Can I?

The past few weeks, Griffin has started asking "Can I/me/we" questions. His voice when he does it is so stinkin cute.

"Can me have it?"
"Can we pet it?"
"Can I have sucker?"

I did my best to finally halfway capture it on video so I won't forget it. It's not exactly like he usually does it because I have a camera in his face, but you can get the idea ;-)

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Perfect, normal Friday night

Tonight was the perfect, normal Friday night. As you may have noticed from all of my posts last week, we have been on the go all summer. And it has been wonderful... But I have been craving normal, slow, routine nights at home like nobodies business. And that's just what I have gotten tonight!

We had planned to go to the pool with Gammy Becky, but Mother Nature had other plans and sent a downpour instead. It was pouring when Griffin and I got home! Mr.Pate actually came running outside in the rain to get the kid out of the van for me. How sweet is he?!

We threw together a dinner of leftover chicken and some new sides and chowed down. Then while I cleaned up from dinner, the boys played hide and seek. It was precious. We played in the playroom for a while after that. Then Griffin and I colored for a few minutes. After that we decided to FaceTime some of the family, so he wanted to call Livvi first. Turns out she was at KneKne and Peeps so we got to see them as well! Ha! Then we FaceTimed Uncle Shelly, and griffin told him he was boring. Haha!



(He laid down while talking to Livvi, so she decided to lay down too. They are both so silly.)

After that we had a family movie night. We watched Toy Story and ate popcorn. Griffin decided the movie is his favorite now (everything is his favorite now). He ate a TON of popcorn, and actually watched almost the entire movie. I forgot how cute that movie is. Then used the potty like a big boy (we are easing into potty training), had a celebratory dum dum and headed to bed.

That's my kind of laid back and sweet family night. I am feeling pretty incredibly blessed.

Hope your Friday night was great too!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Just another day in the office...

Every Fall my department has a Staff Retreat. When I started here I heard all kinds of stories of how much fun they had at these retreats. Well when I finally got to participate in my first one, it ended up being a flop year (we took a tour of Wku and brainstormed...)! Ha!
Anyhow, the last two years have been super fun. And this year, Jarka, Lindsay, Todd and I got put on the committee to plan it- two weeks before we were having it! Ahh! Today was the day, and it was a blast. We did a staff trivia game between our two vans on the way down, and even though my van lost it was really fun and a great way to get to know random stuff about each other.
First we went to Sips N Strokes in Nashville and painted. I have always wanted to do this, so I was thrilled to go. A painter basically leads you step by step thru painting the same picture. It was super fun and we all did much better than I expected.








































Then we headed to Wildhorse Saloon for lunch and line dancing! And everyone were good sports and participated (thanks Becky!). It was great.


















Just another day at the office....
- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

There is a monkey on my back

Tonight our church served a free meal at North Warren's Open House. We probably fed 250 people. It was great, but very crowded. It always is. So I decided to take my new Ergo to help keep the crazy boy reined in. And it worked like a charm!! Thanks Mom, for getting us the Ergo, so wonderful. 

Tickling mom's neck, something daddy taught him to do! I couldn't get away either! Ahh! 

He got a few suckers for staying on mommys back. 

It was super comfy and easy to carry him around. He stayed on my back for about an hour and a half! What a cute monkey to have on y back. 

Happy birthday Jesse!

This past weekend we went to celebrate with another good friend who turned 2- Jesse! I have been friends with Destiny, Jesse's mom for several years. She is a member of our original bunko crew! Jesse and Griffin actually go to the same daycare and are in the same class now. Destiny actually sent me this picture the other day when she realized our boys showed up in the same shirt: 

Griffin's face absolutely makes me laugh out loud! Ha! 

Happy Birthday Jesse! So glad we could come run around and help you celebrate. 

(Don't you just love Griffin's cheesiness?!! So precious!)