Bright Lights Red City, part Two!

Today was Homecoming Day- and FULL for the Pate family! Whew! But it was also a wonderful day.

It started with Griffin sleeping until 8 am!! What?!! I am not sure of that has ever happened before, but it was awesome. To celebrate, he and I watched Madagascar 2 when we got up, which was cuter than I expected.







Then we headed to the BCM's Alumni vs Students Flag Football game. Mr. Pate helped start this event last year and didn't even have enough to really play. This year there were tons of players on both teams AND people there to cheer them on! Yay! Griffin was a little shy at first, but he played a little and had a good time.



















Then Griffin and I headed over to tailgating with my work. Griffin was in a great mood and just ran all around happy as could be.

Then Griffin took a nap in the van while daddy and uncle d spent some time at the BCM and headed to the game (and mommy played on her phone in the van!). He actually took a 1 &1/2 hour nap in the van surprisingly! Then we met daddy an uncle d at the football game. It was pretty windy up there, but we still had a good time. Wish WKU would get it together and start winning more often though!







We left after halftime and came home to thaw out and get dressed for our last event of the night- the Monster Dash. Daddy had the idea for the boys to be "ketchup, mustard, and a hot dog". So stinkin cute!! I was a part of Gammy Becky's Bunko Party. We got to walk around and trick or treat, which Griffin ended up really enjoying. Yay!










It was quite the busy day, but really fun too! And I must say that Griffin Pate was the best behaved, most fun to be around kid all day long! AND he used the potty all day and kept his pull up dry, even with all the running about. All day people. So awesome!!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Bright Lights Red City, part one!

It's Homecoming Week once again on the Hill! After work today, Mr.Pate and Griffin met me on campus to watch the Homecoming Parade. We figured Griffin would absolutely love it, considering his obsession with all things Big Red. And he did!

It was quite chilly, but it was beautiful too. Griffin loved all the different Big Reds he got to see on the floats, as well as other random animals. The chick-fil-a cows walked through, the WKU Barking Band went by (with lots of dogs), and there were some very large tiger stuffed animals.

It was a great little short treat, and Griffin came away with a bunch of candy... Just what we need around here.... :-(

Oh- and apparently we have a new mascot??? A white squirrel named Wally.










- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

And the Winner Is...

And the Winner of the $50 Credit to Shutterfly (and free shipping) is...

Katie White!!!

Congrats! Shutterfly will be emailing you a promo code soon, be on the lookout :-)


- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Happy Birthday Maeve!

Griffin and I headed up to Etown today to celebrate Maeve's 2nd Birthday! Maeve and Griffin are 3 months apart, to the day. Griffin had a blast bouncing in the Bounce House and running all over the gym. Happy Birthday Maeve! 

We tried to get a group shot of all the kiddos... 

Bahaha! They were just a little on the move for that. 

Pumpkin Carving 2013 Style

I cannot believe it's already pumpkin carving time again! Wow this year is flying by! We headed to Becky & Gary's tonight to do our annual Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza. It's one of my favorite traditions of the year. This year we were a few short due to some sickness and injuries, but we had a great time. Griffin and Jesse were the cutest things running around with each other. Here are some pictures, enjoy!
















































And just for fun- a look back at then and now, pumpkin carving edition ;-)









- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Making a List, and Checking it Twice {By the way there's a Giveaway!}

Did you know there is only 9 more weekends until Christmas?? Seriously?!! And that means, it is time to start planning out those Christmas Cards, photo books and photo gifts. I have already been spending time getting all my photos uploaded from this last year (my computer is soooo slow at this!). Well Shutterfly has been getting ready too, and they have already released their new 2013 Holiday Card Collection & added new items to their photo gifts. 

What are a few of my favs, you ask? 

I am a sucker for chevron this year, so this Chevron Blocks card is perfect! 

This "Bright and Merry Bubbles" card just makes me happy. Its simple but fun. And I am loving the colorfulness! 

The blogger in me absolutely loves this "year in photos" card, because you get to update everyone on your actual life for the past year. This is top on my list right now ;-)

How cool is this Dry Erase decal? My dishwasher is non-magnetic and I think one of these on there for notes etc would be soooo cute! 

I am thinking I am going to start a tradition of getting our christmas card on one of these christmas cube ornaments each year. What a great way to turn your tree into memories right? 

Photo gifts are probably my favorite kind of gifts. I love capturing memories through photos, and there are all kinds of cute things to do with them now! Shutterfly has lots of different cards and gifts to choose from. They have new card design styles for 2013 - 5x7 folded tri fold & back of card designs

o   Classic: Traditional colors, iconic illustrations, aspirational sentiments, snowflakes, monogram

o   Contemporary: trend forward colors, texture and layering, water color techniques, shine, glitter, Instagram pictures are perfect for this style

o   Whimsy: humor and nostalgia meet, fun sentiments

o   Merry and Bright: all about color and having fun

o   Religious: metallic type treatments, incorporated story ideas

o   Photo Basics: multiple colors, vertical type, family name highlights

And now the really awesome part- the wonderful folks at Shutterfly are allowing me to do a giveaway for a $50 off total order (plus free shipping) code at Shutterfly to one of you!!! Woo hoo! Don't you love free stuff?  

1. To enter, you need to head to Shutterfly (click photo below) and browse through their holiday card collection. 

2. Come back here and comment with your favorite card. 

3. For an additional entry, Pin your favorite card with the #PhotosYouLove hashtag, and let me know you have done so. 

4. The Giveaway ends this Monday, October 21st at 6pm Central Time. 

5. I will choose one lucky winner via Random.org 

6. Only one entry per person per entry type (one comment and one pin). 

7. Giveaway prize: $50 off total order (plus free shipping! Cannot be combined with any other promos) at Shutterfly.com 

8. I will announce the winner Tuesday, October 22nd. The Winner MUST send me their email within ONE day to receive the prize. 

Comment away... and MERRY CHRISTMAS ;-)

***Discloser: This is a sponsored post for Shutterfly; I did receive a discount code as compensation for writing this post. These opinions, however, are my own. What a great deal ;-)