Great Uncle FC Comes to Visit!

My Great-Uncle Frank Caldwell Auten "FC" came to Charlotte for a visit. He is the last living sibling of my granddad. Uncle FC is 94 years old and currently lives in Texas. He was born in Charlotte back in 1914 and he wanted to come back here to spend a week and to see some former landmarks and home places. He is so full of energy and very independent...he made the flight on his own!

While he was here, we all gathered at Meme and Pops' house to spend time with him. It was fascinating to listen to him recall stories of growing-up in Charlotte and we all enjoyed the stories he told us about our granddad and other deceased relatives. This was such a special visit and we are thankful that we had this time with him!

Cousin Meredith

This is one of Paxson's new favorite faces!

Meme and her brother Uncle Frank, with their uncle, FC Auten.

Grandma Janell hosted FC for the week

Hey Laney!

Pop gives Libby Claire some love!

Cutie Pie Grant!

The family with Uncle FC...there were four generations represented...94 years to 10 months! (Ben, Bill and Wes were at the Panthers game)

These two sure love each other!

Paxson jumping off the well house to Pops!

Uncle FC helps Gracie Myers with her sippy cup.

Pops lets the grand kids take turns shooting the bb gun at an old can...they love it!

With the help from his Pops, Paxson hit the target!

Laney had perfect aim too!

Another Fall Festival!

We're always up for some fun on a Saturday afternoon! We noticed that the church across the street from ours was having a fall festival. We decided it would be fun for the kids and plus it would get us out of the house! Paxson is getting used to these festivals...he's going to start thinking that we'll be going to another festival each weekend!

Gracie Myers still likes drinking out of a bottle, she polished it off before we headed in.

Paxson was so excited!



Our first stop was the face painting room. He wanted a blue smiley face!

Paxson had fun fishing for a prize.

A Moon Bounce always bring smiles!

There was an enormous inflatable slide, and it's hard to tell who had more fun, Bill or Paxson!

Getting ready to go down the slide again!

Gracie Myers got to go down the slide outside!

Paxson liked swinging like this!

Trying to push them both...Paxson kept saying "Higher and High!"

This was later that night....Gracie Myers now likes to sit on our hearth. She smiles so big each time she crawls up on it. What a big girl she's becoming!

Standing on Solid Ground!

Gracie Myers has been really trying to stand-up on her own, but has never really been able to do it longer than a split second! Well, today that all changed and it's so exciting!

Earlier in the day, Paxson wanted to go outside with Bill, but I explained that he needed shoes and a shirt. He dressed himself in his croc boots and an old coat that belonged to his Uncle Ben and was too small and out of season!

Paxson calls Gracie Myers his best friend. Here are the two best friends sharing secrets behind the couch!

Wow, up she goes!

She seemed pretty amazed that she was standing for so long.

A big fall to the ground brought about some tears.

Nothing cheers you up and makes you smile again like Daddy tossing you up into the air!

Paxson had to have a turn too!

Not Exactly Like Getting Your Hand Caught in the Cookie Jar!

In general, Gracie Myers seems to be a pretty busy baby girl! She's all over the house all of the time and she likes to get into whatever catches her eye...including the potty I guess! Yuck! The kids were all clean and ready for bed and the next thing we know, we hear laughter and splashing water! Yep, that's our girl having a ton of fun with her hands in the toilet! Gross!

She was so proud of herself!

She's mastered pulling herself up on everything now!

Brother Paxson, AKA "Ming Ming" from The Wonder Pets was falling asleep while watching Noggin!

I Scream, You Scream, We ALL Scream for Ice Cream!

This past spring, I entered a contest sponsored by Edy's Ice Cream. I wrote an essay to Edy's explaining why I thought that our neighborhood deserved an ice cream party! I do think that we live in an awesome neighborhood and are blessed with wonderful neighbors, and I guess the people at Edy's agree! Edy's delivered everything we needed for the party right to our door...including 10 containers of ice cream! Thanks to Rhett and Ashley next door for helping us store the supplies!

We had a great time celebrating the last day of summer by having the party with our friends and neighbors. Bill and I think it would be fun to make this an annual tradition!

Paxson filled up on a few goldfish before the ice cream!

Memama, Pops and Meme came over too!

The Dancy's couldn't decide upon a favorite flavor!

Lots of mingling and catching-up!

Gracie Myers enjoyed all of the action.

More friends from Beverly Woods

The kids had fun socializing too.

Edy's sent a variety of flavors! They were all great, but out of them all, the Pumpkin flavor was a huge hit!

Who knew scooping ice cream could be so tough, but so much fun?

Festival in the Park!

Today we went to the Festival in the Park at Freedom Park! We went with our friends, The McIntosh's and we all had a blast! All in all it was a great day and the kids had so much fun playing together and seeing all of the exhibits. Unfortunately, we lost Gracie Myers' glasses during all of the excitement, but thankfully she has a back-up pair!

Our very first stop...the pony rides!

Bill, Brandon and kids waiting patiently for their turn!

Paxson, Julian, and Harper listening carefully to the instructions before getting on the ponies.

"Giddy Up"

Paxson could not stop smiling!

"Hi Cowgirl"

Gracie Myers had fun dancing while listening to all of the music at the festival.

Paxson and Claire holding hands!

We ran into Claire, one of Paxson's pre-school friends. It is always fun to watch the kids interact together....they sure say some funny things!

Laurel Pop!

Yummy Corn Dog!

Everyone playing their own air guitars!

Future US National Whitewater Team!

Harper had fun playing frisbee.

The McIntosh Family!

The Chalfants!

Daddy was a good sport to find the frisbee that rolled down the hill....thanks Daddy!

Paxson had fun inspecting the tree.

The kids were determined to ride on a ride of some sort. We were shocked that they picked this enormous slide to go down. They didn't seem to mind the height!

Whee!

Harper had the right idea!

Yoo-Hoo!

Paxson wanted to use his remaining tickets on the helicopter. This is also the spot where we think Gracie Myers tossed her glasses out of the stroller!

Very Tired Children at the end of a very exciting day! Nap time!