?}.

Since we were traveling such a long way, my dad decided to make it a whole weekend farewell to Grandpa. Dad rented a beautiful lake house on Cumberland Lake, so we could all stay together in one house. I can't tell you how much better this worked out, as opposed to staying in different hotel rooms.

We never spent much time in Somerset growing up, probably because there's not much to do there unless you farm cattle or corn. No offense to anyone who lives there! Seriously, there were cows in the front yard of the lake house, which was located at the end of a 3 mile road with corn fields on both sides.

The land was absolutely gorgeous and we soaked in as much of it's beauty as possible.  It's amazing how connected you feel to both the land and those around you when your cell phone has no signal and you can't pick up a wireless internet signal to save your life.  It was pretty awesome, expect for not being able to watch Grey's Anatomy with my sister.  We can't say we didn't try though, for an hour or more:)

After the funeral service, and Jackson's visit with Grandpa's angel {true story}, we spent the next couple of days sightseeing and visiting with family.  My dad's mom was born and raised in Somerset, so there were old farmhouses and land to explore were they once resided.

We also spent an afternoon at the Haney's Apple Farm, which is owned by cousins of ours.  Jackson got a special new airplane to remember the farewell weekend with and picked about 100 apples!

And of course, the trip wouldn't be complete if we came all that way and didn't go to the Cumberland Falls! Again, a beautiful sight that I had a lot of appreciation for now that I'm older.

I'd say that Grandpa's farewell was one that we'll all remember and one that Grandpa was certainly watching over.  Even the Preacher was a little taken back by Jackson's connection with "Harry".  I think I'll save that story for another post!

Did I mention that I got to love on my little diva for 3 days, and I was in heaven.  How could you not just eat this little girl to pieces?!?

Even Jackson simply adores her, or maybe it's just her pink bunny and little dolly that he loves so much...I guess time will tell;)

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Big Boy Bed Updates

Tried and true, Jackson has always followed a rule of three.  Any change in his schedule or routine means 3-days of hell before it sticks.  And just like that, on the 4th day, it becomes the new normal.

After converting Jackson's crib into his toddler bed, we had a few sleepless nights and multiple meltdowns {both toddler and momma}.  I won't go into the details of said meltdowns where this momma may have rearranged furniture in the middle of the night in attempts to turn walls into makeshift crib rails.  Or the morning we woke up and found Jackson asleep on the floor outside our bedroom door because he knew he'd be in trouble if he crossed our threshold one.more.time. 

Those 3 days seemed to last an eternity, but are now just days in our past.  That phase too has passed, and my baby is a little boy now more then ever.

Jackson climbs up in his bed and taps his fat little hand on his pillow to signal for me to lay with him a minute.  He certainly doesn't need me to lay with him, but his kind heart knows that his momma needs to lay with him.  And when he's had enough, he kisses me goodnight and politely rolls over as to say, okay you can leave now get out now momma!

And that's all we hear from him until the morning, when his sweet feet pitter-patter all the way to our room.

Sure there are still the rare nights that I find him curled up on the floor or with a random toy or two when I go in to peek on him, but those instances are fewer and fewer.

But, I have to say that last night's findings was the best one yet.  I had to play a little game of Where's Jackson? to find him under all of his friends. He went to bed with just two airplanes and his blankets...and some how Elmo and three puppies snuggled there way in!

  Someone was a very quiet, busy boy last night:)

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