Longest Post Ever

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been the best about keeping up with my blog! So, I decided to make some changes to the looks of things today and hit you with a HUGE picture-fest blog post. Just because if I don't, I will never get caught up. Which results in more procrastination on my part.

This past October was the start of a beautiful fall here in Tennessee. I have definitely missed these gorgeous colors. And I definitely enjoyed William's week long fall break!

We were able to go with Jeremy and Monica to Fall Creek Falls the weekend that Fall Break began. It was SO much fun hiking to see the falls. William and Lily did fantastic! Matthew and I didn't do too bad either! Matthew told me that I did better than he thought I would! Why, Thank you.

 Isabel, William, Lily, Breanna, and Serenity

October ended pretty well too! Halloween was fun, except that William was sick all the night before. It never fails that someone is sick around Halloween!

 So, William doesn't look like that because he's not excited about trick-or-treating, he's just sick. Lily looks like that because she's SO excited to trick-or-treat.

I was pretty proud of myself because I made their costumes. The first time I ever made anything with a legit pattern. It was a learning experience and I think they turned out great! William is Luigi and Lily is Princess Peach. She only wore her crown (that took me the like 2 hours to make!) for pictures at home.

 Then we were able to go to John and Krystin's neighborhood to Trick-or-Treat with the cousins. William was embarrassed about his mustache, so he decided to take it off, but not before Matthew tried to talk him into keeping it on by putting one on himself.

And a wig.

So did John and Christopher.

 So far, November has not disappointed either! We started it off with a bang by going to see Wicked at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. It was incredible.

 Did I mention that we went in a limo? Because it was awesome and hilarious.

We also had our friend Jeni take our family pictures at Crockett Park in Brentwood. It was a lot of fun and we are SO pleased with the way they turned out. I have already put some of them on our header( do you like?) But, here are some of our other faves.

Maybe this wasn't the longest post ever. If it was, at least I warned you, right? I am going to try to be in a better blogging spirit and update more often to avoid from blog posts like this. No promises though!



Pumpkins 2011

While William's been on fall break, we've been up to lots of things! We went to 2 different pumpkin farms. Walden Farms was a lot of fun. The kids got to ride the train, go through a hay bale maze, feed goats, and we only looked at the pumpkins there. The second patch was only a small one with a smaller variety of pumpkins, but we bought our pumpkins there anyway because we were excited to start the carving!

So, for FHE this past monday, we carved our pumpkins. William wanted to do Luigi and Lily did Princess Peach (which is what they're dressing up as this year!). And they had jello.

The final product was worth all the carving and finger cramps. I carved Linus and the Great Pumpkin and Matthew did the logo for Browning. Did I mention he's really loving guns lately? It was a lot of fun to do this and we love doing it together.

We Spent a Day with Him

 Yep, that's right. After about 3 years of William loving Thomas, we thought it was finally time to take him to meet the guy. Or train, rather.

There were a lot of "stations." William and Lily got tattoos, met Sir Topham Hatt, saw the animals at the petting zoo, watched some of a Thomas movie, they even were able to go color Thomas pages and play with the trains they had set up there. There was also a gift shop, of course. We got William a hat, a train for him and Lily, and a bag that says, "I Spent A Day With Thomas."

We were able to be the first people in line for our car. We were in car #4. 

And, we rode on a train that was pulled by Thomas himself. William and Lily loved it. And it was nice because it was air-conditioned.

After our ride, we were able to go see Thomas and get pictures taken with him.

Lily didn't like doing that too much.

A Day Out with Thomas was a lot of fun. I'm so glad that we were able to do this. William is already talking about going again next year. We'll have to see... 

6 Years Ago

This was Matthew and me six years ago today.

The past couple of months, there has been a few times that I have noticed the same question arise here and there: "Why did you get married?" With religion set aside, in a world like we live in, why did I choose to get married? There were a lot of different responses and it had me thinking: 

Why did I get married?

I've thought a lot about it and have been putting my thoughts away, tucked into the back of my brain to have for this post. My answer is simple.

I got married because I met Matthew.

After only a week of dating Matthew, I knew I wanted to be legally (and eternally) bound to him. I wanted the world to know that I was his and he was mine. At nineteen years old, I made the best decision of my life. I knew Matthew was the one that I was supposed to stand beside forever. Six years down the road, I love him more and more everyday. Not specifically because of how awesome he is. (Matthew is pretty awesome.) It's because I live life with him. We grow together. We experience good things and bad things. I learn from him. I help him. And Matthew does the same for me. Life is not easy. But, it's easier living the goods and the bads with Matthew by my side, living them right along with me.

I chose to become Mrs. Matthew Townsend because I didn't have a reason not to. I still don't. I have millions of reasons why I needed to. I add to the list daily.

 Although, in the world we live in, it was only a piece of paper that made a difference, that piece of paper has made all the difference to us.

Happy Anniversary Matthew! I love you so much.



In Case You Were Wondering About...

She is doing great! I've realized that I have posted a lot about William lately, so I decided to update you all on how my little Lily is handling the situation.

 She has realized that she pretty much has free reign over what movies she wants to watch during the day. Last week, we had a barbie movie marathon. She watched the 12 dancing princesses which resulted in this the next two days:

I have also been watching our cousin, Keeley, since August. Keeley is two. Lily doesn't know how to handle being the older kid in the room, so there's a lot of this: 

 Although she is getting used to it and looks forward to Keeley coming to play...(most days).

This picture doesn't really have anything to do with what Lily does during the day with out William, but... Lily sure loves Matthew. And, hey! They're practically twins.

So, how is Lily doing with her brother being in school?

She can play with the toys she wants, watch what movies she wants, has my attention when she wants (not to mention Grandma and Grandpa's), and she gets to go out and do things during the day. 

I think she's coping quite nicely.  

Movies

I have been inspired to put a little list together of my favorite time period movies, as they are pretty much my favorite kind of movies right now. There is something that is so beautiful about being so proper. The bows and curtsies, the dresses, the gloves, top hats, cravats (I Love the cravats), the speech, and the courting. It's fun to momentarily be in that different time. I have seen a few movies that I liked, but these are the ones that I truly LOVE (you will see this word thrown around a lot in the post).  

Starting with:

Pride and Prejudice

 This is only fitting because this is one of the first time period movies that I ever watched all the way through and actually cared about - thanks to Carrie! She made an addict outta me. Many people have redone this story in many different ways. Some are pretty good, some are pretty pathetic. However, this A&E 5-hour version takes the cake. I love this story and this movie sticks awfully close to the book. And I love Elizabeth Bennett!

Sense and Sensibility

 This is a great movie! I love the version with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. Let's just say that I think Jane Austen came up with some extraordinary love stories. This version of the story is great, but if you have time...

BBC has an even more incredible version, if you can believe it. I loved watching this version and as someone who has never read this book, it was nice to see a few surprises in the movie!

Becoming Jane

 I know, I know. Lots of people hated this movie because it didn't end in the most pleasing way. And some people hate Anne Hathaway. I'm not so keen on her British accent, but I LOVE this movie! I love the love story and the irony of loving someone so much you have to let them go. And.. I love James McAvoy.

The Young Victoria

 I watched this randomly because Matthew was out of town, so I just got this at redbox. I watched it twice in one night. I fell in love with this story so quickly. Emily Blunt is so beautiful and she is so great as Queen Victoria. Yes, I made Matthew watch this with me on Valentine's Day after finding it on Blu-Ray. If you know me, I'm pretty picky about the movies I buy on blu-ray. (Matthew, however, is not.)

Jane Eyre

 This movie is the inspiration for this blog post. Why? Because this is one that I just bought on a whim two days ago. I watched it yesterday with my mom and haven't been able to keep it out of my mind. I did know the story of Jane Eyre because my mom has loved it. I just never could get into because I hated that she ended up with the Rochester in the movie my mom had. He was a liar and looked a little crazy. I never sat down and watched the entire movie. So, I was really taking a chance. AND.. I loved this version. If you have the chance to watch this movie, definitely take the opportunity. You should be warned... it ends a little abruptly. Not enough to ruin it for me though!

What are some of your favorite time period movies??

Water Week

 A couple of weeks ago, we had a week of water fun! On Tuesday, we were invited to go to the splash pad with Krystin and her boys and Keaven also came with the little boy she watches (her girls were in dance camp). The kids all had a blast running around, but were careful not to get the water in their faces.

 Then, on Thursday, we were invited (along with John and Krystin) to go swimming at Christopher and Keaven's apartment. We got the kids some floaties and...

 William had a bast! Who would have thought?? I haven't taken my children swimming in a while, so it was a true shock to see that William was being so brave and loving being in the water and jumping in the pool.

But, Lily...

 couldn't get enough security from floatation devices.

 She hated being in the water by herself. She was okay as long as she was holding some one's hand. We are determined to help her so she doesn't develop the fear of water that I have.

Surprising, right?